041. XXVII. The Life Of The Hebrews In The Wilderness
§ XXVII. THE LIFE OF THE HEBREWS IN THE WILDERNESS Numbers 1:33-36, Numbers 11, Numbers 12, Exodus 17:3-16
1. The plan of march. Then as they journeyed from the mountain of Jehovah, the ark of Jehovah went before them, to seek out a halting place for them. And whenever the ark started, Moses would say, Arise, O Jehovah, And let thine enemies be scattered; And let those who hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he would say, Return, O Jehovah, To the ten thousand of thousands of Israel.
2. Complaints of the people. Now the rabble which was among them began to have a strong craving, and even the Israelites began to weep again, and to say, O that we had flesh to eat. We remember the fish which we used to eat in Egypt without cost: the cucumbers, and the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic; but now we pine away; there is not a thing to be seen except this manna.
3.Moses’s discouragement and complaint. And the anger of Jehovah was greatly aroused. When therefore Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent, Moses was displeased. And Moses said to Jehovah, Why hast thou dealt ill with thy servant? and why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that thou shouldest say to me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father carries the sucking child, to the land which thou swarest to their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give to all this people? for they oppress me with their weeping, saying, ‘Give us flesh that we may eat.’ I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, kill me, if I have found favor in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
4. Jehovah’s reply. Then Jehovah said to Moses, Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for to-morrow and you shall eat flesh, for you have wept loudly in the hearing of Jehovah, saying, “ O that we had flesh to eat! for it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore Jehovah will give you flesh that you may eat. Not one day nor two, nor five, nor ten, nor twenty days shall you eat, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and is loathsome to you; because you have rejected Jehovah who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “ Why did we come out of Egypt?” ’ Then Moses said, The people among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet thou hast said, ‘I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole month.’ Can flocks and herds be slain sufficient for them? or can all the fish of the sea be gathered sufficient for them? But Jehovah said to Moses, Is Jehovah’s power limited? Now shalt thou see whether my promise to thee shall come to pass or not.
5. The quails and the divine judgment. Then Moses went out, and told the people the words of Jehovah. And a wind went forth from Jehovah and brought quails from the sea and scattered them upon the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, even about two cubits above the surface of the earth. Therefore the people spent all that day and all the night, and all the next day, in gathering the quails. He who gathered least gathered about one hundred bushels; and they spread them all out for themselves about the camp. While they were still eating the flesh, before the supply was exhausted, the anger of Jehovah was aroused against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague. Hence the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah [Graves of the Craving], because there they buried the people who had the craving. From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and remained at Hazeroth.
Afterwards the people set forth from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran. And the people were thirsty there for water, and murmured against Moses, and said, Why have you brought us up from Egypt to kill us with our children and cattle, with thirst? Moses answered, Why do you test Jehovah? So he called the name of the place Massah [Testing], because they tested Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?
7. The battle and victory. Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose men and go, fight with Amalek. To-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But when Moses’s hands became weary, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other. So his hands were supported until the going down of the sun. And Joshua laid Amalek and his people low with the edge of the sword.
8.Cause of the hereditary hostility against the Amalekites. Then Jehovah said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Then Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi [Jehovah my Banner]; and he said, Jehovah hath sworn; Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
I.The Records of the Life in the Wilderness. It is not surprising that the records of the experiences of the Hebrews during this wilderness period are incomplete and often confusing. The later priestly writers, with their elaborate plans of the tabernacle and of the arrangement of the different tribes, represent the period as one of solemn procession through the desert wastes. There is little connection between their idealized picture and the actual wilderness background and the condition of the Hebrew tribes at this stage in their development.
Rather these later stories represent the projecting backward, upon this ancient background, of the ideas and institutions peculiar to the post-exilic Jews. The early prophetic narratives, embedded in the late priestly laws and traditions in the book of Numbers, give, however, certain glimpses of the real life and meaning of the period.
