The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 24

of thC' ,Tordnn on to Ak6.bRh, or the Ailnuitic eeema probnble thnt originnlly only I\ marshy Gulf: but here it is only tbe.t pnrt of it district lay between the Gulf of Suez nnd ,-· hi<'h exknds from the south end of the the Mediterranean; nnd soruowhere in this D<>Rd Sen to Ailah (oh. ii. S). This pnrt probnbly the passnge of the Israelites nnd sl ill benrs the name of the 'Arftbe.h, the the drowning of tho Egyptians occurred. northern part being known e.s the Ghor Between Paran, and Tophel, eto. This serves (Smith's 'Dictionary,' vol. i. p. S7; Kitto's more fully and part.icule.rly to indicnto the • C~·clop~die.,' ,·nl. i. p. 178). Over ag&inst locality here intended; but tho dotails pre- the Red eeB. The name by which the Red sent. cons!dernble difficulty. 'fakon in con- !'co. is elsewhere designated is Yam-suph nection with the words "over against tl,o Iled ("il::u:); here only the latter word. occurs, sea," the n~mes here given can only bo en<l this has led some to doubt if the Red regnrded as mtendeJ more precisely to indi- :Sen be here intended. Patrick, Roscn- cate the region in which tbo Ismelites had miiller. and others suggest that Sul'h de- • been during the forty yeo.rs of their wander- notes some place in the.t region, probably ing. Paran: this is the name of the :"'-upbah (Numb. xxi. 14, mnrgin, Authorized wilderness bordering on Idumca, where the Yersion), so Cflllcd because lying at its ex- Israelites encnmped (Numb. x. 12; xii. 16); tremity, as the verb sitph, from which it the place of their encampment hein a Kndesh comes, means, to come to nn end ; but in the wildemess of Zin (Numb~ xiii. 21' it is not <'ertnin that Suphnh designates a 26), which was the eastern pa.rt of th~ place in Numb. xxi. 14. The Hebrew word wilderness of Pii.ro.n, hod. Wo.dy Murreh. ~ci:: means a tempest or whi, !wind; e.ud this The. wilderness of Pll.ran corresponds in meaning may be assumed here, as it is by general outline with the desert of Et-Tih. Gesenius; Keil, and others: ""'aheb [he con- 'fbis is a v:ist plo:teo.u of irregular surface q ucred] in a storm." Knobel suggests thnt stretching from the Et-Tih range north- probably the pass m,w called Es Sufii.h, on wm·ds to the boundaries of the Holy Land, tbe north side of the Wady ll'lurreh-the and from the Gulf of Akil.bah and the lllaaleh-acrabbim (Scorpion-ascent) of Josh. Wady el 'Are.bah on the east to the Gulf of x,·. 3-i.s meant; others have suggested Suez and the Mediterro.nean on the west. Zephath (,Judg. i. 17; comp. Numb. xiv. It is described as " a chalky formation, the 45). and others Zupb (1 Sam. ix. 5). It is chl\lk being covered with coarse gravel, probable, however, the.t Suph is here merely mixed with black flints and drifting sand;" u brC\·iloquenee for r am-suph, the Red Sea; not, however, wholly sterile: in many parts und so all tile ancient versions take it. The vegetation abounds, considerable portions iJcntificatiou of the Yam-suph of the Old are under cultivation, and there o.re evi- Testament with tbe JpvBpa. 8&>.acrcra of the dences that at one time water was abundant Greeks, the mare erylhr;eum, or rubrum, of there (Smith, ii. 707; Kitto, iii. 1077; Drew, the Latins, is due to tbe LXX., which other 'Scripture Lands,' p. 80). It is not, how- versions have followed. The identification ever, to the wilderness of Pll.ran that the is undoubtedly correct (cf. Numb. xxxiii. reference is in the text, hut to somo definite 10 and I Kings ix. 26). Yam-suph, indeed, locality or spot in the region in which the means simply sea of weeds, and might he Israelites then were, or which they he.d the name of any sea in which algm are recently passed through. It has been sug- found ; but these passages clearly prove gested that the place now called Fei.ril.n, o.nd that by this the Hebrews designated the where there are the ruins of a town, once of Red Sea. At what part of this sea the some importance in the early history of Israelites crossed, and the hosts of Pharo.oh Christianity, is the Pll.ran of this passage, were submerged, is and mnst remain uncer- as it apparently is the PO.ran of 1 Kings xi. tain, because we know not what was the 18. But this locality at the base of Jebel condition of the Isthmus of Suez at tbe Serbail is much too far west to he the PO.ran time of tbe ExoduA. It is prc.bable it was here referred to. More probable is the sug- not at any part of what is now known as .gestion that it is the Faran mentioned by the Red Sea or Gulf of Suez. Brugsch Dey Eusebius and Jerome(' Onomast.,' s.v. <l>apd.11), placeB it at that- a eity to the east (north-east) of Ailo.h or Elath, about three days' journey (Reland, " Serhonian hog 'Palest.,' p. 556; Winer, 'Ree.lwiirterhuch,' Betwixt Damiata and mount Casius old, s.v. Pharan). Tophel: this name occurs only "'here armies whole have sunk." here; it is supposed to be the place now (Milton,• Paradise Lost,' Bk. ii. 592.) called Tufailah or Tafyleh, a large villago cif But this bas not been accepted by scholars six hundred inhabitants, between Bozrah and generally (Hx Edinl,urgh Reriew, No. 307; Kerak, on the eastern slope of the mountains Conder'• 'Handbook to tbe Bible,' p. 247; of Edorn (Burckhardt,' Syria,' p. 402; Robin- Quarterly St.aterrwnt of the Pakstine Explo- son, 'Bib. Res.,' ii. 570). As this is a place rntum Fur,d, July and October, 1880). It where the Syrian cnravnne are supplied witl! (Jll, !. 1-18.] THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 8