The three days' journey here would not be long ones, but there was now no reason for haste, and the absence of water would not be favorable to long marches.
(7) Physical Changes. The question has often been raised whether at the time of the Ex odus, the Red Sea extended farther north than at present. In answer to this it may be stated, in the first place, that the terms of the narrative in Exodus imply, and the geological structure of the country proves that there must have been a land connection between Africa and Asia, north of Ismailia, at the place which is now the highest point of the isthmus.
Further, without entering into details, I may say that there are also good geological reasons for the belief that there has been in modern times a slight elevation of the isthmus on the south side, corresponding to the slight depression known to have occurred on the north side. It seems also certain that in the time of Moses a large volume of the Nile water was during the inundation sent eastward toward the Red Sea. There is, there fore, nothing unreasonable in supposing that the Bitter Lake at the time of the Exodus consti tuted an extension of the sea. Further, such an extension would be subject to considerable fluctu ations of level, occasioned by the winds and tides. These now occur towards the head of the sea.
Near Suez I passed over large surfaces of des ert, which I was told were inundated on occasion of high tides and easterly winds. and at levels which the sea now fails to reach, there are sands holding recent marine shells in such a state of preservation that not many centuries may have elapsed since they were at the bottom of the sea.
2. Other 'Scientists. Professor Hull takes nearly the same view with reference to the con dition of the isthmus at the time of the Exodus. It has also been advocated by Ritter and by Mr.
Reginald S. Poole. It appears to be strongly confirmed by the inscriptions discovered by Naville at Pithom. He finds also that a place called Pi kerehet lay at no great distance eastward from Pithom, and supposes that this may be the Pi hahiroth of Exodus xiv :2, 9. (See PI-HAttutcrrH.) He also finds that down to Roman times Pithom, or Heroopolis (HieroOpolis), as it was called, is described as being near to the Red Sea, which must to some extent, have been navigable up to Lake Timsah. Naville is disposed to place Pi-hahiroth and consequently the place of crossing, farther up to the north than Bitter Lake, or between this and Lake Timsah. My impression is, however, that these places are too near Etham, and too far from the probable site of Marah, to fulfill the conditions of the narrative.
3. Biblical .Statements. There are two state ments in Exodus and Numbers which have always appeared to me to fix the meaning of the author of the narrative, who has been found in other cases scrupulously exact in his geographical state ments.
(1) Opinion of Pharaoh. The first is the opin ion attributed to Pharaoh, when he heard of the southward march from Etham, that the Israelites were entangled in the land, and that the wilder ness had shut them in. Unless the Red Sea or
some other impassable obstacle existed south of Lake Tinisah he could not have formed this opin ion.
(2) Etham and Shur. The second state ment referred to is in the use of the terms 'Etham' and 'Shur,' and the three days' journey before reaching Marah, which I take to be the wells of Moses opposite Suez, though I know the site is usually placed farther south. Putting to gether the statements in Exodus and Numbers, we find the first desert encampment at Etham on the border of that desert. Then, after crossing the Red Sea, we find the people still in the desert of Etham, and journeying in it three days into the desert of Shur in the south.
Now, if the desert of Etham is that of the Atamu or border land of Egypt, and the desert of Shur, or the wall, is that bounded by the wall of the escarpment of the Tih, and if the wells of Marah are the first great springs that issue from the base of this escarpment, we have a clear and accurate topographical description, given in a few words, but in a manner to emphasize the first journeys in the waterless desert and the first experience of the brackish desert springs, so dif ferent from the sweet waters of the Nile.
(3) Strategical Reasons. Another point of inquiry relates to the reason why the army of Is rael did not cross the neck of land between Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lake rather than go far ther south. A sufficient reason for this may ap pear to be the command to pass southward to the Red Sea, that God's purpose with reference to the Egyptians might be fulfilled. But if we look for prudential and strategical reasons in addition, these may be found in the difficulty of crossing at this place in face of an approaching Egyptian army, even if crossing there was practicable, which the considerations above stated render at least doubtful, and in the possible existence of Egyptian garrisons in this part of the isthmus, where at other periods they are known to have been posted. With reference to this last consideration, it has often been overlooked that the king of Egypt was about this time obliged to meet a serious invasion of Libyans and other peoples on the west, and that this may have compelled him to withdraw or weaken his garrisons in the east.• This would give special facilities to the movement of the Israelites, and was a providential aid in their favor, while the particular places from which troops had been removed may have been a factor in certain move ments. The recent revelations of the Egyptian records give us the right to affirm that a re markable preparatory provision was made in the providence of God for the deliverance of His peo ple by political and military events altogether be yond their control."• Egypt and Syria, by Sir J. William Dawson, C. M. G., LL. D., F. R. S. (pp. The reader may refer to Dr. Kellogg's Lectures on Abraham, Joseph and Moses; Report of the Ordnance Survey an Sinai ( British Government); Pifhem. by Naville; Trumbull's Kadesh Borneo; and Palmer's Desert of the Exodus.
Egypt and Syria, by Sir J. William Dawson,