Through the Brother of Jared, the Lord gave unto the colonists His further commandments. From now on the divine guidance came through him.
INTO THE WILDERNESS
The following particulars concerning the route the little company traveled are given: (1) It went through an uninhabited region (v. 5). (2) There were many waters—rivers and lakes—which they crossed by means of barges. God was their Pilot (v. 6). (3) There was a sea, possibly a lake in the wilderness, where the prospects of a settlement seemed inviting, but the Lord would not permit them to stay there. He had, He said, a better home for them, a land of promise, choice above all other lands. At the same time the Lord warned the company that it was a land preserved for a righteous people. (v. 7)
Several notable rivers originate in the mountainous district known as Ararat (Holy Land). The Euphrates and the Tigris flow into the Persian Gulf; the Araxes and the Cyrus into the Caspian Sea, and the Acampsis into the Black Sea. These and other rivers may have been the many waters. If so, the sea in the wilderness may have been the Caspian Sea. But as to this, nothing certain is known.