jeanflop/post-ocr-correction huggingface dataset:
lay in their territory. The law was undoubtedly given from both. Kadesh Barnea lay west of the Arabah, the low flat valley lying between the south end of the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba; while Kadesh of Meribah lay east of it. In years of deficient rainfall, the traversing of the Arabah must have been really arduous, especially if the Crossing had to be made across the southern extremity, past Eziongeber at the extreme north of the Gulf of Aqaba. The modern mountain range of Sinai, in the south of the peninsula of Sinai, can have had nothing
south of the peninsula of Sinai, can have had nothing whatever to do with the giving of the Law. It lay in the midst of hopeless deserts. Of this range, the Rev. Prof. Sayce says: "Since the second or third centuries of the Christian Era, the Sinaitic peninsula has been assumed to be the scene of the wanderings in the Desert. The belief originated in the communities of hermits who took refuge there, partly to escape persecution, partly from a desire to quit the worldly life of the Egyptian cities. Sinai itself is associated with Seir and Edom in the
Sinai itself is associated with Seir and Edom in the two ancient Hebrew poems, in which reference is made to it: "The Lord came from Sinai, And rose from Seir unto them, He shone forth from Mount Paran, And he came from the ten thousands of holy ones: At his right hand was a fiery law unto them. "Lord when Thou wentest forth out of Seir When Thou marched out of the field of Edom, The Earth trembled, the heavens also drooped, Yea, the clouds dropped water. The mountains flowed down at the presence of the Lord, Even you Sinai,
down at the presence of the Lord, Even you Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel." But there is a historical reason which makes it impossible for us to believe that the western side of the Sinaitic peninsula could have witnessed the giving of the law and the wanderings of the Israelite people. In the days of the Exodus, it was an Egyptian province, garrisoned by Egyptian soldiers, who protected the officials and workmen at the mines of copper and malachite. The great Harris papyrus tells us how Pharaoh sent many rich presents for the temple
us how Pharaoh sent many rich presents for the temple of the goddess Hathor. To have gone there would have been, not only to return to Egypt, but to an Egypt more strictly garrisoned and more hostile to the wandering tribes of Asia than the Delta itself. It had been on the Mount Moreh overlooking Kadesh of Meribah that Moses had fed the flock of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and where he had seen the burning bush. And now that the Israelites were encamped around the other Kadesh, or Kadesh Barnea, it was there that Jethro journeyed with Moses’
Kadesh Barnea, it was there that Jethro journeyed with Moses’ wife and her two sons, and met his son-in-law. Moses received excellent advice from his father-in-law, and worshiped with him in the Sanctuary. Jethro subsequently returned to his home at Kadesh of Meribah, where Moses must frequently have met him in after years. The ten commandments and the early laws were given from the high hills surrounding Kadesh Barnea. These hills are the first high obstruction the winter storm clouds coming from the west encounter, and they must be the theater of severe thunderstorms on occasions. It was on such
theater of severe thunderstorms on occasions. It was on such occasions that Moses loved standing on the Mount of God overlooking the Sanctuary. In the midst of thunder, lightning, and rain, he stood entranced on the hill-top, waiting, like Elijah, for the still small voice which accompanied the calm which followed. To the Israelites, who had lived for generations on the flat plains of Egypt, the effect of a real storm on the windward side of the intervening hills must have been terrifying; especially as they were excitedly looking forward to their first encounter with the God of their race.
