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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the bound of the Canaanite shall be from Sidon in thy coming to Gerar, to Azzah; in thy coming to Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even to Lasha.
And Abraham will remove from thence to the land of the south, and will dwell between Kadesh and between Shur, and will sojourn in Gerar.
And Moses will say, With our youths and with our old men will we go; with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and with our oxen will we go: for a festival of Jehovah is to us.
And he will cry to Jehovah, and Jehovah will show him a tree, and he will cast into the waters, and the waters will become sweet: then he set to him a law and judgment, and there he tried him.
And all the assembly of the sons of Israel will remove from the desert of Sin, according to their removings by the mouth of Jehovah; and they will encamp in Rephidim; and no water for the people to drink.
And Amalek will come and will wage war with Israel, in Rephidim.
Or days, or a month, or days, in the prolonging of the cloud upon the dwelling to dwell upon it, the sons of Israel shall encamp, and they shall not remove; and in its going up they shall remove.
And it shall be in the second year, in the second month, in the twentieth of the month, the cloud was taken up from the dwelling of testimony.
And the flesh yet between their teeth, before it shall be withdrawn and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah will smite upon them an exceeding great blow. And he will call the name of that place, The Graves of Longings, for there they buried the people longing. read more. From the Graves of Longings the people removed to the enclosures, and they shall be in the enclosures.
And afterward the people removed from the enclosures, and they will encamp in the desert of Paran.
And Moses will send them from the desert of Paran, at the mouth of Jehovah; all of them chiefs, the heads of the sons of IsraeL
And Moses will send them to search out the land of Canaan, and will say to them, Go ye up hither to the south and ascend the mountain,
And Moses will send them to search out the land of Canaan, and will say to them, Go ye up hither to the south and ascend the mountain,
And they will go up and will search out the land from the desert of Zin even to Rehob, to go to Hameth.
And they will go up and will search out the land from the desert of Zin even to Rehob, to go to Hameth. And they will go up by the south and will come to Hebron; and these Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, children of Anak: and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt
And they will go up by the south and will come to Hebron; and these Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, children of Anak: and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt
And they will go up by the south and will come to Hebron; and these Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, children of Anak: and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt And they will go up to the valley of Esheol, and will cut off from there a branch and one cluster of grapes, and they will lift upon a rod upon two; and from the pomegranates, and from the figs. read more. And he called that place the valley of Eshool, on account of the cluster of grapes which the sons of Israel cut off from there. And they will turn back from searching out the land at the end of forty days.
And they will turn back from searching out the land at the end of forty days. And they will go, and come to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the assembly of the sons of Israel to the desert of Paran to Kadesh, and will give them back word, and all the assembly, and they will shew them the fruit of the land.
And they will go, and come to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the assembly of the sons of Israel to the desert of Paran to Kadesh, and will give them back word, and all the assembly, and they will shew them the fruit of the land.
And they will go, and come to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the assembly of the sons of Israel to the desert of Paran to Kadesh, and will give them back word, and all the assembly, and they will shew them the fruit of the land.
And they will go, and come to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the assembly of the sons of Israel to the desert of Paran to Kadesh, and will give them back word, and all the assembly, and they will shew them the fruit of the land.
And all the assembly will lift up and give their voice; and the people will weep in that night
And they will act proudly to go up to the head of the mountain: mid the ark of the covenant of Jehovah and Moses departed not out of the midst of the camp.
And the sons of Israel will come, all the assembly, to the desert of Zin, in the first month; and the people will dwell in Kadesh; and Miriam will die there and be buried there.
And the sons of Israel will come, all the assembly, to the desert of Zin, in the first month; and the people will dwell in Kadesh; and Miriam will die there and be buried there.
And the sons of Israel will come, all the assembly, to the desert of Zin, in the first month; and the people will dwell in Kadesh; and Miriam will die there and be buried there.
And the sons of Israel will come, all the assembly, to the desert of Zin, in the first month; and the people will dwell in Kadesh; and Miriam will die there and be buried there.
And Edom will refuse to give to Israel to pass over by his boundary; and Israel will turn away from him. And they will remove from Kadesh, and the sons of Israel, all the assembly will come to Mount Hor.
And they will remove from Kadesh, and the sons of Israel, all the assembly will come to Mount Hor. And Jehovah will say to Moses and to Aaron, in mount Hor, upon the boundary of the land of Edom, saying, read more. Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not come into the land which I gave to the sons of Israel, because that ye resisted my mouth at the Waters of Strife. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to mount Hor. And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered and die there. And Moses will do as Jehovah commanded: and he will bring him up to mount Hor before the eyes of all the assembly. And Moses will strip Aaron of his garments, and will put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron will die there in the head of the mountain: and Moses will come down, and Eleazar, from the mountain.
