Walking The Bible

Toward The Promised Land: Forty Years In The Desert

The Sinai Desert. The barren wilderness where the Israelites find themselves after they've escaped Egypt. How will Moses lead them? How will he bring them to the Promised Land? In the concluding chapter of "Walking the Bible," Bruce Feiler follows the Israelite's 40 year trek through what the Bible calls a "great and terrible wilderness." Feiler experiences the stark reality of the Sinai desert where it's a struggle simply to survive. He finds the locations said to be where God provided water and food for the Israelites - and discovers the secret of the tamarisk tree, which secrets a sweet, honey-like substance called "manna." Despite its harshness, the desert is also a haven for spiritual pilgrims. In the shadow of the mountain believed to be the Biblical Mount Sinai, Feiler visits St. Catherine's Monastery, the oldest operating church in the world. He attends the services, a powerful, unchanged ritual of 1,500 years, and sees what's claimed to be the real "burning bush" in which God spoke to Moses. One of the monks, Texas-born Father Justin, shows him the Monastery's world-renowned library of priceless religious art and manuscripts. Later, when Feiler climbs Mt. Sinai where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments, he is struck by the spiritual significance of the land, and its relationship to the people, and to God. As he follows the 40 year route of the Israelites, he visits a local Bedouin family who also derive sustenance from the desert, and travels to the "lost city" of Petra in Jordan where the Israelites may have lived for many years. Nearing the end of Moses' journey, Feiler climbs Mt. Nebo, where God shows Moses the Promised Land the Israelites are about to enter. At the end of his own journey , Feiler realizes that although Moses is denied entrance himself, it is not the land after all that is important for Moses. It is his meeting with God.