to their first encounter with the God of their race. I remember well, after close on twenty years’ residence in Egypt, the feeling with which I encountered the first storm in the Transvaal in the autumn of 1903 during the Boer war. On my journey from Rustenberg to Klerksdorp, in order to avoid passing by day a spot where I had previously seen a party of Boers who had leveled their guns on me but had not fired, I drove by night, and was suddenly enveloped in Egyptian darkness with dense clouds hurrying over the Magaliesberg and pouring sleet and
dense clouds hurrying over the Magaliesberg and pouring sleet and rain in true tropical fashion. The lightning and thunder were such as I had never seen. The reflected light from the sheet of water following on it, of the uninterrupted lightning. Twice I imagined I was struck. While the thunder as it reverberated between the Magaliesberg and the Witwatersberg was truly appalling. The small blockhouses were a mile apart but I could not go to them as the sentries had orders to fire without challenge, between sunset and sunrise. At the end of it all, I had to walk up
the end of it all, I had to walk up the long slope of a constabulary post ramp, with my hands up, praying to God that the sentry would not fire. At the top of the hill, I was welcomed by Lieutenant King of the Constabulary (an old Imperial Light Horse trooper who had had four bullets inside him), and with two hot rum punches inside me, I was sent to sleep in a Boer trek wagon, as comfortable a berth as I ever had in my life. As the year advanced, and the pastures, plentiful though they were in
year advanced, and the pastures, plentiful though they were in the area surrounding Kadesh Barnea, were eaten down by the sudden influx of the Israelites with their numerous flocks and herds, the Israelites had to trek to the pastures round the other Kadesh on the other side of the Arabah. At Kadesh of Meribah was another Mount of God, on which Moses lived and communed, and had time and leisure to develop the Law of Israel. As the autumn came round, the Israelites found themselves back at Kadesh Barnea. On the return of the second September, and, with it, the
the return of the second September, and, with it, the quail season on the Mediterranean coast just three days’ journey off, the Israelites insisted on revisiting the sea shore and trapping quail as they had done on the previous September at the mouth of the Pelusiac Branch of the Nile. Moses, who knew well the danger they ran, for Egypt had had time to re-establish her authority along the Philistine road, said with a fine irony: "Ye have wept saying who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give
well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days nor twenty days; but a whole month until it comes out at your nostrils and it be loathsome to you." However, as they fell upon the quails, they neglected their encampments where a serious fire destroyed a large number of tents and caused the camp to be named Taberah or "Conflagration". As dry fuel was scarce, they must not only have eaten of the quails raw, but devoured them
only have eaten of the quails raw, but devoured them in such quantities that a severe plague broke out among them to which many succumbed. Calling the site of the disaster Kibroth-Hatavah or the "Gluttons’ graves", they hurried back to Kadesh, glad indeed that they had not been fallen upon by some passing Egyptian troops or marauders, for the road of the Philistines was the highway between Egypt and Palestine. In Deuteronomy, the "Temptation" of Massah, the "Conflagration" of Taberah, and the "Gluttons’ graves" of Kibroth-Hatavah are put together. They were all in the vicinity of Kadesh Barnea. The appointment
were all in the vicinity of Kadesh Barnea. The appointment of the seventy elders to act as intermediaries between Moses and the people gave Moses a fine opportunity of showing the best side of his character. Seeing them capable of exhorting and stirring up the people, Joshua asked Moses to rebuke them. And Moses said unto him, "Art thou jealous for my sake? Would God that all the people were prophets and that the spirit were put upon all of them." The Israelites journeyed to Kadesh of Meribah a second time and returned to Kadesh Barnea greatly fatigued by the
time and returned to Kadesh Barnea greatly fatigued by the journey. It must have been a year of deficient rainfall, and finding life in the wilderness very trying, Moses decided to send spies into Palestine to spy out the country and see if advantage could be taken of the drought to get a foothold in the country. As the direct advance into Palestine would have aroused the suspicions of the Canaanites, the spies went round by the desert of Zin and the eastern border of Edom, as far north as the Lebanon, and then came back to Kadesh Barnea, doubtless
the Lebanon, and then came back to Kadesh Barnea, doubtless as Arab traveling merchants, bringing back with them bunches of grapes from near Hebron. They had spent forty days on their mission. Ten of the spies so greatly discouraged the people, that Caleb and Joshua could in no wise prevail on them to go up and attack the country. Moses passed judgment on the generation of slaves born in Egypt, and declared that Caleb and Joshua alone of the whole of that generation would enter the land of Canaan. The rest would wander in the wilderness until they had died
rest would wander in the wilderness until they had died out and were replaced by their hardy desert-born children. Furious at their condemnation, the people, without leaders, made a foolhardy advance into Canaan from the south, but they were driven back with heavy loss. Nothing remained for them but to face the inevitable and return to the wilderness. The questions of manna, of the gradual change of the country from wilderness to desert, and of the numbers of the Israelites, have already been considered in the lecture I gave on "The Ten Plagues of Egypt and the passage of the
"The Ten Plagues of Egypt and the passage of the Red Sea." The Israelites were thoroughly weary of the manna before the first year was over, and doubtless fell back on it only when all else failed. They found many resources as Bedouin living in the wilderness; with their flocks and herds, whose produce they could exchange for corn in Egypt, Edom and Moab; with their hiring themselves out for transport; with the rearing of animals; and with commercial undertakings. If the Khans of the Tel-el-Amarna tablets had been Hebrews who had trekked out of the Egyptian Gosben into Palestine,