II.Geographical Background. The background is the wilderness which lies to the south of Canaan. It contains many miles of burning sands and rocky desert, but much of this territory in the past, as to-day, supports a large nomadic population. The term, wilderness, which in the Hebrew means a lonely place, unoccupied by cities or towns, truly describes it. In the north and east there are rolling, rocky plateaus and jagged mountain peaks. These are, for the most part, parched and treeless, but in the valleys are found at rare intervals gushing springs, which supply the simple needs of nomads. The South Country marked the gradual transition from the more barren wilderness on the south and west to Judah on the north. To the Hebrews it must have seemed, in contrast to the desert, a land of plenty. In later times it contained many strong and populous cities, but it ever remained a land where Nature was very niggardly with her gifts of food and water.
III.The Lifeofthe Wilderness. The life of the Arab tribes, which to-day inhabit this same region, reveals in minutest detail the life of the ancient Israelites. Probably in ancient times the costume worn by the men was the same long tunic with the goats’ hair mantle which protected them by day from the sun and rain. By night it was their bed. Beside the sacred springs the Hebrews pitched their black or striped goats’ hair tents and lived for the most part out in the open air, exposed to the inclemency of the changing seasons, ever journeying from place to place in quest of food and water. As to-day, their chief article of diet was probably the laban or curds, which they made from the milk from the herds and flocks which they had brought with them when they came forth from the Land of Goshen. At the feast days and marriages and special celebrations, animals from the herd were slain. At the proper season they also doubtless hunted the quails and other game which is found in this wilderness region. Sometimes, when all their resources failed they gathered, like the modem Arab, the gum that exudes from the tamarisk tree or the lichens from the rocks, and from these, which probably represent the manna of the wilderness, they made a coarse flour and bread. This unpalatable food kept them alive until the winter rain again brought comparative plenty. It was a life of freedom, of constant activity, of privation and often of suffering. The lack of food and water was an ever-present spur, and constantly led them to turn with anxious longing toward the green hills and pasture lands of Palestine. It was a life full of danger and fear, not only lest grim Nature should fail to meet their natural wants, but lest their foes should overpower them. Barren though it was, the South Country was a territory for the possession of which many hostile tribes were contending with an intensity and cruelty proportionate to the scarcity of food and water. Any day, any hour, a hostile tribe might suddenly attack them, rob them of their possessions, slay the men and bear away the wives and children to lives of slavery and ignominy. Their life developed, therefore, the habit of constant watchfulness and the sense of dependence. It bound together all members of the tribe by the closest possible bonds. It also, in turn, bound the tribe to its tribal God by the powerful bonds of fear and dependence and gratitude.
IV.Duration of the Sojourn. As usual, only the latest narratives give any definite data regarding the duration of the sojourn in the wilderness. In the Old Testament the number forty is constantly used as the concrete equivalent of many. The absence of any definite data in the early prophetic narratives leaves the question of time entirely open. If, as seems probable, the date of the exodus was about 1200 B.C., the Israelite conquest of southern Palestine would not have been possible before about the middle of the twelfth century. Ramses III of the twentieth Egyptian dynasty, reigned between 1198 and 1167 B.C. He succeeded in re-establishing and maintaining Egyptian authority in southern Canaan. While it would have been possible for small desert tribes to gradually press in to the outlying districts of southern and eastern Palestine, no general settlement of aliens would have been allowed by the Egyptian authorities. It is not clear, however, that the Egyptian rule was established east of the Jordan, so that it is possible that a partial conquest of that region by the Hebrews may have followed very soon after the exodus. The story of the spies, also indicates that an attempt was made to invade Canaan from the south, but that this was only partially successful. The majority of the Hebrew tribes appear, as the later tradition states, to have remained in the wilderness and the South Country for at least a generation.
