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Show rp-npi THE SiT.T T.,KK TPT'TE,Snxi "And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came cut abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also." Numbers, Chapter 20, Verse 1 1. Why Prof. Cobern Believes He Has Found and Photographed the Exact Spot Where the Old Testament Miracle Was Performed A. American scholar. Professor Camden M. Cobern of Allegheny Al-legheny College. Meadvffle. Pa., has identified the rock which Moses struck with his rod in onoer to bring forth water for the children of Israel. The rock was, of course, known to he situated In the Sinaltic Peninsula, but for reasons which Professor Cobern explains the eite wag practically unknown to the modern, world. The Professor Pro-fessor here gives an interesting description of the place as he saw it and the reasons which convince him that this is really the spot referred to by the Bible. The books of Exodus and Numbers tell ns how the people of Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness of Sinai on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. At a place called Kadesh they suffered gTeatly from lack of water, and murmured. The Lord commanded Moses to 6mite the rock. The Book of Kumbers says: "11. And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. "12. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. "13. Thl3 la the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them." It is interesting to remember that Sinai is the wild region which lies between the Turkish possessions and Egypt. It has been reported that the Turks were about to advance through this country against the Suez Canal and attack the British forces in Egypt. Doubtless it is the character of the country Dr. Cobern describes here that makes the task of the Turks difficult: BIBLICAL scholars are agreed that 'Ain-Kadis, In the Sinaitic Peninsula, Is the true location of the ancient Kadesh-Barnea of Scripture, where the Israelites spent thirty-neven or thirty-eight years during their journey from Egypt to the Holy Land. This i3 the most sacred of all Old Testament localities excepting except-ing Mount Sinai, yet very few people now living have ever seen the spot. z It seems incredible that one of the most sacred religious re-ligious and historical sites of the ancient world should be practically lo?t to civilized man for nearly a thousand thou-sand year?, aDd all the mora incredible since in all the li,000 square miles of the Sinaitic Peninsula only three or four other oases comparable to this In beauty and in the abundance of water are. to be found. The reasons are three. First, it Is a very small oas:3, no larger than a Pennsylvania garden.. The great stream of water which fertilises it runs Into the sand a few hundred feet from the place where it bursts out of the rock. The oasis is hidden behind hills and almost seems sunken in the earth. You cannot see it five minutes before you reach It. Second, there is great danger of dying from thirst if a traveller in search of this oasis misse3 it, as all the water to support life must be carried in goatskins on backs of canaelB or other animals. The man who visited this oasis Just previous to ourselves found the members of two caravans dead on the sands. Third, the Arab -y-ibe whose tents surround sur-round this oasis is the most savage and brutal of any of the wild men of the desert. These Arabs count the waters a sacred spring and they would hold It a religious re-ligious duty to kill any one whom they found drinking iere. It Is for such reasons that only six parties In 600 7ears have reported themselves able to reach the spring and escape alive, although It only lies two and a half days' Journey south from Bcersbebd, the southernmost Palestine town. The first thing that draws the eye on nt;rlrig the oasis is the prominent rock or bare cliff, called In the Tllblo ".Meribah." from tho base of which the famous stf-arn still flows which, according to Hebrew tradition, first began its course over 3,000 years ago at the com-mand com-mand of Moses. 7"hero are really three springs, with ten other pbaew from which water bubbles out of the earth, though the latter probably all cntre In the head springs. 'What dlntlriRiiixh" Ihh from almost, every oth'T water supply In the Sinaitic Peninsula and makes It. '-.;; to the Arab", a. rnagfeal or divine creation la that. t:ire are living fountains, not well;:. They are .rear -I'm l.nriuii and re of perpetual strength. properly rar-d f r, the stream would be sufficient ''" -;l'y Hinail ;i,ririy with drink; our horses could ,w'j In tiiy itl mum up to U.eir Uriels. In ancient times the- vpt!. ii.