Who led thee through that great and terrible
wilderness
The wilderness of Paran, which was great and large, reaching from
Sinai to Kadesh, eleven days' journey, and terrible to the sight,
nothing being to be seen but dry rocks and barren mountains; see
( Deuteronomy 1:19 ) ,
and especially for what follows: wherein were fiery serpents and
scorpions; fiery serpents, such as bit the Israelites, of which
see ( Numbers
21:6 ) and scorpions, a kind of serpents, venomous and
mischievous, which have stings in their tails they are
continually thrusting out and striking with, as Pliny says
F21; and have their name from their
great sting; for Aristotle F23 says, this alone of insects
has a large sting:
and drought where there was no water;
a dry and barren place where no water was to be had; see (
Psalms 63:1 )
or it may be rather another kind of serpents may be meant, which
is called "dipsas"; and so the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, and
Samaritan versions render it; the biting of which produces such a
thirst as proves mortal, and which must be intolerable in a
wilderness where no water is; and from whence it has its name,
which signifies thirsty, as does the Hebrew word here used:
who brought thee forth water out of the rock of
flint;
which was done both at Horeb and Kadesh, ( Exodus 17:6 ) (
Numbers
20:11 ) and was very extraordinary; by striking flint, fire
is ordinarily produced, and not water. Dr. Shaw observes
F24, that it may be more properly
named, with other sorts of graphite marble here to be met with,
"the rock of amethyst", from their reddish or purple colour and
complexion.