6. On the Way to Sinai

The bitterness and trials of the free life. – The hard road and the bitter water. – The mysterious tree. – Pharaoh’s Bath and the Egyptian port. – The lack of provisions and their miraculous supply. – Flocks of quails. – The manna and theories concerning its nature and origin. – The Egyptian mines and the liberation of the convicts. – The spring from the rock. – The encounter with the Amalekites and their defeat. – Moses’ father-in-law and the reform of the people’s administration carried out at his suggestion.

Having struck their camp in the valley of Ayun Musa, the liberated people set out toward the south. On the right, beyond a narrow strip of sea, rose the peaks of the Atakah mountain chain, in which they beheld almost for the last time the land of their bondage and Africa in general; on the left rose the hills of El-Rahah, the western spurs of the elevated wilderness of Tih. Moses led his people, in all probability, by that route which is even now used by the caravans travelling from Sinai to Suez and Cairo, not far from the seashore, along a desolate, harsh, flinty road. The rays of the sun scorch fearfully, and the wadis one encounters are for the most part dry or contain springs of bitter-salt water unfit for drinking. Ebers describes how even in March the heat was unbearable[1]. All around was desolate and lifeless; only here and there, perhaps, a raven flew off in fright or a lizard darted past, and along the road one met with the skeletons of the white bones of camels that had perished on the way. The farther they went, the more undulating and mountainous the country became. This was the Wilderness of Shur. For three days the people moved heavily forward, sustaining themselves with the water they had stored in leathern skins; but at length this too was exhausted, and the torment of thirst began to tell upon all. This was a comfortless beginning for the new life of freedom, and stood in sharp contradiction to what the Israelites had perhaps expected after their miraculous deliverance from Pharaoh. At last they arrived at the valley of Huwarah, then known by the name of Marah, and in it they found water; but it proved to be too salty and bitter. Their moral education had now begun. Jehovah had saved them at the Red Sea, and wished to accustom them to trust in Him for the future as well. But it was a hard lesson, and the people once more broke into loud murmuring against Moses. It was indeed a terrible trial of their hope in their unseen leader and protector. Yet help was near, had they but possessed a little more patience and self-denial. “And Moses cried unto the Lord, and the Lord shewed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet”[2], so that the people pleasantly slaked their thirst. In this valley one may to this day see bitter-salt springs. When Ebers, catching sight of them, made his way toward them to quench his thirst, the Arabs accompanying him cried out to him: morra, morra! that is, the water is bitter to drink. And indeed, despite the admixture of wine to it, it was impossible to drink, though camels in great thirst will drink it. Learned travellers have to this day failed to discover any such tree or plant as might serve to improve the water. But Lesseps relates that the Arabs assured him they place in such bitter water a kind of barberry growing in the desert, and the water becomes fit for drinking. It is also not without interest to note Palmer’s remark that the Bedouin use the word “tree” to designate everything possessing the properties of medicaments. In any case, it is known that in other countries too there are plants having the properties of the tree described in the book of Exodus[3]. In Peru there is a plant, called by the Spaniards mervo, which has the property of purifying water, however salty or bad it may be. The people constantly carry it with them on long journeys, so as on occasion to purify their drinking water by means of it[4]. Thus the miracle wrought by Moses may have had, like many other miracles, a natural basis, showing that a miracle is never contrary to nature, but only surpasses nature, supplying its deficiencies often by its very own forces and properties.

Proceeding from here farther southward, the Israelites pitched their next camp at Elim – “the trees” – in a place so called from its seventy date palms, watered by twelve springs. This place is identified with the present-day Wadi Gharandel, which to this day serves as a pleasant halting-place for caravans, who here fill their leathern skins with fresh water and rest beneath the shade of the palms. Having remained here several days, the people moved on farther to Wadi Tayyibah, a comparatively pleasant valley fringed with tamarisks, shrubs, and palms, and watered here and there by springs. The road here is hilly, the view open in every direction, and the rocky soil, gradually passing from limestone into red and light-yellow sandstone, lends an exceedingly peculiar and striking character to the whole region. Eight hours after leaving the valley of Gharandel they must have reached the so-called “Pharaoh’s Bath,” a pyramid-shaped limestone mountain rising 1,000 feet. Its walls are so cracked and furrowed, and on the whole it presents so monstrous and ungainly a mass, that it seemed a fearful dwelling of the demons of bondage who had compelled the people in Egypt to the building of like monstrous and purposeless pyramids. Large passages lead into the interior of the mountain, and there the traveller is struck by whole clouds of steam rising from the hot springs that gush from the earth. The Arabs have a tradition explaining the name of this pyramid, “Pharaoh’s Bath,” by the supposition that one of the Pharaohs, the cruellest oppressor of the people of Israel, was confined here and perished in the boiling cauldrons of the mountain’s subterranean depths. This region is bare, hilly, and difficult to traverse, and the people were glad when the blue of the sea appeared ahead, on whose shore the camp was pitched[5]. It is hard to conjecture why Moses led his people by precisely this not entirely direct route. But one may suppose it was partly in order that the people might breathe the fresh sea air after the scorching and stifling heat of the wilderness, and also, perhaps, in order to avail themselves of all that the Egyptian port situated here might place at the people’s disposal – stores of food and articles which might prove useful in the wilderness.

