السادة الكرام أعضاء المنتدى المبارك حفظه الله تعالى ..
حتى لا ينقطع سرد الموضوع نتشرف بوضع تعليقاتكم وملاحظاتكم وأسئلتكم على هذا الرابط

https://www.hurras.org/vb/showthread...877#post301877

"طريقنا إلى الجنة لن يكون إلا من خلال وادي بكا "
تفسير المزمور 84، متى هنري

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التوضيح بإجمال قبل التفصيل

الفصل الأول: السنونة דְּרוֹר وبيت الله في آخر الزمان
وَالسُّنُونَةُ تجد عُشّاً لِنَفْسِهَا حَيْثُ تَضَعُ أَفْرَاخَهَا

Psalms 84:6
6. Passing through the vale of Baca they make it a place of springs,
Yea, the early rain clotheth it with blessings.

The word Baca is derived from the root which means to weep, but it nowhere means weeping, for which words of a different form are used. Here, as in 2Sa_5:23, it probably denotes some kind of balsam-tree, so called from the ‘tears’ of gum which it exudes. The vale of Baca or the balsam-trees was some vale which, like the vale of Elah or the terebinth (1Sa_17:2), and the vale of Shittim or acacias, took its name from the trees which grew there. Balsam-trees are said to love dry situations, growing plentifully for example in the arid valley of Mecca; and this is clearly the point of the reference. The vale of Baca was some waterless and barren valley through which pilgrims passed on their way to Jerusalem; but faith turns it into a place of springs, finding refreshment under the most untoward circumstances, while God refreshes them with showers of blessing from above, as the autumnal rains clothe the dry plains with grass and flowers. Cp. Isa_35:1 ff., Isa_35:6 ff.; Isa_41:18 ff.; and see Tristram’s Natural Hist. of the Bible, pp. 30, 455, for a graphic description of the marvellous way in which the rains in Palestine transform the country from a brown and dusty desert to a lovely garden. Once more we have to note the singularly bold use of metaphor which is characteristic of this poet.
The familiar phrase ‘the vale of tears’ comes from the Vulg. vallis lacrimarum, and it is possible that such an allusion to the derivation of the word is intended. It is natural to regard the pilgrim’s experience as a parable of the pilgrimage of life, but this secondary application must not be allowed to supersede the original meaning.

2 Samuel 5:23
23. Mulberry trees — The word thus rendered occurs only here and in the parallel passage in 1Ch_14:14. The Vulgate translates by pear trees, and so the Septuagint in Chronicles, but here by grove of weeping. Only the Jewish rabbins and some modern versions understand the mulberry tree. The most probable opinion is that adopted by Furst, that becaim (בכאים) is “the name of a tree like the balsam shrub, now growing about Mecca, and called bacha from the dropping of a resin when the leaves are cut.”
whedon commentray

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In the former, there grew, according to 2Sa_5:23; 2Ch_14:14 f., trees called בָּכָא. The rabbins have explained these to be mulberries, but later writers, more correctly (see Faber on Harmer’s Beobachtingen uber den Orient, I. 400) have referred it to a plant resembling the balsam called by the Arabs baca, because when it is wounded, a tearlike liquid exudes (Winer, Realwörterbuch). There were undoubtedly several of these Baca-valleys: and being employed here as a play upon בכה (=weeping) in allusion to the property just described, they could very readily receive a symbolical application, and the more so as the shrub is very common in the arid valley of Mecca.

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Baca, according to Abulfadl, is the name given in Arabic to a shrub which grows at Mecca and resembles the balsam, except that it has longer leaves and larger and rounder fruit, and from which, if a leaf be broken off, there flows a white pungent sap, like a white tear, which is all probability gave rise to the name בָּכָא = בָּכָה, to weep (vid., Celsii, Hierob. i. pp. 338ff., and Gesenius, Thes. p. 205).

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in 2Sa_5:24 (cf. נְכָאִים, צְבָאִים, Psa_103:21), the name of a tree, and, according to the old Jewish lexicographers, of the mulberry-tree (Talmudic תּוּת, Arab. tût); but according to the designation, of a tree from which some kind of fluid flows, and such a tree is the Arab. baka'un, resembling the balsam-tree, which is very common in the arid valley of Mecca, and therefore might also have given its name to some arid valley of the Holy Land (vid., Winer's Realwörterbuch, s.v. Bacha), and, according to 2Sa_5:22-25, to one belonging, as it would appear, to the line of valley which leads from the coasts of the Philistines to Jerusalem.

