sage, xv. 1, Horse and rider hath he thrown into the sea,' is clear from v. 4 of the same chapter, where only the overwhelming of the chariots and chariot warriors is spoken of.

The number of the chosen chariots' is limited in the present text to six hundred. If we compare this with other declarations of the strength of the Egyptian hosts, we shall be better prepared to appreciate this moderate statement, so inappropriate to a legendary or mythic narrative. Josephus adds, from his own resources, to these 600 chariots which Pharaoh brought into the field, 50,000 horsemen and 200,000 footmen, and Diodorus gives to Sesostris 600,000 footmen, 24,000 horsemen, and 27,000 chariots of war. It is indeed true that the 600 are not the whole force with which Pharaoh pursued the Israelites. Besides the 600 chosen chariots there were also the chariots of Egypt; but the number of the latter must needs be fixed according to the analogy of the former. The chosen chariots evidently composed the guard of the king. The existence of such a guard is stated by Herodotus, and is proved by the monuments.

10. They were sore afraid.'-It may perhaps appear remarkable that the Israelites, notwithstanding their great numbers, at the appearance of the seemingly not very numerous Egyptian hosts of war, considered themselves as absolutely lost, and that the thought of withstanding them did not even occur to them. A remark in Wilkinson (Anct. Egyptians, i. 347) assists in explaining this fact. The civilized state of Egyptian society required the absence of all arms, except when they were on service.' If the Israelites were entirely unarmed when they departed, they could not think of making resistance.

21. The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22. And the children of Israel went

into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. We have quoted this text at length, in order to mark the distinctness with which every circumstance is enumerated to demonstrate the miraculous character of this event, and to preclude any attempt to account for it on natural grounds. The terms seem purposely intended to guard against any possible natural hypothesis, which might be or has been adduced. The natural operation of any wind could only have driven back the water from the extremity of the gulf, and even this could not be effected by an east wind, which, however, was the best calculated, under the Divine direction, to strike a passage through the gulf; but no wind, not even an east wind, could do this in the terms described, without an extraordinary exhibition of the Divine power. And that the waters were not simply driven back from the head of the gulf, either by a wind, or by an extraordinary fall of the tide, is shown by thisthat the waters could not then be divided, but only driven back, nor could then the waters have been a wall to them on the right hand and on the left, but only on the right. And that they did not pass merely at a ford-that is, on a shallow place, or ledge of rocks--as some conjecture, is evinced as well by the express statement that they passed 'on dry land,' as from the difficulty of supposing that, encumbered as they were with children, flocks, and herds, with a hostile army on their rear, they could have got through even a small depth of water. We have examined the whole subject with great attention, and our decided conviction is, that there is no possibility of accounting for the circumstance on any natural cause which is commonly assigned, without either explaining away the force and obvious meaning of this and the other passages of Scripture which refer to the same event, or else rejecting the testimony of Scripture altogether. There really does 209

not appear any other alternative. It seems to us that there is no Old Testament miracle more independent of natural causes than this. It is true that the natural agency of an east wind was employed; but it is obvious that the natural operation alone of any wind could not have produced this result; and if it could, the miracle remains-the wind being made to come at the moment, and to blow as long as it was wanted, and to cease at the critical time when its cessation involved, the Egyptian host in destruction. And with reference to this wind, about which so much has been said, let it be observed that but for the interposition of an Almighty power, the wind which divided the waters must have continued to blow in order to keep them divided; but how could the Israelites make way through the opened passage in the face of a wind strong enough to produce such effect? And then as to the effect which a wind might produce near Suez in concurrence with the tide, the only wind which could produce such effect is a north wind. Now that wind does not begin to blow at Suez till a long while after the time of the passage of the Israelites. During the months of May, June, and July there blows always a high wind from the north (Turner, ii. 412). The effect of this wind is not to drive back the waters,' etc.-in fact, no travellers who have been there during its prevalence mention it as in any way affecting the flux or reflux of the tide-but to bring down clouds of sand from the desert. If any winds blow with violence in the spring months-March and April—when the Israelites passed, they are the kamsins, which are by no means regular in their direction, but blow sometimes from the east, sometimes from the south, and sometimes from the west; but never from the north or north-east. This fact is of great importance in connection with the

CHAPTER XV.

