Elim

Elim (meaning trees, the rams, or the strong) was the second named camp of the Israelites after their passage through the Red Sea, reached after the bitter waters of Marah had been sweetened (Exodus 15:27). The text describes it as a paradisiacal oasis in contrast to the surrounding desert: "And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters." The twelve wells and seventy palms have been symbolically interpreted — the twelve tribes and the seventy elders — but the text presents them straightforwardly as a place of rest and refreshment.

The location of Elim has been identified by many scholars with the Wadi Gharandel in the western Sinai peninsula, which still contains significant vegetation and water sources by desert standards. After Elim, the Israelites moved on to the Wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:1; Numbers 33:9–11), where they complained about food and received the first gift of manna and quail. Elim's twelve springs mark it as one of the rare moments of ease and provision in the otherwise arduous wilderness journey.