Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-02-04
Light on the Oldest of Rhetorical Problems

The current quarterly statement OF
the Palestine Exploration Fund is ex-
ceptionally interesting 1t contains the
report drawn up by Major Kitchener,
embodyiDg the results of the survey
made by him of the great Valley of the
Arabah, which was, in prehistoric
times, the continuation of the Jordan
Valley. down to the eastern arm of the
Red Sea, now known as the Gulf Of
Akaba.
1t will be recollected that some eigh-
teen months ago a project was mooted
of connecting the Jordan Valley with
the Red Sea by means of a canal cut
out IN the Arabah; and As the Dead Sea
and the Jordan Valley are considerably
below the sea level, il was conjectured
that il cutting was made for some
twenty miles from the head OF the Gulf
of Akaba an opening would be effected
by which the waters of the Red Sea
would flow down the remaining por
tions of the Arabah into the Dead Sea
and ill the Jordan Valley up To AMI
even beyond the Sea of GalIlee. Not
with the object OF promoting a scheme
which, if accomplished, would have
sunk beneath the waves considerable
portion of the Holy Land, but with the
view of demonstrating its impractical
bility, besides obtaining more accurate
knowledge of IA region which must have
been traversed by the lsraelites ON their
way to the promised land, the Palestine
Fund dispatched at the close of last
year an expedition, the services OF
Major Kitchener, Il. E., having been
enlisted, to make the necessary survey.
AS the result of his observations it
appears that the Watershed of the
Arabah is distant i5 miles from Akaba,
and that it Is G60 feet above the
sea level. Thirty miles further up the
valley the sea level is again reached, 50
that the proposed canal would involve
cutting of IS miles through limestone
floor covered by gravel, the depth of the
cutting ranging up to 700 feet. The
construction of such a canal, though
perhaps not a physical impossibility, Is
practically so, inasmuch as the cost of
the undertaking would he 50 enormous
that the necessary funds would never
be forthcoming.
The result of the expedition has,
however, been to do something more
than obtain precise information re-
spectlng the physical characteristics of
the Arabah. As consequence of
personal observation of the region he
traversed and a careful examination of
some novel and rather startling views
expressed a short time since by Baker
Greene respecting the route followed
by the Israelites on their way from
Egypt to the land of promise, Major
Kitchner has fully indorsed his views
and expressed his convection that
Mount Sinai and Mount IIor are iden-
teal. According to the accepted belief
the Israelites, after crossing or round
ing the head of the Gulf of Suez,
turned 10 the south and entered the pc
ninsula which lies between the Gulf of
SueZ and Akaba; that i'll this region
the holy mountains was situated where
the tradition of the law took place, and
that, subsequently, they wandered for
close on forty years in the adjoining
desert of the Tih before making their
way to the eastern frontier of Edom 10
Moab and the trans-Jordanic region.
This view of the journeyings of the re-
leased captives was assailed by Baker
Greene, who pointed out that it had no
other foundation than the gratUitous
and unsupported assumption that
Mount Sinai was situated in the penin
sula of that name, and was at direct
variance with the account given in the
Pentateuch of the route followed by the
IsraelItes on quitting Egypt and with
all the opinions held in Judea on the
subject down to the fourth century of
the Christian era. According to the
Scriptural account the following were
the incidents of the journey between
the Egyptian fro tier and Mount Sinai
The Israelites went three days into the
wilderness and found no water; at their
next stage they came to Marah, where
the water is bitter, and the next resting