It would be a very great acquisition historically if we might know what Egypt was doing while the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness forty years. Various circumstances conspire to favor the opinion that during this period her king made a vast military crusade upon Palestine and the regions farther north, occupying several years and greatly crippling the powerful tribes [kingdoms so called] then in possession of the land of Canaan. Both Josephus and Herodotus give accounts of a great military expedition of this sort――leaving, however, the main chronological problem _When?_ to be determined.――――As to the great power of the kings of Canaan, the Lord said to Moses, “I will send a hornet before you to drive them out,” _i. e._ to break down their power and facilitate the subjection of the country before the arms of Joshua. The original word translated “hornet” does not suggest the insect now commonly known by that name; but is equivalent to _scourge_, yet not precisely defining of what sort. It is supposable that Egypt and her next kin after the Exodus, were more maddened than subdued by the escape of Israel and by the humbling disaster at the Red Sea; that this great expedition was inspired by the expectation of finding the Hebrew people in Canaan and of punishing them there; that God’s providence shielded them with perfect protection in the great Arabian desert where no Egyptian host could follow them or even subsist; and then with that marvelous wisdom which so often turns the wrath of man to his own praise, used their prowess in arms to break down the military strength of Canaan and prepare that land for easy conquest before the arms of Joshua. It seems obvious that in point of military strength a great change had come over the tribes of Canaan between the visit of the spies and the conquest by Israel. Did the Lord use the chariots and horsemen of Egypt to produce this result? To have done so would be quite in keeping with that great law of his operations in this sinning world under which he so often turns the wrath of wicked men to account most signally and even gloriously to promote the ends of his own kingdom. ♦CHAPTER XV. THE EVENTS NEAR AND AT SINAI. _The Manna._ THE divine plan of leading Israel to Canaan by the way of the great desert involved the question of _subsistence_――bread and water for such a host through so long a journey. It was perfectly obvious that the ordinary resources of this desert were entirely inadequate, so that the alternative was simply, miracle, or starvation. In the choice of miracle God had in view not only physical subsistence but moral culture――the perpetual impression upon the millions of Israel that their covenant-keeping God was feeding them every day with bread immediately from his own hand.