The road from the seaside camp ran for some distance along the shore[6]. Leaving the high chalk cliffs of Wadi Tayyibah, the Israelites entered upon the plain of El-Markha, called in the book of Exodus the Wilderness of Sin, which stretches along the coast; it is a flinty region almost wholly devoid of all vegetation. It is one of the most oppressive and cheerless localities in the whole peninsula. Even in winter the heat here is fearful, and the Israelites passed through it already in April. Even the Bedouin, who ordinarily bear the heat easily, feel here a peculiar oppression. The camel-drivers, usually talkative, here sink into utter silence and press close to their camels, trying to make use of the narrow strip of shade cast by them. The Bedouin cover their heads with white cloaks and lie in heavy languor, swaying upon the “ships of the desert.” Only when a breeze blows in from the sea does it bring with it some relief to the wayfarers. One may imagine with what hardships the journey here was attended for the enormous mass of Israelites, wearily dragging along with their wives, children, herds of cattle, and a vast baggage train. To the common hardships was added this, that the stores of wheat, flour, and food of every kind taken from Egypt (evidently enormous, if they had lasted so long) at length began to be exhausted, notwithstanding the replenishment effected during the halt at the Egyptian port. Six weeks had now passed since the crossing of the Red Sea, and they had constantly had only hardships to endure in that wilderness where they had dreamed of “freedom.” But lately they had nearly perished of thirst; now famine threatened them, and in view of the new danger the miracle so lately wrought before them was forgotten. Against Moses and Aaron there again arose bitter outcries, and through the crowd were heard exclamations of bitter regret that the people had not remained in bondage on the banks of the Nile, where they had sat by the fleshpots and eaten bread to the full[7]. The ungrateful and coarse people, accustomed by ages of slavery to rely for their sustenance upon the care of their masters, would not understand that freedom demanded of them courage and self-reliance, and was inseparable from trials. But they were to be convinced that Moses had, at all events, not freed them to die of hunger in the wilderness, and so he soon opened up for them new and, to them, extraordinary, miraculous resources of sustenance. On the evening of that same day the whole region about the camp was covered with masses of quails, and the next morning manna appeared over all the space surrounding them[8].

On the Sinai peninsula itself no birds flying in flocks are met with, though Ebers saw in Wadi Feiran solitary birds, and among them the common starling. But quails not infrequently fly over it in great flocks on their way from inner Africa, and of necessity settle here and there to rest. This occurs for the most part in late spring, which is precisely when the Israelites encountered them. They usually fly in the evening and always with the wind, keeping close to the ground, presenting themselves rather as earthbound than as aerial birds, as Pliny observes[9]. Exhausted by their flight, they grow so feeble that they are killed with sticks, caught with nets, and even by hand[10]. The Egyptian monuments often depict such scenes, in which fowlers with nets seize whole flocks of quails and there at once swiftly prepare them for eating, simply drying them in the sun and salting them[11]. Of these birds there was at times such a multitude that a whole settlement of exiles from Egypt fed upon them – men whose noses had been cut off for various crimes and who had been driven into the wilderness to the mercy of fate[12], where they fed upon the quails that chanced to come their way, catching them with wretched reed nets. Such flocks are known in many places of the East. Their flight is feeble, and therefore they instinctively choose for their flight the narrowest parts of the sea and make use for resting of any islands that lie in their path. In spring and autumn, on their way from Africa or back again, they alight on the island of Malta and on the Greek islands, where they are killed in great numbers. It is therefore understandable that the Israelites should have met with them precisely in the Wilderness of Sin. Owing to the projection of the Sinai peninsula, the Red Sea is here narrowed, and it is this narrow passage that the flocks of quails make use of for their flight into Asia. This phenomenon is observed even now, and during the migration of the birds one may here meet with flocks exactly like those which once furnished the Israelites with an unexpected source of sustenance in the wilderness.

