5. The next station mentioned in Exodus is Rephi- dim : but in Numbers Dophkah and Alush are added. The two latter were reached after the people had taken " their journey out of the wilderness of Sin." Exact precision and minute agreement are not to be expect- ed. The circumstances of the case forbid us to look for them. In a desert, mountainous, and rarely fre- quented country, the names of places are not lasting. There was the less reason for permanence in the case before us, because the Israelites had not taken the shorter and more frequented road over the mountains to Sinai, but kept along the shore of the Red Sea. It stDl deserves notice, that in Exodus (xvii, 1) there is
something like an intimation given of other stations besides Rephidim in the words " after their journeys." Dophkah is probably to be found near the spot where wady Feiran runs into the Gulf of Suez. See Doph- kah. Alush may have lain on the shore near Ras Jehan. See Alush. From this point a range of cal- careous rocks, termed Jebal Hemam, stretches along the shore, near the southern end of which the Hebrews took a sudden turn to the north-east, and, going up wady Hibran, reached the central Sinaitic district. On the opposite side, the eastern, the Sinaitic moun- tains come to a sudden stop, breaking off, and present- ing like a wall nearly perpendicular granite cliffs. These cliffs are cut by wady Hibran, and at the point of intersection with the plain which runs between the two ranges probably lay Rephidim. The tabernacle was not yet set up, nor the order of march organized, as subsequently (Numb, x, 13, etc.); hence the words "track" or "route," as indicating a line, can only be tnken in the most wide and general sense. See Re- phidim.
This was the last station before Sinai itself was reached. Naturally enough is it recorded that " there was no water for the people to drink." The road was an arid gravelly plain ; on either side were barren rocks. A natural supply was impossible. A miracle was wrought, and water was given. The Scripture makes it clear that it was from the Sinaitic group that the water was produced (Exod. xvii, 6). The plain received two descriptive names: Massah, "Tempta- tion," and Meribah, "Strife." It appears that the congregation was not allowed to pursue their waj' to Sinai unmolested. The Arabs thought the Israelites suitable for plunder, and fell upon them. These hordes are termed Amalek. The Amalekites ma}' have been out on a predatory expedition, or they may have fol- lowed the Israelites from the north, and only over- taken them at Rephidim ; any way, no conclusion can be gathered from this fact as to the ordinary abode of these nomades. It appears, however, that the conflict was a severe and doubtfid one, which by some extraor- dinary aid ended in favor of the children of Israel. This aggression on the part of Amalek gave occasion to a permanent national hatred, which ended only in the extermination of the tribe (Numb. xxiv.20; Exod. xvii, '4-16). In commemoration of this victory, Mo- ses was commanded to write an account of it in a book : he also erected there an altar to Jehovah, and called the name of it "Jehovah, my banner." There is no occasion to inquire whether or not there was space for a battle in the spot where Moses was. It was a nomade horde that made the attack, and not a modern army. The fight was not a pitched battle. See Ajialek.
The word Horeb, applied by Moses to the place whence the water was gained, suggests the idea that Horeb was the general, and Sinai the specific name; Horeb standing for the entire district, and Sinai for one particular mountain. Many passages sanction this distinction ; but in the New Testament Sinai only is read, having then apparently become a general name, as it is at the present day (Acts vii, 30-38 ; Gal. iv, 24). It is a monkish usage which gives the name Sinai to Jebel Musa, and Horeb to the northern part of the same ridge. See Horeb.
6. The route from Rephidim to Horeb is usually sup- posed to have been by way of wady Feiran, but we can see no good reason for so circuitous a course, supposing that we have correctly located Rephidim. The Israel- ites may more probably have ascended wady Hibran as far as its junction with wady Bughabigh, and through this first south-easterly, and then north-east- erly between Jebel ISIadsus and Jebel es-Sik ; thence, I in a northerly direction, along the western base of Je- bel Katherin, through wady Um-Kuraf, across wady Tulah. Here they may have followed the path be- tween Jebel Humr and Jebel el-Ghubsheh, which comes out at the modern gardens in the recess of the
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