Exodus 17:1

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin,.... Where they had stayed some time, at least a week, as it should seem, from the gathering the manna there

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

EXODUS CHAPTER 17 The children of Israel come to Rephidim; there is no water, therefore murmur against Moses, . Moses crieth to the Lord, . The Lord sendeth Moses to Horeb; he smiteth the rock, and water cometh out, ,6. He names that place, and the reason of it, . Amalek warreth against the Israelites, . Moses appointeth Joshua to fight with him, . Joshua’ s success when Moses held up his hand; when let down, Amalek prevailed, . Moses buildeth an altar, and nameth it, . The reason of it, . After their journeys; by divers stations, recorded ,13, &c., but here omitted, because there was nothing extraordinary happened in them. According to the commandment of the Lord, expressed either by word of mouth, or by the motion or rest of the cloudy pillar, .

Exodus 17:1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and [there was] no water for the people to drink.Ver. 1. After their journeys,] i.e., After they had first been at Dophkah, and at Alush. There was no water.] Bread they had from heaven, but wanted water. Our condition here is a condition of singular indigency: we are ever wanting somewhat or other.

XVII. THE AT AND THE FIGHT WITH AMALEK.(1) The children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin.—The route by which Rephidim was reached is very uncertain. From El Markha there are three modes of reaching the Wady Feiran, where Rephidim is placed by most critics. One route (the shortest) is from the northern part of El Markha by Wady Shellal and Wady Magharah, where there was an important Egyptian settlement. This the Israelites would probably have avoided. Another, from the central part of El Markha, leads through the Wady Seih Sidreh to Magharah, and would, therefore, have been equally inconvenient. The third is circuitous, but has the advantage of being very open, and therefore suitable for a vast host. It passes through the whole of El Markha, and then, skirting the mountain, enters Wady Feiran at its south-western extremity. The probability seems on the whole to be that the Israelites pursued this last route. After their journeys.—We find from Numbers 33:12-13, that Rephidim was reached from the wilderness of Sin by three journeys—from Sin to Dophkah, from Dophkah to Alush, and from Alusb to Rephidim. The distance by the route which we have supposed the Israelites to have taken is about fifty miles. Rephidim means rests, or resting-places, and is an appropriate name for the central part of the Wady Feiran—the most fertile spot in the whole peninsula, where there is usually abundant water, rich vegetation, and numerous palm-trees. (Lepsius, Tour from Thebes to Sinai, pp. 21, 37; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, pp. 40, 41.) According to Dean Stanley, “the oldest known tradition of the peninsula” identifies Rephidim with Paran—the seat of an early bishopric—undoubtedly the same word with Feiran. There was no water.—Though Feiran is usually watered by a copious stream, there have been occasions when the brook has been dried up. Graul found it dry in March, 1858. (Stanley, p. 40, Note 3.)

CHAPTER XVII The Israelites journey from the wilderness of Sin to Rephidim, 1, where they murmur for lack of water, 2, 3. Moses asks counsel of God, 4, who commands him to take his rod and smite the rock, 5, and promises that water should proceed from it for the people to drink, 6. The place is called Massah and Meribah, 7. The Amalekites attack Israel in Rephidim, 8. Joshua is commanded to fight with them, 9. Moses, Aaron, and Hur go to the top of a hill, and while Moses holds up his hands, the Israelites prevail; when he lets them down, Amalek prevails, 10, 11. Moses, being weary, sits down, and Aaron and Hur hold up his hands, 12. The Amalekites are totally routed, 13, and the event commanded to be recorded, 14. Moses builds an altar, and calls it JEHOVAH-NISSI, 15. Amalek is threatened with continual wars, 16. NOTES ON CHAP. XVII Verse 1. Pitched in Rephidim] In Numbers 33:12-14 it is said, that when the Israelites came from Sin they encamped in Dophkah, and next in Alush, after which they came to Rephidim. Here, therefore, two stations are omitted, probably because nothing of moment took place at either. See Clarke on Numbers 33:12; and "Numbers 33:13".

1a. the congregation] see on Exodus 12:3. journeys] better, as marg., stages; lit. pluckings up, i.e. (see on Exodus 12:37) breakings up of camp. The same expression, Genesis 13:3, Numbers 10:12; Numbers 33:2. The stations between the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim, at which the Israelites thus halted, were, according to Numbers 33:12-14 (P), Dophḳ ?ah and Alush (both unidentified). ‘Journey’ (from journιe) is probably used here in its old sense of a day’s travel. according to the commandment (Heb. mouth) of Jehovah] A frequent expression in P: Numbers 3:16; Numbers 3:19; Numbers 3:51; Numbers 4:37; Numbers 4:41, &c. Rephidim] Probably in the upper part of the broad and long Wβdy Feiran, the ‘finest valley in the Peninsula’ (Burckh.). As was mentioned on Exodus 16:1, W. Feiran could be reached from the plain el-Markhβ, either from the middle of the plain up the Seiḥ ? Sidreh on the E., or, 7 miles beyond the end of the plain, from the mouth of W. Feiran itself: the two routes converge at a point about 16 miles from the mouth of W. Feiran. The W. Feiran leads up Eastwards into the heart of the Peninsula. At about 30 miles from its mouth (see the Map), the traveller sees, 3 miles on his right, between W. ‘Ajeleh and W. ‘Aleyat, the lofty peaks of J. Serbβl; continuing up W. Feiran, he reaches, after 30, 37, or 41 miles, according to the route taken (see p. 182), J. Mϋsβ. At the junction of W. ‘Aleyat with W. Feiran are ruins of the ancient episcopal town of Pharan, and of the churches and monasteries connected with it. For about 4 miles above these ruins there extends the oasis of W. Feiran, watered by a never-failing stream, in which the date palm is largely cultivated: Burckhardt (p. 602) says that the gardens and date plantations, nearly every one irrigated by its own well, extended uninterruptedly along the whole of the 4 miles: cucumbers, melons, gourds, also, as well as acacias, tamarisks, and other trees grew there (cf. Palmer, Desert of the Ex., pp. 154, 158, who describes this as the most fertile part of the Peninsula). The name Rephidim has not been preserved: but it is placed by Eusebius (Onom. 145. 25) near Pharan, and identified with it by Cosmas Indicopleustes, c. 535–40 a.d. (Rob. i. 126; Ordn. Surv. p. 199); and Antoninus (Itin. § 40), writing c. 570 a.d., states that a chapel was shewn there, the altar in which was supposed to stand upon the stones which supported Moses’ hands. This identification of Rephidim has been accepted by Lepsius, Ebers, and the members of the Ordnance Survey party (except the Rev. F. W. Holland), the Israelite encampment, it is supposed, having been, not as far up the valley as the oasis itself (in which water would hardly have been needed, v. 1b), but 3 or 4 miles below it, and the Amalekites having come down the valley to prevent the Israelites from gaining possession of the oasis (Major Palmer, Sinai,2 pp. 207 f., 86).

According to their journeys - The Israelites rested at two stations before they reached Rephidim, namely, Dophkah and Alush Numbers 33:12-14. Dophkah was in the Wady Sih, a day’s journey from the Wady Nasb.

MARCH TO — WANT OF WATER, Exodus 17:1-7. 1. From the wilderness of Sin — The plain of Murkha. See Introductory Note, (1,) on chapter 16.