The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 439

as if Rithmah were the station " in the from time to time in one place. Rissah is wilderness of Po.rem" from which the spies variously interpreted "heap of ruins," or went up, and to which they returned-a "dew ; " Shapher means "fair," or "splen- station subsequently known by the name of did;" Haradah, or Charadah, is "terror," or Kadesh. There are two difficulties in tho "trembling" (cf. I Sam. xiv. 15); Tahath is w11y of this identification. In the first place a "going down," or "depression;" Tarah is we should then only have three n11mes of "turning," or " delay;" Mithcah signifies stations between Sinai and the southern "sweetness," and may be compared (in an border of Palestine, on what is at least eleven opposite sense) to M11rah. days' journey. This is, however, confessedly Ver. 30.--.Rashmonah. This is possibly the case in the historice.l narrative, and it ad- the Heshmon of Josh. xv. 27, since this was mits of explanation. We know that the first one of the "uttermost cities . . toward the journey was a three days' journey (eh. x. 33), coast of Edom, southward." The name and the others m11y have been longer still, however ("fruitfulness"), was probably through a country which presented no facili- common on the edge of the desert. lllose- ties for en cam ping, and possessed no variety roth. This is simply the plural form of of natural features. In the second place, Moserah ("chastisement"), and is no doubt Rithmah is not Kadesh, and cannot be con- the place so called in Deut. L 6 (see note at nected with Kadesh except through a doubt- end of chapter). ful identification with the Wady Retemiit in Ver. 31.-Bene-laakan. The full name the neighbourhood of Ain Kudes (see note at is given in Dent. x. 6 as Beeroth-beni-Ja.ak:m, end of eh. xiii.). It is, however, evident "the wells of the children of Ja.akan." from eh. xii. 16, as compared with eh. xiii. Jaakan, or Akan, was a grandson of Seir, the 26, that Kadesh was not the name originally legendary tribe father of the Horites of Mount given to the encampment "in the wilder- Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 20, 27 ; 1 Chron. i. 42). ness of Paran." It seems to have got that The wells of the Beni-Ja.akan may well have name-perhe.ps owing to some popular feeling retained their name long after their original with respect to an ancient sanctuary, per- owners had been dispossessed ; or II remnant haps owing to some partial shifting of the of the tribe may have held together until camp-during the absence of the spies. this time. • Rithmah, therefore, may well have been the Ver. 32.-Hor-ha-gidgacL The MSS. and official name (so to speak) originally given to Versions 11re divided between Chor(" cave") the encampment, but subsequently super- and Hor(" summit," or" mountain"). Gid- seded by the more famous n11me of Kadesh ; gad is no doubt the Gudgodah of Deut. this would explain both its non-e.ppearance in x. 7. the narrative of Numbers, and its appear- Ver, 33. -lotbathah. The meaning of ance in the Itinerary here. this name, which is app11rently "excellent," Ver.19.-Rimmon-parez. The latter part is expl11ined by the note in Deu t. x. i of the name is the sru:ne as paraf.9 or perets, "Jotbath, a land of rivers of w11ters." It which commonly signifies a breaking out of would be difficult to find such II land now in Divine anger. This pl11ce may possibly have the nei~hbourhood of the Arabah, but there been the scene of the events related in chs. are still running streams in some of the xvi., xvii., but the T11rgum of P11lestine con- wadys which open into the Ara.bah towards nects them with Kehelathah. its southern end. Ver. 20.-Libnah. Hebrew i1p~("white- Ver. 84. - Ebron&h, or "Abronah," I\ " beach," or " pnssuge," called " the Fords " ness ") m11y perhaps be the same as the by the Targum of Plllesti.ne. It is conjec- Lab11n (!~?, "white") mentioned in Dent. i. tured th11t it lily below Ezion-geber, just 1. So many places, however, in that region opposite to Ele.th, with which place it may 11ro distinguished by the dazzling whiteness have been connected by 11, ford at low tide, of their limestone cliffs that the identifica- but this is quite uncertain. tion is quite uncertain. The site of this, as Ver. 35.-Ezion·gaber, or rather "Etsion- of the next eight stations, is indeed utterly geber," the "giant's backbone." This can unknown ; 11nd the guesses which are founded hardly be other than the place mentioned in on the partie.l and probably accidente.l simi- 1 Kings ix. 26; 2 Chron. viii. 17 M tho larity of some modern names (themselves dif- h11rbour of King Solomon's merchant nuvy. ferently pronounced by different tmvellers) At this later date it wa.s 11ot the heud of tho nre utterly worthless. Of these eight names, n11vigable w11ters of the Elanitic Gulf, but Kehelathah and Makheloth seem to be do- considerable chcmges have taken place in the shore line since the uge of Solomon, 11nd no rived from 'OR, "an assembling," and thus doubt similar changes took pl11ce before. It give some slight support to the supposition was known to, and at times occupied by, the that during the thirty-eight years the people Egyptians, and the wretched village which were scattered 11broad, 11nd only BSsembled occupies the site is still called Aszium by the  428 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [og, XXXIII. 1-49,