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or Forskal found a shrub between Mecca and Medina, called Abu sham, which he believed to be the true balsam, and of which he has given a botanical account in his Flora Aeg. pp. 79, 80 (as Amyris opobalsamum), as well as of two other kinds.

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طرق بيتك
Psalms 84:5
5. In whose heart are the ways of them—Hebrew, The highways are in their hearts. The “ways,” or highways, are the roads, or pilgrim routes, leading to Jerusalem, “the ways of Zion,” Lam_1:4 :—the principal roads taken in going up to the annual feasts. The true worshipper loved these “ways” and delighted to travel them; they were “in” his “heart,” because they led to the sanctuary, the dwelling-place of Jehovah. In the enthusiastic periods of their history, the Moslems took great care of the pilgrim routes to Mecca, and to provide khans, or resting stations, along the way.

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يعقوب والحجر الاسود
Genesis 28:18-19

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
Jacob ... took the stone, ... - a monument, a cippus (cf. 1Sa_7:12). The mere setting up of the stone might have been as a future memorial to mark the spot; and this practice is still common in the East, in memory of a religious vow or engagement. Oil is so much used in the East for food and for bodily refreshment that a supply of it invariably forms an important part of a traveler's viaticum. From its excellent material properties, it came to be used as a symbol for spiritual influences, and, still later, as a means for setting apart or consecrating anything to God.
The pouring of oil upon the stone was a consecration; nor was oil the only substance used for this purpose, but wine also, as ghee is in India. Accordingly Jacob gave it a new name, Beth-el, "the house of God" (Hos_12:4); and it will not appear a thing forced or unnatural to call a stone a house, when one considers the common practice in warm countries of sitting in the open air by or on a stone, as are those of that place, 'broad sheets of bare rock, some of them standing like the cromlechs of Druidical monuments ' ( Stanley).
Although this act of Jacob is the first instance of stone consecration on record, it was evidently a familiar and established practice in the time of the patriarchs. But the unction of stones was ere long abused and perverted even by the Hebrews themselves to idolatry. Libations were poured upon them; meat offerings presented to them, and, as we learn from classical writers (Tibullus, 1:, 1-11), the pagan were accustomed to select smooth stones of a singular appearance or extraordinary shape, which were not only anointed, but, being considered instinct with the divine presence [lithoi empsuchoi], were wound with festive garlands, and regarded as tutelary deities. [This superstition of consecrated stones was both very ancient and very extensive, from the Greco-Phoenician Baitulia, or Boetylia, the monlithic temples of Egypt and Hindustan, the lithoi liparoi of the Greeks, the 'lapides informes' of the Romans, the pyramids and obelisks of others, the cairns and cromlechs of Northern Europe, and the caaba of Arabia. That black stone of Mecca, which is in all probability a relic of this superstition, is described by Burckhardt ('Travels in Arabia') as 'an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quanity of cement, and perfectly smooth.']

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زمزم - يصيرونه ينبوعا
Genesis 16:14
Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi,.... That is, the fountain where the angel found her, Gen_16:7; this, from the appearance of God to her at it, was afterwards called by her and others by this name, which signifies "the well of him that liveth and seeth me"; that is, of the living and all seeing God, and who had taken a special care of her, and favoured her with a peculiar discovery of his love to her: or this may have respect to herself, and be rendered, "the well of her that liveth and seeth"; that had had a sight of God, and yet was alive; lived though she had seen him, and after she had seen him, and was still indulged with a sight of him. Aben Ezra says, the name of this well, at the time he lived, was called Zemum, he doubtless means Zemzem, a well near Mecca, which the Arabs say (z) is the well by which Hagar sat down with Ishmael, and where she was comforted by the angel, Gen_21:19,

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جبل المورة المريا - المذبح
Genesis 22:9

And they came to the place which God had told him of,.... Mount Moriah. Maimonides (f) says,"it is a tradition in or by the hands of all, that this is the place where David and Solomon built an altar in the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite, and where Abraham built an altar, and bound Isaac on it; and where Noah built one when he came out of the ark, and is the altar on which Cain and Abel offered; and where the first man offered when he was created, and from whence he was created.''And so the Targum of Jonathan, and other Jewish writers (g). The Mahometans say (h), that Meena or Muna, a place about two or three miles from Mecca, is the place where Abraham went to offer up his son Isaac, and therefore in this place they sacrifice their sheep.

