EXODUS, GEOGRAPHY OF THE.) A belief prevailed that there was no spot in the Sinaitic district on which the people of Israel might assemble. Dr. Robinson has shown that this opinion is incorrect, and that in all probabil ity the plain er Rihah, over which Mount Horeb impends, is the spot where the congregation of Israel were assembled. 'We were surprised,' says he, 'as well as gratified to find here in the inmost recesses of these dark granite cliffs, this fine plain spread out before the mountain, and I know not where I have felt a thrill of stronger emotion than when, in first crossing the plain, the dark precipices of Horeb rising in solemn grandeur before us, we became aware of the entire adapt edness of the scene to the purposes for which it was chosen by the great Hebrew legislator.' (2) The Station Taberah. After having been about a year in the midst of this mountainous region, the Israelites broke up their encampment and began their journey in the order of their tribes, Judah leading the way with the ark of the covenant, tinder the guidance of the direct ing cloud (Num. ix :is, sq.; x:ii, sq.). They proceeded down \Vady Seikh, having the wilder ness of Paran before them, in a northwesterly direction; but having come to a gorge in the mountains they struck in a north-northeasterly direction across a sandy plain, and then over the Jebel et-Tih. and came down \Vady Zulakah. to the station Taberah. It took the army three days to reach this station. Whatever name the place bore before, it now received that of Taberah (fire), from a supernatural fire with which mur murers. in the extreme parts of the camp, were destroyed as a punishment for their guilt. Here. too, the mixed multitude that was among the Israelite§ not only fell a-lusting themselves, but also excited the Flebrews to remember Egyptian fish and vegetables with strong desire, and to complain of the divinely supplied manna. The discontent was intense and widely spread. Moses became aware of it, and forthwith felt his spirit misgive him. He brings the matter before Jeho vah, and receives divine aid by the appointment of seventy elders to assist him in the important and perilous office of governing the gross, sensu ous and self-willed myriads whom he had to lead to Canaan. Moreover, an abundance of flesh meat was given in a most profuse supply of quails. It appears that there were now six hundred thou sand footmen in the congregation.
(3) Kibroth-hattaavah. The next station was Kibroth-hattaavah, near which there are fine springs and excellent pasturage. This spot, the name of which signifies 'graves of lust,' was so denominated from a plague inflicted on the people in punishment of their rebellious disposition (Num. xi:33; t Cor. x:6).
(4) Hazeroth. Thence they journeyed to Hazeroth, which Robinson, after Burckhardt, finds in el-Hudhera, where is a fountain, together with palm trees. At Hazeroth, where the people seem to have remained a short time, there arose a family dissension to increase the difficulties of Moses. Aaron, apparently led on by his sister Miriam, who may have been actuated by some feminine pique or jealousy, complained of Moses on the ground that he had married a Cushite, that is, an Arab wife, and the malcontents went so far as to set up their own claims to authority as not less valid than those of Moses. An appeal is made to Jehovah, who vindicates Moses, rebukes Aaron and punishes Miriam (Num. xii).
(5) Kadesh. 'And afterward the people re moved from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilder ness of Paran,' at Kadesh (Num. xii :t6; xiii :26). Here it was that twelve men (spies) were sent into Canaan to survey the country, who went up from the wilderness of Zin (Num. xiii:20 to Hebron ; and returning after forty days brought back a very alarming account of what they had seen. It is evident that at this point there is a great blank in the Scripture narrative of the wan derings of the Israelites. They were ordered to turn hack into the desert "by the way of the Red Sea." In this wilderness they wandered eight and-thirty years, but little can be set forth re specting the course of their march. The next notice of the Israelites is, that in the first month they came into the desert of Zin and abode again at Kadesh ; here Miriam dies; Moses and Aaron bring water from the rock: a passage is demanded through the land of Edom, and refused ; and they then journeyed from Kadesh to Mount Hor, where Aaron dies in the fortieth year of the de parture from Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month, corresponding to a part of August and September. Here, then, between August of the second year and August of the fortieth year, we have an interval of thirty-eight years of wander ing in the desert.