and they removed from the Red Sea and encamped in the wildemeAs of Sin." 'fhis makes it certain that Wady Ghunmdel was reached at some distance inland,1 and that after leaving it the route was defkctcd towards the right, and the coast of the Red Sea reached, probably either at the mouth of Wady Ethal or of Wady Shubeikah. As Wady Ethal is only ten miles from Ghurundel, and Shubeikah is leas than :fifteen, the latter would seem to be the more probable, 2 unless indeed there was more than one encampment on the sea-shore. We have now to identify" the wilderness of Sin." Within eleven or twelve miles of the mouth of Wady Shubeikah are two tracts fairly suitable. One of these is the plain of El Markha, 3 an open sandy space, about thirteen miles long by three broad, intervening between the mountains and the sea, which may be reached from Wady Shubeikah by a march along the shore in about thl'ee or four hours. The other is the Debbet er Ramleh, an inland tract, "bare, wild, and desolate,"~ extending about twenty-five miles from N.W.W. to S.E.E., between long. 33° 20' and 33° 40', and varying in width from two to seven miles. This tract may be reached from W ady Shubeikah by a succession of wadys, rough but practicable, in a march of about thl'ee hours. The conductors of the recent Sinai Survey Expedition, having examined both localities, are strongly of opinion that the way by the shore and El Markha is the one most likely to have been pursued by so large a body as the Israelites, 6 and that El Markha consequently is" the wilderness of Sin," where the quails were brought and the manna was :first given (Ex. xvi. 4-36). The opinion of scientific observers has so much weight, that, though some coincidences of name have been noted on the rival route, 6 we incline to accept the line by El Markha as that which the Israelites most probably took. From some part of the plain El-Markha they must have turned inland. Three wadys lead out of it, the Wady Shellal towards the north, the Wady Feiran on the south, and the W ady Seih-Sidreh, halfw~y between the two. Wadys Shellal and Seih-Sidreh unite in the Wady Magharah, where the Egyptians had an important settlement for the working of the copper- mines, defended by a fortress and a garrison. 7 It is probable that the 1 Tbe whole of the coast-line is arid. The we.dys a.re entered from the shore up e. steep dry incline (Sta.nley, p. 10), a.nd it is not till some distance inla.nd the.t vegetation is found. 2 Shubei.ka.h h118 trees, we.ter, a.nd pe.sture.ge. It is, next to Gnarundel, the most fertile of the outer we.dys. • Cook, in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' vol. i. pt. i. p. 438; Stanley, 'Sins.i. a.nd Pe.lestine,' p. 70. ' Cook, p. 436. • Pe.lmer, 'Desert of the Exodus,' vol. i. pp. 232-9. • Debbet is se.id to he.ve exactly the so.me mea.ning 118 Sin (Cook, in the ' Speaker's Commen- tary,' vol. i. pt. i. p. 436), Dophkah (Num. xxxiii. 12) to correspond to Sih, the no.me of e. wa.dy which communicates with the Debbet, a.nd Alush to be the so.me 118 El Esh, a.nother we.dy further on (ibid. pp. 437-8). ' _Brugsch, • Risto~ ,:if Egypt,' v~l. i,. p. ~~ ; C.'lOk, in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' vol. i. pt•• p. 4.'18; Stanley,• Sm, • ~ Pe.lestme, p ;:;: INTRODUCTION.
Israelites would wish to avoid a collision with a disciplined force, and would therefore prefer the southern route, which, though circuitous, and said to bo at the present time ill-watered, was spacious and free from enemies. 'l'hreo encampments brought them to Rephidim, which, if we have correctly divined the movements of the host up to this point, must have been in the ,vady Feiran, a valley declared to be " richer in water and vegetation than any other in the peninsula." 1 Here, consequently, abundant water was expected, but none was found ; the watercourse was dry (Ex. :x.vii. 1). Hence the extreme anger of the people against Moses, followed by the miracle of bringing water out of the rock (ib. vers. 2-6), and soon after- wards l)y the battle with the Amalekites. Wady Feiran, of great value in itself on account of its fertility, was also of extreme importance as giving access to the entire group of valleys about Sinai, which formed an oasis in the stony wilderness. It has been well observed that "if the Israelites passed through W ady Feiran, it seems improbable that they should not have come into collision with the natives." 2 Here were "the tombs and storehouses of the Amalekite~ ; " 3 here probably was the ancient sanctuary of the nation;' here certainly, and in the neighbourhood, was one of the best grazing districts, for which a nomadic horde will fight, if it fights for anything. Here, finally, is a spot fitting well the description of the battle and its attendant circumstances. "Every one who has seen the valley of Feiran will at once recognise the propriety of the 'hill' (Ex. xvii. 9, 10), if applied to the rocky eminence which commands the palm-grove, and on which, in early Christian times, stood the church and palace of the bi.shops of Paran. Thus, if we can attach any credence to the oldest known tradition of the peninsula, that Rephidim is the same as Paran, then Rephidim, 'the resting-place,' is the natural name for the paradise of the Bedouins in the adjacent palm-grove ; then the hill of the church of Paran may fairly be imagined to be "the hill" on which Moses stood, deriving its earliest co.lBecration from the altar which he built; the Amalekites may thus have naturally fought for the oasis of the Desert and the sanctuary of their gods; and Jethro may well have found his kinsmen encamping after their long journey amongst the palms' before the mount of God' (Serbal), and acknowledged that the Lord was greater even than all the gods who had from ancient days been thought to dwell on the lofty peaks which overhung their encampment." 6 The Wady Feiran bifurcates at its eastern extremity, sending off the Wady esh Sheikh to the left, and to the right the Wady Solaf, both of them 1 Highton, in Smith's' Dictionary of the Bible,' vol."iii. p. 1030 2 Cook. in the' Speaker's Commentary,' l.s.c. 3 Rev.· F. W. Hollimd, quoted in the same work, vol. i. pt. i. p. 438, note 1 (Compn.re Our Work in Palestine,' p. 282.) • Ritter, 'Sinai,' pp. 728-44; Stanley,' Sine.i and PB.lestinc,' p. 40 • Stanley, pp. 41-2 INTRODUCTION. xxxvn