days perhaps elapsed before the whole body of the people were assembled
at Rameses, and ready to set out under their leader Moses (Exodus 12:37;
Numbers 33:3). This city was at that time the residence of the Egyptian
court, and here the interviews between Moses and Pharaoh had taken
place.
From Rameses they journeyed to Succoth (Exodus 12:37), identified with
Tel-el-Maskhuta, about 12 miles west of Ismailia. (See PITHOM.) Their
third station was Etham (q.v.), 13:20, “in the edge of the wilderness,” and
was probably a little to the west of the modern town of Ismailia, on the
Suez Canal. Here they were commanded “to turn and encamp before
Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea”, i.e., to change their route from
east to due south. The Lord now assumed the direction of their march in
the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. They were then led along
the west shore of the Red Sea till they came to an extensive
camping-ground “before Pi-hahiroth,” about 40 miles from Etham. This
distance from Etham may have taken three days to traverse, for the
number of camping-places by no means indicates the number of days
spent on the journey: e.g., it took fully a month to travel from Rameses to
the wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:1), yet reference is made to only six
camping-places during all that time. The exact spot of their encampment
before they crossed the Red Sea cannot be determined. It was probably
somewhere near the present site of Suez.
Under the direction of God the children of Israel went “forward” from the
camp “before Pi-hahiroth,” and the sea opened a pathway for them, so
that they crossed to the farther shore in safety. The Egyptian host
pursued after them, and, attempting to follow through the sea, were
overwhelmed in its returning waters, and thus the whole military force of
the Egyptians perished. They “sank as lead in the mighty waters” (Exodus
15:1-9; comp. Psalm 77:16-19).
Having reached the eastern shore of the sea, perhaps a little way to the
north of ‘Ayun Musa (“the springs of Moses”), there they encamped and
rested probably for a day. Here Miriam and the other women sang the
triumphal song recorded in Exodus 15:1-21.
From ‘Ayun Musa they went on for three days through a part of the
barren “wilderness of Shur” (22), called also the “wilderness of Etham”
(Numbers 33:8; comp. Exodus 13:20), without finding water. On the last