Video iReport from the Sinai Wilderness - 2/1/2010 12:39pm

Desperation and Despair at Rephadim

The exodus seems like the answer to pray:  after 430 years in Egypt, the Israelites throw off the bonds of slavery and move toward freedom, spurred on by God and led by Moses.  But leaving Egypt is a leap from the frying pan into the fire.  In Exodus 12: 37 we read:  “There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children”; and after counting the Israelites by tribe and clan, in Numbers 2: 32 we read:  “All those in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550.”  These are men, ages 20-50.  Include an equal number of women, and children under 20 and men over 50, and you get a population of about 2 million. 

The desert cannot sustain such numbers.  The people need water; they need food.  And local tribal warlords see the Israelites as easy pickings.  In Exodus 17 the Amalekites attack.  After three months in the wilderness the Israelites have yet to reach Mt. Sinai and they begin to despair.  At Raphidim the crisis climaxes.  

Watch Dr. Creasy’s video iReport, shot live at Raphidim in the Sinai wilderness!