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CHAPTER 9: Rephidim - The Defeat Of Amalek And Its Meaning - The
Visit Of Jethro And Its SymbolicalImportExodus 17, 18
A SWEET spot or grander scenery can scarcely be imagined than Wady Feiran. Here
we are at lastamong those Sinaitic mountains which rise in such fantastic shapes and
exhibit every variety ofcoloring. Following the windings of Wady Feiran we come
upon a wide fertile plain, seemingly allshut in by mountains. This is Rephidim, the
battle-field where Israel, fighting under the banner ofJehovah, defeated Amalek. The
place is too full of interest to be cursorily passed by.
Just before reaching the plain of Rephidim, the children of Israel would, on their way
from theWilderness of Sin, pass a large, bare, outstanding rock. This, according to an
Arab tradition, towhich considerable probability attaches, is the rock which Moses
smote, and whence the livingwater gushed. Now we know that, when Israel reached
that spot, they must have been sufferingfrom thirst, since, all the way from the Red
Sea, these three days, they would not have passed asingle spring, while their march in
early May through that wilderness must have been peculiarly hotand weary. Again, it
is quite certain that they must have passed by that rock, and under its shadowthey
would in all likelihood halt. For at that moment the valley of Rephidim before them
with its livingsprings was held by Amalek, who, as the modern Bedouin would do in
similar circumstances, hadgathered around their wells and palms, waiting to attack the
enemy as he came up thirsty, weary, andway-worn. Here then probably was the scene
of the miracle of the smitten rock. Beyond it lay thebattle-field of Rephidim.
Before following the Biblical narrative, let us try to realize the scene. Advancing from
the rock justdescribed upon that broad plain, we seem to be in a sort of dreamy
paradise, shut in by strangewalls of mountains. As the traveler now sees Rephidim,
many a winter's storm has carried desolationinto it. For this is the region of sudden
and terrific storms, when the waters pour in torrents down thegranite mountains, and
rush with wild roar into the wadies and valleys, carrying with them every livingthing
and all vegetation, uprooting palms, centuries old, and piling rocks and stones upon
each otherin desolate grandeur. At present the stillness of the camp at night is often
broken by the dismal howlof wolves, which in winter prowl about in search of food,
while in the morning the mark of theleopard's foot shows how near danger had been.
But in the days of the Exodus Rephidim and itsneighborhood were comparatively
inhabited districts. Nothing, however, can have permanentlychanged the character of
the scenery. Quite at the north of the valley are groves of palms, tamarisksand other
trees, offering delicious shade. Here the voice of the bulbul is heard, and, sweeter still
tothe ear of the traveler, the murmur of living water. This beautiful tract, one of the
most fertile in thepeninsula, extends for miles along the valley. To the north, some
700 feet above the valley, rises amountain (Jebel Tahuneh), which, not without much
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