But against accepting this view of the journey, it may be argued as follows : The two stations in Nu 'S'S^-*^ which follow Ezion-geber are the wilder- ness of Zin (Kadesh) and Mt. Hor. The.se verses imply that, after reaching the (iulf of Akabah, instead of bearing eastward as above described the children of Israel retraced their steps along the Arabah to visit Mt. Hor, on the occasion of Aaron's death and burial. Moseroth is sejiarated liy six Btaticms from Mt. Hor, and, if the identity of Dt 10« ' with Nu SS*"-" be maintained, there are two statements concerning the time and place of Aaron's death which cannot be reconciled. In order to harmonize the accounts, many com- mentators consider that the stations in Dt 10"' have nothing to do with tlie siime names in Nu SS*"**, but must be supplied as part of the journey from Mt. Hor to Zalmonah (Nu33"). The omission of these stations in Nu 33 is explained by sujiposing that names which have been previously iiienti(jiied are not repeated in this list. Besides the double visit to Kadesh, two visits to Mt. Hor (for Moserah or Moseroth must be considered as eiiuivalent to Mt. Hor) and two journeys down the Arabah to Ezion-geber must be assumed, before the narrative of Dt 2"'- can be combined with Nu 33 from Zalmonah onwards, as reprijsenting the final departure from the Arabah on the way to the E. of ftlo.'ib. This reiterated duplication of events, inferred from combining the accounts, but nowliere indicated in the narrative, raises more than a suspicion that this harmonistic interpreta- tion, thou''h jiossible, does not represent the actual progress of the journey. The main difficulty arises from the position of Zin and Mt. Hor following Eziiin-geber in Nu 33'°"*'. Ewald proposes {JIht. of Isr. ii. 201, Eng. tr.) to remove vv. *"■-"' from where they now stand, and insert them after Hasli- nionah in ver.*". The order of the stations would then he Hashmonah, Zin, Mt. llor, Moseroth, Bene-jaakan, Hor-hag"idgad, Jotbathah, Ebronah, Ezion-geber, Zalmonah, etc. The necessity for a.ssuming the unproved duplication of events is removed, and the direction of the journey would be as traced above. The obvious criticism of Ewald's hypothesis is, that if the arrangeiiicnt he proposes were the original one, it is dillicult to uniferstand why a change which introduces such ditliculties should have been made. May a slight variation of his hypothesis be suggested ? 'I'he verses which he would transpose diller in character from the rest of the chapter ; instead of giving only names, they relate events and furnish details. May they be regarded as a later additi(m? If so, they may be either omitted or transferred, and the same result attained. One other alternative remains: the insertion of Zin and Mt. Hor after Ezion-geber indicates a movement up the Arabah northwards. This northern direction nmy have been continued to the Dead Sea, where a turn cast wards would bring the children of Israel to the E. side of Moab. The com]iassing of Edom would then bo on its W. and N. border. In favour of this it may be suggested that an Israelite might understand the uonler of Edom to mean the border towards his own land. So long as the sites of Zalmonah and the stations following remain un- certain, this interpretation of the existing text of Nu ^V^"- cannot be rejected as impossible, though it would represent a tradition dillcrent from that followed in Nu 21* and (probably) Dt 2".
The concluding section from the E. of Moab
806
EXODUS
EXODUS
onwaids Is comparatively free from ambiguity, though definite identification of places is wanting here as in the preceding stages. The cliildren of Israel cross the brooks Zered and Arnon ( Nu 21 '^- "). The latter is by general consent identified with the Wady Mojib, a stream which is fed by many tributaries, and falls into the Dead Sea about the middle of its E. side. The deep valley, about three miles broad, through which it passes, is a marked feature of the district, and forms a natural bound- ary line. It was the southern limit of the terri- tory assigned to Israel on the E. of Jordan. The position of the brook Zered is uncertain. The Wady el-Ahsa, which runs into the Dead Sea at its S. extremity, is too far south to be identified with it, for lye-abarim to the E. of Moab is reached before crossing it (Nu 21"). The Wady Feranjy, the upper portion of the stream passing by Kerak and reacliing the Dead Sea at the promontory called El-Lisan, or the main affluent of Wady Mojio (that coming from the S.E.), may with weater pro- bability be considered as the ancient Zered. The nomenclature of the tributaries of Wady Mojib is somewhat unsettled, but Bliss, when exploring the country of Moab in March 1895 (see his memoir in PEFSi, 1895) took special pains to ascertain the names assigned to them. He follows Tristram in gixTng the name of Wady Saideh to the E. affluent of the Wady Mojib and not to the S.E. branch, which is generally so called in maps and com- mentaries. The description in JiuU{Creo(j. d. Alten Palastina, p. 51) is agam difl'erent. Until arriving at the Arnon, the Israelites probably crossed the upper courses of the rivers and kept away from Moal) towards the E. They would thus obey the injunction not to meddle with Moab, and find the rivers shallower, and more easy of passage. The deep and rugged sides of these streams for some distance from their outlets into the Dead Sea cause considerable difficulty to the modern traveller, and would have been impracticable for the hosts of Israel. But after crossing the Arnon it was necessary to turn W. and afterwards in a N.W. direction in order to reach Dibon-Gad and the mountains of Abarim — the higli ridge to the E. of the N. extremity of the Dead Sea from which they descended into the plains of Jordan, opposite Jericho. The names given in Nu 21"*"'-" are tlifler- ent from those in the itinerary of Nu 33, but the last-named place, ' the top of risgah that looketh toward Jeshinion ' ('the desert' KV), indicates a spot on the Abarim range whence W. Palestine and the Jordan valley were visible. The last stage, Nu 22', is given with additional detail in Nu 33«- «.