A far more enigmatic phenomenon is presented by the manna. There have been many attempts to set forth a more or less plausible explanation, and various natural phenomena have been pointed out which throw some light upon the manner of this miraculous feeding of the people; but they are, at all events, insufficient for a complete explanation of the biblical fact. According to the most current and favoured theory, the manna was nothing other than a saccharine exudation from the branches of the tamarisk tree, which from time immemorial has been called by the Arabs man or manna. From the branches, and not the leaves, there issues a sweet, syrupy, honey-like substance, falling in heavy congealed drops, which are gathered by the Bedouin into leathern bags, partly for their own use as a delicacy with thin slices of bread, and partly for sale in Cairo and to the monks of the Sinai monastery of St. Catherine. The tamarisk is far richer in sap than all the other trees of the Sinai peninsula, and retains its verdure even when everything else is scorched and dried up by the burning heat of summer. Its “manna” issues from the punctures made by insects in the tender bark of the branches in springtime. It issues most abundantly after rains, but requires cleansing and special preparation to render it fit for food. “White manna” is mentioned on the Egyptian monuments as a vegetable food[13], and was used both for sacrifice and in the laboratory as a medicinal substance, so that this substance was known from ancient times. The Bedouin even now say that it “rains down from heaven,” because it falls from the trees together with the dew. Like the biblical manna, it too spreads over the ground in the early morning like hoar-frost. Since dew fell with the biblical manna, this means that the camp of the Israelites at this time was not in a dry, waterless wilderness, but somewhere upon good pastures with water. In the biblical manna, when gathered in excess, worms bred. This is explained by the presence in the tamarisk manna of the larvae of gnats, which soon come to life in it and spoil the manna, unless it be first passed through a coarse cloth. Like the biblical manna, it resembles coriander seed, has the taste of honey, and melts in the sun[14]. It is true that the tamarisk manna falls only during one or two months, but to this it may be answered that the biblical narrative does not say that the manna was the exclusive food throughout the round of the year; it was rather only a supplementary food for the Israelites, who could besides gather dates[15], feed upon the milk and flesh of their herds[16], and doubtless bought bread from the Amalekites, Midianites, and Ishmaelites dwelling in that region, just as later they wished to buy bread from the Edomites[17]. A very substantial objection against the identification of the biblical manna with the tamarisk manna is that the latter, given the scantiness of vegetation on the Sinai peninsula, would be far from sufficient for the sustenance of so enormous a mass of people. Of course, the present state of the peninsula cannot be taken as a measure of its state ages and millennia ago. In the time of Moses it was without doubt far more fertile and richer in vegetation. There dwelt upon it at that time populous tribes, who evidently found their sustenance there; a lively trade was carried on with it on the part of Egypt; industry briskly flourished in the working of the mines, and there were whole cities, the remains of which present an almost incredible phenomenon in view of the present barrenness of the peninsula. Ages of merciless destruction of the forests have utterly laid bare this region and deprived it of those resources which it without doubt possessed in the time of Moses. But for all that, even granting a far greater fruitfulness of the peninsula in ancient times, no conscientious investigator can fully accept the notion that the tamarisk manna alone would have sufficed for the sustenance of a whole people. Therefore some investigators point to another phenomenon sometimes observed in nature, which likewise bears a resemblance to the biblical manna. In various countries there has been observed a fall from heaven of a whitish, edible substance, covering the ground with a layer several inches thick. In 1824 and 1828 it fell in great quantity in Persia and Asiatic Turkey. In 1829, during the war between Russia and Persia, there was a great famine at Urumiah, to the southwest of the Caspian Sea. In a single day, during a strong wind, the whole surface of the ground was covered with a layer of a substance which the people called “bread from heaven.” The sheep ate it greedily, and the people, never having seen it before, began to gather this substance and, having ground it into flour, began to prepare bread from it, which proved tasty and nourishing. The very same phenomenon has more than once been observed in Russia as well, especially in its southern belt and in the Caucasus. In 1865 it fell in great quantity in the land of the Don Cossack Host. The people were greatly astonished to see one morning, in the midst of summer, the whole ground covered as if with snow, but they were still more astonished that the swine ate this substance greedily. This substance proved to be mealy, and since at that time the people were utterly exhausted by famines from crop failures continuing for several years in succession, they began greedily to gather this substance like manna, and it served as a considerable aid to their sustenance[18]. The very same phenomenon had earlier been observed in the province of Vilna, in 1846, and in other places. In the opinion of some investigators, this substance is formed from a particular kind of moss, growing for the most part in the desolate mountains and steppes of Asia. It spreads over the ground in enormous masses, putting down no roots into it, and during a wind rises into the air in whole clouds, becomes saturated with moisture, and, turning into a substance in appearance resembling hail and hoar-frost, falls to the earth together with the rain in the region whither it is carried by the wind[19]. From the biblical narrative some not without reason conclude that the Israelites had two kinds of manna, since otherwise one could not “grind it in mills or beat it in a mortar” – one and the same substance which “melted when the sun waxed hot”[20]. One may therefore suppose that they had both tamarisk manna and the mossy kind. But even on such a supposition not all the features of the biblical narrative will be explained. At the present time, over the whole peninsula even in the best years, no more than 20 or 25 poods of tamarisk manna are obtained, so that however much we may extend the limits of the peninsula’s productiveness in ancient times, its natural manna would be insufficient for the enormous mass of the people of Israel. The manna gathered by them was fully nourishing in itself, whereas the tree manna serves rather as a seasoning to food than as the food itself, and was therefore justly reckoned by the ancient Egyptians among medicinal substances. Furthermore, its falling in a double quantity on the sixth day and its not appearing at all on the Sabbaths plainly points to its providential significance; otherwise it would not have produced such astonishment among the Israelites, since the tree manna was a phenomenon long well known, which therefore there would have been no need to preserve for succeeding generations[21].

