Bible History of the Old Testament
No. 42
The Wilderness of Shur and Sinai Peninsula
The first part of the Book of Exodus ends with the song of triumph on the other side of the Red Sea. This meant that Israel had officially become a nation, and God proved it by a grand deliverance of His chosen people. Now the thing that remained would be that this new-born people of His would consecrate themselves to Him at Mount Sinai.
The second part of Exodus describes their wilderness journey to Sinai, and their consecration to God there. The Book of Exodus can also serve as the pattern of heavenly things on our passage through the wilderness to the mount.
Israel now looked in the morning light across the now quiet sea. They had seen Jehovah destroy their Egyptian pursuers, and they must have had some assurance now that Egypt would not come looking for them any further.
Now they turned around and looked the other way, seeing a low range of bare limestone hills that extended all along their line of vision to the east and north. They rose like a wall, and all the land where they were standing was called the Wilderness of Shur. This was fresh, free, and undisputed wilderness.
It was also the "great and terrible wilderness" that was full of danger and difficulties for the people. They must pass through this mighty and terrible wilderness before they could reach their destination of the beautiful and lush land of Canaan. This was a desolate wilderness, though, and was a far cry from the lushness of Egypt.
The desert through which they journeyed should not be pictured as just a large, flat, sandy tract. In fact, it was quite the opposite, and was capable of cultivation in many areas. The Sinai Peninsula extends between the Gulf of Suez on the west, and the Persian Gulf on the east.
Its configuration is heart-shaped, with the broader part lying towards Palestine, and the narrower part stretching southwards into the sea. It consists of three distinct portions.
The northern portion is called the Wilderness of Tih, or "Wandering." It is pebbly, high table-land, with its prevailing color being that of grey limestone.
Next, comes a broad belt of sandstone and yellow sand, the only one in the desert of the Exodus.
To the south of that lies the true Sinai range. This portion bears the name of Tor, and consists chiefly of red sandstone in the north and in the center of red granite and green porphyry.
The prevailing character of the scenery looks like an irregular mass of mountains that are thrown together in wild confusion. The highest peak rises to about 9000 feet. Between the peaks are lower beds that fill with fast-moving water for a short time of the year, but generally are quite dry.
These beds are called Wadies, and together they form a highway through the wilderness. Because of this, there are cultivated patches that are really fruitful and beautiful to look at because they are lush and green. In these places, palm trees spring up that even have gardens and fields with rich pasture ground.
For the most part the terrain is rocky mountain-sides that are bare of all vegetation. They are beautiful to look at, though, because of the beautiful colors of the rocks. The prevailing colors are red and green, but the colors vary also to purple, rose, and black.
There is extreme silence in the wilderness, so the voice can be heard at extraordinary distances. Besides the fruitful spots already mentioned, the vegetation consists chiefly of the caper plant, which is the hyssop of the Bible. It grows from the clefts of the rocks and hangs down in gay festoons.
There are species of acacia trees there, which is the "Shittim-wood" of the Bible in which the framework of the Tabernacle was made. The white broom, or juniper of Scripture also produces natural manna in certain seasons of the year.
It would have been a mistake to think that the wilderness did not offer any means of support to those who inhabited it. Even to this day, there are people who live there, and back in Bible Times it would have supported many more people than it does today. The land has been neglected and ravaged over the years, which has brought it to its present state today.
In Bible days there were always Egyptian colonies that were engaged in working the many minerals there, such as copper, iron, and turquoise mines. The people who lived there would have been well able to live among its springs and cultivated spots. There was also ample eating for the many flocks of the Israelites. In turn, these flocks would have supplied them with milk, cheese, and meat.
We can also gather from many passages of Scripture that the Israelites must have had a supply of flour that they were able to either cultivate themselves or buy from passing caravans.
The passages above give a good description of the wilderness that the Israelites now entered as they left Egypt.
During the 40 years that Moses had tended to Jethro's flocks, he must have become extremely familiar with all the wadies, peaks, pastures and rocks. The Israelites themselves also probably knew a lot about what the wilderness looked like because there were roads going through at least part of the desert to other places.
They at least knew about part of the land to which they were to go into on their trek to becoming their own nation.
Below is a map of the Sinai Peninsula so that you can get an idea of their travels as they left Egypt.
This text has been taken from the book Bible History Old Testament, written by Alfred Edersheim. This book has been used by permisison.