Reference: Wilderness of the Wanderings
Fausets
(On Israel's route from Rameses to Sinai. (See EXODUS; EGYPT.) Kadesh or Kadesh Burned ("son of wandering" (Bedouin), or "land of earthquake," as Ps 29:8, "the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Cades") was the encampment from which the spies were sent and to which they returned (Nu 13:26; 32:8), on the W. of the wilderness of Zin, which was N.E. of the wilderness of Paran; S. of the wilderness of Paran was the wilderness of Sinai between the gulfs of Akabah and Suez. Comparing Nu 12:16 with Nu 33:18, and Nu 13:3,21-26, we see that the Kadesh of Numbers 13 is the Rithmah of Numbers 33. The stages catalogued in this last chapter are those visited during the years of penal wandering.
Rithmah (from retem the "broom" abounding there) designates the encampment during the first march toward Canaan (Nu 33:18); Kadesh the second encampment, in the same district though not on the same spot, in the 40th year (Nu 33:36-38); N. of Mount Her where Aaron died, and to which Israel marched as the first stage in their journey when denied a passage through Mount Seir (Nu 20:21-22). From the low ground of Kadesh the spies "went up" to search the land, which is called the mountain (Nu 13:17,21-22). The early encampment at Rithmah (Nu 33:18-19) took place in midsummer in the second year after the Exodus (for Israel left Sinai the 20th day of the second month, Nu 10:11, i.e. the middle of May; next the month at Kibroth Hattaavah would bring them to July); the later at Kadesh the first month of the 40th year (Nu 20:1).
At the first encampment they were at Kadesh for at least the 40 days of the spies' search (Nu 13:25); here Moses and the tabernacle remained (Nu 14:44) when the people presumptuously tried to occupy the land in spite of Jehovah's sentence dooming all above 20 to die in the wilderness (the name Kadesh, "holy," may be due to the long continuance of the holy tabernacle there). After their repulse they lingered for long ("many days," De 1:45-46) hoping for a reversal of their punishment. At last they broke up their prolonged encampment at Kadesh and compassed Mount Seir many days (De 2:1), i.e. wandered in the wilderness of Paran until the whole generation of murmurers had died. The wilderness is called Et Tih, i.e. "of wandering," or "Paran," being surrounded W. and S. by the Paran mountains (Nu 13:26; the limestone of the pyramids is thought to have been brought from Et Tih).
To this period belong the 17 stages of Nu 33:19-36. Early in the 40th year (Nu 20:1) Israel reassembled at Kadesh and stayed for three or four months (compare Nu 20:1 with Nu 20:22-28; 33:38). Miriam died here. Soon the people gathered here in full number, exhausted the water supply, and were given water miraculously from the rock. Thence proceeding, they were at Mount Hor refused a passage through Edom; then by the marches of Nu 33:41-49 they went round Edom's borders to Moab's plains. At Mount Hor Arad attacked them and brought destruction on his cities (Nu 21:3). In Nu 20:1 the words "Israel even the whole congregation" mark the reassembling of the people at the close of the 40 years, as the same words in Nu 13:26; 14:1, mark the commencement of the penal wandering.
The 38 intervening years are a blank, during which the covenant was in abeyance and the "congregation" broken up. The tabernacle and its attendant Levites, priests, and chiefs, formed the rallying point, moving from time to time to the different stations specified up and down the country as the people's head quarters. Qehelathah and Makhelot ("assembling," "assemblies") were probably places of extraordinary gatherings. At other times the Israelites were scattered over the wilderness of Paran as nomads feeding their flocks wherever they found pasture. This dispersion for foraging meets the objections raised on the ground of subsistence for such a multitude for so long. The plain er Rahah, W. of Sinai, now bare, is described by a traveler in the 16th century as a "vast green plain." The forests then existing tended to produce a greater rainfall and therefore better pasture than at present, when scarcely any wood is left (the Bedouins burning the acacias for charcoal).
Various events and enactments belonging to the 38 years' wandering (the law of the meat offering, the stoning of the Sabbath breaker, etc., Numbers 15; Korah's rebellion, etc., Numbers 16; Aaron's rod budding, Numbers 17; the Levites' and priests' charge and portion, Numbers 18; the red heifer water of separation, Numbers 19) are recorded in Nu 15-19. The last year in the wilderness, the 40th, is referred to in Nu 20-36. During the 38 years Israel trafficked in provisions with surrounding tribes (De 2:26-29). The desert of wandering was the highway of caravans between Egypt and the East. Fish was obtainable from the Red Sea. They were encamped close to it at Ezion Geber (Nu 33:35). Traces of a population and resources are found in parts of the wilderness where now there are neither.