From the Wilderness of Sin Moses led his people away from the seaside line. This region is yet more fearful and cheerless, so that the Romans, passing through it during their military campaigns, were horrified at the desolate wildness of these bare, savage, craggy mountains. The people had now to pass through narrow gorges, now to climb upon rocks, now to descend into ravines – along a fearful road strewn with stones. Why did Moses lead his people by so fearful a route? To this one can answer only by pointing to what he was to encounter on this road. Not far off, namely at the mountain of Daphne[22], called Ta-Mafkat by the Egyptians, were situated the famous Egyptian mines, which served as the chief source of obtaining gold, silver, and other metals for Egypt. These mines were worked by the convict labour of exiles, who were sent here in gangs, shackled in chains, and compelled to forced labour. In the days of the oppressor-Pharaohs they were filled with convicts, and among these there were without doubt enormous masses of Israelites, whom the despotic government banished here in gangs in order to weaken the young people that was becoming dangerous to the state. The Egyptian historian Manetho relates that Pharaoh Amenophis exiled in this manner to the mines and quarries up to 80 thousand “lepers,” as the Israelites who did not observe the Egyptian laws of cleanliness were doubtless called. Therefore, in directing himself hither, Moses had in view not only to avail himself of the Egyptian provisions and the spoil of gold and silver in these mines, but chiefly to liberate his suffering brethren. The small Egyptian garrison, which, as appears from the tablet of the Twelfth Dynasty, consisted of no more than 700 men[23], evidently could offer no great resistance, and on the approach of the people withdrew, in order to unite with the neighbouring Arab tribes and afterward to harass the invading people.

From the Egyptian mines the people went by way of Wadi Mokatteb, which is famous for a multitude of mysterious inscriptions upon the rocks and whole representations presenting scenes of the wandering of some tribe. There are depicted laden and unladen camels, horses with riders, and simply stars and crosses, ships, fishes, and even such hunting scenes as the pursuit of an antelope by dogs. These inscriptions have called forth many attempts at their explanation. Already in the sixth century Cosmas Indicopleustes speaks of them as monuments of the passage of the Israelites there out of Egypt, and adduces them in proof of the truth of the biblical narrative. But the latest investigations have shown that there are many such representations all over the peninsula, and that they owe their origin to the various tribes that dwelt here at different times, and of course in part to the Israelites also. Some inscriptions belong to a later period, and there are even inscriptions plainly showing an already Christian origin[24].

A great camp was then made at Rephidim. This place is identified with the valley of Feiran or its environs. In one of the valleys adjoining it the Arabs point out the rock from which Moses miraculously drew forth water[25]. It is surrounded by heaps of small stones, with which the following legend is connected. When the children of the Israelites, encamped by the miraculous spring, had quenched their thirst, they afterward amused themselves by throwing stones at the rocks. From this arose the custom of doing the same thereafter, and the Arabs preserve it to this day, in memory of the miracle[26]. To the southeast of Jebel Musa is a rock which is likewise held to be the place where the miracle was wrought. In it are perceptible certain strange hollows, which according to tradition were filled with water. The neighbouring Arabs hold this rock in high honour, and in these hollows they place grass in memory of Moses, just as they place grass upon the tombs of their saints, because this is held to be the best offering for them. Not without interest in this connection is the geologist Fraas’s description of a spring on Mount Horeb, very closely recalling the biblical fact. He found there a spring which miraculously breaks forth from the rock, and that too from an opening as if artificially pierced. “In the whole wall of the mountain there is not even a trace of water, such as might lead one to suppose a hidden spring in the rock. This spring is as if artificially hewn out by a human hand, which involuntarily reminds the geologist acquainted with the Bible of Moses, that great knower of mountains and of men, who struck the rock with his rod, and water flowed forth from it”[27].

