--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 181 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/181/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 181. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/181/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 181. Numbers · 30 of 34 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/181/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/181/#p-N ### Verse 5 [¶1] And pitched in Succoth - This name signifies booths or tents, and probably refers to no town or village, but simply designates the place where they pitched their tents for the first time after their departure from Rameses. [¶2] Stat. 2. ### Verse 6 [¶4] Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness - This place is not well known; Dr. Shaw supposes it to have been one mile from Cairo. Calmet thinks it is the city of Buthum mentioned by Herodotus, which he places in Arabia, on the frontiers of Egypt. [¶5] Stat. 3. ### Verse 7 [¶7] Pi-hahiroth - See on [Exo 14:1] (note), and [Exo 14:2] (note). Baal-zephon Calmet supposes to be the Clysma of the Greeks, and the Kolzum of the Arabians. [¶8] Stat. 4. ### Verse 8 [¶10] And went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham - Called the wilderness of Shur, [Exo 15:22]. [¶11] And pitched in Marah - Dr. Shaw supposes this place to be at Sedur, over against the valley of Baideah, on the opposite side of the Red Sea. [¶12] Stat. 5. ### Verse 9 [¶14] And came unto Elim - A place on the skirts of the deserts of Sin, two leagues from Tor, and nearly thirty from Corondel, a large bay on the east side of the Red Sea. Dr. Shaw, when he visited this place, found but nine of the twelve wells mentioned in the text, and instead of 70 palm trees, he found upwards of 2,000. See on [Exo 15:27] (note). [¶15] Stat. 6. ### Verse 10 [¶17] Encamped by the Red Sea - It is difficult to assign the place of this encampment, as the Israelites were now on their way to Mount Sinai, which lay considerably to the east of Elim, and consequently farther from the sea than the former station. It might be called by the Red Sea, as the Israelites had it, as the principal object, still in view. This station however is mentioned nowhere else. By the Red Sea we are not to understand a sea, the waters of which are red, or the sand red, or any thing else about or in it red; for nothing of this kind appears. It is called in Hebrew ים סוף yam suph, which signifies the weedy sea. The Septuagint rendered the original by θαλασσα εραθρα, and the Vulgate after it by mare rubrum, and the European versions followed these, and, in opposition to etymology and reason, translated it the Red Sea. See the note on [Exo 10:19]. [¶18] Stat. 7. ### Verse 11 [¶20] The wilderness of Sin - This lies between Elim and Mount Sinai. Dr. Shaw and his companions traversed these plains in nine hours. [¶21] Stat. 8. ### Verse 12 [¶23] Dophkah - This place is not mentioned in Exodus and its situation is not known. [¶24] Stat. 9. ### Verse 13 [¶26] Alush - Neither is this mentioned in Exodus and its situation is equally unknown. [¶27] Stat. 10. ### Verse 14 [¶29] Rephidim - Remarkable for the rebellion of the Israelites against Moses, because of the want of water, Exodus 17. [¶30] Stat. 11. ### Verse 15 [¶32] The wilderness of Sinai - Somewhere northward of Mount Sinai, on the straight road to the promised land, to which they now directed their course. [¶33] Stat. 12. ### Verse 16 [¶35] Kibroth-hattaavah - No city, village, etc., but a place in the open desert, which had its name from the plague that fell upon the Israelites, through their murmuring against God, and their inordinate desire of flesh. See on Numbers 11 (note). But it appears that the Israelites had traveled three days' journey in order to reach this place, [Num 10:33], and commentators suppose there must have been other stations which are not laid down here, probably because the places were not remarkable. [¶36] Stat. 13. ### Verse 17 [¶38] Hazeroth - This place Dr. Shaw computes to have been about thirty miles distant from Mount Sinai. [¶39] Stat. 14. ### Verse 18 [¶41] Rithmah - This place lay somewhere in the wilderness of Paran, through which the Israelites were now passing. See [Num 13:1], [Num 13:3]. The name signifies the juniper tree; and the place probably had its name from the great number of those trees growing in that district. [¶42] Stat. 15. ### Verse 19 [¶44] Rimmon-parez - Unknown. [¶45] Stat. 16.