Meeting with no molestation or pursuit, they continued their march on the following day, and encamped at Etham. on the edge of the desert of Etham, at the eastern end of the wady Tumilat. We learn from Numbers xxxiii :8 that all the desert cast of the present Suez Canal was called the desert of Etham, and the 'edge' of this desert on the route followed by the Israelites must have been near the present town of Ismailia, at the head of Lake Timsah.
lrobably the encampment was not far from the present Nefish station, a little west of the town, and it is worthy of note that here the desert presents, in consequence of a slight eleva tion above the bottom of the wady, a better de fined 'edge' than usual.
When at Ismailia we rode over this ground and could imagine the Hebrew leader looking out from the sand hills behind his encampment, with anxious eyes, to the east and the south, where his alternative lines of march lay, and to the west, whence Pharaoh's chariots might be ex pected to follow him.
But here a new, and at first sight, a strange order is given to the fugitives. They are not to go any farther eastward in what seems the di rect road to Canaan. They are to turn to the south, at right angles to their former course along the west side of Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lake, the latter then probably the northern end of the Yam Suph or Red Sea. The explanation given to Moses is that by this movement God will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host' (Exod. xiv:4): but in what way is not stated beforehand.
In executing this apparently retrograde move ment, Moses appears to have kept in view, as heretofore, the wisest means to protect his people in all events, and without reference to any possible miracle. And here I would note that the gathering at Rameses, the holding the people in readiness for instant motion, the march by the wady Tunnlat, and the position taken up at Etham, are all vindicated by the ground as good and wisely planned strategetical movement-. Moses and the elders of Israel were not mere waiters on Providence. They were men of thought and ac tion.
(6) Place of Crossing. The full responsibility of his position was now upon the leader of the Exodus. He had, it is true, passed over the perilous open country between Etham and the defile of Geneffeh, but here he must make a stand.
The children of Israel were, however, in no mood to fight for their liberty, and it appears from Exod. xix that they would rather surrender and return to Egypt. Moses remonstrated and as sured them that the Lord would fight for them; hut it was of no avail. And when he 'cried unto the Lord' the order was given to plunge into the sea and cross it. The people x‘ho would not tight were willing to flee. They had faith in (nut, though their long bondage had made them cow ards as regarded the Egyptians. Their faith was rewarded by a iniraculon., passage, in regard to which a 'strong cast wind' driving the waters before it, is especially mentioned as a secondary cause (Exod. xiv :21 I After a somewhat care ful examination of the country in reference to the crossing place, I believe that only one spot can be found which will satisfy the conditions of the Mosaic narrative, namely, the south part of the Bitter Lake, between station Fayid on the railway and station Geneffeh. Near this place are some inconsiderable ancient ruins, and flats covered with arundo and scirpus which may represent Pi-hahiroth. On the west is a some what detached peak, known as Jebel Shebremet, more than five hundred feet high, commanding a wide prospect and forming a most conspicuous object to the traveler approaching from the north. Here also is a basin-like plain, suitable for an encampment, and at its north side the foot of Jebel Shebremet juts out so as to form a narrow pass, easy of defense. Here also the Bitter Lake narrows and its shallow part begins, and a north east wind, combined with a low tide, would pro duce the greatest possible effect in lowering the water.
It may be further observed as an incidental cor roboration that the narrative in Exodus states that after crossing the sea the Israelites journeyed three days and found no water.
From the place above referred to, three days' journey would bring them to the Wells of Moses, opposite Suez, which thus come properly into place as the Marah of the narrative, whereas the ordinary theory of crossing at Suez would bring the people at once to these wells. After crossing the Red Sea they journeyed through the wilder ness of Etham into the wilderness of Shur, and in three days encamped at the wells of Marah (Comp. Exod. xiii :2o; Num. xxxiii :8; Exod, xv: 22).