It is also written in plain words, that the people were arrived at the Mountain of God, the Mountain of the Law. As it says, that after the victory near Raphidîm, Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, heard of all that had happened. “And then came Jethro, and Moses’s sons, and his wife to Moses in the desert, where he was encamped at the Mountain of God;” and also the Lord had already spoken to Moses, “See I will stand before you upon a rock in Choreb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall flow forth, that the people may drink;” words which could only refer to the wonderful fountain of Firân, as it has long since appeared to me.[131] That Moses really encamped here in Raphidîm, is further proved, as he now, by the advice of Jethro, organised the till now disorderly multitude, in order to be able to govern it.[132] He chose the most able men and set them over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens; these became judges respecting the smaller occurrences, while he reserved only the most important to himself. This proves clearly that the journey was over, and that the time of rest was come. This certainly appears to be contradicted in the beginning of the next chapter.[133] “In the third month,[134] when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Raphidîm, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness, and then Israel encamped before the Mount, and Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain,” &c. According to this there is a journey between Raphidîm and Sinai. This decides in favour of the tradition, which believes the Mountain of the Law to have been found beyond Firân, in the Gebel Mûsa. It will not, however, be guessed that, by this acceptation, it will fall into a much greater contradiction with the text. Furthermore the words speak of nothing more than one day’s journey;[135] also, not in the fourth book, where, nevertheless, between Elim and Raphidîm, not only Alus and Daphka, but also the Red Sea, although this lay by Elim, are particularly mentioned. From Firân to Gebel Mûsa was, at least, two long days’ journey, if not more. Then, however, “the Mountain of God” has already been mentioned in Raphidîm; likewise it has been named a rock in Choreb, and it is impossible to understand any other to be the “Mountain of God,” but the “Mountain of God, Choreb,” to which Moses drove the sheep of Jethro.