-;, anion;; whom the Hebrew .leader was tra'.-iel, wen. able t c.mtf.i m;t tiio TnlWifl-.t englneer- ' - wer.'.s. It. v.--mid have ic -n an ai:y matter to iillllzo Kjrlu::s with 'Aln el Kiulclrat and -other near-by -lb.it. rpilto a sal.lfa:l.oiy supply, from a m ( " a : -- tr ' r ' . x - in Tj ; n "f The Rock of Moses By Prof. Camden M. Cobern, of Allegheny College nomad's point of view, would have been available for the commissariat department, providing the modern computation of the number of the Israelites be accepted. The term for "thousands," as given in the Bible, means also "tent." The present output of water Is far more copious than that at the Wady Gharandal fEIIm), and though the supply at Wady Felran 13 much larger the quality is cot comparable to this. It Is as good as that from any country spring in Pennsylvania or Ohio. The two most prominent springs wpro six feet deep and stoned up from the bottom with time-worn rocks, but the one nearest the cliff was dry. The suggestion sug-gestion was forced upon me on the spot that this upper dry spring was the original fountain, the drying up of which caused the assembled hosts to become crazed with thirst and cry out against Moses and Jehovah. In that case these other two springs would have been brought to light when Mose3 struck the rock "twice" (Ex. 5vii: 1-7; Numbers xx :7-13). I io not consider the act of getting -water as described de-scribed in the Bible to be a miracle. In a very ancient Egyptian text the Pharaoh says: "I will have a well here," and the papyrus continues: "The water which was in the depth was obedient to him." Several texts show that it was the custom to report the digging of a well by saying: "The Pharaoh struck the rock and the water gushed out." Here no miracle wag reported. It was simply the ordinary Oriental method of saying that tho prince gave the command and that his servants obeyed him quickly and the result was satisfactory. That the Hebrews were accustomed to describe similar achievements In similar ways is proved by a pong found In the Bible: "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The well, which the princes digged. ' Which tho nobles of the people delved. With tho sceptre, and wjth their staves." (Mum. xxl: 1.7, 18.) A well dug -with a sceptre or staff Is evidently one dug with picks at the command of tho ruler who holds tho sceptre ond staff. Vet tho finding of wafer n.t tho needed moment, and In the most unexpected place was a IIvine providence so marvelous that Kudesh-Barnea was always thereafter reriiombri-ed as tho scene of find's special manlfeHtatlon. Tho waters may have been hidden In the cliff from the time of tho world's creation, but when, at the command of Mohoh, the Ilmorrtono lmr-rler lmr-rler was broken away they poured forth In what nt 111 seems a miraculous stream. It was In this oasis of Kadcah narnea Hint the Hebrew He-brew nation was born; and tho world today 1s n very different world from what. it. -would have been if tho Hebrew people had not coino to birth In this desert. H. v.iiK here that tho untrained slaves Just. led out or Kgypt by Moi-'-u were prepared fur the comment of I'ahTillne. Heie Mlrla.ni died and here the "law" of Muse:! was firft. fried our. practically. It, was fro-, i thill point. Hint the r.plns were nent, to " "'.Wvf ' ' '7'",' , 1 ' v ' . f , - - . , .--r- , f - -J . ... " - . ' ; . , J . . ,! : ....... j i 1 . - - i ; i U " " I ; ,- -. is' -r ,; r . p. j . ' , " '",. i-.-v '....'' v The Pool in tho Oasis which Is the Overflow from the Watei from the Rock of Moses. Palestine. It was from this point that the most fnmous migration In all history begun when the Israelites marched to conquer for themselves a country. H was a strange ond romantic thing to me to stand surrounded by tha blistering wilderness In this Garden of God which no fow eyes hove seen and where such world rocking events took place. Arab Tents of the Desert Tribes. Murillo's Famous Con- j ception of Moses Smiting the Rock. Portrait of Prof. C M. Cobern, of Allegheny College. The Photo-graphs Photo-graphs on This Page Were Taken and ' Are Copyrighted by Prof. Cobern. "j Rock Which Was Struck by Moses at Kadesh-3arnea, according to the Bible Narrative, Nar-rative, andj Visited and Photographed for the First Time by Prof. Cobern Co-bern at the Risk of Hi j Life Among the Wild Desert Arabs. - a I ' n I - . x : i 1 '-4 ; ' : ,. , .... v t ..... ' v ,. ...... f - ' f.M V , . f , , ; - y K J-JU. I... 1 ? 1 ' v " ' , v ( ' ' . - "" '....; oc.i. - -. . . '.". |