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الصدوقيون يرون ان الهيكل الذي يخرب في اخر الزمان هو مكة
أرض إسرائيل، ويصغى إلى مشورة رافضي العهد المقدس.
Dan 11:31 فتهاجم بعض قواته حصن الهيكل وتنجسه، وتزيل المحر قة الدائمة، وتنصب الرجس المخرب (أي الوثن).
Dan 11:32 ويغوي بالمداهنة المتعدين على عهد الرب. أما الشعب الذين يعرفون إلههم فإنهم يصمدون ويقاومون.
Dan 11:33 والعارفون منهم يعلمون كثيرين، مع أنهم يقتلون بالسيف والنار ويتعرضون للأسر والنهب أياما.
It may be rendered, "the abomination that maketh astonished" (h); for it struck the people of the Jews with astonishment; it amazed and stupefied them, when they saw such an idol placed in their temple. The Karaite Jews, who by the others are called Sadducees, give a very foreign interpretation of this passage, which Aben Ezra observes:
"it is marvellous (says he) that the wise men of the Sadducees should explain this of future time, and say that this sanctuary is Mecca, where the Ishmaelites or Turks keep a feast; "the daily sacrifice", to be removed, their five prayers; and the "abomination" set up is their idolatrous worship.''

آركجدون المهدي المنظر والمسيخ الدجال التنبؤ بأن من ينجو منه هم العرب
ويغزو أرض إسرائيل فيسقط عشرات الألوف صرعى، ولا ينجو منه سوى أرض أدوم وأرض موآب والجزء الأكبر من أرض عمون.
Dan 11:42 يبسط يده على الأراضي فلا تفلت منه حتى أرض مصر.
Dan 11:43 ويستولي على كنوز الذهب والفضة وعلى كل ذخائر مصر. ويسير الليبيون والإثيوبيون في ركابه.
Dan 11:44 وتبلغه أخبار من الشرق ومن الشمال، فيرجع بغضب شديد ليدمر ويقضي على كثيرين،
Dan 11:45 وينصب خيمته الملكية بين البحر وأورشليم، ويبلغ نهاية مصيره وليس له من نصير ».

