DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0195
EGYPT TO SINAI.
ling water trickles along, anon eddying mysteriously beneath the gnarled roots of a pa-
triarchal pine, as though coyly hiding, but soon dancing out again to the music of its
own murmuring.ripple. The laughing water rushes past the tangled clusters of wild
mint, coquetting with the blue forget-me-nots, kissing the green fronds of the dangling
sedge grass, then tumbling at last in a miniature cascade over a low ledge of rock, is
sucked up and consumed by the thirsty sand of the desert. Along the banks of sand
and alluvium through which the water has cut a wide channel, grow waving groups of
tamarisk trees, while in the patches of cultivated ground the rich crimson blossoms of the
pomegranate eclipse all beside in splendor of color.
Feiran is clearly a modernized form of ancient Paran—the surrounding wilderness
being so-called from this, the most important settlement in it—but as the name is
applied in the Bible to the whole district stretching in a north-easterly direction to the
borders of Canaan, it is difficult to fix upon any special site. The magnificent mass of
Serbal which arises above the wady has been
by some writers identified with Sinai—the
Mountain of the Law—but upon insufficient
grounds. This question will be discussed
hereafter in connection with Ras Sufsafeh
and Jebel Musa. With more probability the
site of Rephidim has been sought in this
valley. Here the Amalekites would be
likely to make a stand for the defence of the
most fertile spot in their territory. The fact
that Serbal was a sacred mountain in very
early times, and a place of pilgrimage and
Pagan worship, gives point to the statement
that Moses, with Aaron and Hur, "went
up to the top of the hill," to pray, whilst
the battle was raging in the valley, and ex-
plains the language of Jethro : "Now know
I that Jehovah is greater than all gods."
On the very spot where these idol deities
were worshipped, the servants of the Lord
„ tt- r i i itt tt- SUPERIOR OF THE CONVENT.
call upon Him tor help, and He proves His
power by giving them the victory.1 The only objection to this identification arises from
the want of water.2 The difficulty, however, is not insuperable. We may suppose,
either that the host had only reached the lower part of the valley, which is barren and
waterless, whilst the Amalekites barred the progress upward, or that, in a season of
drought, the usual abundant supply had failed, as often happens in the present day.
" And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai, . . . and
there Israel encamped before the mount." 3 If Feiran is rightly identified as Rephidim,
the route of the Israelites would be by the Wady esh Sheikh. This is a broad and
noble valley shut in by mighty hills, and in many parts shadowed by groves of tamarisk
trees. Its southern extremity opens into the Wady ed Deir, which runs to the south-
I Exodns xvii. 8—i 5 ; xviii 11. 2 Exodus xvii. 1-6.
3 Numbers xxxiii. 15. Exodus xix. 1, 2.
191
ling water trickles along, anon eddying mysteriously beneath the gnarled roots of a pa-
triarchal pine, as though coyly hiding, but soon dancing out again to the music of its
own murmuring.ripple. The laughing water rushes past the tangled clusters of wild
mint, coquetting with the blue forget-me-nots, kissing the green fronds of the dangling
sedge grass, then tumbling at last in a miniature cascade over a low ledge of rock, is
sucked up and consumed by the thirsty sand of the desert. Along the banks of sand
and alluvium through which the water has cut a wide channel, grow waving groups of
tamarisk trees, while in the patches of cultivated ground the rich crimson blossoms of the
pomegranate eclipse all beside in splendor of color.
Feiran is clearly a modernized form of ancient Paran—the surrounding wilderness
being so-called from this, the most important settlement in it—but as the name is
applied in the Bible to the whole district stretching in a north-easterly direction to the
borders of Canaan, it is difficult to fix upon any special site. The magnificent mass of
Serbal which arises above the wady has been
by some writers identified with Sinai—the
Mountain of the Law—but upon insufficient
grounds. This question will be discussed
hereafter in connection with Ras Sufsafeh
and Jebel Musa. With more probability the
site of Rephidim has been sought in this
valley. Here the Amalekites would be
likely to make a stand for the defence of the
most fertile spot in their territory. The fact
that Serbal was a sacred mountain in very
early times, and a place of pilgrimage and
Pagan worship, gives point to the statement
that Moses, with Aaron and Hur, "went
up to the top of the hill," to pray, whilst
the battle was raging in the valley, and ex-
plains the language of Jethro : "Now know
I that Jehovah is greater than all gods."
On the very spot where these idol deities
were worshipped, the servants of the Lord
„ tt- r i i itt tt- SUPERIOR OF THE CONVENT.
call upon Him tor help, and He proves His
power by giving them the victory.1 The only objection to this identification arises from
the want of water.2 The difficulty, however, is not insuperable. We may suppose,
either that the host had only reached the lower part of the valley, which is barren and
waterless, whilst the Amalekites barred the progress upward, or that, in a season of
drought, the usual abundant supply had failed, as often happens in the present day.
" And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai, . . . and
there Israel encamped before the mount." 3 If Feiran is rightly identified as Rephidim,
the route of the Israelites would be by the Wady esh Sheikh. This is a broad and
noble valley shut in by mighty hills, and in many parts shadowed by groves of tamarisk
trees. Its southern extremity opens into the Wady ed Deir, which runs to the south-
I Exodns xvii. 8—i 5 ; xviii 11. 2 Exodus xvii. 1-6.
3 Numbers xxxiii. 15. Exodus xix. 1, 2.
191