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would probably effect this change, in the same manner as the juice of pomegranate grains expressed into it.' This is scarcely consistent with what he says before, that he had asked them whether they had any means for effecting such a change, and they answered in the negative. We have no hesitation in rejecting his supposition; because it would not have been necessary for the Lord to have shewn Moses so common a plant; nor, being so common, is it likely that Moses, who had lived so long in the desert, would be unacquainted with the curative property of the berries, if they had any such property at all; but, above all, the Israelites were at Marah in April, when the gharkad could have had no berries, as, according to Burckhardt's own account, the fruit does not attain maturity till the middle of

summer.

27. They came to Elim, where were twelve wells and threescore and ten palm-trees.'-This station is usually identified with the Wady Gharendel, about eight or nine miles south by east of Hawarah. This is the largest of the wadys on the west side of the peninsula. It is not like those which the Israelites had previously passed, a mere depression in the plain, but a valley enclosed by high hills. It is about a mile broad, and stretches far away to the north-east. So agreeable is a little verdure to the eyes after the dreary scenes which have been passed, that the Wady Gharendel is usually described in somewhat glowing colours, as highly fertile, and filled with palm-trees, shrubs, and verdure. But, in truth, the valley has no soil but drifting sand, and the vegetation is very scanty, ninety-nine parts in a hundred of the entire surface being perfectly bare. Tamarisks, and a few other shrubs on which camels browze, are scattered thinly over the surface, and a few acacias may be seen. Eight or ten stunted palm-trees are scattered along the road for a mile or more, and are of interest in connection with the intimation in the text of the presence of twelve palm-trees at Elim. Of the twelve wells, one only remains, of which the water is hardly drinkable. The others have been probably filled with drift sand, and might easily be restored. In all the fountains of the desert, wells are of little depth, and if neglected

for a short time become choked with sand, and perhaps lost. This place is on the great road along which the Israelites would naturally march; it is within a practicable distance from Marah, their last station; and it unites the indispensable advantages of water, and an ample plain, suitable for the encampment of so large a host as that of the Israelites-which are not to be found any where else in the neighbourhood. In fact, the identity of Wady Gharendel with Elim may now be taken as a settled point of this route. It is true that Dr. Shaw, and others before him, but hardly any since, place Elim at a place near Tor, where there are a number of palm-trees around a well which the people of Tor call 'Hummam Musa,' the bath of Moses, and which they hold in veneration on the ground that the tent of Moses was pitched near it. But this is obviously connected with the untenable position that the passage of the Red Sea took place at Tor; for the spot would be forty or fifty miles out of the way of a party coming from the north to Mount Sinai, by a route never taken by any persons or caravans visiting the mountain.

-Palm-trees.'-The Date-palm (Phanix dactylifera) is one of the noblest trees that adorn the solitary waste, and the most useful that man has converted to the purposes of nutriment and comfort. In the forest the eye recognises the lofty palm, while the remainder of the vegetable creation lose their individuality in the confusion of varied tints and forms. The presence of the palm is an unerring sign of water; hence the weary Israelites found water where they found palm-trees. The cut we have given represents a specimen of the palm-tree which Laborde found, growing wild in one of the valleys of Sinai. With reference to it, he observes:-'We always represent the trunk of a palmtree shooting up to some distance, and then suffering its curved branches to spring forth, from which gracefully hang the dates, as brilliant as corals; never reflecting that all this elegance is the effect of art. The opposite wood-cut exhibits a palm-tree, such as it may be found in a wild state, growing larger from year to year, making for itself a rampart of its decayed branches, and rising, as it were, perpetually from its own ruins.'

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CHAPTER XVI.

1 The Israelites come to Sin. 2 They murmur for want of bread. 4 God promiseth them bread from heaven. 11 Quails are sent, 14 and manna. 16 The ordering of manna. 25 It was not to be found on the sabbath. 32 An omer of it is preserved. AND they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:

3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

4 T Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you;

and the people shall go out and gather 'a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or

no.

5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:

7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?

8 And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him; and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD for he hath heard your murmurings.

:

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.

