mm ; '► v V; • •O'-.-;* 5 .';. .• .-*Hs^ >r v / r-'>>v** - " '; v> ■-,•■•. TO CANAAN IN ONE YEAR f L- •'<> £ > "i *• *> • ‘ , /* I - AUCHINCLOSS •ObC ?**•;*? ^ '• - ^ f#%;,W .. VI ^ ,ry - ~-;-r— :•— - - ■ . ' ,. 1 -- l: X - :••* " >** ,? * 5 ' ■ I V.:' ."-- vv..vAv. : ■ vP;. .--• . ••-' . « **'-•'* ■:■'■■, t: . ' AA‘. ■ J , . .-•■• *- ■ •. -V ;> v' :"A> ‘V '' Vv". ' ' •i a/., v y.- ’KVfr i3 '' •■ - : v • '• y^' V. 'r^v [• V -v-•- ..f: ; - •■•"■■.■' ■ vf v :f-: \ \ -i-. .-. V // - AO'• v.v -■* •->•;’ • • S- \ > • y * - * ;' •• ; .. ‘ o' ' ‘ Y ' . ’■ -i. 'V ;':V. v : ■ - v ... V .. . % ?.... v,..a ••.„ ••/"• 7*~'. »* ' . - tL . V r ' -•? .-• .**•■.,• • v ... • A > •,;■ v;_ ■- ■ • ' - •;• «• .> " . . .., H •■■A • .'■ t: r v *•• ; • w- - . V - ' • ?,- •; /.:> •:•:.• • .• . , -• >> •••. - ••. ' . -.. ’ • -. ■• V«v>:. >• • -AVVrv.,* •■ , J- iM m A?y v : j , v '■: ■ ■PBSSI .S 4 - T 3>SI07 3. A69 >v;-^v -;V. >■- . ' .-■ '' --j- ■<: . u-k : - ' ; ; r> • v" ' ff- • • t •- • . • •• --* ; . -: v' - .• ^te>y • •. ^ ••• • v-tf'* - -• vVr : . ‘ V ■' ; : yu ,* - . * . . • - • ' ' ■ . c. t - ' s • t ■ : v'-a.'f • - y\*- y y* ■: :vv . '-■'At- •. DSI07 .3 < A 69 TO CANAAN IN ONE YEAR WITH MAP OF ROUTE BY V W. S. AUCHINCLOSS, C.E. AUTHOR OF THE “BOOK OF DANIEL UNLOCKED,” “BIBLE CHRONOLOGY,” “CHRISTIAN era” “SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE OF ASIA,” “HOW TO READ JOSEPHUS,” ETC. NEW YORK FOR SALE BY I). VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY SCIENTIFICJ300K PUBLISHERS 23 MURRAY STREET 1906 Copyright, 1906 BY W. S. AUCHINCLOSS DORN AN, PRINTER, PHILADELPHIA PREFACE. One is apt to think of Israel as spending 40 years on the road to Canaan and lose sight of the fact, that 39 of those years were spent in camp, while only one year was consumed in covering their entire journey of 1100 miles between Rameses and the river Jordan. The Bible record is complete as to the route followed but the history of their journey is scattered through half a dozen different books, the record changing back and forth from one place to another nearly 100 times. We have assembled this data and illustrated the route by an itinerary map. In order to bring out the names of places with greater clearness we have omitted the mountain ranges and gorges, but in plotting the line of march both their location and the gradients overcome have been carefully taken into the account, hence the course shown is topographically correct. Israel’s journey may be divided into three sections, viz:— Rameses to Sinai, thence to Kadesh, and finally to the crossing of the Jordan. They tarried 11 months at Sinai and 38 years at Kadesh. We find that in Bible geography as in Bible chronology, a golden thread of logical sequence binds all together and proclaims a Divine origin. W. S. A. ( 3 ) Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/tocanaaninoneyeaOOauch ON THE EOAD TO CANAAN. The children of Israel left Rameses on the 19th of April b.c. 1477 under the leadership of Moses and after a journey of six weeks encamped at Mt. Sinai where they remained 11 months and received from God a civil code and a complete form of religious worship. Their next objective point was the Wilderness around Kadesh which at that time was counted a journey of 11 days. However they spent 2 months on the road being detained at Kibroth-hattaavah also at Hazeroth. Before reaching the neighborhood of Kadesh they crossed the line which later on became the southern boundary line of Canaan and therefore were truly within the Land of Promise by July b.c. 1476. Having advanced almost to Hormah they received a command to take immediate possession of the entire country and if they had shown the same faith they previously displayed at the Red Sea, they would then have marched forward and accomplished a series of most dazzling victories. But their faith failed. Worse still, rank rebellion lifted its head, the people rejected God and appointed a Captain of their own choosing, saying:—“Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?”—Such treason could not go unpunished. God told them:—“Tomorrow turn you, and get you into the Wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.” The next morning a portion of the host becoming presumptuous, advanced beyond Hormah, and in direct opposition to the warning of Moses and the com¬ mand of God, climbed to the hill top where they were defeated by the Amalekites and were chased even to Hormah itself. Meantime the rest of the host under Moses made a detour into the valley or gorge of the Arabah, following the Hebron and Petra road, called in those days “the Way of the Red Sea,” and so worked their way back to Kadesh, which place they reached in the month of March b.c. 1475. The penalty for (5) 6 ON THE ROAD TO CANAAN rebellion was God’s refusal to use any of those soldiers, except Joshua and Caleb, in his great work of conquering the land of Canaan.—In the next 38 years 600,000 men gradually passed away and another 600,000 came on the field. These years were spent near the city of Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, over which the people may be said to have roamed rather than wandered. To wander, implies moving without any settled purpose, but to roam conveys the idea of returning to a given starting point. Two causes combined to keep them in the neighborhood of Kadesh, viz: the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, also the daily downpour of manna. Wonderful as the miracles wrought in the presence of Pharaoh appear in our eyes, they do not approach the miracle of the manna, that daily food on which some 3,000,000 of people subsisted. In studying the journeyings of Israel it is important to keep in mind the centralizing effect of food given in one locality. The people might roam for miles around a given point but they always had the fixed purpose of returning within a short time to satisfy the demands of hunger. We read of Israel going to Kadesh, of their abiding in Kadesh and of their final departure from Kadesh, but no journeyings are mentioned while they were serving their 38 years’ sentence. The journey of the Israelites is associated with a chapter in tribal history, that throws light on their stay at Kadesh. It is a curious fact that they were able to encamp near that city for so long a time and yet they met with no opposition. Now the 31 principal cities of Canaan each had its own king, who at a later day was conquered by Joshua. Among these was the king of Kadesh-in-Galilee but nothing is said about a king of Kadesh-barnea, nor was the allegiance of its inhabitants claimed either by the Edomites, the Canaanites, or by the Amalekites. That the Kenites dwelt in Kadesh we think is shown bv the «/ fact, that when Israel left Kadesh, the Kenites went with them to Jericho (probably fearful of consequences had they remained) and afterward they followed Judah and Simeon when the latter tribes ON THE ROAD TO CANAAN 7 went to conquer the country allotted to them. This territory included Kadesh-barnea and near that city the Kenites again settled. The Kenites were beloved by Israel for their hospitality and other sterling qualities, also because they counted among their number Jethro, Hobab, and Zipporah; the father-in-law, the brother-in-law and the wife of Moses. That the attachment was lasting is shown by the fact that 400 years later, King Saul told the Kenites:—“Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites lest I destroy you with them: for ye showed kind¬ ness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” Again in David’s time we read of “the cities of the Kenites” and the context shows that they were still held in affec¬ tionate regard throughout the land of Israel. Even then, their influence did not cease, because after another 500 years the ster¬ ling qualities of Rechab the Kenite were perpetuated in the orderly lives of the Rechabites which brought forth the promise, “thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.” Surely in view of such a record, also in view of the fact that in God’s original promise made to Abraham the first lands mentioned were those of the Kenites, it is not hard to decide that Kadesh-barnea belonged to the Kenites, that Jethro was their priest-ruler and that his son Hobab found “Mine own land and my kindred” in the city of Kadesh. Israel therefore was among friends at Kadesh and of course at peace. For a clear understanding of the Scripture narrative