The Wandering in the Wilderness
Part One
I. Preliminary Events. As preparatory to the wilderness stage in the history of Is´ra-el certain events and processes are to be noted.
1. The Oppression of the Is´ra-el-ites (Exod. I. 8-13). If the Is´ra-el-ites had been prosperous and happy in E´gypt they would have remained there, and the destiny of the chosen people would have been forgotten. Therefore, when E´gypt had given to Is´ra-el all that it could the wrath of man was made to praise God; and by suffering the Is´ra-el-ites were made willing to leave the land of their sojourn and seek the land of promise. The nest was stirred up, and the young eaglet was compelled to fly (Deut. 32. 11, 12). The Pha´raoh of the oppression is generally identified with Ram´e-ses II, who was reigning about B. C. 1320.
2. The Training of Mo´ses. Therein was another element of preparation. No common man could have wrought the great work of liberation, of legislation, and of training which Is´ra-el needed.
3. The Ten Plagues. But if it was needful to make the Is´ra-el-ites willing to depart it was also needful to make the E-gyp´tian king and his people willing to let them depart; and this was accomplished by the plagues which fell upon E´gypt, showing Is´ra-el as under God's peculiar care and the gods of E´gypt powerless to protect their people.
4. The Passover (Exod. 12. 21-28). This service represented three ideas: 1.) It was the springtide festival. 2.) It commemorated the sudden departure from E´gypt, when there was not even time to "raise the bread" before leaving (Exod. 12. 34-39). 3.) It was an impressive prophecy of Christ, the slain Lamb of God (Exod. 12. 21, 22).
5. The Exodus (Exod. 12. 40, 41). The word means "going out." This was the birthday of a nation, the hour when the Is´ra-el-ites rose from being merely a mass of men to become a people. The date of the exodus is uncertain, but the best scholars have concluded that it took place in the reign of the King Me-neph´thah (or Me-re-neph´thah), who may have reigned about B. C. 1270.
II. In order to follow the journeys of the Is´ra-el-ites we must draw a map of the Wilderness of the Wandering.