even

east, where the mountain masses while lacking the lofty, stern grandeur of those in the rest of the peninsula, are more crowded, and are, says Robinson, "a mass of black, abrupt, naked, weather-worn peaks,—a fitting spot where the very genius of desolation might erect his horrid throne."

Yet now, when the encampment did move at last, it went directly into this forbidding region. So at least, we may infer from incidents on the journey which will be noticed as they occur. We have only the information in the Record, that they "departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey;" but it seems probable that they passed along Wady Sheikh eastwardly for a little way, and then, when this turns northwardly, left it and entered among the wadys by which this "sea of mountains," as Robinson calls it, is penetrated toward the east.

There were immediate complainings among the people (Num. xi. 1). These complaints seem to have been in the outskirts of the company, among the hangers-on of camps, such as always belong to large moving bodies, and form the restless, troublesome spirits of a community. Just such would have climbed the heights of Jebel Catharin, and would have taken cognizance of this maze of frightful cliffs lying eastwardly, with an expressed hope that their way would not lie thitherward; and now that it did plunge into these ravines, although led by the pillar of cloud, these stragglers in spite of its guidance were beginning to make mischief by their forebodings and complaints. Very soon, amid the toils and discomforts of the new movement, such murmurings would become contagious, and they were already beginning to spread, when suddenly the complainers were swept off by a divine visitation. We know not how, in what form, this came, more than that "the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp." A cry of distress and

alarm was raised by the survivors; and then, on their application, Moses prayed for them, and "the fire was quenched.” He called the place Taberah, "A Burning," in commemoration of the event.

But not long afterward a general mutinous commotion spread through the camp; and the spirit of the great leader, though he knew God was on his side, was temporarily beat down in utter discouragement. The cry now was for animal food. The commotion began among "the mixed multitude" that came out with the true Israelites from Egypt; a set of men from whom troubles might be naturally expected, for they felt themselves less amenable to the laws of God then did the others. But the complaint now found strong answering sympathies among the whole community. During all the time at Sinai the manna had continued to descend at night, and a wholesome bread had been made from it, and the people had the greatest abundance of this food, but the sameness of it for nearly a year, with little else, had become tiresome, and the gathering of the manna began to be mingled with a longing for animal food, which soon took an aggravated form. This longing was now mingled with unusual fatigue. The protracted time of their encampment had enervated their strength, and they were less able to endure the trials of journeying than at the first. Discomforts, if not real, still imaginary, multiplied upon them by the way. The old and the feeble, and the children, soon began to raise cries of distress from fatigue, and the mixed multitude, ready to produce sedition, insinuated the grievance of having to bear it without strengthening food. It was insinuated that this was only the beginning. "Look," might be said by the complainers, "look at the mountains before you, and the frightful ravines: you are already fainting here will surely be your graves: better far to have died amid the variety of good things in Egypt: our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all besides this manna

before our eyes." People under the present trials, and the prospects for the future, broke down and wept, and even strong men felt the contagion. An animal desire, when the thoughts are allowed to run on it, grows at once in intensity: "Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent."

He himself raised a bitter cry,-not like theirs for such indulgence, but in despair. What should he do with such a people as this? He was ready to abandon hope. He murmured even against God. Indeed the burden that he had been bearing alone was very heavy for any one man, and even his large intellect and strong moral nature were staggering under it. It was such a bitter thing to have the whole of these complaints directed against him, as if he were the cause of all this suffering, and as if the congregation were not led on by this pillar of cloud and of fire. And these were a people for whom he himself had perilled so much and done so much! His heart sunk within him utterly, but he had still strength left to cry to God. It was, however, almost a cry of reproach:

"Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, 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 kill me, me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness."

It was a plaintive cry unworthy of Moses, who had seen. so many manifestations of God and of the power and care

exercised by him; and it shows that his mind, great as it was, had become overstrained by the burdens it had been compelled to bear. The answer was one of strong decision, reaching decidedly to all the case. He was to collect the seventy elders into the Tabernacle, and God would manifest himself there before them, and "I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and I will put it upon them and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone." There was a promise also that on the morrow flesh would be sent, sufficient in quantity for a whole month: finally people should loathe it; for it was the divine purpose to send with it a plague as a punishment for their perverseness.

:

The seventy were assembled, and God in manifest presence put a spirit of wisdom and prophecy into them; and in their exhibitions of the latter, it was felt by the people that the responsibility in the future was divided between Moses and these men. During the day, also a strong wind brought immense flocks of quails from the direction of the eastern sea. They flew so low-only a few feet above the earth-as to be easily taken; and through the day and night they were captured throughout the camp and in its neighborhood. A writer, Maillet, speaking of Egypt, says that in certain seasons, when birds come there in great quantities, "the people catch and pluck them and bury them in the burning sand for a few minutes, and thus prepare them for use." But while the Israelites were yet in the first excesses of their eating, disease broke out among them, perhaps from their excess; and "the Lord smote the people. with a very great plague. The place received from their leader the name of Kibroth-hattaavah, "Graves of Lusting," to be a reminder of the people thus buried there.

Their next camping-place was Hazeroth: and as there is now eastward from Sinai, at the distance of four or five days' journey from that mountain, a fountain called by the

Arabs el-Hudhera, the similarity of names seems to point out this spot as that alluded to in the Sacred Record.' It is one of the reasons above hinted at for believing that the Israelites took this easterly course; and with it may be connected the question put by Moses in the recent transactions, (Num. xi. 22), "Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them?" by which, and the subsequent events, we may infer that they were near the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. This spot at the fountain of el-Hudhera is still a favorite stopping-place for the Arabs for water and for feeding their camels on the verdure around.

A strange and most unexpected event comes now before us at this place;-a rising up against Moses by Aaron and Miriam. Jealousy was the cause of it. He had married, as we know, a Midianite woman, Zipporah, the daughter of an Arabian Sheikh, and she was ostensibly the cause of the present trouble in the family. Aaron may have felt himself slighted in not being numbered among the seventy; and Miriam, who seems to have been the chief mover in this trouble, may have been offended by having her own consequence as the sister of the leader not sufficiently recognized, perhaps overshadowed by that of the wife. "Hath the Lord, indeed, spoken only by Moses," they said; "hath he not spoken also by us?" Their brother on this occasion made no complaint to God; but bore it in the quiet of a great and patient man. But God called him and the sister and brother, directing them to come to the Tabernacle, where the cloud now manifested his especial presence. The two offenders were audibly reproved by the heavenly voice;

1 The reader is referred to the general map on page 316, No. 8.

2 She is called Ethiopian in our version: in the original it is Cushite, and Cush appears sometimes to designate parts of Arabia: see Hab. iii. 7; 2 Chron. xxi. 16; Gen. x. 8.

3 Our version makes him call himself " very meek above all men," but the original will signify, just as well, afflicted, humble, &c. See Ps. x. 12, 17.