The Kings of the South and the North Dan 11:1 « فقد سبق لي في السنة الأولى من حكم داريوس المادي أن آزرته وشددته . Dan 11:2 والآن لأكشفن لك الحقيقة، فها ثلاثة ملوك يتولون حكم فارس، يعقبهم رابع يكون أوفرهم ثراء. وبفضل قوة غناه يثير الجميع على مملكة اليونان. Dan 11:3 ولكن لا يلبث أن يظهر في اليونان ملك عات يتمتع بسلطان عظيم، ويفعل ما يحلو له. Dan 11:4 ولكن في ذروة قوته تنقسم مملكته إلى أربعة أقسام، فلا تكون لعقبه، ولا تكون في مثل قوة ملكه، بل يتولاها آخرون. أما سلطانه فينقرض. Dan 11:5 ثم تنمو قوة الجنوب غير أن واحدا من قواد ملك اليونان المنقرض يصبح أكثر قوة منه، ويتسع نفوذه وسلطانه. Dan 11:6 وبعد سنوات يعقد الملكان معاهدة سلام، تصبح فيها ابنة ملك الجنوب زوجة لملك الشمال، ولكنها تفقد تأثيرها عليه، فلا تتحقق لها ولا لأبيها ولا لابنها ولا لمن آزرها في تلك الأوقات آمال. Dan 11:7 ويتولى من فرع أصولها (أي أخوها) الملك، فيزحف على رأس جيش ويقتحم حصن ملك الشمال وينكل بهم ويقهرهم. Dan 11:8 ويسبي إلى مصر آلهتهم مع أصنامهم والآنية النفيسة من الفضة والذهب. ثم يتوقف عن محاربة ملك الشمال لعدة سنوات. Dan 11:9 ثم يغزو ملك الشمال أرض ملك الجنوب ولكنه يرجع إلى أرضه فاشلا. Dan 11:10 إلا أن بني ملك الشمال يثورون ويحشدون جيوشا عظيمة، تتقدم كالطوفان عبر أرض إسرائيل، وتهجم على أرض ملك الجنوب حتى تبلغ العاصمة. Dan 11:11 فينفجر ملك الجنوب غيظا، فيجند جيوشا هائلة ويخرج ويحارب ملك الشمال ويقهر جيوشه Dan 11:12 ويقضي عليها، ويفني عشرات الألوف، ويشمخ قلبه. غير أن Dan 11:13 ملك الشمال لا يلبث أن يجند جيشا عرمرما أضخم من الجيش السابق، وبعد سنوات يزحف بقواته الكبيرة وعدته العظيمة. Dan 11:14 وفي ذلك الحين يتمرد كثيرون على ملك الجنوب، ويثور المتمردون من أبناء شعبك، ولكنهم يخفقون، وذلك لإتمام الرؤيا. Dan 11:15 ويقبل ملك الشمال ويقيم متاريس الحصار، ويستولي على مدينة محصنة، وتعجز قوات ملك الجنوب وفرقه المنتخبة عن صده، لأنها تفقد كل قوة. Dan 11:16 أما الملك الغازي فيفعل ما يطيب له، ولا أحد يقدر على مقاومته. ويستولي على الأرض البهية ويخضعها لسلطانه. Dan 11:17 ويوطد العزم على دخول أرض ملك الجنوب بكل جيوشه، إلا أنه يحمل معه شروط صلح. ويزوج ملك الجنوب من ابنته لتكون له عينا عليه. ولكن خطته لا يحالفها النجاح. Dan 11:18 فيتحول نحو مدن ساحل البحر ويستولي على كثير منها، غير أن قائدا يرده عنها ويلحق به عار الهزيمة. Dan 11:19 فيرجع إلى حصون أرضه، فتعترضه العقبات في أثناء عودته فيتعثر ويختفي ذكره. Dan 11:20 ثم يعتلي العرش بعده من يبعث جباة الجزية إلى أرض إسرائيل، ولكنه في غضون أيام قليلة تصيبه الهزيمة من غير فتنة ولا حرب. Dan 11:21 ويخلفه حقير لم ينعم عليه بجلال الملك، إنما يحرز العرش فجأة، ويتولى زمام المملكة بالمداهنة. Dan 11:22 ويمحق جيوشا بأسرها فتندحر أمامه، ومن جملتهم رئيس الكهنة. Dan 11:23 ومنذ اللحظة التي يبرم فيها عهدا يتصرف بمكر، ويحرز قوة وعظمة بنفر قليل، Dan 11:24 يقتحم فجأة أخصب البلاد، ويرتكب من الموبقات ما لم يرتكبه آباؤه ولا أسلافه. ويغدق الثراء على أعوانه مما نهبه وغنمه، ويرسم خططا للاستيلاء على الحصون، إنما يحدث هذا إلى أمد وجيز. Dan 11:25 ويستثير همته ويجند قواته لمحاربة ملك الجنوب بجيش عظيم ويتأهب ملك الجنوب للقتال بجيش ضخم وقوي جدا، ولكنه لا يصمد، لأن أعداءه يتآمرون عليه. Dan 11:26 ويخونه الآكلون من طعامه الشهي، ويندحر جيشه ويصرع كثيرون. Dan 11:27 ويضمر هذان الملكان ارتكاب المكائد، وينطقان بالكذب وهما يجلسان على مائدة واحدة، ولا يفلحان لأن موعد حلول قضاء الله بات وشيكا. Dan 11:28 ويرجع ملك الشمال إلى بلاده بغنى جزيل، وفي قلبه أن يدمر أرض إسرائيل، فيفعل ذلك ثم يعود إلى أرضه. Dan 11:29 وفي الموعد المقرر يعود ويقتحم أرض الجنوب، ولكن حملته في هذه المرة لا تكون مماثلة للحملتين السابقتين. Dan 11:30 إذ تنقض عليه سفن حربية من قبرص، فيعتريه يأس ويغلي غيظا على أرض إسرائيل، ويصغى إلى مشورة رافضي العهد المقدس. Dan 11:31 فتهاجم بعض قواته حصن الهيكل وتنجسه، وتزيل المحر قة الدائمة، وتنصب الرجس المخرب (أي الوثن). Dan 11:32 ويغوي بالمداهنة المتعدين على عهد الرب. أما الشعب الذين يعرفون إلههم فإنهم يصمدون ويقاومون. Dan 11:33 والعارفون منهم يعلمون كثيرين، مع أنهم يقتلون بالسيف والنار ويتعرضون للأسر والنهب أياما. Dan 11:34 ولا يلقون عند سقوطهم إلا عونا قليلا، وينضم إليهم كثيرون نفاقا. Dan 11:35 ويعثر بعض الحكماء تمحيصا لهم وتنقية، حتى يأزف وقت النهاية في ميقات الله المعين. Dan 11:36 ويصنع الملك ما يطيب له، ويتعظم على كل إله، ويجدف بالعظائم على إله الآلهة، ويفلح، إلى أن يحين اكتمال الغضب إذ لابد أن يتم ما قضى الله به. Dan 11:37 ولن يبالي هذا الملك بآلهة آبائه ولا بمعبود النساء، ولا بأي وثن آخر إذ يتعظم على الكل. Dan 11:38 إنما يكرم إله الحصون بدلا منهم، وهو إله لم يعرفه آباؤه، ويكرمه بالذهب والفضة والحجارة الكريمة والنفائس. Dan 11:39 ويقتحم القلاع المحصنة باسم إله غريب. وكل من يعترف به يغدق عليه الإكرام، ويوليه على كثيرين، ويقسم الأرض بينهم، أجرة لهم. Dan 11:40 وعندما تأزف النهاية يحاربه ملك الجنوب، فينقض عليه ملك الشمال كالزوبعة بمركبات وفرسان وسفن كثيرة، ويقتحم دياره كالطوفان الجارف. Dan 11:41 ويغزو أرض إسرائيل فيسقط عشرات الألوف صرعى، ولا ينجو منه سوى أرض أدوم وأرض موآب والجزء الأكبر من أرض عمون. Dan 11:42 يبسط يده على الأراضي فلا تفلت منه حتى أرض مصر. Dan 11:43 ويستولي على كنوز الذهب والفضة وعلى كل ذخائر مصر. ويسير الليبيون والإثيوبيون في ركابه. Dan 11:44 وتبلغه أخبار من الشرق ومن الشمال، فيرجع بغضب شديد ليدمر ويقضي على كثيرين، Dan 11:45 وينصب خيمته الملكية بين البحر وأورشليم، ويبلغ نهاية مصيره وليس له من نصير ».

