EXODUS, THE. The intention of Jehovah to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage was made known to Moses from the burning bush at Mount Horeb, while he kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. Under the divine direction Moses, in conjunction with Aaron, assembled the elders of the nation, and acquainted them with the gracious design of Heaven. After this they had an interview with Pharaoh, and requested permis sion for the people to go, in order to hold a feast unto God in the wilderness. The result was not only refusal, but the doubling of all the burdens which the Israelites bad previously had to bear. Moses hereupon, suffering reproach from his peo ple, consults Jehovah, who assures him that he would compel Pharaoh to drive them out of his land.' I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments' (Exod. iii.-vi. 6). Then ensue a series of miracles, commonly called the plagues of Egypt (Exod. vi.-)di.) [EGYPT, PLAGUES OF.] At last, overcome by the calamities sent upon him, Pharaoh yielded all that was demanded, saying, Rise up, and get you forth from among my peo ple, both ye and the children of Israel ; and go serve the Lord as ye have said ; also take your flocks and your herds and be gone.' Thus driven out, the Israelites, to the number of about 600,000 adults, besides children, left the land, attended by a mixed multitude, with their flocks and herds, even very much cattle (Exod. xii. 31, sq.) Being `thrust out' of the country, they had not time to prepare for themselves suitable provisions, and therefore they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt.
On the night of the self-same day which termi nated a period of 430 years, during which they had been in Egypt, were they led forth from Rameses, or Goshen [GoSHEll. They are not said to have crossed the river Nile, whence we may infer that Goshen lay on the eastern side of the river. Their first station was at Succoth (Exod. xii. 37). The nearest way into the land of Promise was through the land of the Philistines. This route would have required them to keep on in a north-east direction.
It pleased their divine conductor, however, not to take this path, lest, being opposed by the Philis tines, the Israelites should turn hack at the sight of war into Egypt. If, then, Philistia was to be avoided, the course would lie nearly direct east, or south-east. Pursuing this route, the armies' come to Etham, their next station, in the edge of the wilderness' (Exod. xiii. 17, sq.) Here they en camped. Dispatch, however, was desirable. They journey day and night, not without divine guidance, for the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day and night.' This special guidance could not well have been meant merely to skew the way through the desert ; for it can hardly be supposed that in so great a multitude no persons knew the road over a country lying near to that in which they and their ancestors had dwelt, and which did not ex tend more than some forty miles across. The divine guides were doubtless intended to conduct the Israelites in that way and to that spot where the hand of God would be most signally displayed in their rescue and in the destruction of Pharaoh. I will be honoured upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.' For this purpose Moses is directed of God to speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon ; before it shall ye encamp by the sea : and they did so' (Exod. xiv. 2-4). We have already seen rea son to think that the direction of the Israelites was to the east or south-east ; this turning must have been in the latter direction, else they would have been carried down towards the land of the Philis tines, which they were to avoid. Let the word turn' be marked ; it is a strong term, and seems to imply that the line of the march was bent con siderably towards the south, or the interior of the land. The children of Israel then are now en camped before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, also by the sea.' Their position was such that they wereentangled in the land, the wilderness hash shut them in.' A new scene is now laid open. News is carried to Pharaoh which leads him to see that the reason assigned (namely, a sacrifice in the wilderness) is but a pretext ; that the Israelites had really fled from his yoke ; and also that, through some (to him) unaccountable error, they had gone toward: the south-east, had reached the sea, and were hemmed in on all sides. He summons his troops and sets out in pursuit—' all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen and his army ;' and he overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zeplion' (Exod. xiv. 9). The Israelites see their pursuing enemy approach, and are alarmed. Moses assures them of divine aid. A promise was given as of God that the Israelites should go on dry ground through the midst of the sea ; and that the Egyptians, attempt ing the same path, should be destroyed I 'and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh and all his host, upon his chariots and his horsemen' (ver. 17).
Here a very extraordinary event takes place : 'The angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them ; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them ; and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these ; so that the one came not near the other all the night' (ver. 19, 2o). Then comes the division of the waters which we give in the words of the sacred historian: ' And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground ; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.' Delays are now occasioned to the Egyptians ; their chariot-wheels are supernaturally taken off, so that 'in the morning-watch they drave them heavily.' The Egyptians are troubled ; they urge each other to fly from the face of Israel. Then Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared ; and the Egyptians fled against it ; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them ; there remained not as much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses' (ver. 2S-31). From the song of triumph which Moses sang upon this occasion we learn some other particulars, as that `the depths covered Pharaoh's host, they sank to the bottom as a stone ;' language which, whatever de duction may be made for its poetic character, im plies that the miracle took place in deep water. ' Thou sentest forth thy wrath which consumed them as stubble, and with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea ; thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them ; they sank as lead in the mighty waters'—all which would be not poetry, hut bombast, had not the wind been as miraculous as any other part of the event, and had not the sea been large and deep (Exod. xv. ; comp. Ps. cvi. 9, sq.) Such is the bearing and import of the sacred narrative. If any intelligent reader, knowing nothing of the theories of learned men, were to peruse the account given in Exodus with a map before him, he would, we doubt not, be led to conclude that the route of the Israelites lay to wards the south-east, up the Red Sea, and that the spot where they crossed was at a place encircled by mountains on the side of the desert, and fronted by deep and impassable waters : he would equally conclude that the writer in Exodus intended to represent the rescue as from first to last the work of God. Had the Israelites been at a place which was fordable under any natural influences, Pha raoh's undertaking was absurd. He knew that they were entangled,—mountains behind and on either hand, while the deep sea was before them. Therefore he felt sure of his prey, and set out in pursuit. Nothing but the divine interposition foiled and punished him, at the same time redeeming the Israelites. And this view, which the unlearned but intelligent reader would be led to take, involves, in fact, all that is important in the case. But a dis like of the miraculous has had an influence, and erudition has tried to fix the precise spot : whence have arisen views and theories which are more or less discordant with the Scripture, or are concerned with comparative trifles. So far as aversion to miracle has had an influence in the hypotheses which have been given, all we shall remark is; that in a case which is so evidently represented as the sphere of miracle, there is but one alternative,— they who do not admit the miracle must reject the narrative ; and far better would it be to do so frankly than to construct hypotheses which are for the most part, if not altogether, purely arbitrary. A narrative obviously miraculous (in the intention of the writer) can be explained satisfactorily on no rationalistic principles : this is not to expound but to `wrest' the Scriptures ; a position which, in our opinion, has been fully established, in relation to the Gospels, against the whole of the rationalistic school of interpretation.