Kibroth-hattaavah: The graves of the longing or of lust, one of the stations of the
Israelites in the wilderness. It was probably in the Wady Murrah, and
has been identified with the Erweis el-Ebeirig, where the remains of
an ancient encampment have been found, about 30 miles north-east
of Sinai, and exactly a day's journey from 'Ain Hudherah. "Here began
the troubles of the journey. First, complaints broke out among the
people, probably at the heat, the toil, and the privations of the
march; and then God at once punished them by lightning, which fell on
the hinder part of the camp, and killed many persons, but ceased at
the intercession of Moses
(Numbers 11:1,2) Then a disgust fell on the
multitude at having nothing to eat but the manna day after day, no
change, no flesh, no fish, no high-flavoured vegetables, no luscious
fruits. The people loathed the 'light food,' and cried out to Moses,
'Give us flesh, give us flesh, that we may eat.'" In this emergency
Moses, in despair, cried unto God. An answer came. God sent "a
prodigious flight of quails, on which the people satiated their
gluttonous appetite for a full month. Then punishment fell on them:
they loathed the food which they had desired; it bred disease in
them; the divine anger aggravated the disease into a plague, and a
heavy mortality was the consequence. The dead were buried without the
camp; and in memory of man's sin and of the divine wrath this name,
Kibroth-hattaavah, the Graves of Lust, was given to the place of
their sepulchre"
(Numbers 11:34,35; 33:16,17; Deuteronomy 9:22) comp.
(Psalms 78:30,31)
Rawlinson's Moses, p. 175 From this encampment they journeyed in a
north-eastern direction to Hazeroth.
