2. There are eleven days' journey from Horeb--Distances are computed in
the East still by the hours or days occupiesd by the journey. A day's
journey on foot is about twenty miles--on camels, at the rate of three
miles an hour, thirty miles--and by caravans, about twenty-five miles.
But the Israelites, with children and flocks, would move at a slow
rate. The length of the Ghor from Ezion-geber to Kadesh is a hundred
miles. The days here mentioned were not necessarily successive days
[ROBINSON], for the journey can be made in a much shorter period. But
this mention of the time was made to show that the great number of
years spent in travelling from Horeb to the plain of Moab was not owing
to the length of the way, but to a very different cause; namely,
banishment for their apostasy and frequent rebellions.
mount Seir--the mountainous country of Edom.
JFB.
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