The hardships alluded to (De 1:19; 2:3; 8:15) refer to the 4Oth year marches through the Arabah, which seemed the worse by contrast with the fertile plains of Moab which they next reached. Nu 21:4, "the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way." Down the Arabah between the limestone cliffs of the Tih on the W. and the granite of Mount Seir on the E. they were for some days in a mountain plain of loose sand, gravel, and granite detritus, with little food or water, and exposed to sandstorms from the shore of the gulf. This continued until a few hours N. of Akaba (Ezion Geber), where the wady Ithm opened to their left a passage in the mountains northward to fertile Moab. The mauna, the quails, and the water, are but samples of God's continuous care (De 8:4 ff, De 29:5).
The non waxing old of their raiment means God so supplied their wants, partly by ordinary and occasionally by miraculous means, that they never lacked new and untattered garments and shoes to prevent the foot swelling. Sheep, oxen, and traffic with tribes of the desert, ordinarily (under God's providence) supplied their need (Isa 63:11-14; Ne 9:21; Am 2:10). God often besides at Rephidim and Kadesh (Ex 17:1, etc., Numbers 20) interposed to supply water (Jg 5:4; Ps 68:7, etc.; Isa 35:1, etc., Isa 41:17; 49:9-10; Ho 2:14), and the Israelites from their stay in Egypt knew how to turn to best account all such supplies.
It was a period of apostasy (compare Eze 20:15 ff; Am 5:25, etc.; Ho 9:10). The Israelites probably made somewhat comfortable booths (as the booths erected in commemoration at the feast of tabernacles prove) and dwellings for themselves in their 38 years' stay (compare Ps 107:4,35-36). According to some they were the writers of the Sinaitic inscriptions in the wady Mokatteb, deciphered by Forster as recording events in their history at that time. Their stays in the several stations varied according to the guidance of the divine cloud from two days to a month or a year (Nu 9:22). The date palm (generally dwarf but abounding in sustenance), acacia, and tamarisk are often found in the desert. From the acacia (Mimosa Nilotica) came the shittim wood of the tabernacle and gum arabic.
The retem (KJV "juniper") or broom yields excellent charcoal, which is the staple of the desert. Ras Sufsafeh, the scene of the giving of the law, means willow head, willows abounding there, also hollyhocks and hawthorns, hyssop and thyme. The ghurkud is thought to be the tree cast by Moses into the Marah bitter waters; growing in hot and salt regions, and bearing a red juicy acidulous berry, but the fruit ripens in June, later than Israel's arrival at Marah. Mount Serbal may be named from its abounding in myrrh (ser). Spiritually, Rameses (dissolution of evil), Israel's starting point, answers to the penitent soul's first conviction of sin, haste to flee from wrath, and renunciation of evil. Israel's course first was straight for Canaan; so the believer's, under first impressions, is direct toward heaven. Succoth next, the place of booths, answers to the believer's pilgrim spirit (Heb 11:13-16).
Next Etham, their strength, the believer's confidence of never being moved (Ps 30:6-7). At Pihahiroth Israel, shut in between the wil
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Their country stretching from Zidon to Gaza, in the direction of Gerar; and to Lasha, in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim.
And Abraham went on his way from there to the land of the South, and was living between Kadesh and Shur, in Gerar.
And Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds; for we are to keep a feast to the Lord.
And in answer to his prayer, the Lord made him see a tree, and when he put it into the water, the water was made sweet. There he gave them a law and an order, testing them;
And the children of Israel went on from the waste land of Sin, by stages as the Lord gave them orders, and put up their tents in Rephidim: and there was no drinking-water for the people.
Then Amalek came and made war on Israel in Rephidim.
Or if the cloud came to rest on the House for two days or a month or a year without moving, the children of Israel went on waiting there and did not go on; but whenever it was taken up they went forward on their journey.
Now in the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud was taken up from over the Tent of witness.
But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them. So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires. read more. From Kibroth-hattaavah the people went on to Hazeroth; and there they put up their tents.
After that, the people went on from Hazeroth and put up their tents in the waste land of Paran.
And Moses sent them from the waste land of Paran as the Lord gave orders, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.
So Moses sent them to have a look at the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up into the South and into the hill-country;
So Moses sent them to have a look at the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up into the South and into the hill-country;
So they went up and got a view of the land, from the waste land of Zin to Rehob, on the way to Hamath.
So they went up and got a view of the land, from the waste land of Zin to Rehob, on the way to Hamath. They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.)
They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.)
They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.) And they came to the valley of Eshcol, and cutting down a vine-branch with its grapes, two of them took it on a rod between them; and they took some pomegranates and figs. read more. That place was named the valley of Eshcol because of the grapes which the children of Israel took from there. At the end of forty days they came back from viewing the land.
At the end of forty days they came back from viewing the land. And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.
And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.
And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.
And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.
