Numbers 33:35 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And encamped at Ezion-gaber— "Ezion-gaber," says Dr. Shaw, "being the place from whence Solomon's navy went for gold to Ophir, 1 Kings 9:26. 2 Chronicles 8:17 we may be induced to take it for the present Meenah el Dsahab; i.e. the port of gold. According to the account I had of this place from the monks of St. Catherine, it lies in the gulph of Eloth, betwixt two and three days journey from them; enjoying a spacious harbour, from whence they are sometimes supplied with plenty of lobsters and shell-fish. Meenah el Dsahab, therefore, from this circumstance, may be nearly at the same distance from Sinai with Tor, from whence they are likewise furnished with the same provisions; which, unless they are brought with the utmost expedition, frequently corrupt and putrefy. The distance betwixt the north-west part of the desart of Sin and Mount Sinai, is twenty-one hours; and if we further add three hours (the distance betwixt the desart of Sin and the port of Tor, from whence these fish are obtained), we shall have in all twenty-four hours, i.e. in round numbers, about sixty miles. Ezion-gaber, consequently, may lie a little more or less than that distance from Sinai, because the day's journeys, which the monks speak of, are not, perhaps, to be considered as ordinary and common ones, but such as are made in haste, that the fish may arrive in good condition. In Pococke's Description of the East, p. 157, Ezion-gaber is placed to the S.E. of Eloth, and at two or three miles only from it; which, I presume, cannot be admitted. For, as Eloth itself is situated upon the point of the gulph, Ezion-gaber, by lying to the S.E. of it, would belong to the land of Midian; whereas Ezion-gaber was undoubtedly a seaport in the land of Edom, as we learn from the authorities above related, viz. where king Solomon is said to have made a navy of ships in Ezion-gaber, which is אתאּאלות beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. Here it may be observed, that the word את eth, which we render beside, (viz. Eloth) should be rendered, together with Eloth; not denoting any vicinity betwixt them, but that they were both of them ports of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom." See Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 322.