The Bible mentions a "miracle" at this point, the striking of a rock with his staff to produce water. This seems at first glance to people who are not familar with this part of the world as an impossiblity. However, those who live in the area around "Dophkah" know that you can take a hammer and strike certain rocks and water will shoot out of it like a spout. In the 1930's, British Major C.S. Jarvis  led an archaelogical expedition through this area and had his men digging through the sand at the base of a rock. Naturally, they were not digging appropriately enough for the Major so he got out his spade to show them how to do it. In the process of showing them, he accidently struck the rock itself, which cracked the rockface and water then spewed out like a geyser. It seems that water pushes up from underneath and eats away at the limestone center of the rocks so that only a thin crust remains on the outside. So when it is struck by only a moderate amount of force, it cracks open and sprays its water out. Jarvis' men joked and called him the prophet Moses! But the locals know that this is a common occurance. Perhaps when Moses spent his time with the Midians, he learned this way to find water in the desert?
         The people then moved on to the legendary Mount Sinai where God made himself known to Moses and His people. Moses went up Mount Sinai and recieved the Word of God and then brought it down to the people below. This is the first time in history that there has been a profession of faith in a single, all powerful God. All other faiths up till this time have been polytheistic (meaning many gods). Even the early Israelites were somewhat polytheistic with the all powerful God, Yahweh at the head, and then smaller gods below him. So when God gave the Ten Commandments, the first thing He said was, "You shall have no other gods before me." Then to reinforce the issue and to send the messege that He was not joking, he clarified it more with the next commandment, "You shall not make for yourself an idol [in any form]....You shall not bow down to them or whorship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.....". Thoroughly making Israel the first solely monothiesitc people on Earth.
          The search for the real Mount Sinai is still going on and is under much debate as we speak. Though it is generally agreed to be on or near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula.
          The Israelites spend about a year here before setting out for Kadesh about 150 miles as the crow flies away. The path taken to Kadesh can be traced fairly accurately and is a general accepted path by archaeologist.
          Kadesh's name is perserved in the name of a little spring called "Ain Qedeis" in the Negev south of Canaan. This however is but a small trickle of water and could not support the thousands of Hebrews. But.....5 miles to the north is the largest supply of water in this whole area called "Ain el-Qudeirat" which has an ample supply of water for the mass of people.
          From here, Moses started planning the attack of Canaan. He decided to send spies into the Land to see if much has changed since he left the Egyptian court some 45 to 50 years ago when he got his information on this area. The spies spent 40 days in the Land and brough back reports of massive cities with walls and large people. The Land was rich and crops grew large as evidenced by the huge grapvine that they brought back from the "Brook of Eshcol". This "brook" is located southwest of Hebron to this day and is widely known as one of the finest grape/wine producing areas in Israel. The description of the cities having strongly fortified walls are also correct. In Egypt there are no walled cities except for one or two. The rest are open, so the site of high thick walls around so many cities would have caused much fear as it is recorded in the Bible.
         Moses decided to wait on attacking and started the Hebrews on the 40 year trek through the desert.....well 38 years left in it at this point. In his Court training, I am sure he knew that the coastal cities were the strongest since any attacks into Egypt would follow the Fertile Crescent and hug the Mediterrian coastline. So Moses did the best thing possible stratigically, he decided to out flank the fortified cities and strike them at their weakest point.....from the east. Only then will he and the people of Israel have a chance at the Conquest. East of Canaan is the Jordan River and the vast desert past that, so the inhabitants of Canaan figured that no force of any size could come across the desert (say from Babylonia or Persia), across the river and attack before dying of starvation and dehydration.  The one lone fortified city built to watch the east entrance was Jericho. If that city could be taken, then the rest of Canaan would fall like dominos.

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