Sublime

In the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasture lands surrounding the towns. 3The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle,

Most of this trail, like so many others first ‘discovered’ by Joe Walker (or, more accurately, pieced together from existing Indian trails), is now a state highway.

I was expecting a wealth of amateur historians, with an encyclopedic knowledge of the fur trade and fresh insights to borrow, but the first twenty people I talked to had never heard of Joe Walker. Reading history books, it turned out, was not a popular

These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 3The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three the Canaanite woman Bath-shua bore to him. Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death.

34 Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel. 35The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

Jethro/Reuel is a [cohen], a “priest” acting on behalf of the local Elohim, and therefore he is skilled in governing. He passes on to his son-inlaw all the necessary information to make Israel a nation (Exodus 18:13 ff):

7They warred against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and rkilled every male. 8They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, sEvi, Rekem, tZur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed uBalaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones,