Day's journey (Hastings' Dictionary)
When the nuaking of a day's journey is imclicaled of any one, we are not to understand merely that the person travelled for a day or for so many hours thereof. ' Day's journey ' is no mere indication of time, but a real though very indefinite mea.sure of space. Its length would vary according to the nature of the ground tra- versed ; on a level plain it would be longer than over a country broken by hills or water-courses.
Its distance would, again, be conditioned by the circumstances or capabilities of the traveller ; a messenger on a hasty errand (cf. Gn 31'-") would achieve bettor results than a caravan, the rate of which would be regulated by the slowest beast of burden. A .sturdy courier, without undue exertion, might put 25 to 30 miles behind him in a day; while a caravan, with its encumbrances, would not be able to overtake more than abiuit 20 miles at the most.
The camel usually proceeds at a rate of about 2k miles an hour, and as 0 to 8 hours would be suflicient for a day, a caravan (probably im- plied Lk 2'''') might accomplish 15 to 20 miles ; witli much impedimenta, as recorded in the travels of the patriarchs Gn 311'''', or of the Israelites Nu lO-", the day's journey would necessarily be much less. In the i^rescnt-day i)ilgrimages to Mecca, 22i miles is said to be a common day's journey for a caravan.
We may perhaps safely figure to ourselves in connexion with the expression 'day's journey' an average distance of 20 to 25 miles. See further S.VUlt.VTII D.VYS JOflCXEY. A. GUIEVE.
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Day's journey
Day's Journey jur'-ni (derekh yom, Ge 30:36; Nu 10:33; 11:31; hemeras hodos, Lu 2:44): The common way of estimating distances in the East is by hours and days. This is natural in a country where roads are mere bridle paths or non-existent, as in the desert. The distance traveled must of course differ largely according to the difficulties of the way, and it is more important to know where night will overtake the traveler than the actual distance accomplished. A day's journey is now commonly reckoned at about 3 miles per hour, the distance usually covered by a loaded mule, the number of hours being about 8. Hence, a day's journey is about 24 miles, and this may be taken as a fair estimate for Bible times. ⇒See also the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia. H. Porter
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia