Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/283



When the Israelites fled from Egypt they endeavored as soon as possible to escape from the reach of Egyptian political influence. They found a refuge in a country which afforded them not only safety but also the necessary food supplies. This country must have had an abundance of water with rich pastures and must have been situated near large transport routes so that they could purchase what they needed from the trade caravans. Moses knew such a country, the land of Madian, where he himself had found a refuge and where, in the person of his father-in-law, the priest of Madian, he had a powerful protector not only for himself but also for his kindred of Israel. He therefore led the Israelites direct from Egypt into Madian to the mountain of God, where Jehovah appeared to him.

The land of Madian, where Moses passed many years as a refugee, is situated, in our judgment, to the southeast of the present settlement of al-ʻAḳaba. This is indicated by the halting places recorded on the march of the Israelites. These camps are scattered in various groups, which unfortunately do not supplement each other; in fact, a connected list of them, such as we read in Numbers, 33, is at variance with several statements made elsewhere.

According to Exodus, 15: 22, the Israelites left Egypt proper by the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds), in which Pharaoh perished, and proceeded through the wilderness of Šûr for three days without finding water, until at last (Ex., 15: 23) the reached Mara’, wher here was water, which, however, was bitter.

If any great tribe today flees from the government and the army of a civilized state, it proceeds rapidly along the most convenient and most direct transport route, if only to escape as soon as possible from the territory and jurisdiction of the military power. Such also was the case in the fifteenth century before Christ, when the Israelites migrated from Egypt. The peninsula of Sinai at that time contained Egyptian garrisons. The tribes living there were more or less dependent upon Egypt and would have received orders to attack the Israelites with their garrisons and thus force them to return. The Israelites were therefore obliged to hasten so as to traverse the peninsula of Sinai before the garrisons were strengthened and the nomads incited against them. For strengthening the garrisons and mustering the nomads at least a month would have been necessary, and in this time the Israelites had to escape from the peninsula of Sinai. On the first day they had to hasten so as to avoid being surrounded by the army dispatched against them from the border places by the Sea of Reeds; on the second and the subsequent days they could proceed slowly. They had to water their cattle and give them time