Then all the people gave load cries of grief, and all that night they gave themselves up to weeping.
But they gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle.
In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.
In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.
In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.
In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.
So Edom would not let Israel go through his land; and Israel went in another direction. And they went on from Kadesh, and came, with all their people, to Mount Hor.
And they went on from Kadesh, and came, with all their people, to Mount Hor. And at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, read more. Aaron will be put to rest with his people; he will not go into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you went against my word at the waters of Meribah. So take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, up into Mount Hor; And take Aaron's robes off him and put them on Eleazar, his son: and death will come to Aaron there, and he will be put to rest with his people. So Moses did as the Lord had said, and before the eyes of all the people they went up Mount Hor. And Moses took off Aaron's robes, and put them on Eleazar, his son; and there on the top of the mountain death came to Aaron: then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
And the Lord, in answer to the voice of Israel, gave the Canaanites up to them; and they put them and their towns completely to destruction: and that place was named Hormah. Then they went on from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, going round the land of Edom: and the spirit of the people was overcome with weariness on the way.
Now when Israel was living in Shittim the people became false to the Lord, doing evil with the daughters of Moab:
And they went on from Hazeroth, and put up their tents in Rithmah. And they went on from Rithmah, and put up their tents in Rimmon-perez.
And they went on from Rithmah, and put up their tents in Rimmon-perez. And they went on from Rimmon-perez, and put up their tents in Libnah. read more. And they went on from Libnah, and put up their tents in Rissah. And they went on from Rissah, and put up their tents in Kehelathah. And they went on from Kehelathah, and put up their tents in Mount Shepher. And they went on from Mount Shepher, and put up their tents in Haradah. And they went on from Haradah, and put up their tents in Makheloth. And they went on from Makheloth, and put up their tents in Tahath. And they went on from Tahath, and put up their tents in Terah. And they went on from Terah, and put up their tents in Mithkah. And they went on from Mithkah, and put up their tents in Hashmonah. And they went on from Hashmonah, and put up their tents in Moseroth. And they went on from Moseroth, and put up their tents in Bene-jaakan. And they went on from Bene-jaakan, and put up their tents in Hor-haggidgad. And they went on from Hor-haggidgad, and put up their tents in Jotbathah. And they went on from Jotbathah, and put up their tents in Abronah. And they went on from Abronah, and put up their tents in Ezion-geber.
And they went on from Abronah, and put up their tents in Ezion-geber. And they went on from Ezion-geber, and put up their tents in the waste land of Zin (which is Kadesh).
And they went on from Ezion-geber, and put up their tents in the waste land of Zin (which is Kadesh). And they went on from Kadesh, and put up their tents in Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom. read more. And Aaron the priest went up into the mountain at the order of the Lord, and came to his death there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.
And Aaron the priest went up into the mountain at the order of the Lord, and came to his death there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.
And from Mount Hor they went on, and put up their tents in Zalmonah. And they went on from Zalmonah, and put up their tents in Punon. read more. And they went on from Punon, and put up their tents in Oboth. And they went on from Oboth, and put up their tents in Iye-abarim at the edge of Moab. And they went on from Iyim, and put up their tents in Dibon-gad. And from Dibon-gad they went on, and put up their tents in Almon-diblathaim. And from Almon-diblathaim they went on, and put up their tents in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. And they went on from the mountains of Abarim, and put up their tents in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho; Planting their tents by the side of Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the lowlands of Moab.
Then we went on from Horeb, through all that great and cruel waste which you saw, on our way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as the Lord gave us orders; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
And you came back, weeping before the Lord; but the Lord gave no attention to your cries and did not give ear to you.
And you came back, weeping before the Lord; but the Lord gave no attention to your cries and did not give ear to you. So you were kept waiting in Kadesh for a long time.
Then we went back, journeying into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me: and we were a long time going round Mount Seir.
You have been journeying round this mountain long enough: now go to the north;
Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left; read more. Let me have food, at a price, for my needs, and water for drinking: only let me go through on foot; As the children of Esau did for me in Seir and the Moabites in Ar; till I have gone over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us.
Through all these forty years your clothing did not get old or your feet become tired.
Who was your guide through that great and cruel waste, where there were poison-snakes and scorpions and a dry land without water; who made water come out of the hard rock for you;
How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him.
For forty years I have been your guide through the waste land: your clothing has not become old on your backs, or your shoes on your feet.
Lord, when you went out from Seir, moving like an army from the field of Edom, the earth was shaking and the heavens were troubled, and the clouds were dropping water.
And she said to them, Do not let my name be Naomi, but Mara, for the Ruler of all has given me a bitter fate.
Truly, for forty years you were their support in the waste land, and they were in need of nothing; their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired.
