The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 25

iirovisions, it ho.s been conjeolured th~t the pea.red about the beginning of last century, Jsro.olilce when at Oboth (Numb. xx1. 10, 'l'he words " between Pa.ran o.nd Tophel " 11) mo.y' ho.vo resorted to it for 11. supply, have been taken to indicate the termini 11 nd tho.t it w11s here tho.t they purchased of the wanderings; o.t the commencement moat o.nd drink from the ohilclren of Eeou of these•the people were at Pa.ran, and (eh. ii. 29). And Laban. Laban ie gene- towards the close of them they were at rally iclcntiflccl with Libna.h, the second Tophel. "Looking from tho steppes of plo.co of encampment of the Ieraelitee Moo.b over the ground that the IBl'aeli tea had on their 1·eturn from Kacleeh (Nu_mb. traversed, Sflph, where they first entered xxxiii. 20, 21). Knobel, however, thrnke the desert of Arabia, would lie between it ie the plo.ce co.lied by Ptolemy 'A~apa, Pari.n where the congregation o.rri ved at lying between Petro o.nd Ailo.h; thie the borders of Cana.an toward the west, and Tophel where they first ended their desert no.me, from the Arobio Jb (he wos white), wanderings thirty-seven years later on the having the so.me meaning o.s the Hebrew east" (Keil). But this assumes that Fil.ran !~~- Ha.ze~oth is eupp?sed to b~ the place here is the wilderness of Paran. mentioned 111 Numb. x1. 35; xu. 16, from Ver. 2.-Horeb. The name generally which the lsro.elites entered the wilderness given to Sinai in Deuteronomy (see intro- of Paran; - but os the other places here duction, § 4). Sinai, however, occurs in mentioned are on the east side of the 'Ara- eh. xxxiii. 2 of this book. By the way of bo.h it is not probable that this Hazeroth is mount Seir, i.e. by the way that leads to the 'same o.e that of Numbers, which must Mount Seir; just o.s in eh. ii. I, "the way have been not far from Sinai, in a northerly of the Red sea." is the way that leads to or north-westerly direction from that moun- that sea. (see also Numb. xiv. 25). Mount is tain probably at or near to the fountain now here, as often elsewhere, for mountain range. co.ll~d El Hudhero.h (Wilson, i Lo.nds of the The mountain range here referred to seems Bible' i. 235; Kitto, 'Cyclopredia,' ii. 243). to have been, not that on the east of the Ther~ were probably several places bearing '.Arabo.h, but what il! in vers. 6 and 19 the nu.me of Hazeroth, i.e. villages. Dizaha.b. co.lied "the mountain of the Amorites," This is generally identified with Dhahab, o " the Seir by Hormah" of ver. 44, i.e. the place on a tongue of lo.nd in the Gulf of southern part of what was afterwards called Aka.bah. But it is extremely improbable the mountains of Judah. According to ver. that the Israelites ever were at this place, 19, the Israelites, when they left Horeb, the approach to which is exceedingly diffi- passed through the wilderness along the cult· and the mere resemblance of the no.mes way that led to the mountains of the Diz!hab and Dhnhab is not sufficient to Amorites, and came to Kadesh-barnee.. prove the identity of the places. There were Kadesh must, therefore, be looked for, not probably more places thon one which were on the eastern side of the '.Arabo.h, bnt named from zahab (gold) in the region somewhere in the wilderness of Zin. It traversed bv the Israelites. There is o. has been identified with the place now Dhohab on the east of thtl Jordan near the known o.s 'Ain Kfldes, near the northern Zerko. or Jo.bbok, a double mound, which is extremity of J ebel Halal, and to the east of so.id to derive its no.me from the yellowish that hill; but this is far from beiug certain. colour of the sandstone rock of which it Moses reminds the Israelites that the consists, and which is metalliferous, In the distance between Horeb and Kadesh is Arabic of the Polyglot, Dizo.ho.b appears o.s eleven days-i.e. about one hundred and Dhi-dhahab, which signifies "auro prieditum sixty-five miles, the day's journey being vel ab auro dictum; no.m ,, vel ,,, o.pud reckoned at fifteen miles-not to give them Aro.bes in compositione nominum propr. a piece of information, but rather to suggest idem est o.c Heh. ~11::i" (J. H. Michaelis). to them how, in consequence of rebellion, Thero is o. various reading here, Di-waheb, a journey which might ho.ve been so easily e.nd this has been supposed to connect this accomplished, had been protracted through place with the Wo.heb of Numb. xxi. 14. many wearisome years. But, as o.bove noted, it is by no means Vers. 3, 4.-Here is intimated the ti1118 certo.in that Wo.heb is there the name of when the following addresses were de- a place; it mny, o.s Bishop Po.tlick sug- livered to the people. It was on the first gests, be that of o. wan, some hero or day of the eleventh month in the fortieth chief, who was conquered in Sufo.h or in year; therefore near the end of their o. storm. Wo.heb is o. name among the wo.uderings, and towards the olose of the Aro.be. The matomo.l gro.ndfo.ther of Mo- lawgiver's own career. He could thus speak hammed ho.d this no.me (Abul-Pharoj, 'Hist. to them aooording unto all that the Lord had Dynast.,' p. 161, edit. Pococke, Oxon., 1663); given him in oommandment unto them, i.6. and tho sect of the Wa.ho.bees tako their in accordance with the legislo.tivo contents no.me from Abdul Wahab, n fanntio who np- of the preceding books (comp. eh. iv. 5 23;  4 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [on. I, 1-18.