13 ¶ And it came to pass, that at even 'the quails came up, and covered the camp and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.

14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, 'It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, "This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man ac

Heb. the portion of a day in his day.

2 Chap. 13. 21. 5 Or, What is this? or, It is a portion. 8 Heb. souls.

cording to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his

tents.

17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

22 ¶ And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

27 ¶ And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

28 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

30 So the people rested on the seventh

day.

31 And the house of Israel called the

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name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

32 And Moses said, This is the thing ¶ which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein,

and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

35 And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

10 Josh. 5. 12. Nehem. 9. 15.

Verse 1. Came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.-The object of the present narrative is manifestly historical, not topographical, and hence several stations are omitted at which nothing remarkable occurred. In Numb. xxxiii. the names of the stations omitted here are preserved. From v. 10 it appears that between Elim and the wilderness of Sin, there was an encampment by the sea.' In passing southward from Gharendel, the Israelites soon ceased to have the sea open on their right hand, as they had to pass inside a mountain called Jebel Hummam, which is lofty and precipitous, extending in several peaks along the shore, and, without doubt, the 'encampment by the sea' was where they again came out upon the sea, by the present wady Taiyibeh, and encamped at its mouth. The fact that they encamped by the sea at all is important, as shewing that they did not pursue their course to Sinai by the upper road, which travellers now usually take; but advanced along the shore into the great plain which, beginning near el Murkhah, extends with greater or less breadth almost to the extremity of the peninsula. This plain, in its broadest part, north of Tor, is called el-Kaa. This desert plain is doubtless the wilderness of Sin, which forms the next station mentioned in the text. Had they not come down into this plain, they would not, after passing Jebel Hummam, have turned down to the sea, but would have gone off to the central region, in quite an opposite direction. From this plain-the desert of Sin-they could enter the mountains at various points, either by the nearer routes through Wady Shellal and Mukutteh, or perhaps by the mouth of the Wady Feiran itself. The reader, on consulting a good map, will be aware that the two former wadys lead into Wady Feiran, and the only question seems to be, whether they thus entered that wady, or through its own proper mouth further down. The question is immaterial, as both routes concur in favour of a passage through Wady Feiran to the mountains. In Num. xxxiii. 12, 13, two stations, intermediate between the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim, are given, namely Dophkah and Alush; but they are mentioned so indefinitely, that no hope remains of their ever being identified.

13. Quails.- selav. Quails (Coturnix dactylisonans) are remarkable for their migratory habits. These birds remove in prodigious flocks from place to place, having previously remained solitary during the period of incubation. They are often seen crossing the Mediterranean in their passage to and from Africa, and it is said that on some occasions more than a hundred thousand have been killed about Naples at one time. There can be no doubt that this bird of passage of the Levant is the selav of the sacred writer; and though quails might settle in countless swarms around the tents of the Israelites without a miracle, yet nothing but the fiat of the Almighty could have sent them thither at an appointed time.

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15. They said one to another, It is manna; for they wist not what it was.'-This passage in our-translation is incor

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We shall abstain from perplexing our readers with a statement of the various attempts which have been made to identify this manna with the natural condensed juices or gums from certain shrubs or trees, to which the name has been applied: for the manna of Scripture has been sought not merely in the produce of one gum-exuding plant, but of many. The strongest claim to identity applies to the substance, still called by the Arabs mann, which is produced in the peninsula of Sinai; but we have already stated, that Arah identifications, whether of sites or products, or any thing else, are not of the least value, unless supported by other and strong corroborations. We take this, however, because if it be not the manna of Scripture, no other natural product can pretend to the distinction. The best and most complete account of it is given by Burckhardt. Speaking of the Wady es-Sheikh, to the north of Mount Serbal, he says, "In many parts it was thickly overgrown with the tamarisk or tarfa; it is the only valley in the peninsula where this tree grows, at present, in any great quantity, though some small bushes are here and there met with in other parts. It is from the tarfa that the manna is obtained; and it is very strange that the fact should have remained unknown in Europe till M. Seetzen mentioned it in a brief notice of his tour to Sinai, published

in the Mines de l'Orient. This substance is called by the Arabs mann, and accurately resembles the description of the manna given in Scripture. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves and thorns, which always cover the ground beneath the tree in the natural state: the manna is collected before sunrise, when it is coagulated, but it dissolves as soon as the sun shines upon it. The Arabs clean away the leaves, dirt, etc. which adhere to it, boil it, strain it through a coarse piece of cloth, and put it into leathern skins; in this way they preserve it till the following year, and use it, as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into. I could not learn that they ever made it into cakes or loaves. The manna is found only in

