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June 2002

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "Israel in the Desert"

 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) had a wide scope of interests and learning. Widely known for his poetry, for one very famous drama - "Faust" - and especially one early novel - "The Sorrows of Young Werther" - his more substantial work never became very popular. Goethe wrote and directed a number of plays, wrote lengthy novels which ought to be forgotten, and excelled in fresh observations in botany, paleontology, and especially geology. He never brought it all together in a system, but with some justification Goethe can be considered as a forerunner to Charles Darwin (1809 -1882). Unfortunately Goethe thought he had to challenge Newton's (1643-1727) authority on the physics of color vision, and even so Goethe produced some valuable insight, it didn't do much for his reputation in the scientific community ever since. This is a shame. His diaries from travels to Italy are still a good read, his autobiography "Poetry & Truth" remains a monument to his mother tongue. Throughout his life Goethe produced essays of biblical interpretation which antedate by half a century the "higher criticism" of a later period. The following is from the "Essays and Notes to the West-Eastern Divan." Basically I agree with the whole analysis (see "What Goethe couldn't know"), but of course the curious introduction into the merits of "faith" especially if seen in the context of Goethe's entire work and of this essay in particular, can only be interpreted as a fog screen: the squid is squirting ink. Goethe was not exactly a freedom fighter, and not even once during his long life, did he pull his considerable weight as prime minister of a German principality and as poet of international renown, to aid less fortunate colleagues in their daily struggle with censorship. Only occasionally Goethe dropped his guard and expressed his disgust with the two things that displeased him most: garlic and "the cross." He was quite capable to recognize faith for what it is: a kind of desperate tunnel vision; but he also thought this to be "a good thing" in the Martha Steward sense, because it kept "the mob" busy. Democracy was not Goethe's thing. What I find most interesting here is, how Goethe extracts from the structure of the Pentateuch all the evidence for a late post-exile composition, without ever considering the possibility.
Michael Sympson

Israel in the Desert
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph."

As with the monarch so with the people: the memory of its benefactor had vanished; even the name of their own ancestors seemed to the Israelites' ear a distant sound. Over the 400 years the small family had increased in an incredible way. The God's promise to their ancestral founder has found fulfillment against all expectations; but what is the use? It is their overwhelming number, that causes misgivings in the main population of the country, who try to harass them, to intimidate, to annoy, to extinguish; and as much as their stubborn nature is putting up resistance, all the same, they very well foresee their utter destruction, when the authorities force people, who before had been a free roaming tribe of shepherds, to construct with their own hands the cities at the border, which are destined to be their future confines and dungeons.

Here, before we work our way through the strange and unfortunate editing of the books, we must ask, what will remain with us as the substance of the last four books of the Pentateuch, after we hold on to some parts but have to reject the rest?

The only and most profound subject of World history and the human race, which subordinates everything else, is the conflict between faith and doubt. All epochs ruled by faith in any form are glamorous, heartwarming, and fertile for their own time and for posterity. All epochs in which scepticism, in what manner ever, claims a seedy victory, even if it manages to boast a certain lustre, will eventually vanish from the memory, because nobody wishes to bother with its infertile knowledge.

If Genesis is telling us of the triumphs of faith, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy dwell on the theme of doubt, which in its narrow-minded fashion, though not exactly combatting and rejecting the faith, is putting obstacles up on every step of the way only to find itself neither healed nor extinguished, merely momentarely silenced. Whether treated with charity, or rather by means of barbarous punishments it continues slowly to progress so that a great and noble undertaking to fulfill the promises of a true national deity is almost stopped in its tracks and never reaches its full potential.