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نسل سمعان سكنوا مكة؟!
Descendants of Simeon 1Ch 4:24 بنو شمعون نموئيل ويامين ويريب وزارح وشاول 1Ch 4:25 وابنه شلوم وابنه مبسام وابنه مشماع. 1Ch 4:26 وبنو مشماع حموئيل ابنه زكّور ابنه شمعي ابنه. 1Ch 4:27 وكان لشمعي ستة عشر ابنا وست بنات. واما اخوته فلم يكن لهم بنون كثيرون وكل عشائرهم لم يكثروا مثل بني يهوذا. 1Ch 4:28 واقاموا في بئر سبع ومولادة وحصر شوعال 1Ch 4:29 وفي بلهة وعاصم وتولاد 1Ch 4:30 وفي بتوئيل وحرمة وصقلغ 1Ch 4:31 وفي بيت مركبوت وحصر سوسيم وبيت برئي وشعرايم. هذه مدنهم الى حينما ملك داود. 1Ch 4:32 وقراهم عيطم وعين ورومون وتوكن وعاشان خمس مدن. 1Ch 4:33 وجميع قراهم التي حول هذه المدن الى بعل. هذه مساكنهم وانسابهم. 1Ch 4:34 ومشوباب ويمليك ويوشا بن امصيا 1Ch 4:35 ويوئيل وياهو بن يوشبيا بن سرايا بن عسيئيل 1Ch 4:36 وأليوعيناي ويعقوبا ويشوحايا وعسايا وعديئيل ويسيميئيل وبنايا 1Ch 4:37 وزيزا بن شفعي بن الون بن يدايا بن شمري بن شمعيا. 1Ch 4:38 هؤلاء الواردون باسمائهم رؤساء في عشائرهم وبيوت آبائهم امتدوا كثيرا. 1Ch 4:39 وساروا الى مدخل جدور الى شرقي الوادي ليفتشوا على مرعى لماشيتهم. 1Ch 4:40 فوجدوا مرعى خصبا وجيدا وكانت الارض واسعة الاطراف مستريحة ومطمئنة لان آل حام سكنوا هناك في القديم. 1Ch 4:41 وجاء هؤلاء المكتوبة اسماؤهم في ايام حزقيا ملك يهوذا وضربوا خيمهم والمعونيين الذين وجدوا هناك وحرّموهم الى هذا اليوم وسكنوا مكانهم لان هناك مرعى لماشيتهم. 1Ch 4:42 ومنهم من بني شمعون ذهب الى جبل سعير خمس مئة رجل وقدامهم فلطيا ونعريا ورافايا وعزّيئيل بنو يشعي. 1Ch 4:43 وضربوا بقية المنفلتين من عماليق وسكنوا هناك الى هذا اليوم