we must remember that it contains many duplicate names, as for in¬ stance :— Paran.Zin Sinai.Horeb Taberah.Kibroth-hattaavah Etham.Shur Kadesh.Kadesh-barnea Hormah.Zephath 8 ON THE ROAD TO CANAAN Debir.Kirjath-sepher Hebron.Kirjath-arba Mt. Hermon.Shenir and Sirion This duplication of words generally has a geographical origin. For example, those who live south of a Wilderness call it by the name of a town in their own neighborhood, witness:—Paran, while others living north of identically the same Wilderness call it after their most important town, viz:— Zin. So too with mountains, we encounter the same peculiarity, for instance some called Mt. Hermon by the name of Mt. Shenir while others spoke of it as Mt. Sirion. But this should not cause surprise for in our own country the people of Tacoma speak of their majestic peak as Mt. Tacoma, while the residents of Seattle insist on calling the same mountain Mt. Ranier. Having now followed Israel to Kadesh, and noted the effect of time on their army we come to the final stage wherein they journeyed from Kadesh to the river Jordan. Those who reached Kadesh at 19 years of age were now 56 years old. No men exceeded this age, excepting Joshua and Caleb who were respec¬ tively 69 and 78 years old. With such a force the nation was in splendid fighting trim. No special sympathy need be ex¬ pended on account of their long stay in Kadesh, for when we contrast, the perfect freedom of the people to engage in the ordinary pursuits of every day life and how they received their daily bread from God, with their former condition wherein the Egyptians “made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in bricks and in all manner of service in the field” under the rays of a torrid sun, they certainly had great cause for thank¬ fulness. Besides, their long stay in the desert probably exerted that fascinating influence over their minds, which is so common among those who have lived a long time in the arid regions of California and Arizona. Curiously enough, when such persons have occasion to visit what we would call more favored parts of the country, they are unhappy amid their new surround¬ ings and long to get back to their former haunts. ON THE ROAD TO CANAAN 9 Before leaving Kadesh, Moses sent to the king of Edom and asked permission to follow the highway across his kingdom, thus hoping to reach the Damascus road by a short cut-off and save the people a weary journey around the mountain range called Seir. The king however, not only refused to grant the request but guarded his border with an armed force. Then, “the whole congregation journeyed from Kadesh and came to Mt. Hor.” The real Mt. Hor, now called Mt. Madurah. is located southwest of the Dead Sea at the west end of the Fikreh Valley not far from Hormah. It is a lone peak, like Mt. Tabor rising about 1000 feet above the adjoining plain, and located wholly within the land of Canaan. The traditional site of the tomb of Aaron on Mt. Hor near Petra in the land of Edom is no more reliable than the traditional site of Adam’s tomb in the city of Jerusalem. One site is about as absurd as the other. On reaching Mt. Madurah, Moses was instructed to take Aaron and Eleazar to the top of the mountain and transfer the high priestly robes from Aaron to his son. This was done in the sight of all Israel. Aaron then died on that 20th day of July b.c. 1438 and was buried on the top of the mountain. The people mourned him for 30 days and then pushed onward toward Hormah, where they defeated the Canaanites, who came from Arad, and destroyed their cities. Then “they journeyed south¬ ward from Mt. Madurah by the Way of the Red Sea to compass land of Edom.” This brought them a second time to Ezion- gaber, where “they turned” and travelled northward “by the way of the wilderness of Moab.” On the road, they once more rebelled and fiery serpents were sent among them from the effect of whose poison there was no escape except by an act of faith. In obedience to God’s command Moses made a brass casting in imitation of a serpent and mounted it on a pole so that all could see it. We learn (n Kings 18, 4.) that the people religi¬ ously preserved said casting for more than 700 years, but that it was finally broken up by king Hezekiah. 