When we lose our high spirits and in our discomfort become vexed with this confusing plot, we soon find, at least at first sight, these books utterly unpalatable because of the sorry and most incomprehensible editing. Everywhere we see the story's progress hampered by the insertion of numerous laws, for most of which the reason and intention of their appearance at this particular point is beyond our grasp. And if they are of a later provenance, why had they to be inserted now and here? One is left in the dark, why in the middle of such heroic campaign which had already been riddled with obstacles, people have nothing better to do, than to deliberately and petty-minded increase their baggage of religious ceremony. One simply can't see, why laws for a future which is still completely uncertain, are decreed at a time, when every day and every hour demands for ad hoc counsel but the commander, who is supposed to be on his feet, repeatedly prostrates himself to pray for graces and penalties from above, which both come down merely piecemeal, so that we as well as this misdirected nation completely lose sight of the main objective.

To find my way around this maze, I went to great lengths to carefully separate what is actual narrative, be it history or fable or both dressed as poetry. I sifted it from the teachings and commandments. The former I understand to be what is common to all cultured people, and the latter to be specific for the character of the people of Israel. How much I have succeeded, I barely dare to assert myself, since at present I have not the opportunity to pull out those studies again, and therefore, as the moment dictates, carry together what comes handy from earlier and later papers. Therefore there are two things I wish to commend to the reader's attention. Firstly to look at the entire incident of this strange campaign as a reflection of the commander's character, which for the moment doesn't make him appear in a favorable light, and secondly to follow my assumption, that this campaign didn't take forty years, but barely two; which not only exonerates the commander who we just thought to censure, but restores his reputation as well as that of the national deity from the blemish of injustice and harshness, which looks even less appealing than the nation's defiance and almost restores him in his former purity.

Let us now recall first the Israelites in Egypt, of whose plight latest posterity is called upon to empathize. Out of these people, from the fierce tribe of Levy, a fierce man comes to the fore; who is driven by a vivid feeling for right and wrong. He is worthy of his ferocious ancestors of who the patriarch had decreed:

"Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel."

In an uninhibited semblance to this, Moses makes his appearance. He murders an Egyptian in cold blood because he had smitten an Israelite. Yet his patriotic murder was discovered, and he had to make his escape. For someone who is capable of such action, there is no need to inquire in his upbringing, since he presents himself in the state of raw nature. He is said to have been favoured by a princess and to have received an education at court, nothing of this had any effect on him; he has become a remarkable and strong man, but would remain a savage in any circumstance. And as such we meet him again in exile: curt, and introvert, and barely able to communicate. His strong arm earns him the affection of a princely Midianite priest, who welcomes him into his family. Now he learns all about life in the desert, the place of action for his future as commander and leader.

Now let us first of all have a look at the Midianites, where Moses is living at present. We must acknowledge them as a great people, which, like all roaming nomads, by the many movements of their different tribes and through active expansion, appear to be even more numerous than they actually are. On the map we find the Midianites at Mount Horeb, at the western board of the smaler inlet of the Red Sea, and stretching towards Moab and the Arnon. Quite early we learn of them as traders, who direct their caravans through Canaan towards Egypt.

These are the people and the kind of culture where Moses now is living, but also in isolation, as an introvert shepherd. In the sadest condition in which an excellent man can find himself who is born to anything but thought and speculation and only strives for action, we see him roaming alone in the dessert, always mindful of his people's fortunes, always listening up to the god of his ancestors, anxiously feeling the banishment from a country, which at present, without being the country of his forebears, still is home to his people; too weak, in the greater scheme of things, to make a difference with his strong arm alone, incapable to design a plan, and, even if he were able, too awkward for a coherent verbal delivery or to execute it in a way that would favor his personality. It wouldn't have been unexpected, if under such conditions a strong nature would have destroyed itself.

He might have drawn some comfort from the intelligence he received from passing caravans, who kept him in touch with his own people. After some tossing and turning he decides to return to become their savior. Aaron, his brother, comes out to receive him, and now he learns, that the stir in the people has reached a climax. It is now, that the brothers dare to present themselves to the king as their nations's envoys. Yet Pharaoh is less than pleased to let simply go such a huge mass of people and regain their old independence; people who had settled in his country for centuries and had risen from the state of nomads to the state of farmers and artisans; people who had intermarried with the native population, and whose forced levy had proven its worth in the erection of enormous monuments, and the construction of new cities and fortresses.

