PREFACE.
xiv
the residence of near a year, during which the Israelites were numbered ¬
and received their laws.
About the beginning of May, in the fourteenth month from the
time of their departure from Egypt, the children of Israel quitted
the vicinity of Mount Horeb, and under the guidance of Hohab,
the Midianite, brother-in-law of Moses, marched to Kadesh, a
place on the frontiers of Canaan, of Edom, and of the desert of
Paran or Zin.* Not long after their arrival, “ at the time of the
« first ripe grapes,” or about the beginning of August, spies were
sent into every part of the cultivated country, as far north as
Hamah.+ The report which they brought back was no less favourable -
to the fertility of the land, than it was discouraging by its
description of the warlike spirit and preparation of the inhabitants,
and of the strength of the fortified places ; and the Israelites having
in consequence refused to follow their leaders into Canaan, were
punished by that long wandering in the deserts lying between
Egypt, Judæa, and Mount Sinai, of which the sacred historian has
not left us any details, but the tradition of which is still preserved
in the name of El Tyh, annexed to the whole country; both to the
desert plains, and to the mountains lying between them and Mount
Sinai.
In the course of their residence in the neighbourhood of Kadesh,
the Israelites obtained some advantages over the neighbouring
Canaanites,t but giving up at length all hope of penetrating by
the frontier, which lies between Gaza and the Dead Sea, they
turned to the eastward, with a view of making a circuit through the
countries on the southern and eastern sides of the lake.§ Here however, -
they found the difficulty still greater; Mount Seir of Edom,
which under the modern names of Djebal, Shera, and Hesma,
* Numbers, c. xiii. Deuter. c. i.
* Numbers, c. x. et seq. and c. 33. Deuter. c. 1.
§ Numbers, c. XX, xXi.
1 Numbers, c. xxi.