But the Israelites had to struggle not only with the hardships of the road and the deficiencies of nature, but also with hostile tribes. While they were still at the valley of Feiran, the inhabitants of the neighbouring oasis resolved to offer them resistance. This was a tribe of Bedouin, known under the name of Amalekites, the strongest tribe of the Sinai peninsula at that time. In the winter season they usually dwelt in the southern limits of the peninsula, and toward summer moved northward, namely into the environs of the valley of Feiran, where they found good pastures for their herds. It was therefore for them an extreme and vital necessity to drive away from here the newly-invading people, who might wrest away their pastures. Having long been tributaries of the Pharaohs, they now joined with the Egyptian garrison that had retreated from the mines of Daphne, and together fell upon the newcomers. The time and place had been very well chosen by them. The people of Israel were utterly exhausted by the hardships of the road and by adversities, even considerably demoralized by murmuring and discontent with their leader, whom they had just before threatened even to stone[28]. The locality was hemmed in by granite rocks, which hindered any more or less regular military action, and the heat scorched unbearably. The moment was critical. True, the Israelites were incomparably more numerous than their enemies, but their very numerousness, with their wives, children, and herds, was their chief weakness, because it could the more readily provoke a panic among the people. Moses swiftly weighed all these circumstances, and gave orders to leave all the baggage train with the wives and children behind, while from the tribes he chose the most capable and brave warriors, who were to do battle with the Amalekites. The detachment was placed under the command of Joshua the son of Nun, then still a young man, whose name here appears for the first time in the annals of history. Having united with the lesser tribes more friendly to themselves, who in their turn sought alliance with the Israelites against the Amalekites who oppressed them, namely with the Kenites and Midianites, the Israelites inflicted such a defeat upon their enemies that these never once troubled them again during the whole time of their wandering through the Sinai peninsula. During the battle Moses stood upon the mountain, watching the course of the engagement and encouraging his warriors by the raising of his hands, which had a miraculously heartening effect upon them[29].

Soon after the defeat of the Amalekites, Moses was gladdened by a pleasant meeting, which was bound to hearten him amid his fearful labours and adversities. On setting out for Egypt, he had sent away his wife Zipporah with her two children to his father-in-law Jethro, for safety. Now, when he was again near the sacred mountain, it fell to him to see once more his little family, brought to him by his father-in-law. The meeting with Jethro was purely in the Eastern manner. Learning of his approach, Moses went out to meet him, bowed before him upon his knees, touched the ground with his head, kissed first his hand, and then, having risen, kissed him upon both cheeks, and, greeting one another according to all the rules of the courtesy refined among the Arabs, they entered the tent. There Moses related to him all the events that had attended the deliverance of the people, and all the difficulties they had met with upon the way. A thank-offering of a burnt sacrifice was brought to God, an entertainment was prepared, at which, in the presence of Aaron and the elders, a formal alliance was concluded between the Israelites and the Midianites, binding both peoples by bonds of friendship that were not broken throughout the whole subsequent history[30].

Jethro’s sojourn in the Israelite camp was marked by an important reform in the administrative organization of the people. Up to this time the people had no judicial department organized at all – for the examination of the cases and disputes that arose. With all their cases they turned directly to Moses himself, who therefore had to occupy himself from morning till evening with the examination of endless disputes and cases. Such an order of things was exceedingly wearisome for the leader and inconvenient for the people. Jethro’s experienced eye at once perceived the abnormality of such a situation, and he proposed to Moses such an organization of the judicial business that only the most important cases should reach him. He was to divide the whole people into separate parts, and over each part to set a chief, to whom each part might turn for the examination of the cases arising in it. Thus there arose that orderly decimal system of popular chiefs, which contributed so much to the proper communal life of the people. There were chosen captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens, who managed the affairs of their parts. Only the major cases were brought for the decision of Moses, who, thus freed from petty matters, could wholly devote his genius to the higher interests of the people’s life[31].

After Jethro’s return to his tribe, the people of Israel moved on farther. In the distance there were already to be seen the majestic heights of the mountains of Sinai, where there was to be accomplished an event great not only for the people of Israel, but for all mankind, namely the promulgation of the famous, divine Sinaitic legislation. It was to these heights that Moses now led the people he had liberated.