TAMARISK (Tamarix Gallica).

years when copious rains have fallen; sometimes it is not produced at all. I saw none of it among the Arabs, but I obtained a piece of last year's produce at the convent; where, having been kept in the cool shade and moderate temperature of that place, it had become quite solid, and formed a small cake: it became soft when kept some time in the hand, if placed in the sun for five minutes, but when restored to a cool place it became solid again in a quarter of an hour. In the season at which the Arabs gather it, it never acquires that degree of hardness which will allow of its being pounded, as the Israelites are said to have done, in Num. xi. 8. Its colour is dirty yellow, and the piece which I saw was still mixed with bits of tamarisk leaves; its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. If eaten in any considerable quantity, it is said to be slightly purgative. The quantity of manna collected at present, even in seasons when the most copious rains fall, is very trifling, perhaps not amounting to more than five or six hundred pounds. It is entirely consumed among the Bedouins, who consider it the greatest dainty which their country affords. The harvest is usually in June, and lasts six weeks; sometimes it begins in July. (Tour in the Peninsula of Mount Sinai.) Ehrenberg has examined and described this shrub, which he calls Tamarix mannifera, but which seems to be only a variety of T. Gallica. The gummy exudation he considers to result from the puncture of an insect which he found upon it, and which he calls Coccus manniparus; and others have been of the same opinion. Both the plant and the insect are figured in his great work, Symbola Physica. Lieutenant Wellstead confirms Burckhardt's statement; but adds, that the whole product is not consumed in the Peninsula-a part being taken to Cairo, and a considerable portion sold to the Sinai monks, who retail it (as manna?) to the Russian pilgrims. He was assured by the Bedouins that the produce of a fruitful season did not exceed 150 noja (about 700 pounds), and that it was usually disposed of at the rate of

60 dollars the noja, equal to nearly three pounds sterling per lb.

If, for a moment, we allow this to be the manna of Scripture, let us see to what extent a miracle is still required to account for the phenomena recorded there. This mann is only yielded six weeks in the year; but the manna of Scripture was supplied at all times of the year during forty years, and a double supply came regularly every Friday, to compensate for its being intermitted on Saturday. It fell also in the Hebrew encampment, wherever it happened to be, in all the country between Sinai and Palestine. The mann of Sinai may be kept from one year to another; but the manna, if kept till the day after that on which it was gathered, bred maggots, became noisome, and was unfit for use-except once a week, when its freshness was preserved for two days; and except also in the instance of the vessel full of it, which was directed to be preserved as a standing memorial of this wonderful provision. The mann is found, under the shrubs which produce it, in adhesive particles, whereas the manna was showered down around the Hebrew encampment. When, therefore, so many miraculous circumstances must in any case be allowed-if the identity of the mann and manna be conceded, we really do not see how the believer can do other than consider the supply as altogether miraculous; or how the unbeliever can do better than reject the account altogether. There is no middle path. In attempting to account for the matter on natural principles, so much that is miraculous must be admitted, that it cannot be worth while to contend about the remainder.

As to the substance itself, the identity, or even resemblance, does not seem to us so well established as Burckhardt conceives. Besides the differences, involving a miracle, to which we have alluded, its appearance and colour do not correspond with the description of manna, as 'a small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost.... like coriander seed, and its colour like a pearl. Besides, the mann dissolves in heat, after it has been kept for a long time in a solid state; but the manna was found in a solid state; and although it dissolved in the sun if not gathered early in the morning, yet if collected it might be pounded into meal, and baked as bread. Burckhardt's manna could not be powdered into meal, and would melt in the attempt

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