who had trekked out of the Egyptian Gosben into Palestine, it is more than probable that the Israelites during their forty years’ wanderings in the wilderness hired themselves out as free-lances ready to fight for any one making them a good offer. In this way they all of them probably learnt the art of war which served them so well in after years. The laws of Moses were modeled on the laws of Hammurabi, which were evidently the legal code of Western Asia. On my first visit to Babylon, I met Dr. Koldewey who had excavated there for years and
met Dr. Koldewey who had excavated there for years and found nothing strikingly important. He told me that M. de Morgan had only been excavating for a short time at Susa, the ancient capital of Persia, when he found the tablets containing the laws of the greatest of the Babylonian kings, and which Cyrus must probably have had transported from Babylon when he conquered the city. This was the most important find that the East has yet yielded. The laws of Hammurabi were so good that Moses showed great judgment in changing as much as he could. Some of the
in changing as much as he could. Some of the additions he made touched the high water mark of even Bible excellence. I give one as an example: "When thou beatest the olive tree, thou shalt not go over the bundles again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless and the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless and for the widow. When thou reapest thy harvest in the field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not
hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou was a slave in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing." The tent of meeting, or the tabernacle, was a simple nomad tent which Moses used to take and pitch outside the camp. In the primitive sanctuary, the only attendant was Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim. According to the early regulations, the only form of altar which it was permissible
regulations, the only form of altar which it was permissible to erect was one of earth or unplowed stone; the use of any metal polluted it. The tent and all its belongings were transported from place to place in four wagons. This tent had to be pitched outside the camp as within its outer walls was kept burning a fire, smothered by day to emit smoke, and bright by night to give light. (As explained in the last lecture, this was the only way in which the tribes scattered over the wilderness could be guided.) It would have been dangerous
the wilderness could be guided.) It would have been dangerous to keep it near the other tents. When, later in the wanderings, Joshua’s place was taken by Aaron and his sons; two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, signalled their entry into office by using strange fire, otherwise by treating the fire unskilfully. It may be that the men were intoxicated, because in Leviticus the injunction that neither Aaron nor any of his sons was to drink strong drink when they went to the tent of meeting immediately follows this incident. Nadab and Abihu themselves were burnt to death; and
incident. Nadab and Abihu themselves were burnt to death; and as the primitive tent with its enclosure was small, they, in all probability, had set fire to it too. Its place was taken by something more ambitious, but the new tent of meeting cannot have assumed the proportions imagined by the priestly commentators; for nothing short of the railway being laid down today by General Allenby could have transferred it from place to place. Aaron’s rod that budded can only be compared to the Indian conjurer’s seed that bears leaves and fruit; and it is possible that this mystery has
and fruit; and it is possible that this mystery has a hoar antiquity and has come down from ancient Egypt. It was used to gain that kind of influence which is the special preoccupation of the priestly caste, and we can see in it the handiwork, not of Moses, but of Aaron, who had not hesitated on another occasion to preserve his primacy by making a golden calf for the Israelites to worship, and then by excusing himself on the plea that he had also made the people intoxicated. The Bible records are no respecters of persons however highly they
Bible records are no respecters of persons however highly they might be placed. It may seem extraordinary that sleights of hand, like the feat of changing a rod into a serpent on one occasion, and making it a bud on another, should have made such an impression on primitive peoples; but the court of the Pharaohs of the XVIIIth dynasty was a highly civilized one for those times and yet the official magicians were always present to confirm the interpretations of the priests. These prints of a very old world belief, every line in which proclaims their great antiquity, are
belief, every line in which proclaims their great antiquity, are one of the proofs that the documents with which we are dealing are as old as they profess to be. And yet those who, when these prints are absent, insist upon the documents being comparatively modern; are the first to insist, when they are present, that the documents are not modern enough to be worthy of the Bible. The writers of the documents were the children of the age in which they lived, and their beliefs were the stepping stones on which we have arrived at the knowledge of our
on which we have arrived at the knowledge of our day. Of those who belittle all except those of their own standard, and that often a poor one, it has been well said: Who feels contempt for any living thing that has never used its faculties. And thought with him is in its infancy. During the thirty-eight years following the return of the spies, the tribe of Judah, by intermarriages, settled itself firmly south of Palestine, while Reuben, Gad and Manasseh traveled around Edom and settled in the eastern side of the Jordan. Asher apparently went still further north and
of the Jordan. Asher apparently went still further north and settled north of Mount Carmel. The other tribes, led by Ephraim, stayed with Moses and Joshua. Towards the end of the wanderings, when Aaron was an old man and the question of the succession to the priesthood came to the front, Korah and his company disputed the right of the family of Aaron to monopolize the Priesthood. In the serious struggle between the parties, Korah was worsted, after he had apparently taken possession of the tent of meeting. This tent with its fire always burning, was a dangerous addition to
