The Pharaoh's Pursuit

(Exodus 13:17 - 14:31)

When the Israelites were at last freed by the Pharaoh, Jehovah did not guide them through the land of the Philistines, even though that was the shortest way to Canaan, for, he reasoned, they might encounter hostilities there, regret their decision, and return to Egypt.  Instead, he led them by an indirect route through the desert toward the Red Sea.  Even so, the Israelites marched out of Egypt like an army ready for battle. 

Moses carried with him the mummified corpse of Joseph, who, before he died, had solemnly charged his people, "Jehovah will visit you in the future and come to your aid.  At that time you must carry my remains with you when you leave Egypt.”

The Israelites journeyed from Succoth to Etham, where they camped on the edge of the desert.  Jehovah guided them in an pillar-shaped aerial vehicle that appeared like a cloud during the day and glowed like a fire at night, lighting the way.  By this means they could travel by both day and night, (for the ship was always in the sky, visible to the people).

Jehovah spoke to Moses, "Tell the Israelites that they should turn around and go back to camp beneath Pi-Hahiroth, which is between Magdal and the sea, opposite Baalzephon.  They should make their camp by the sea.  The Pharaoh will then assume that the Israelites, wandering about aimlessly, are trapped there, hemmed in by the desert.  I will make the Pharaoh stubborn and he will come after them.  I will then take my revenge upon the Pharaoh and his army so that the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah."  And the Israelites did as they were ordered.

When the Pharaoh was informed that the Israelites had absconded, he and his court rued their decision to free them.  The men at court discussed it among themselves and groused, "What possessed us to let the Israelites escape from our service?”

And so the Pharaoh harnessed his war chariot and called out his attendants.  He assembled his elite corps of chariots, 600 of them, as well as all the other chariots of Egypt and the officers who commanded them.  (Jehovah made the Pharaoh stubborn so he would continue to pursue the Israelites.)  The Israelites had left victoriously, but now the Egyptians were chasing after them.  The chariots of the Pharaoh, the horses and the charioteers, followed the track of the Israelites.  And they caught up with them where they were encamped by the sea at Pi-Hahiroth, opposite Baalzephon. 

When the forces of the Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel espied them advancing toward them and were greatly alarmed.  They appealed to Jehovah -- and complained to Moses, "Are there no graves in Egypt that you have led us into the desert to die?  Why did you lead us out of Egypt anyway?  Didn't we tell you back in Egypt, 'Leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians, for it's better to be their slaves than to die in the desert.'"

Moses proclaimed to the people, "Have no fear!  Stand your ground and witness how Jehovah will save you this day, for the Egyptians that you now see, you will never see again.  Jehovah will do battle for you while you hold your peace."

Jehovah said to Moses, "Why do you speak to me?  Speak to the children of Israel.  Tell them to advance.  Raise your staff and reach it out over the sea to divide it so the people of Israel may pass through the sea on dry land.  I will make the Pharaoh stubborn so he will pursue you.  I will then take my revenge upon the Pharaoh, his army, his chariots and his charioteers, and when I have done so, the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah!”

The agent of Jehovah who had been guiding the people from the front now moved to the rear of their force.  Jehovah's vehicle, which had been in front of the Israelite encampment, also moved and took a position behind it, in between the camp of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians.  It was but dark cloud to the Egyptians, but it left the Israelites in light, such that all night neither camp came near the other. 

Moses stretched his arm over the sea and Jehovah caused a strong, hot east wind to part the waters of the sea.  It blew all through the night and created a path of dry land on the seabed between parted waters.  The Israelites, traveling out into the middle of the sea, tread upon the dry ground with the waters a wall beside them on the left and on the right.

The Egyptians, in hot pursuit, followed them onto the seabed, all the Pharaoh's chariots and their drivers.  Dawn had broken and Jehovah was observing the Egyptians from his glowing, cloud-like vehicle in the sky.  He threw the Egyptian army into disarray by clogging the wheels of their chariots so they had difficulty driving them.  The Egyptians declared, "Let us retreat from the Israelites, for Jehovah is fighting on their side against us!"

Jehovah then told Moses, "Stretch out your arm over the sea that the waters may return and come down upon the Egyptians, their chariots and charioteers.”

Moses stretched out his arm toward the sea, and at dawn it resumed its accustomed depth.  The Egyptians fled from it, but Jehovah brought the waters down upon them. When the waters returned, it inundated the chariots and their drivers; the entire army that came into the sea in pursuit were swept away and killed to the last man.  But the Israelites continued to march across the dry land in the middle of the sea with the wall of water to the right of them and to the left of them. 

Thus Jehovah saved the Israelites from the might of the Egyptians on that day.  Observing the dead bodies of Egyptians washing upon the shore, the Israelites appreciated the miraculous power that Jehovah had employed against the Egyptians.  And so they feared Jehovah and believed in him -- and in his servant Moses.