And Jehovah will hear to the voice of Israel, and he will give the Canaanite, and he will exterminate them and their cities: and he will call the name of the place Hormah. And they will remove from mount Hor, the way of the sea of sedge, to encompass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people will be shortened in the way.
And Israel will dwell in Shittim, and the people will begin to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab.
So did your fathers in my sending them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land.
And they will remove from Hazeroth, and encamp in Rithmah. . And they will remove from Rithmah, and encamp in Rimmon-Parez.
And they will remove from Rithmah, and encamp in Rimmon-Parez. And they will remove from Rimmon-Parez, and encamp in Libnah. read more. And they will remove from Libnah, and encamp in Rissah. And they will remove from Rissah, and encamp in Kehelathah. And they will remove from Kehelathah, and encamp in mount Shapher. And they will remove from mount Shapher and encamp in Haradah. And they will remove from Haradah, and encamp in Makheloth. And they will remove from Makheloth, and encamp in Tahath. And they will remove from Tahath, and encamp in Tarah. And they will remove from Tarah, and encamp in Mithcah. And they will remove from Mithcah, and encamp in Hashmonah. And they will remove from Hashmonah, and encamp in Moseroth. And they will remove from Moseroth, and encamp among the sons of Jakan. And they will remove from the sons of Jakan, and encamp in the mount of Gidgad. And they will remove from the mount of Gidgad, and encamp in Jotbathah. And they will remove from Jotbathah, and encamp in Ebionah. And they will remove from Ebionah, and encamp in Ezion-Gaber.
And they will remove from Ebionah, and encamp in Ezion-Gaber. And they will remove from EzionGaber, and encamp in the desert of Zin; it Kadesh.
And they will remove from EzionGaber, and encamp in the desert of Zin; it Kadesh. And they will remove from Kadesh, and encamp in mount Hor, in the extremity of the land of Edom. read more. And Aaron the priest will go up to mount Hor by the mouth of Jehovah, and will die there in the fortieth year to the coming out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt., in the fifth month, in one to the month.
And Aaron the priest will go up to mount Hor by the mouth of Jehovah, and will die there in the fortieth year to the coming out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt., in the fifth month, in one to the month.
And they will remove from mount Hor, and encamp in Zalmonah. And they will remove from Zalmonah, and encamp in Punon. read more. And they will remove from Pinion, and encamp in Oboth. And they will remove from Oboth, and encamp in the heaps of Abarim, in the bound of Moab. And they will remove from the heaps, and encamp in DibonGad. And they will remove from DibonGad, and encamp in Almon-Diblathaim. And they will remove from Almon-Diblathaim, and encamp in the mountains of Abarim before Nebo. And they will remove from the mountains of Abarim, and encamp in the desert of Moab by Jordan of Jericho. And they will encamp by Jordan, from the house of Jesimoth, to the meadow of acacias in the desert of Moab.
And we shall remove from Horeb and we shall go all that great and fearful desert which ye saw, the way of the mountain of the Amorite, as Jehovah our God commanded us; and we shall come to Kadesh-Barnea.
And ye will turn back and will weep before Jehovah; and Jehovah heard not to your voice and gave not ear to you.
And ye will turn back and will weep before Jehovah; and Jehovah heard not to your voice and gave not ear to you. And ye shall dwell in Kadesh many days according to the days that ye dwelt.
And turning and removing to the desert the way of the sea of sedge, as Jehovah spake to me: and encompassing mount Seir many days.
It was enough to you to encompass this mount; turn for yourselves to the north,
And I will send messengers out of the desert of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, I will pass over in thy land.; in the way, in the way I will go, I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. read more. Thou shalt sell me food for silver, and I ate; and thou shalt give to me water for silver, and I drank: only I will pass through on my feet; (As the sons of Esau did to me dwelling in Seir, and the Moabites dwelling in Ar,) till when I shall pass over Jordan to the land which Jehovah our God gave to us.
Thy garments decayed not from thee, and thy feet swelled not this forty years.
He causing thee to go in the great and fearful desert, the fiery serpent and the scorpion, and a thirsty land, where is no water: he bringing forth to thee water from the rock of flint;
That he met thee in the way, and he will smite the rear in thee all the enfeebled behind thee, and thou faint and weary: and he feared not God.
And I shall lead you forty years in the desert: your garments did not fall away from you, and thy shoe was not warn away from thy foot
Jehovah, in thy going forth from Seir, In thy ascending from the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, Also the clouds dropped water.
And she will say to them, Ye shall not call to me Naomi; call to me, Mara: for the Almighty made bitter to me greatly.
And forty years thou didst nourish them in the desert; they wanted not; their garments fell not away, and their feet swelled not
The voice of Jehovah will cause the desert to whirl; Jehovah will cause the desert of holiness to whirl.
And I said in my security, I shall not be moved forever. O Jehovah, in thy good will thou didst cause strength to stand for my mountain: thou didst cover thy face, I was in trepidation.