10 ON THE ROAD TO CANAAN Their course now lay along the Damascus road, first running east of the country of Moab and then west of the country of Ammon until at last they reached the brooks of Arnon, which they crossed and followed until they came to Jahaz. The next few months were remarkable for successful encoun¬ ters both in Gilead and Bashan with the Amorites which led them as far as Mt. Hermon the extreme northern limit of their possessions, a point that the spies had visited some 38 years before. They then fought their way southward along the sea of Galilee through Mahanaim to the Plains of Moab, near the Dead Sea and opposite to Jericho. It was now the Winter of b.c. 1438-7, and enervated by the tropical climate which char¬ acterizes the region of the Dead Sea many succumbed to the wiles of the Midianites and were carried off in the plague. War followed in which the Midianites were defeated and Balaam the secret enemy of Israel was slain. Thus ended the conquest of all their territory east of the river Jordan. Moses delivered his valedictory address on the 12th day of January b.c. 1437, finished writing the Book of the Law and died in the month of February. Israel mourned for him during the next 30 days. Joshua then took supreme command and led the children of Israel across the Jordan on the 21st day of March b.c. 1437. They at once took possession of Gilgal where they celebrated the Passover on the 26th of March. Thus in 40 years from the time they left Raineses they entered Canaan from its eastern border and took such rapid possession that in 6 years’ time they were able to divide the land among their twelve tribes. As regards the dates given in the Itinerary we refer to Auchincloss’ Bible Chronology also to Sossnitz’s Idan Olamim which is based on the calendar of Rabbi Hillel ii. We have named July as the month when Israel arrived in the Wilderness of Paran near Kadesh, because on the semi-tropical plain of Sharon ON THE ROAD TO CANAAN 11 it was undoubtedly “the time of the first ripe grapes/’ the time when Eshcol bore those magnificent clusters that -excited the admiration of the men sent to spy out the land. .Some of the Bible records are so exact that we have been able not only to fix upon the month, but also to give the day of the month. This would not have been possible if Jewish chronology had rested on any one of the Eras of the ancient world, All their feasts however rested on an astronomical basis and found their recurrence in the phases of the Moon. Consequently Jewish dates can be given with great precision. As we recall all the stages of Israels wonderful journey from Egypt to Canaan, the many miracles performed by God’s com¬ mand, the many books in which their progress was recorded, the centuries during which those records were preserved and the geographical consistency of the entire narrative, we feel that were there no other proof of the Inspired character of the Pentateuch, such a geographical record would in itself constitute a full and complete vindication of the Books of Moses. , 37 5 22 9 15 22 23 27 10 1 12 13 1 2 1 11 3 34 35 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ISRAEL’S ITINERARY NAMES OF PLACES DATES OF ARRIVAL MILES Left Rameses Arrival at Succoth Etham, or Shur Pi-hahiroth Crossed the Red Sea Wilderness of Shur Marah Elim “By the Red Sea” Wilderness of Sin Dophkak . . . camped Alush Rephidim Desert of Sinai Arrived at Mt. Sinai Left “ “ J Taberah ... camped 1 Ivibroth-hattaavah Hazeroth Wilderness of Paran Rithmah ... camped Rinnnon-parez Libnah Rissah Kehelathah Alt. Shapher Haradah Makhaloth Jahath ... camped Tarah Mithcah Hashmonah Moseroth ... camped b.c. 1477, April 19th “ April U probably May U U (( u u u u May 19th May June 3rd b.c. 1476, May 12th “ “ 15th month of June probably June U U u u u u u (( u u probably July U a 30 42 47 28 82 (13 Total, 229 14 Israel’s itinerary RERERENCES NAMES OF PLACES DATES OF ARRIVAL MILES Num. 33, 31 Bene-jaakan b.c. 1476, probably July 229 (( “ 32 Hor-hagidgad U 6i u “ 33 Jotbathah U U u “ 34 Ebronah camped U (C u “ 35 Ezion-gaber U (( 116 Judges 11, 16 The Red Sea to Kadesh u u 97 Num. 13, 20 Wilderness of Paran, or b.c. 1476, month of July 86 '