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Before leaving Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom, and also, as we
learn fromJudges 11:17, to the king of Moab, whose dominions lay on the north of
Edom, asking permissionfor Israel to pass through their countries.
A glance at the map will show that this would have been the most direct route, if
Palestine was to beentered from the other side Jordan at Jericho. Certainly it was the
easiest route, as it avoided contactwith those who held the Negeb, or south country,
who thirty-seven years before had met Israel inhostile conflict and signally defeated
them. (Numbers 14:44, 45) But in vain Moses urged uponEdom the claims of national
kinship, Israel's past sufferings in Egypt, and their marvelous deliveranceand guidance
by The Angel of Jehovah. In vain also did he limit his request to permission to use
theordinary caravan road -"the king's highway" - without straying either to the right or
the left, addingthe promise of payment for the use of the wells. (Numbers 20:14-17)
The children of Esau not onlyabsolutely refused, but hastily gathered an army of
observation on their borders. Meantime, while themessengers of Moses had gone on
their embassy, the camp of Israel had moved forward to whatmay be described as "the
uttermost of the border" of Edom. A day's journey eastward from Kadesh,through the
wide and broad Wady Murreh, suddenly rises a remarkable mountain, quite isolated
andprominent, which Canon Williams describes as "singularly formed," and the late
Professor Robinsonlikens to "a lofty citadel." Its present name Moderah preserves the
ancient Biblical Moserah, which,from a comparison of Numbers 20:22-29 with
Deuteronomy 10:6, we know to have been onlyanother designation for Mount Hor. In
fact, "Mount Hor" or Hor-ha-Hor ("mountain, the mountain")just means" the
remarkable mountain." This was the natural route for Israel to take, if they hoped
topass through Edom by the king's highway - the present Wady Ghuweir, - which
would have ledthem by way of Moab, easily and straight, to the other side of Jordan.
It was natural for them here tohalt and await the reply of the king of Edom. For while
Moderah lies at the very boundary, but stilloutside Edom, it is also at the entrance to
the various wadies or roads, which thence open east,south, and south-west so that the
children of Israel might thence take any route which circumstanceswould indicate.
Moreover, from the height of Moderah they would be able to observe any
hostilemovement that might be directed against them, whether from the east by Edom,
or from the northand west by the Amalekites and Canaanites. From what has been
said, it will be gathered that weregard this as the Mount Hor where Aaron died.
Thus speedily, within a day's journey of the place of his sin, was the Divine sentence
upon Aaronexecuted. There is a solemn grandeur about this narrative, befitting the
occasion and in accordancewith the locality. In the sight of all the congregation these
three, Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar, went upthe mount. In his full priestly dress walked
Aaron to his burial. He knew it, and so did all in thatcamp, who now, for the last time,
reverently and silently looked upon the venerable figure of himwho, these forty years,
had ministered unto them in holy things.
(^)