V.Tribal Organization. The oldest narratives suggest that the Hebrews quickly adapted themselves to the peculiar conditions of the wilderness. Probably dividing into different tribes, as the limited food and water supply of the desert made necessary, they subsisted by migrating from one pasture land to another, each tribe under its tribal leader. The centre of their life was Kadesh, which has been identified in recent times with the modern Ain Kadish, a famous spring fifty miles south of Beersheeba. As in the earliest times, it is still regarded by the natives as sacred, as its name (Holy Spring) suggests. The spring itself gushes forth from the side of a sheer rock, and its waters go coursing down through a rather broad valley which it irrigates. This little oasis stands in striking contrast to the dry, barren, rocky territory about. While the water supply was not sufficient to meet the needs of a numerous people, its perennial spring and the tillable soil about, doubtless furnished enough to meet the needs of Moses and of the leaders who joined with him in ruling the allied tribes. There the people doubtless came to him with their cases of dispute or to learn through him Jehovah’s will. Thither came the different tribes in the spring time and in the autumn, not empty handed, to present their gifts to Jehovah and to celebrate the sacred festivals. It appears to have been the common centre about which the different tribes revolved, and from which Moses exercised his leadership and direction.
VI.The Tradition of the Manna. The later traditions represent the Hebrews as subsisting upon food supernaturaly supplied. The early Judean historians, on the contrary, clearly state that the Israelites lived on the natural products of the wilderness. The tradition that the Hebrews at this time numbered many thousands has clearly influenced the form of this narrative. It explains the fact that, while the source of the supply was natural, the quantity far exceeded that which the wilderness ordinarily supplies. Back of these stories of the manna and of the marvellous supply of water, is the historic truth that, in this barren environment and trying period of their history, Jehovah amply provided all that was needed for the welfare of his people. By means of these stories the prophetic historians bring out in clear relief that care and love which ever attends those who put their trust in the Divine Father.
VII.The Battle with the Amalekites. Another phase of the desert life of the Hebrews is reflected in the story of the battle with the Amalekites. Possibly this was for the possession of the sacred spring at Kadesh. These desert tribesmen figure in the later history, especially of Saul and David, as the inveterate foes of the Hebrews. They were found, not in the Sinaitic peninsula, but in the South Country on the border of Judah. This fact suggests that the occasion was an initial advance of the Hebrews toward Palestine. The episode is important because it reveals the warlike life of the wilderness period. The conflicts with these small desert tribes gave the Hebrews that experience and training which were essential if they were to win on the larger battle-fields of Palestine. Here, as elsewhere in their narratives, the prophetic historians focus attention on the supreme fact that it was Jehovah’s strong arm which gave them the victory.
VIII.The Significance of the Ark. The early Judean narrative mentions the ark in connection with the journey through the wilderness; but gives no description of its origin and form. The latest compiler of Exodus has evidently substituted for the older prophetic, the late priestly account of its construction. It was apparently a simple wooden chest, made from such wood as could be found in the desert. From its prominence and use by the Hebrews in their early conflicts with the Philistines (as recorded in the opening chapters of Samuel), it is clear that in that later day it enjoyed a reputation which could have been gained only through many generations. This evidence strengthens the testimony of the early Judean historian that the Hebrews, as they left Mount Sinai, bore with them some such rude chest or ark. The presence of corresponding arks or ships among the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and Phoenicians indicates that the institution was very old, and throws further light upon the original meaning of the symbol. Among the Egyptians each god had its sacred ship, on which the image of the god was borne in solemn procession up and down the Nile. In Babylonia corresponding arks or chests were similarly used to bear the images of the gods in the processions, which marched along the sacred streets on certain great feast days.
If the primitive decalogue of Exodus 34 comes from Moses, it would seem clear that from the first Jehovah was not represented by an image. The analogies and the references in the early sources indicate that the ark was apparently regarded either as the symbol of the presence of Jehovah or as the throne of the God of Sinai. In the minds of the early Hebrews, it may well have represented the transfer of Jehovah’s place of abode from the sacred mountain to the temple at Jerusalem, in which the ark occupied a central place. Some such belief as this explains the ancient song in Exodus 34:1. Before this symbol of Jehovah’s presence Israel’s foes were vanquished. Under Moses’s direction it was the signal for the Hebrews to advance or to halt in their march. Above all, it symbolized to them in all their wanderings and varied vicissitudes the all-important fact that Jehovah, their God, was in their midst, guiding and directing them.