with its fire always burning, was a dangerous addition to an encampment, and, in the struggle, the tents of Korah’s party were in great part burnt down. Moses and Aaron were now very old men, and, on the last occasion on which they encamped together at Kadesh of Meribah, owing to deficient rainfall they had serious difficulties over water. Moses on this occasion, did not act with his usual resourcefulness, and stood self-condemned before the Lord at Meribah. It was evident that he no longer possessed the power of leading the people; and speaking unadvisedly with his lips, he ordered
the people; and speaking unadvisedly with his lips, he ordered the people to go northwards to Kadesh Barnea along the western border of Edom to make a second attack on Palestine from the south. Broken-hearted, Aaron died at Mount Hor near Peor and left Moses to conduct the campaign alone. The Canaanites were ready for them; and, with heavy hearts, they had to return to Kadesh of Meribah to the extreme south of Edom. Moses had now accepted the inevitable, and, doubtless, under the leadership of Joshua, the Israelites marched along the eastern border of Edom, towards the sun rising,
along the eastern border of Edom, towards the sun rising, skirted the eastern border of Moab, and fell on the Amorites who had recently crossed the Jordan and conquered the northern part of Moab opposite the northern half of the Dead Sea and the town of Jericho. On the road they were greatly troubled by dangerous snakes, it was here that Moses made his bronze serpent. It is not improbable that the serpent’s head was made sufficiently hot to cauterize the bites and save the lives of those who were bitten. It is stated that it was fiery and that
bitten. It is stated that it was fiery and that it was put on a pole, undoubtedly because it could not have been held in the hand. This bronze serpent remained long with the Israelites, and was eventually destroyed by living Hezekiah, because, instead of using it rationally, they foolishly began worshiping it. It was undoubtedly on the eastern side of the Jordan in the territory of the children of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, that Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben disputed Moses’ authority to appoint a successor to himself. I say this, for two reasons; one is,
to himself. I say this, for two reasons; one is, that it was the tribes settled on the east of the Jordan which made the revolt. The tribe of Reuben with which was incorporated the tribe of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh were evidently the offenders (Numbers, xvi and xxvii 3). The other reason is to my mind still more convincing. It is said that Dathan and Abiram and their company were swallowed up. Nowhere else could this have occurred except on one of the spurs of Mount Gilead overlooking the Jordan or the Jahhock. Moses, observant as
Gilead overlooking the Jordan or the Jahhock. Moses, observant as he always was, saw the impending catastrophe and warned the people to keep away. He was obeyed by all except the headstrong rebels, and they were engulfed. As a rule, it was safe to follow Moses’ advice in most matters. We shall soon see that this was not the only serious landslip in the earthquake period which this part of the earth was then traversing. Though the rebellion of Korah against Aaron, and of Dathan and Abiram against Moses were distinctly separate events, they were put together or belonging to
distinctly separate events, they were put together or belonging to the same category of difficulties which the great lawgiver triumphed over. It was the same will the temptation of Massah near the Southern boundary of Judah and the chiding of Meribah at the Southern boundary of Edom. They were similar difficulties, over one of which the lawgiver triumphed, but to the latter of which he succumbed. In a historical work written today, the element of time would be considered more important than the similarity of event. It was the opposite in those early times. The Israelites now encamped along the
in those early times. The Israelites now encamped along the east bank of the Jordan from opposite Jericho northwards. It was here that was encamped one of the most interesting scenes in the whole of the Old Testament. Balak, the King of Moab, summoned the prophet Balaam from the Euphrates, to come and curse Israel. The bribes sent by Balak must have been quite exceptional; and the prophet, tempted by lucre, set out on his journey, excited and nervous, knowing that he was being tempted to curse those whom God had not cursed. In his excitement and nervousness, he seemed
had not cursed. In his excitement and nervousness, he seemed to hear the ass on which he had been riding, chiding him, as he lay with his foot crushed against a wall and doubtless in a dead faint. Two chapters in Numbers give the series of prophecies and warnings he uttered; unable at the critical moment, to depart a hair’s breadth from the promptings of his conscience. "How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?" The Prophet Micah completes the account of his sayings in probably the finest passage in the whole of the Old Testament. "Where will I
in the whole of the Old Testament. "Where will I come before the Lord, and how myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown thee, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" It is in the possession of thousands of passages like this in the Law, in the biographies, in the histories, in the songs, in the prophecies and in the sacred and historical novels, that one of the great values of the Old Testament lies. This Testament itself is the religious history of the world and of the children of Israel. The early chapters of Genesis contain the ideas of the Chaldean sages on the origin of the world and of evil, modified by the pure monotheism of Moses.
and of evil, modified by the pure monotheism of Moses. They are wonderfully illuminating as showing the workings of the minds of primitive men and their extraordinary correct ideas on the subject of evolution, but they are full of inaccuracies when judged scientifically by the full light of our knowledge; as doubtless our own ideas are when judged by eternal knowledge. The science, the history and the geography of the Bible are the children of the age in which the books were written and the different commentaries added. These commentaries, as we see them today, often darken counsel with words;