When I was waiting quietly for the Lord, his heart was turned to me, and he gave ear to my cry. He took me up out of a deep waste place, out of the soft and sticky earth; he put my feet on a rock, and made my steps certain. read more. And he put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God; numbers have seen it with fear, and put their faith in the Lord.
O God, when you went out before your people, wandering through the waste land; (Selah.)
And they were joined to Baal-peor, and took part in the offerings to the dead.
They were wandering in the waste places; they saw no way to a resting-place.
He makes a waste land into a place of water, and a dry land into water-springs. And there he gives the poor a resting-place, so that they may make themselves a town;
And in that day you will say I will give praise to you, O Lord; for though you were angry with me, your wrath is turned away, and I am comforted. See, God is my salvation; I will have faith in the Lord, without fear: for the Lord Jah is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation. read more. So with joy will you get water out of the springs of salvation.
And it will be in that day that the Lord will get together his grain, from the River to the stream of Egypt, and you will be got together with care, O children of Israel.
The waste land and the dry places will be glad; the lowland will have joy and be full of flowers.
The poor and crushed are looking for water where no water is, and their tongue is dry for need of it: I the Lord will give ear to their prayer, I the God of Israel will not give them up.
Saying to those who are in chains, Go free; to those who are in the dark, Come out into the light. They will get food by the way wherever they go, and have grass-lands on all the dry mountain-tops. They will not be in need of food or drink, or be troubled by the heat or the sun: for he who has mercy on them will be their guide, taking them by the springs of water.
Then the early days came to their minds, the days of Moses his servant: and they said, Where is he who made the keeper of his flock come up from the sea? where is he who put his holy spirit among them, He who made the arm of his glory go at the right hand of Moses, by whom the waters were parted before them, to make himself an eternal name; read more. He who made them go through the deep waters, like a horse in the waste land? Like the cattle which go down into the valley, they went without falling, the spirit of the Lord guiding them: so you went before your people, to make yourself a great name.
And further, I gave my oath to them in the waste land, that I would not take them into the land which I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands;
For this cause I will make her come into the waste land and will say words of comfort to her.
I made discovery of Israel as of grapes in the waste land; I saw your fathers as the first-fruits of the fig-tree in her early fruit time; but they came to Baal-peor, and made themselves holy to the thing of shame, and became disgusting like that to which they gave their love.
And I took you up out of the land of Egypt, guiding you for forty years in the waste land, so that you might take for your heritage the land of the Amorite.
Did you come to me with offerings of beasts and meal offerings in the waste land for forty years, O Israel?
But whoever takes the water I give him will never be in need of drink again; for the water I give him will become in him a fountain of eternal life.
On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus got up and said in a loud voice, If any man is in need of drink let him come to me and I will give it to him. He who has faith in me, out of his body, as the Writings have said, will come rivers of living water. read more. This he said of the Spirit which would be given to those who had faith in him: the Spirit had not been given then, because the glory of Jesus was still to come.
Jesus said to him in answer, If anyone has love for me, he will keep my words: and he will be dear to my Father; and we will come to him and make our living-place with him.
He will give me glory, because he will take of what is mine, and make it clear to you.
Or are you without the knowledge that all we who had baptism into Christ Jesus, had baptism into his death? We have been placed with him among the dead through baptism into death: so that as Christ came again from the dead by the glory of the Father, we, in the same way, might be living in new life. read more. For, if we have been made like him in his death, we will, in the same way, be like him in his coming to life again; Being conscious that our old man was put to death on the cross with him, so that the body of sin might be put away, and we might no longer be servants to sin. Because he who is dead is free from sin.
And they all had baptism from Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
You yourselves are our letter, whose writing is in our heart, open for every man's reading and knowledge; For you are clearly a letter of Christ, the fruit of our work, recorded not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in stone, but in hearts of flesh. read more. And this is the certain faith which we have in God through Christ: Not as if we were able by ourselves to do anything for which we might take the credit; but our power comes from God; Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life. For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time:
In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope, Which is the first-fruit of our heritage, till God gets back that which is his, to the praise of his glory.
So then, my brothers, being able to go into the holy place without fear, because of the blood of Jesus, By the new and living way which he made open for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
All these came to their end in faith, not having had the heritage; but having seen it with delight far away, they gave witness that they were wanderers and not of the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves. read more. And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back. But now their desire is for a better country, that is to say, for one in heaven; and so it is no shame to God to be named their God; for he has made ready a town for them.
Be serious and keep watch; the Evil One, who is against you, goes about like a lion with open mouth in search of food;
Anything which comes from God is able to overcome the world: and the power by which we have overcome the world is our faith.
And they give the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and full of wonder are your works, O Lord God, Ruler of all; true and full of righteousness are your ways, eternal King.
In the middle of its street. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, having twelve sorts of fruits, giving its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree give life to the nations.