But Dozy finds in the ban (cherem) something peculiar to the tribe of Simeon; and combining this assumption with the narrative in 1Ch_4:24-43, where (1Ch_4:41) we read of a ban executed by the tribe of Simeon, he arrives at the following conclusion: “Since the sons of Simeon made and inflicted the ban (וַיּחֲרימוּ), it follows that they made a herem.” The place therefore “was called Herem or Hormah.” But what place in Arabia—for that the place was in Arabia similar reasonings have previously proved—could be called Herem but Mecca! For Herem means also a “place consecrated to God,” and Mecca is called Haram, which is equivalent to Herem. Therefore, the battle of the sons of Simeon took place in Mecca; and even the name Mecca dates from it; for maka raba signifies a great defeat, to wit, that which the enemy there suffered at the hands of Simeon. The Simeonites came to the entrance of Gedor, on the east side of the valley (1Ch_4:39). Now, of course, the walls of the old temple in Mecca were called al gadr (al gidar = the wall); consequently, Gedor is to be read Geder, and signifies the temple in Mecca, to which they came. It must, however, be read Geder Baal, although the second word be wanting; for 2Ch_26:7 speaks of Arabians who dwelt in Gur Baal, and Gur is to be read Geder. The LXX. at this place speaks of Arabians dwelling ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας. Common sense would think of Petra; but Dozy knows that they mean the black stone in Mecca, etc.
Dozy says at the beginning, that exegesis requires so much learning only because it deals with “Hebrew books.” Unquestionably! for where but in Hebrew exegesis would one dare to be guilty of such scientific folly! Had one ventured to do this in the domain of classical philology, he would have experienced the fate with which the philosophers menaced Homer when they threatened to drive him from the stadium with scourges.
All science becomes impossible, when credible objective tradition is made the plaything of subjective caprice. We cannot here enter farther into details; these must be left for other places. For those who know, it is enough to say, that if such arguments are valid, the next thing will be, instead of the Israelites in Mecca, a book on “the Meccans in Zion.”

