lyi t'.gypt, Arabia Petrasa ξ^€. ^^y 



Traol, where the IJraelites were ordered to Encamp, appears 

 to have been called Tlhahhiroth, i. e. the Mouth of Hhiroth. 

 For when Tharaoh overtook them, it was (with Refped to 

 his coming down upon them : ) Ex. 14.. 9. [ητπη 's Si?] hefides 

 or at the Mouth, or furtheft Part of Hhiroth to the Eaftward. 

 In theBookofiV^^/i^iTjlikewifeCh.gg.v.g. where we have the 

 Relation of the Encampment of the IJraelites before Migdol, 

 V. 7. it follows 'υ. 8. that they departed [n-i»nn 'jso] from before 

 Hhiroth, and not before Tihahhiroth, as it is rendered in our 

 Tranflation. And in the fame Signification it is taken by the 

 LXXII, Eufehius and St. Jerome, the former interpreting 

 Tihahhiroth by {-n ^ίμα, Ει'ραθ) the Mouth of Eiroth, or Iroth as 

 St. Jerome writes it. For 's (as Ben Ezra criticizeth upon 

 the Word) relateth to what lyeth before us, being called in 

 the Targum, [ais] Thoum or [vjb] Thoumi, as Hhiroth is [ί^ητπ] 

 Hirata, and therefore both of them are to be confidered as 

 diftindt Terms and Appellations. 



Hhiroth therefore, if it be taken for an Appellative, may have Hhi 

 two Significations. It hath been already obferved that this 



Tiroch dc- 

 noteth a riar- 



Defilt 



Valley is clofely confined betwixt two rugged Chains of Moun- 

 tains. If then we deduce Hhiroth from [in] Hhor, or [τπ] 

 Hhour, a Hole or Gullet, (as the Samaritan and S/riac Copies 

 underftand it) it may, by a Latitude very common in thefe 

 Cafes, be interpreted fuch a narrow 7)e/ite or Paflage, as this 

 is. Tihahhiroth therefore, upon this Suppofition, will be the 

 fame as the Mouth or the moft advanced Part of this 7)e/9/i 

 But as the IJraelites were properly, at this Place only, deliver- 

 ed from their Captivity and Fear of the Egyptians, Ex. 14. ig. or the ?iace 

 we may rather fuppofe, th-aX Hhiroth denoteththe Place where ί?'^'^"^' 

 they were reftored to their Liberty ; both ["^n] Hhorar and 

 [mrn] Hhiroth being Words of the like Import in the Chaldee. 

 In Άαβϊ'ί, Commentary, we have a further Confirmation of 

 this Interpretation. Tihahhiroth, fays he, is fo called, hecaufe 

 the Children of Ifrael were made [pnn^:! BeniHhorim] Free- 

 men at that Tlace. In the Targum likewife [fnn-p] Ben Hhorin 

 is ufed to explain ['Wsn] Hhaphfee, Ex. xi. i. and y. a Word 

 which denoteth Liberty and Freedom in thefe and other Parts 

 of the Scripture. And it may be once more urged in Favour of 

 this Explication, as well as of the Tradition that the IJraelites 

 paiTed through this Valley, inafmuch as the eaftern Extremitv 



S f ff X of 