The petition is declined and in the face of plague and disaster the ever more urgent demand is declined with ever more stubborness. But, with a prospect to inherit a promised land according to an age-old tradition, and with hopes of independence and self-government, the mutinous Hebrews feel no longer any obligation. Under the pretext of preparing a big festival they cajole their neighbours to provide gold and silver ware, and the very moment when the Egyptians believed the Israelites to be occupied in harmless convivialities, they fall victim to a kind of retrovert Sicilian Vesper *); the stranger murders the native, the guest his host, and in consequence of a brutal policy, they single out the firstborn to be slaughtered, thus, in a country where the law of the land favours especially the firstborn, to keep the surviving hairs busy with litigations and so in a hasty escape evade an immediate vengeance. The ploy succeeds, the assassin is getting expelled instead of being punished. Only later, the king assembles his forces, but the horsemen and chariots, which used to be the terror of the footsoldiers, are made to battle on swampy ground, and lose the uneven contest against the swift and lightly armed Israelite rear-guard; probably the same determined and courageous band which had exercised its skills in the general massacre: we shall continue to follow their tracks and shall not fail to recognize the brutal signature of their deeds.

Such assemblage of folk and warriors, ready for attack as well as for defence, was in a position to choose more than one way towards the promised land; the one following the seaboard through Gaza was not a trade route and might have been dangerous because of the well equipped and warlike nations there; the second route, albeit a longer stretch, seemed to offer more security and other advantages. It followed the Red Sea towards the Sinai; from there one could again take two different directions. The first would negotiate along the smaller inlet towards Jordan through the territories of the Midianites and the Moabites; the alternative route would traverse the desert and aim towards Kades; the first option leaving the land of Edom to the left, the second to the right. In all likelihood it had been Moses' idea to cross the territories of his allies, but he must have been made to change his mind by his shrewd father in law, which seems very possible, considering, as mentioned before, the discomfort which this narrative of the journey's circumstances is imparting on us.

The bright sky at night, burning with an infinite number of stars, which had been pointed out to Abraham by his God, does no longer spread its golden tent above our heads; instead to take cheer from the light in the skies a uncountable number of people take their way through across the badland. All encouraging phenomena have disappeared, only blazing fire catches the sight in every place and corner. The Lord, who out of the burning bush had called for Moses, now moves before the migrating masses, shrouded in a dim and smoky glow, which in the day has the appearance of a pillar of clouds, and in the night of a fiery meteor. From the cloud-shrouded summit of Sinai, thunder and flashes cause terror, and for seemingly small offenses the earth is spewing flames which consume the camp's boundaries. Food and water are continually on a premium and the people's impatient wish to return to Egypt gains ever more urgency the less their leader is able to resolve the situation.

Indeed rather early, long before the migrating host reaches Sinai, and bringing with him daughter and grand-son, who during the difficult times had lived in his tent, Jethro comes out to receive his son in law and proves himself as a wise man. A people like the Midianites, who freely follow their destinies and find every opportunity to test their powers, must be better educated than people, who live under a foreign yoke in a constant quarrel among themselves and with their circumstances; and therefore how much more proficient must be the Midianite's perspective, if compared to the leader of the Israelites, who is a depressed and introvert, but honest individual, who feels the calling for leadership, but has been denied by his nature the necessary abilities for such dangerous vocation.

Moses himself could not rise to the notion, that a ruler doesn't need to be present in every place at once, and do everything in person; on the contrary, he made himself and his government miserable and difficult. Jethro does wise him up on this point and helps to organize the administration and apoint deputies, which should have occurred to Moses before.

However, Jethro, as much as he had the best interest of his son in law on his mind, he may also have considered his own and the Midianite's welfare. Now he found himself faced by a man, whom he once had given shelter as a fugitive, then kept among his domestics and servants, and who now was at the head of a huge crowd, which had left their ancient dwellings in search for new land, being the source of fear and terror wherever they turn.

So it couldn't be hidden from this intelligent man, that the shortest way to the Israelites' destination was leading through the territories of the Mideanites, that this wandering host would walk everywhere into the livestock of his people, would pass their settlements, even find their well established townships. The principles for such movement are no secret, they are expressed in the laws of conquest. There is no movement without resistance, and every act of resistance is perceived as an injustice; who is defending his own, must be an enemy, who therefore can be annihilated without mercy.

It didn't require an extraordinary gift of divination to understand the consequences for any nation that fell victim to such a cloud of locusts. Which first of all makes it plausible, why Jethro discourages his son in law to take the direct way and talks him into crossing the desert; a perception which is even more probable due to the fact that Hoab doesn't leave his brother in law out of his sight, until he actually sees him following the advise and even then accompanies him even further to be absolutely sure that the entire host is safely directed away from the dwellings of the Midianites.

Beginning with the departure in Egypt, this move we just mentioned, happened only in the 14th month. On their way, the people named the wilderness of Sin a place where they had suffered a great plague because of their sin, then migrated towards Hazeroth and pitched camp in the wilderness of Paran. This route remains unquestioned. They now came near to the end of their journey, only the mountain ridge which separates Canaan from the desert was still in their way. They decided to send out a reconnaissance party, and meanwhile moved up to Kadesh. That's where the scouting party returned with news of the land's excellence but unfortunately also of the inhabitant's valor. Here again a sad division took place and the strife between faith and disbelief came again to a head.

Unfortunately Moses had even less talent as a strategist than as an administrator. Already during the conflict with Amalek he had retreated to a mountain to pray while Joshua ahead of his host eventually wrenched from the enemy's grip the for a long time doubtful victory. Now, in Kadesh, the prospect was again dubious. Joshua and Caleb, the most courageous among the twelve scouts, advise to attack, rouse the people, feel confident to win the land. Meanwhile tall tales of armed giants go around and inspire fear and terror; the intimidated warriors refuse to move on. Moses is clueless, first he demands action, then he too feels that an attack from this point might be dangerous. He submits to move eastward. Here then the better part of the host might have found it unseemly at this point to give up on a plan which had been pursued with so much toil. They crowd together and in all seriousness move up the mountains. Moses however stays behind, the shrine doesn't move an inch; therefore neither Joshua nor Caleb can afford to take the lead of the more courageous faction. Enough! The unsupported and insubordinate avant-garde is beaten and impatience rises. The often seen discontent of the people, and several mutinies, which even involved Aaron and Miriam, flair up again and testify how little ability Moses had to fill his position. It was a foregone conclusion, but especially Caleb's testimony dispels any doubt, that now not only was the time but the necessity to advance into Canaan and take possession of Hebron and the plain of Mamre and to conquer the holy grave of Abraham in order to create a bridgehead from which to launch the whole enterprise. What a letdown must it have been for the unfortunate people, when suddenly the plan was to be so dismally abandoned, which followed Jethro's not completely selfless, yet not entirely traitorous suggestion!

The second year, after the departure from Egypt, had not yet entirely passed, and they could have seen themselves in possession of the best part of the coveted country though still quite late; but now the inhabitants had taken notice and shot the bolt, so whereto should they turn? They had moved into the north far enough, and now all on a sudden they should turn east, to pursue the route, which they should have taken in the first place. However it was here in the East where the land of Edom was situated, surrounded by mountains; they attempted to ask permission for passage, but the smarter Edomites bluntly refused. To force passage seemed not advisable, so they had to resign themselves to a detour leaving the Edomite mountains to their left, on which the travel proceeded without any upsets, because it took only few stops - Oboth and Jiim - to reach the creek Sared, the first that pours its waters into the Dead Sea, and finally arrive at the Arnon. In the meantime Miriam had passed away, only a short time after she had revolted against Moses.

From the creek Arnon everything progressed with even better luck. For the second time the people found themselves near the desired goal and in a place with few obstacles in their way; here they could proceed in large numbers and overwhelm, destroy and drive away the nations who refused to let them pass. Progressing ever further, the Midianites, Moabites, Amorits came under attack in their proudest possessions, the Midianites even brought to extinction, despite of Jethro's perceptive attempts to prevent it. They occupied the left bank of the river Jordan and a few impatient tribes obtained permission to settle on the spot, while in the usual fashion laws were declared, decrees issued and procrastinated to cross the Jordan. During these events Moses himself disappeared, not unlike Aaron, and we should be very mistaken, if not Joshua and Caleb, in order to bring the thing to a conclusion, had decided to end the for a long time insufferable rule of a limited mind and send him after the many unfortunate souls he had felt compelled to dispatch before, and so in all earnestness take possession of the right bank of Jordan and land behind.

One will generally agree with this exposition here as far as it presents to the mind the progress of an important enterprise as quick as it is single-minded; but one will not applaud and put too much trust in the shedule that soon concludes a campaign which the explicit letter of the Holy Scripture stretches over many years. We therefore need to explain our reasons, why we think to be justified in believing in such considerable difference; and for this is no better way, than to consider the geography which had been traversed by such a huge number of people and tally their time frame for such undertaking with that needed by every caravan, and accordingly, consider and weigh the tradition of this particular case.

Let's forget about the move from the Red Sea to the Sinai, we also leave alone whatever might have happened in the mountain's vicinity and merely notice, that the huge number of people set out from the foot of Sinai on the 20th day of the 2nd month in the 2nd year of the exodus from Egypt. From there to the desert of Paran they had barely forty miles to go, which a caravan with its cargo easily can cover in five days. Even if we make allowance for enough days of rest for the procession's recovery and for other reasons to tardy, they could easily have arrived in twelve days at their destined place, which is in agreement with the Bible and common reckoning. Here the scouting party is sent ahead, while the mass of the hosts is moving on only a little further to Kadesh, where after forty days they reunite with their emissaries and after a bungled attempt to conquer immediately parley with the Edomites. One may allow for as much time as one likes to conclude the negotiations, it should not have taken more than some thirty days. The Edomites bluntly refuse to give permission for crossing their territory, and for the Israelites it was anything but advisable, to delay in such hazardous situation, because the Israelites would have been in a difficult position, if Canaanites and Edomites should have come to an agreement and both attack from their respective mountain positions in the north and the east.

Here too, the narrative doesn't pause, but one decides to immediately move around the mountains of Edom. Again the move around the mountains of Edom - first towards south, then northwards to the river Arnon - barely covers forty miles which as well should not take more than five days. Adding to it those forty days of mourning for Aaron's death, still leaves us with just the sixth month of the second year to bring the children of Israel easily to the Jordan, despite the procrastination and indecision in the various movements. So, where do we place the remaining thirty-eight years?

In fact this has troubled the commentators no end, to account for the forty-one stations of the itinerary, which recounts fifteen stops, of which the narrative knows nothing, but all the same it is included and causes the geographers a considerable headache. Fortunately the inserted stations, correlate in some fantastic fashion with the supernumerary years and sixteen places, of which nobody knows a thing, and with the thirty-eight years of which we are completely left in the dark. But they provide a splendid opportunity to have the children of Israel losing their bearings in the desert. Below we compare the stopovers of the narrative, which dwells on the events, with the stops in the itinerary, where the empty names should be recognizable among the rest of historical significance.

The story according to Exodus,                              the itinerary according to Numbers 33
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

                                                                                       Rameses
                                                                                        Succoth
                                                                                        Etham
            Pihahiroth                                                             Pihahiroth
                                                                                        Migdol
                                                                                       through the sea
            Marah, wilderness of Etham                                   Marah, wilderness of Etham
            Elim                                                                      Elim: twelve fountains of water
                                                                                        Red sea
            wilderness of Sin                                                   wilderness of Sin
                                                                                        Dophkah
                                                                                        Alush
            Rephidim                                                              Rephidim
            wilderness of Sinai                                                 wilderness of Sinai
            Hazeroth                                                               Hazeroth
                                                                                        Rithmah
            Kadesh in Paran                                                    Rimmonparez
                                                                                        Libnah
                                                                                        Rissah 
                                                                                        Kehelathah
                                                                                        mount Shapher
                                                                                        Haradah
                                                                                        Makheloth
                                                                                       Tahath
                                                                                        Tarah
                                                                                        Mithcah
             Kadesh in Paran                                                    Hashmonah
                                                                                        Moseroth
                                                                                        Benejaakan
                                                                                        Horhagidgad
                                                                                        Jotbathah
                                                                                        Ebronah
                                                                                        Eziongaber
              Kadesh, the wilderness of Zin                               Kadesh, the wilderness of Zin
              mount Hor, border to                                          mount Hor, border to 
             Edom                                                                  Edom
                                                                                        Zalmonah
                                                                                        Punon
              Oboth                                                                 Oboth
                                                                                        Ijeabarim
                                                                                        Dibongad
                                                                                        Almondiblathaim
               mountains of Abarim                                           mountains of Abarim, Nebo.
               creek Zeroth
              this side of the Arnon
               Mathanah
               Nahaliel
               Bamoth
               mount Pisgah
              Jahzah
               Hesbon
               Sihon
               Basan
               Moab by Jordan                                                  Moab by Jordan

What should especially get our attention, is the fact, that the narrative immediately leads from Hazeroth to Kadesh, the itinerary on the other hand after Hazeroth is leaving out Kadesh only to introduce it much later after Eziongaber and thus manages to bring in touch the wilderness of sin with the smaller inlet of the Arabian sea. This has confused the exegetes very much, misleading some to assume the existence of two different Kadesh, while a majority holds to the opinion of only one Kadesh which certainly doesn't leave space for doubt.

The narrative, which we have carefully purged of all insertions, reports a Kadesh in Paran, and the next moment speaks of a Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin; from the former the reconnaissance party is dispatched, and from the latter the entire host moves on, after the Edomites refused to permit passage through their land. This makes it self-evident, that it is one and the same place, because the planned campaign through Edom was a consequence of the failed attempt to penetrate from this corner into Canaan, and from other passages as well, it becomes clear, that the two so frequently mentioned badlands are adjoined, the wilderness of Zin to the north and Paran in the south, with Kadesh as an oasis and resting place between the two desserts.

One would never have even dreamt of two different Kadesh, if there hadn't been the inconvenience to occupy the children of Israel long enough with their sojourn in the desert. However those are even worse off, who assume only one Kadesh and still want to make plausible forty years of moving and all the stations in the itinerary; especially when trying to present the movements on a map, they cannot help expressing the full absurdity of their position. Because surely, the eye is a better judge to see the nonsense, then unaided reasoning. Mr. Sanson inserts the fourteen spurious stations between Mount Sinai and Kadesh. Here he barely finds enough zigzag routes to draw on his map, and yet each stop is just two miles away, a distance which doesn't even suffice, that such immense procession of people could gain the momentum to break camp.

How populous and inhabited must such desert be, where we find every two miles if not places and townships, but at least resting places with a name! What an advantage for the strategist and his host! Yet this abundance of the inner desert soon becomes the geographer's nemesis. From Kadesh to Eziongaber he finds only five stops, and on the way back to Kadesh unfortunately even not a single one; he therefore puts some strange and even to the itinerary unknown places into the people's way, in the same fashion as the old geographers covered with elephants the white spots on their maps. Mr. Kalmet tries to make the best out of the calamity of zigzagging movements, pushes a portion of the superfluous localities towards the Mediterranean, declares Hazeroth and  Moseroth to be one and the same place, and by means of the strangest jumping from place to place he finally brings his people to the Arnon. Mr. Well, who goes by the assumption of two Kadeshs, distorts the shape of the land beyond all measure. In Mr. Nolin's the caravan is dancing a polonaise which brings it back to the Red Sea with mount Sinai to the north in their back. It is barely possible to show less imagination, understanding, accuracy and judgement, than these pious and well-meaning writers.

A closer look in this matter makes it extremely probable, that the superfluous itinerary had been inserted to save the problematic forty years of the sojourn. Because the text, which we follow in our narrative as close as possible states: that the people on their journey to the Reed-Sea towards Eziongaber, after they had been defeated by the Canaanites and were denied passage through the Land of Edom, went around the Edomite's country. This gave cause to the error that they indeed had reached the Reed-Sea near Eziongaber which at that time probably didn't exist yet, though the text speaks of following the street around the mountains of Zeir, just as one says the coachman follows the road to Leipzig, without actually going all the way to Leipzig. Once we have done with the unnecessary stops, we may dismiss the supernumerary years in a similar fashion. We do know, that chronology in the Old Testament is rather artificial and resolves all the periods in certain cycles of forty-nine years, so that, in order to bring about these mystical epochs, some historical figures had to be changed. And where would it be easier to insert the missing thirty-six to thirty-eight years from such a cycle, than in such a dark epoch in such remote and unknown spot of unpopulated badland?

Without even remotely going into chronology, the most difficult of all studies, we may briefly consider the poetic part of it in favor of our hypothesis.

As in other ancient literature, we find in the Bible a variety of round figures, sacrosanct, symbolic, and poetical. The number seven is assigned to creating, productivity and thrift, the number forty however signifies meditation, expectancy and especially separation. The Great Flood, which would separate Noah and his people from the world, rises for forty days, and after the water has remained for a sufficient time it recedes for another forty days during which Noah is keeping the exit shut. For two periods of forty days Moses remained on the Sinai, separated from his people; the scouting party remained just as long in Canaan, and so the entire nation is supposed to be kept in laborious separation over such hallowed period. Even the New Testament picks up on the full meaning of this figure: for forty days Jesus remains in the desert, to fend of temptation.

If we have succeeded to conclude the children of Israel's journey from Sinai to Jordan in a briefer period, albeit that we had to take into account a more than plausible wavering and procrastinating, and if we have succeeded to rid ourselves of so many useless years and so many fruitless stopovers, then, against our reservations, the image of the great strategist would be restored to its full glory. Also the way how God makes his appearance in those books would no longer be so depressing as before, where he shows himself as absolutely horrifying and terrible, since already in Joshua and Judges and beyond a purer, more fatherly mind comes to the fore, and the God of Abraham still smiles at his people unlike the God of Moses who for some time fills us with horror and disgust. In other words: as the man, so his god. Therefore a few words on the character of Moses.

"In your exposition - one could object - with too much audacity, you have denied an extraordinary man exactly those faculties, which we used to praise in him most: the abilities of a ruler and strategist. But pray, what is it that makes him so extraordinary? What are his credentials for such important position? From what source does he pluck the courage, to take the helm despite of inner and outer obstacles and of lacking the main thing, those indispensable talents which you dare to deny him with unspeakable audacity?" Allow us to answer like this: Not the talent, not the skills for this or that create a man of action; it is the personality on which hinges everything. Character is a matter of personality, not of talent. Talents my seek the company of character, but character can do without everything - even talent - as long as it has itself. And so we gladly admit, that the personality of Moses, from his first cold-blooded murder through all the atrocities, makes the appearance of a man who until his disappearance produces a most imposing and significant picture of a man who is driven to greatness by his own nature. But such picture is completely out of the loop if we reconsider how a curt and strong, hotheaded man of deads, could needlessly stumble about the desert for four years without sense and directions and with a tremendous host of people. Only by rectifying the schedule in time and space, all the atrocities we mentioned fall into their proper place, and all the evil we dared to heap on him, has found its proper place, and all things are evened out, and destiny had lifted him to the right place.

And so we are finally to repeat what made us writing this essay in the first place. It is not a bad thing for Holy Scriptures, or for that matter, every other tradition, if we look at it with a critical eye, when we uncover the contradictions and realize how often the initial and better tradition has been disfigured by additions, insertions and corrections of political convenience; the actual impetus of the beginning may emerge from it only the livelier and purer; and is it not this, to which everyone looks, aware or unaware, and tries to grasp it and lifts his spirits on it, while all the rest is dropped, if not discarded, or simply left alone?

Summary
second year of the Exodus
stay at Mount Sinai ..................................... 1 month,   20 days
travel to Kadesh ........................................                  5 days
rest days ................................................                  5 days
stop because of Miriam's illness .......................                   7 days
absence of the reconnaissance party ..................                 40 days
negotiations with the Edomites .........................                30 days
travel to the Arnon .....................................                  5 days
rest days ................................................                  5 days
mourning over Aaron ...................................                 40 days
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
                                                                                1 month, 157 days

Altogether therefore six months. From which it becomes apparent, that the campaign, could have very well reached the Jordan before end of the second year, even if we take into account as much as we like of the obstacles, procrastination, and resistance.
                                                                                
by Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) from "Notes and Essays to the West-Eastern Divan" 1819
© - 5/26/2002 - translated by Michael Sympson - all rights reserved

*) Sicilian Vesper
In 1268, Charles of Anjou became King of Sicily. Pope Urban IV offered the Kingdom to Charles in order to keep it out of the hands of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. However, the Sicilian people came to resent the Angevin rulers. Charles centered his government in Naples, on the Italian mainland, and only visited Sicily once. His troops plundered the island after Charles' original conquest from Manfred, the legitimate successor to Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250). Later, Charles evicted many landowners in favor of French supporters and replaced Sicilian administrators with French officials. Government efficiency and trade during Charles' rule increased, but the aloofness, indifference, and disregard for local traditions caused widespread discontent in Sicily.

By 1282, Charles was King of Sicily, Jerusalem, and Albania, ruler of Provence and other French territories, regent in Greece, and overlord in Tunis. His ambition was to conquer the remains of the Byzantine Empire, and rule the entire Mediterranean. Charles' ambition brought him many enemies. One of these was King Peter I of Aragon whose wife, Constance, was from the house of Hohenstaufen and seen by many as the legitimate heir of the Kingdom of Sicily. Frederick's Chancellor, John of Procida, remained in contact with enemies of Charles, especially in Sicily. The Byzantine Emperor Michael as well had no intention to surrender his throne. The common interest of Aragon, Constantinople, and Sicily created a political axis against Charles.

However, the Sicilian people took matters into their own hands. On March 30, 1282, Easter Monday, a large crowd of Sicilians had gathered outside a church near Palermo awaiting Vespers. A group of French officials joined, despite their cold reception by the crowd. Some Frenchmen began approaching Sicilian women, and when a French sergeant took hold of a married woman, her husband stabbed him to death. The French rushed to aid their comrade and were killed by the crowd. To the sound of church bells ringing for Vespers, messengers ran through Palermo and called for an uprising. All French and women who had married Frenchmen were killed, in every house, every inn, in convents and monasteries. Nobody escaped. Palermo declared its independence.

In days to come, the revolt spread throughout the island. The towns declared their independence, and the French fled or where massacred. Now essentially in control of the island, the Sicilian townships sent word to the Byzantine Emperor Michael and King Peter of Aragon asking for aid. King Charles and the Pope tried to convince the Sicilians to return to Angevin rule. This failed, so in August, King Charles came to Sicily with troops, but later that month, King Peter arrived also with troops to aid the revolt. He was acclaimed King of Sicily, and the war soon centered on the Italian mainland. Queen Constance of Aragon arrived in Sicily to govern as regent. With Charles' death in January, 1285 the rule of Sicily passed entirely to the Spanish House of Aragon.

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