Notes
1.  The route the departing Israelites has been a matter of much speculation, even though the biblical text mentions specific place names.  Their direct route to Canaan was to the east, but they would have immediately run into the war-like Philistines, so, at Jehovah's behest, their course was directed southeast probably along what is now the Suez Canal.  Succoth is on the easternmost part of the delta region while Etham, to the southeast, is on the edge of a desert that stretches east into the Sinai. The location of Pi-Hahiroth, Baalzephon and Magdal (which means "tower" or "raised land") have not been definitely determined but is most likely near salt-water lakes that connect to the western arm of the Red Sea.  The crossing of the Red Sea, or Sea of Reeds as the text refers to it, is most likely here, in waters deep enough to drown chariots, but not so wide as to make crossing infeasible.  Other scenarios and other locations have, however, been suggested.

2.  Most translations describe Moses carrying with him the "bones" of Joseph with him to take back to Canaan to fulfill a promise his people made to the dying Joseph.  "Bones" probably mean "remains."  Joseph had been mummified so his corpse would have been wrapped and probably in a good state of preservation.

3.  Jehovah appeared to the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, accompanying and guiding his people.  It is not clear what to make of this description, but it surely refers to some kind of airship in which Jehovah was riding.  For the ancients the only objects that could appear in the sky except for the heavenly bodies would be birds and clouds.  If the ship was described as a cloud it only means that it resembled a cloud more than anything else.  As for the pillar of fire, fire seems less likely than light.  Flames can only result from something burning; a burning object hovering in the sky is not plausible.  Illumination is always associated with fire, since, at that time, fire was the sole source of light save for the heavenly bodies, and it was probably generally assumed that the sun burned -- as indeed it does.  (It was not yet realized that the light of the moon was merely the reflected light of the sun.)  Thus, we have an airship that turned on its lights at night and, at one point, directed those lights to the Israelite encampment.  The pillar description must refer to the shape of the object, cylindrical and elongated, rather like the large, cigar-shaped UFOs that have been sighted in modern times.   A pillar, though, is thought of as upright and not on its side.  It's strange to think of an airship vertical instead of horizontal, except when taking off, but that might have been its normal attitude when hovering, as the ship must have been doing.  And it should not be overlooked that missiles and rockets might easily be described by ancients as pillars or columns.

4.  True to character, the Pharaoh, incorrigibly stubborn, reneges on his pledge to free the Israelites and decides to go after his slaves and bring them back.  Also, true to form, the Israelites are weak, vacillating, ungrateful, and skeptical; they want to go back to Egypt and return to slavery at the first sign of adversity.

5.  The Pharaoh is able to muster 600 chariots and more, as well as a huge army.  Where did all these men come from?  Plague survivors?  What did they have to eat in an Egypt whose food supply was destroyed by the just-described series of disastrous plagues?  Where did the horses come from?  Weren't they all killed off?

6.  Not only was Jehovah leading the people from his airship, but there is a reference to one of his agents that was apparently on the ground acting as a guide, probably taking orders from Jehovah himself in the ship above.  This is quite interesting, because he was not mentioned previously in the story.

7.  Jehovah has Moses stretch out his arm and his staff to summon an east wind to blow all night in order to separate the waters to make a path for the Israelites to walk dry shod through the middle of the sea.  This is preposterous on so many levels.  First of all, a wind, if it was capable of blowing all the water in the sea, would blow it to the opposite bank (and drown the Israelites); it could hardly form a passage in the midst of the water.  Some have suggested a reef might have been uncovered by a wind, but still, the water washed away from it would have come down upon the Israelites.  It simply isn't possible that enough water could have been displaced to later inundate the Pharaoh's chariots when sea levels returned to normal.  One might imagine a mammoth leaf blower could do the job described, but still, it would have to generate a super gale that would probably blow the Israelites back to Egypt.  A tsunami might have caused a receding of the sea before its inundation of the shore.  One feels that a memory of this sort of event might have inspired the story here.  However, the mechanism by which a path through the sea could be formed with the water held back like walls on each side is not really possible.  The parting of the sea, as it is told, is only feasible through some sort of miracle performed by mechanisms we cannot conceive.

8.  If the sea bed had been exposed and dried up by the wind, it seems unlikely that it would have been very passable, especially while it was still dark (unless Jehovah's pillar of fire was furnishing enough light for the Israelites).  Also, one has to consider how long it would take for the supposed two million people to make the passage.  Could this be completed in the wee hours of the morning?

9.  Before the sea returned to inundate the Egyptians, Jehovah clogged the wheels of the chariots so they would not make much progress.  Most translations describe Jehovah removing the wheels from the chariots, but this seems less likely.   Removing the chariot wheels would have been a difficult and senseless task.  (What could Jehovah have done, send down an invisible army of angels to unfasten the wheels from their axles, or shoot them all off with a laser gun?)  One supposes he impeded the progress of the chariots by simply reversing the drying up of the seabed and reconverting it to mud.  Thus, clogged wheels.

10.  At last the Israelites are impressed by Jehovah.  We will see how long this will last!