1 Moses' song. 22 The people want water. 23 The waters at Marah are bitter. 25 A tree sweeteneth them. 27 At Elim are twelve wells, and seventy palm trees.

THEN sang 'Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

considerations stated in the note to ch. xiv. 2, for it shews that at the time of the transit no such wind could have blown as that by the aid of which neological writers and sceptical travellers try to save God the trouble of working a miracle for his people. If a man credits the Scriptural account to be true, he must also believe that it was a great and signal miracle: if he does not believe this, it is better to say so outright, than to undermine the credit of the sacred writer by plausible explanations, the effect of which is to shew that no miracle was really needed, although they sometimes condescend to cover the nakedness of the implication with the rag of a miracle, unworthy of the occasion, and unequal to the effect intended to be produced. Even supposing that the Israelites, in the warmth of their feelings, saw all the transaction through a magnifying medium, this could not be the case with the neighbouring tribes and nations, as the manner in which they were affected by it shews. That the event altogether had no resemblance to any phenomenon which the Red Sea exhibited at other times, is evinced by the incidental but unequivocal acknowledgment of the neighbouring nations (see the texts referred to in the note to chap. xiii. 20), and by the astonishment and alarm which it inspired. Its effect upon the Hebrews themselves equally proves the miraculous character of the transaction. When they saw the 'great work' which the Lord had done to seal their redemption from Egypt, they believed in him;' and in after times its stupendous and undoubted character, occasioned their successive historians, prophets, poets, and didactic writers, more frequently to refer to this miracle than to any other of the extraordinary manifestations of Divine power which the Old Testament records.

8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall 'destroy them.

10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty

waters.

:

5 The depths have covered them they sank into the bottom as a stone.

6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

1 Wisd. 10. 20.

13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

14 The people shall hear, and be afraid : sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.

15 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.

16 'Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as

still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O LORD, which thy hands have established.

18 The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. 19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the

sea.

20 ¶ And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

21 And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

22 ¶ So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of

6 That is, bitterness.

Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called “Marah.

24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a "tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

27 ¶ And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

Verse 10. Lead.'-The specific gravity of lead being somewhat more than 11, that is, eleven times heavier than water, its rapid descent when thrown into that fluid is pointed at in this sublime poem as representing the unchecked impetus with which the host of Pharaoh sank at the return of the waters. It is probable that a piece of lead was fastened to the end of the sounding-line in the time of Moses, as it is at this day, whence the comparison becomes more striking and natural.

19. For the horse of Pharaoh,' etc.-The sublime poem of Moses appears to end with the rapturous burst of exultation in the preceding verse. But if the present verse is to be taken as a part of the song, it must be regarded as containing what the Greeks call the epiphonema, which includes the whole subject of the piece, like the first chorus. But we have no doubt that the triumphal hymn really terminates with the eighteenth verse; and that this is to be joined to the two following verses as a brief recapitulation, in simple prosaic narrative, of the great event which gave occasion to the song.

It does

20. Miriam the Prophetess.'-The Hebrew Miriam, the Greek Mipiau, the Latin Maria, and the English Mary, are all different forms of the same name. not at first sight appear in what sense Miriam is called ‘a prophetess,' but it is probable from the fact that she in common with Moses and Aaron, and like Deborah, Huldah, and Anna, was made in some degree the organ of divine communications. See Num. xii. 1; Micah vi. 4. But some, who feel unwilling to assign this degree to Miriam, remind us that the word 'prophesy' in Scripture, often means no more than the act of playing upon musical instruments, and urge that 'prophetess' can here signify no more than a woman eminently skilled in music. And this interpretation derives some sanction from the fact that Miriam is so designated only upon this particular occasion, when leading the responsive choir of female musicians.

— ‘All the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.-The Hebrew word toph occurs about