To the overseer: of David chanting. Waiting, I waited for Jehovah, and he will incline to me, and he will hear my cry. And he will bring me up from the pit of destruction, from the clay of mire, and he will set my feet upon a rock, preparing my goings. read more. And he will give a new song in my mouth, praise to our God: many shall see and fear, and they shall trust in Jehovah.
O God, in thy going forth before thy people, in thy stepping in the desert. Silence.
And they will be bound to Baalpeor, and they will eat the sacrifices of the dead.
They will wander in the desert in a waste; the way of a city of dwelling they found not
He will set a desert for pools of water, and a land of dryness for findings of water. And there will he cause the hungering to dwell, and they shall prepare a city of dwelling;
And thou saidst in that day, I will praise thee, O Jehovah: for thou wert angry with me, thine anger will turn back and thou wilt comfort me, Behold God my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid: for my strength and song is Jah Jehovah, and he will be to me for salvation. read more. Ye drew water with gladness from the fountains of salvation.
And it was in that day Jehovah will beat off from the stream of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered together by one, one, ye sons of Israel.
The desert and the dryness shall be glad for them; and the sterile region shall rejoice and blossom as the meadow flower.
The poor and the needy seeking water, and none; their tongue failing in thirst, I Jehovah will answer them; the God of Israel, I will not forsake them.
To say to the bound, Go forth; to those in darkness, Uncover yourselves. They shall feed upon the ways, and in all naked hills their pastures. They shall not hunger and they shall not thirst, and the heat shall not strike them, and the sun: for he pitying them shall lead them, and to fountains of water he shall conduct them.
And he will remember the days of old, Moses his people; Where he bringing them up from the sea with the shepherd of his sheep? where he putting his holy spirit in the midst of him? Leading by the right hand of Moses, the arm of his glory dividing the waters from before them to make to him an eternal name. read more. Leading them through the depths as a horse in the desert, they shall not be weak As cattle in the valley the spirit of Jehovah will come down, it will cause us to rest: so thou didst lead thy people, to make to thee a name of glory.
And also I lifted up my hand to them in the desert, not to bring them in to the land which I gave flowing milk and honey; this the glory to all lands
For this, behold, I entice her, and I caused her to go into the desert, and I spake to her heart.
I found Israel as grapes in the desert; as the first fruit in the fig-tree in her beginning I saw your fathers: they went to Baal-Peor, and they will separate themselves to shame, and their abominable things will be according to their love.
And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I will cause you to come into the desert forty years to possess the land of the Amorite.
Did ye bring near to me sacrifices and gifts in the desert forty years, O house of Israel?
But whoever should drink of the water which I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water which I shall give him shall be in him a spring of water springing up to eternal life.
In the last day, the great one of the festival, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He believing in me, as said the writing, from his belly shall flow rivers of living waters. read more. (This spake he of the Spirit which they believing in him were about to receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet; for Jesus was not yet honoured.)
Jesus answered and said to him, If any one love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and we will make our stay with him.
He shall honour me: for he shall take of mine, and announce to you.
Or know ye not, that as many of us as were immersed in Christ Jesus, we were immersed into his death? Therefore were we buried with him by immersion into death: that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life. read more. For if grown together we have been in the likeness of his death, but also shall we be of the resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man was crucified together, that the body of sin might be left inactive, for us no more to serve sin. For he having died was justified from sin.
And were all immersed into Moses in the cloud, and in the sea;
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and acknowledged by all men: Made manifest that ye are the epistle of Christ served by us, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables made of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. read more. And we have such confidence through Christ to God: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reckon anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency of God; Who rendered as fitting servants of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter kills, and the Spirit makes alive. And if the service of death, in letters imprinted in stones, was in glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently to the face of Moses for the glory of his face; being left unemployed
In whom ye also, having heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation: in whom also having believed, ye were sealed by the holy Spirit of solemn promise, Which is the pledge of our inheritance for the redemption of the acquisition, to the praise of his glory.
Having therefore, brethren, freedom of speech for the entering in of the holies by the blood of Jesus, A way publicly declared and living, which he consecrated to us, through the veil, that is, his flesh;
According to faith died all these, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar, and been persuaded, and having embraced, and assented that they are strangers and newly arrived from a foreign country upon earth. For they saying such things show clearly that they seek a country. read more. And truly if they remembered that from which they came out, they had time to have returned. And now they feel an ardent desire for a better, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God: for he prepared for them a city.
Be abstemious, watch; for your adversary the accuser, as a roaring lion, walks around, seeking whom he might swallow down:
For everything begotten of God conquers the world: and this is the victory having conquered the world, our faith.
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful thy works, O Lord God, Omnipotent Ruler; just and true thy ways, King of the holy.
In the midst of her broad way and of the river, hence and thence, the tree of life, making twelve fruits, in a month each one returning its fruit: and the leaves of the tree for the cure of the nations.