Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/96

 the wanderings became more real since we were amid the very scenes through which the Israelites passed. And after reading this, how sweet to think that we could commit ourselves to the care of Him who had led them across these very deserts and through these very mountains, going before them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night! More blessed still was the privilege of committing to Him those dearer to us than our own life. Never in our prayers do we forget the loved ones far away. Across the desert and the sea our hearts go to them with a love and a longing that distance does but make the stronger. Perhaps He who is in every place, and whose ear is ever open, will hear our lowly cry from the sands of the desert, and fold them in His arms of infinite tenderness.

While enjoying the natural beauty of this valley among the mountains, we do not forget that it is a spot of great, historical interest. It was a scene of stirring events in the history of the Hebrews, and a centre of monastic life in the early Christian centuries. Here camped the Israelites. They fought to obtain possession of this valley; and standing here to-day, it is easy to see why they fought for it; it was simply to get water. They had marched across the desert; they had toiled wearily through barren mountains, where no stream or fountain quenched their thirst. Moses had struck the rock from which gushed forth water to keep them from perishing. But a little in advance of him was a valley watered by an ever-flowing stream. Access to it was barred by the Amalekites, and he fought to force a passage. I am well aware that there is a question among Biblical scholars whether the mountain pass through which we have just come is Rephidim, but such is the universal tradition; and so also has tradition fixed on the sharp peak which rises up right in front of us as the one which Moses ascended to pray while the battle was going on, and