twenty times in Scripture, in half of which it is rendered 'timbrel,' and in the other half 'tabret,' a variety of rendering not unusual in the authorized version, but which tends to breed unnecessary confusion. We have noticed this instrument under Gen. xxxi. 27; and have here to call attention to it chiefly in its Egyptian connections. There is much room to think that a people freshly come from Egypt, employed the instruments of this kind which were used in that country, especially as, from the different shapes which the tabrets of that country bear in the ancient paintings, it is evident that the Egyptians had paid much attention to its construction, and could offer it under varieties of form and corresponding modifications of sound to a people abiding among them, who had been probably acquainted before with but one form of the instrument. The Egyptian forms of the tambourine are shown in the cut which we introduce from a mural painting at Thebes. They are of three shapes; one was circular, another square or oblong, and the other consisted of two squares separated by a bar. They were all beaten by the hand, and often used as an accompaniment to the harp and other musical instruments. The tambourine was usually played by females, who are represented as dancing to its sound without the accompaniment of any other instruments. The imperfect manner of the representation does not allow us to discover whether these Egyptian instruments had such moveable pieces of metal let into the frame as we find in the Eastern and European tambourines of the present day; but from the manner in which the tambourine is held up after being struck, their presence may be inferred; and we know that the ancient Greek instruments, which were confessedly derived from the East, had balls of metal attached by short thongs to the circular rim; and there are even examples in the paintings at Herculaneum of tambourines in which, as in our own, circular pieces of moveable metal are let into the frame itself; and this is not now unusual in the east.

Among the Hebrews, it was particularly the instrument

at or not far below Ayun Musa, the Fountains of Moses, where the host probably obtained water. So large a body, passing in a time comparatively short, must have passed in considerable breadth-probably of a mile or two-and as the fountain is more to the north than the valley of Bedea upon the opposite side, it may be quite sufficient to suppose that the upper side of the opening, and consequently the upper, or left flank of the emerging host, touched upon, or was not far below, Ayun Musa. A number of green shrubs, springing from numerous hillocks, mark the landward approach to this place. Here are also a number of neglected palm-trees grown thick and bushy for want of pruning. The springs which here rise out of the

ground in various places, and give name to the spot, are soon lost in the sands. The water is of a brackish quality, in consequence, probably, of the springs being so near the sea; but it is, nevertheless, cool and refreshing, and in these waterless deserts affords a desirable resting-place. The view from this place, looking westward, is very beautiful, and most interesting from its association with the wonderful events which it has been our duty to relate. The mountain chains of Attaka, each running into a long promontory, stretch along the shore of Africa; and nearly opposite our station we view the opening-the Pi-ha-hiroth -the mouth of the pass,' formed by the valley in the mouth of which the Hebrews were encamped before they crossed the sea. On the side where we stand, the access to the shore from the bed of the gulf would have been easy. And it deserves to be mentioned, that not only do the springs bear the name of Moses, but the projecting headland below them, towards the sea, bears the name of Ras Musa. Thus do the Cape of Moses and the Cape of Deliverance look towards each other from the opposite shores of the Arabian Gulf, and unite their abiding and unshaken testimony to the judgments and wonders of that day in which the right hand of Jehovah was so abundantly "glorified in might.'

23. Marah.'-The Hebrews probably made some stay at or near Ayun Musa before they proceeded on their journey. They then travelled for three days without finding any water, and then came to Marah, where the water they did find was too bitter for use. During the first portion of this journey the Hebrews travelled over a wild uneven region, having on their left hand the deep blue waters of the Red Sea, and away to the right, at the distance of ten or twelve miles from the shore, their view was bounded by the mountain range called Jebel er-Raha. At about nine miles below Ayun Musa they passed a low range of hills, which brought them into another plain of great extent, called El Ahta, less uneven than the former, and still bounded on the east by the mountains, and on the west by the sea. This plain takes the name of Waradan, after the wady of that name has been passed. For several miles it is composed chiefly of sand, with an intermixture of pebbles and loose stones, and then the route leads over a range of low hills into another plain less extensive and more undulating, whose surface is composed for the most part of loose rock. The western mountains here approach nearer to the sea, in very broken, irregular masses. The plain is gradually lost in a succession of low, bare sandhills, among which occasionally appear some ledges of rock, of no great extent. The narrow vallies between them are refulgent with crystallised sulphate of lime, which covers the sand in layers half an inch thick. At length they came to Marah, a reminiscence of which name exists in the present Wady Amarah, a mile beyond which is the Ain Hawarah, which is generally, and with sufficient reason, regarded as the well around which the Israelites encamped. The distance from Ayun Musa to this is thirty-six miles, which is a full three days' journey for a host so encumbered as that of the Israelites. The fountain of Hawarah is situated in a rocky valley, two or three miles in diameter. It is near the centre of this valley, and springs out of the top of a mound which has the form of a flattened hemisphere, and an elevation of perhaps thirty or forty feet above the general level of the valley. The water rises into a basin, which is formed by the deposit of a hard shiny substance, and may be from eight to ten feet long, by a breadth somewhat less. In depth it is about five or six feet, and contains three feet of water. The taste of the water answers to that of the Marah of the present text. It is extremely unpleasant, and is the only water near the Red Sea which the Arabs refuse to drink, except in cases of extreme necessity; and even camels, unless very thirsty, abstain from it. Dr. Olin says, that it reminded him of a weak solution of Epsom salts. (Travels, i. 359.) Lord Lindsay states that when first taken into the mouth it is insipid rather than bitter; but when held in the mouth a few seconds, it becomes extremely nauseous (Letters, ii. 263). See also Borrer's Journey, p. 303; Burckhardt remarks: 'The com