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في الخروج هل قادهم التيه إلى مكة؟
Numbers 11:35
From the graves of greediness the people removed to Hazeroth, and there they remained (הָיָה as in Exo_24:12). The situation of these two places of encampment is altogether unknown. Hazeroth, it is true, has been regarded by many since Burckhardt (Syr. p. 808) as identical with the modern Hadhra (in Robinson's Pal. Ain el Hudhera), eighteen hours to the north-east of Sinai, partly because of the resemblance in the name, and partly because there are not only low palm-trees and bushes there, but also a spring, of which Robinson says (Pal. i. p. 223) that it is the only spring in the neighbourhood, and yields tolerably good water, though somewhat brackish, the whole year round. But Hadhra does not answer to the Hebrew חָצַר, to shut in, from which Hazeroth (enclosures) is derived; and there are springs in many other places in the desert of et Tih with both drinkable and brackish water. Moreover, the situation of this well does not point to Hadhra, which is only two days' journey from Sinai, so that the Israelites might at any rate have pitched their tents by this well after their first journey of three days (Num_10:33), whereas they took three days to reach the graves of lust, and then marched from thence to Hazeroth. Consequently they would only have come to Hadhra on the supposition that they had been about to take the road to the sea, and intended to march along the coast to the Arabah, and so on through the Arabah to the Dead Sea (Robinson, p. 223); in which case, however, they would not have arrived at Kadesh. The conjecture that Kibroth-hattaavah is the same as Di-Sahab (Deu_1:1), the modern Dahab (Mersa Dahab, Minna el Dahab), to the east of Sinai, on the Elanitic Gulf, is still more untenable. For what end could be answered by such a circuitous route, which, instead of bringing the Israelites nearer to the end of their journey, would have taken them to Mecca rather than to Canaan? As the Israelites proceeded from Hazeroth to Kadesh in the desert of Paran (Num_13:3 and Num_13:26), they must have marched from Sinai to Canaan by the most direct route, through the midst of the great desert of et Tih, most probably by the desert road which leads from the Wady es Sheikh into the Wady ez-Zuranuk, which breaks through the southern border mountains of et Tih, and passes on through the Wady ez-Zalakah over el Ain to Bir-et-Themmed, and then due north past Jebel Araif to the Hebron road. By this route they could go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea in eleven days (Deu_1:2), and it is here that we are to seek for the two stations in question. Hazeroth is probably to be found, as Fries and Kurtz suppose, in Bir-et-Themmed, and Kibroth-hattaavah in the neighbourhood of the southern border mountains of et Tih.

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College Press Commentary
Gen_16:13-14. Hitherto Hagar’s position had been growing increasingly difficult, but now she knew that Yahweh cares, that He was looking after her, that He is “a God who sees.” She aptly invents the name for Yahweh, El Roi. “El Roi means ‘God of vision.’ Lahai Roi may mean, the well ‘of the Living One who sees me’; to this place Isaac was to come, Gen_24:62, Gen_25:11” (JB, 33). (To Hagar, Yahweh was the “God who sees” in the sense of being the “God who cares.” Leupold (EG, 506): “No mortal to whom God appeared ventured to look directly into or upon the glorious countenance of the Lord. Even Moses in answer to his special request could not venture to take such a step (Exo_33:23). So here very tersely Hagar described what happened in her case. When Yahweh appeared, she indeed conversed with Him; but only as He departed did she ‘look after Him.’ So at least she appears to have understood that no sinful mortal can see God’s countenance directly and live (see Exo_33:20). So she did not even attempt so rash a thing. But to her God now is a God ‘who sees me,’ i.e., ‘cares for me.’” Hagar’s experiences became known, and as a result of what she said, the well came to bear the name descriptive of her experience. God is called “the Living One.” “Quite properly so, because the fact that He has regard for the needs of those who call upon Him, stamps Him as truly a Living God and not a dead conception.” The Location of the well: between Kadesh and Bered (Gen_16:14). “Bered” has never been located. “Kadesh” is the site commonly designated Kadesh Barnea (cf. Jos_15:3, Num_13:3-26, Deu_9:23, etc.), forty miles due south and a little to the west of Beersheba. Skinner (ICCG, 228): “In Arab tradition the well of Hagar is plausibly enough identified with ‘Ain-Muweilih, a caravan station about 12 miles to the W. of Kadesh. The well must have been a chief sanctuary of the Ishmaelites; hence the later Jews, to whom Ishmael was a name for all Arabs, identified it with the sacred well Zemzem at Mecca.” Leupold (EG, 503): “So it comes to pass that two vast nations, the Jews and the Ishmaelites, are descended from Abraham. No further spiritual advantage is attached to the advantage of numbers” (cf. Gen_16:10).

Cambridge Bible Commentary:

Psalms 84:6
6. Passing through the vale of Baca they make it a place of springs,
Yea, the early rain clotheth it with blessings.

This verse has suffered a strange fate in translation. The English Versions follow Jewish authorities in taking berâchôth as the plural of berçchâh, ‘a pool,’ not, as it must be, of berâchâh, ‘blessing.’ The LXX renders. The lawgiver shall give blessings, taking môreh to be connected with tôrâh, law: and similarly Jerome, The teacher shall be clothed with blessing, a rendering followed by Luther.