In this way the scriptural account of the journey- ings of the Israelites become perfectly harmonious and intelligible. The eighteen stations mentioned only in the general list in the book of Numbers as preceding the arrival at Kadesh are then apparently to be re- ferred to this eight-and-thirty years of wandering, during which the people at last approached Ezion- gcl)er, and afterwards returned northwards a second time to Kadesh, in the hope of passing directly through the land of Edom. Their wanderings extended, doubt- less, over the western desert, although the stations named arc jjrobably only those head-quarters where the tabernacle was pitched, and where Moses, and the elders, and priests encamped, while the main body of the people was scattered in various directions.
"^A'hcre, then, was Kadesh ? Clearly on the bor- ders of Palestine. Wc agree with Eobinson and Eau- mer in placing it nearly at the top of the wadj' 'Ara- bah, whore, indeed, it is fi.xed by Scripture, for in Numb, xii, l(i we read, " Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy (Edom's) border." The precise spot it may be difficult to ascertain; but here, in the wilderness of Zin, which lay in the more comprehensive district of Paran, is Kadesh to be placed. Eaumer, however, has attempt- ed to fix tlic locality, and in his views Eobinson and Schubert generally concur. Eaumer places it soutli from the Dead Sea, in the low lands between the moun- tain of the Edomites and that of the Amorites. The coimtry gradually descends from the mountains of Judah southward, and where the descent terminates Eainner sets Kadesh. Witfi this view the words of Moses entirely correspond, when, at Kadesh, he said
to the spies, " Get you up southward (rather on tne south, "^i^), and^o vj) into the mountain" (Numb, xiii, 17). The ascent may have been made up the pass es-Sufah ; up this the self-willed Hebrews went, and were driven back by the Canaanites as far as to Hor- mah, then called Zephath (Numb, xii, 17 ; xiv, 40-^15 ; Judg. i, 17). The spot where Kadesh lay Eobinson finds in the present Ain el-Weibeh. But Eaumer pre- fers a spot to the north of this place — that where the road mounts by wady el-Khurar to the pass Sufuh. It ought, he thinks, to be fixed on a spot where the Is- raelites would be near the pass, and where the pass would lie before their eyes. This is not the case, according to Schubert, at Ain ol-Weibeh. Eaumer, therefore, inclines to fix on Ain Hash, which lies near Ain el-Khurar. This is probably Kadesh. The dis- tance from the pass Sufah to Ain Ilasb is little more than half the length of that from the same pass to Ain el-Weibeh. According to the Arabs, there is at Ain Hash a copious fountain of sweet water, surrounded by verdure and traces of ruins, which must be of consid- erable magnitude, as they were seen by Eobinson at a distance of some miles. These maj' be the ruins of Kadesh ; but at Ain el-Weibeh there are no ruins (see Eaumer, Paldst. 1850, p. 445). See Kadesh.
By what route, then, did the Israelites come from Ilazeroth to Kadesh ? We are here supplied with scarcelj' any information. The entire distance, which is considerable, is passed by the historian in silence. Nothing more remains than the direction of the two places, the general features of the country, and one or two allusions. The option seems to lie between two routes. From Ilazeroth, pursuing a direction to the north-east, they would come upon the sea-coast, along which they might go till they c;ime to the top of the Bahr Akabah, and thence up wady Arabah to Kadesh, nearly at its extremity. Or they might have taken a north-western course and crossed the mountain Jebel et-Tih. If so, they must still have avoided the west- ern side of Mount Araif, otherwise they would have been carried to Beer-sheba, which lay far to the west of Kadesh. Eobinson prefers the first route, Eaumer the second. "I," says the latter, " am of opinion that Israel went through the desert et-Tih, then down Je- bel Araif, but not along wady 'Arabah." This view is thought to be supported bj' the words found in Dent, i, 10, "When we departed from Horeb we went through all that (/reat and terrible inlderness M'hich ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites [as if Jebel Araif], and we came to Kadesh-barnca." This jour- ney from Horeb to Kadesh-liarnea took the Ileljrews eleven daj'S (Dent, i, 2). But in this last passage the route is expresslj' said to be "by the way of ^fount Stir'''' (which must therefore be the "mount of the Amorites" above referred to), and in ver. 1 the "wil- derness is said to be in the 'Arabah (" plain"), with several places designated as extreme boundary points. See ARABAir.
VI. The Wanderinrjx in the Desert. — At the direct command of Jehovah the Hebrews left Kadesh, came down to the Avady 'Arabah, and entered the wilderness by the way of the Eed Sea (Numb, xiv, 25). In this wilderness they wandered eight-and-thirty years, but little can be set forth respecting the course of their march. It maj' in general be oljserved that their route would not resemble that of a regular modern army. They were a disciplined horde of nomades, and would follow nomadic customs. It is also clear that tlieir stations, as well as their course, would neces- sarily be determined bj' the nature of the country, and its natural supplies of the necess.aries of life. Hence regularity of movement is not to be expected. A com- mon error is that of supposing that from station to station (in Numl). xxxiiii always represents a day's march merely, whereas it is plain, from a comparison of two passages in Exod. (xv, 22) and Numb (x, 23),