plaints of the bitterness of the water by the children of Israel, who had been accustomed to the sweet water of the Nile, are such as may be daily heard from the Egyptian peasants and servants who travel in Arabia. Accustomed from their youth to the excellent water of the Nile, there is nothing they so much regret in countries distant from Egypt; nor is there any eastern people who feel so keenly the want of good water as the present natives of Egypt.' 25. The LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.'—The use of certain plants and vegetable juices in correcting the bad qualities of water, admits of ample illustration. It is understood that the original inducement of the Chinese to the use of tea was for the purpose of correcting the bad qualities of their water; and our early colonists in America infused in the water, for the same purpose, the branches of sassafras. (Burder's Oriental Literature, vol. i. p. 146.) Niebuhr also, speaking of the Nile, observes, The water is always somewhat muddy; but by rubbing with bitter almonds, prepared in a particular manner, the earthen jars in which it is kept, this water is rendered clear, light, and salutary.' Mr. Roberts, in his Oriental Illustrations, has some interesting observations concerning the practices of the Hindoos with reference to this subject. He informs us that the brackish water in the neighbourhood of the salt pans or of the sea, is often corrected by the natives throwing into it the wood called Perru-Nelli (Phylanthus emblica); and should the water be very bad, the well is lined with planks cut out of this tree. He adds: In swampy grounds, or where there has not been rain for a long time, the water is often muddy and very unwholesome. But Providence has again been bountiful by giving to the people the Teatta Maram (Strychnos potatorum). All who live in the neighbourhood of such water, or who have to travel where it is, always carry a supply of the nuts of this tree. They grind one or two of them on the side of an earthen vessel: the water is then poured in and the impurities soon subside.'

With particular reference to Marah, Burckhardt remarks that he had frequently inquired among the Bedouins in different parts of Arabia, whether they possessed any means of effecting such a change by throwing wood into it, or by any other process: but he could never learn that such an art was known. This is important, because such a tree and process of rectification being locally unknown, the necessity for the divine indication of such a tree, and, possibly, of giving to it curative qualities for the occasion, becomes apparent. It shews that such trees do not exist as a common or obvious resource, or else surely their useful properties would be known to the Arabs, to whom they would be of incalculable value. These considerations neutralize the subsequent observations of Burckhardt, who, when he comes a few miles further down to the Wady Gharendel, observes that it (the Wady) contains among other trees and shrubs the thorny shrub Gharkad, the Peganum retusum of Forskal, which is extremely common in this peninsula, and is also met with in the sands of the Delta, on the coasts of the Mediterranean. Its small red berry, of the size of the grain of the pomegranate, is very juicy and refreshing, much resembling a ripe gooseberry in taste, but not so sweet. The Arabs are very fond of it, and I was told that when the shrub produces large crops they make a conserve of the berries. The gharkad delights in a sandy soil, and reaches its maturity in the height of summer when the ground is parched up, exciting an agreeable surprise in the traveller, at finding so juicy a berry produced in the driest soil and season.' In a note to this, he asks, 'Might not the berries of this shrub have been used to sweeten the waters of Marah?' After quoting the authorized version of the text, he proceeds: The Arabic translation of this passage gives a different, and perhaps more correct reading: "And the Lord guided him to a tree, of which he threw something into the water, which then became sweet." I do not remember to have seen any gharkad in the neighbourhood of Hawarah, but Wady Gharendel is full of this shrub. As these conjectures did not occur to me when I was on the spot, I did not inquire of the Bedouins whether they ever sweetened water with the juice of the berries, which