The Land of Midian (Revisited) — Volume 1Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Science
The Land of Midian (Revisited) — Volume 1
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890; Hejaz (Saudi Arabia) -- Description and travel
[EN#126] "Ghor" is the whole depression including the Jordan and
the Dead Sea, while El-'Akabah is its southernmost section. In
older maps this gulf is made to fork at the north--a
topographical absurdity. I have also fallen into a notable
blunder about the Jebel el-Shará', in "The Gold-Mines of Midian,"
note ?, p. 175.
[EN#127] See Appendix, p. 537, "Geological Notes," etc., in Dr.
Beke's "Sinai in Arabia."
[EN#128] See "The Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 338, 339.
[EN#129] This Yitm, which Burckhardt first wrote El-Ithem,
unfortunately gave Dr. Beke an opportunity of finding, in his
"Wady el-Ithem," the "Etham of the Exodus." (See "The
Gold-Mines of Midian," pp. 359--361). The latter has been
conclusively shown by Brugsch-Bey in his lecture, "La Sortie des
Hébreux d'E'gypte" (Alexandrie: Mourès, 1874), p. 31, to be the
great fort of Khatom, on the highway to Phoenicia. The roots
Khatam, Asham, Tam, like the Arabic "Khatm" (<Arabic>) signify to
seal up, close; and thus Khatom in Egyptian, as Atham, Etham in
Hebrew, means a closed place, a fortress. Wallin calls the
"Yitm," which he never visited, "Wâdî Lithm, a cross valley
opening through the chain at about eight hours (twenty-four
miles) north of 'Akaba'"--possibly Lithm is a misprint, but it is
repeated in more than one page.
[EN#130] Dr. Beke, who afterwards changed his mind, would
identify Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, with Horeb of the Rock
("Orig. Biblicae," 195). He then adopted ("Sinai in Arabia," p.
77) the opinion of St. Jerome ("De Situ," etc., p. 191), "Mihi
autem videtur quod duplice nomine mons nunc Sina, nunc Choreb
vocatur." Wellsted (ii. 103) also makes Horeb synonymous with
"Wilderness of Sinai." Professor Palmer (118) translates Horeb by
"ground that has been drained and left dry:" he would include in
it the whole Desert of Sinai, together with "the Mountain;"
whilst he warns us that the monks call the whole southern portion
of their mountain "Horeb." Others confine "Horeb" to Jebel Musá,
and even to its eastern shoulder.
[EN#131] For the Mount or Mountain see Exodus xix. 2, 12, 20, 23;
also xxxii. 19; Deut. iv. II, and v. 23; Heb. xii. 18. Josephus
("Antiq.," II. ii. I) speaks of it similarly as a "mountain," and
describes it with all the apparatus of fable; while his
compatriot and contemporary, St. Paul (Epist. to the Galatians
iv. 25), calls it only "Mount Sinai in Arabia," i.e. east of
Jordan.
[EN#132] See Athenaeum, February 8th and 15th, 1873.
[EN#133] They were heard of by Burckhardt ("Syria," p. 510).
[EN#134] Beke (p. 446), on February 6th, estimated the rise of
the tide at 'Akabah head to be three to four feet. This is
greatly in excess of actuality; but, then, he was finding out
some rational way of drowning "Pharaoh and his host."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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