Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 14:2
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.
2. turn back ] viz. from the route past Etham, straight on to Palestine. The ‘turn’ is the same as that mentioned by E in Exo 13:18. The motive assigned for it is however a different one: in Exo 13:17 fear lest the Israelites should shrink from facing the Philistines; here ( v. 4), that Jehovah might get Himself glory by the overthrow of the Egyptians. See further the last note on v. 4.
Pi-hairoth, &c.] None of these places have been as yet identified: they consequently afford no help in determining the place where the passage of the Red Sea took place. M. Naville’s identification of Pi-hairoth, with Piereet, which he argues was on the SW. edge of Lake Tims, depends upon most precarious grounds (see p. 122). And no independent data whatever exist for determining the sites of Migdol and Baal- phn: their sites can only be fixed conjecturally, after the place of the passage has been already fixed upon other grounds.
On the sites of Pi-hairoth, Migdol, and Baal-phn (Exo 14:2)
(1) Pi-hairoth. M. Naville identifies Pi-hairoth with the Egypt. Piereet or Pieeret. In lists of the ‘nomes’ of Egypt (Naville, Pithom, ed. 4, p. 24 b , cf. pp. 6 b , 8 a ), sometimes the temple of Pithom, sometimes that of Piereet or Pieeret, is mentioned as the principal sanctuary of the 8th nome of lower Egypt, in the ‘region of Thukke’ (Succoth: Exo 12:37); and in the Inscription of Ptolemy II, found by M. Naville at Pithom ( ibid. p. 18 b ), this temple of Pieeret is mentioned as an abode of Osiris; and it is stated (l. 7; ibid. p. 19 b ) that Ptolemy, in his 6th year, went to Nefer ab (i.e., probably, the capital of the nome, Heroopolis), visited the temple of Piereet, and dedicated it to ‘his father Etm (see on Exo 1:11), the great living god of Thukke, at the festival of the god.’ A temple of Osiris would be called by the Greeks a Serapeum; and as the Itinerary of Antonine mentions a Serapiu, 18 miles from Heroopolis, and 50 from Klysma (Kolzum, a little N. of the modern Suez), M. Naville identifies the temple of Piereet with this, and places it at the foot of Jebel Mariam, on the SW. edge of L. Tims, 12 miles E. of Pithom (p. 25; cf. p. 22 a , and see the Map at the end of his volume). Not only, however, does Piereet not agree phonetically with Pi-hairoth as closely as could be desired; but the arguments by which M. Naville seeks to fix its site are anything but cogent: in fact (Griffith) such data as we possess all tend to shew that the temple of Piereet was the shrine of a serpentine god ( er(et) = ‘serpent’) in Pithom itself, and not 12 miles E. of it (cf. W. M. Mller in DB. ii. 1439, n. 5) 1 [139]
[139] The identification (Kn. al.) of Pi-hairoth with ‘Ajrd (12 m. NW. of Suez) is quite out of the question: the phonetic equation implied is, as Di. justly objects, too ‘grsslich’ (‘frightful’).
(2) Migdol is a Heb. word meaning tower; and in the Egypt, form Mektol occurs frequently in the inscriptions; but the situation of these ‘towers’ is mostly either uncertain, or unsuited to the present context 1 [140] . There is however one which, if the Israelites really crossed the sea at or near L. Tims, may be the ‘Migdol’ here mentioned. In the reign of Merenptah’s successor, Seti II, an officer who had been sent to overtake two fugitive slaves tells us that he followed them first to the sgr (fortified enclosure) of Thukke (see on Exo 12:37), then, turning to the S., to the khetem, or castle (see on Exo 13:20), of Thukke, and afterwards to ‘the northern wall of the mektol of Seti’ (see Authority and Archaeology, p. 60f.; W. Max Mller, Migdol in EB.) 2 [141] This mektol must certainly have been somewhere E. of Thukke (or Pithom): it might therefore well be near L. Tims, and so would fulfil all conditions for those assuming that the ‘sea’ which the Israelites crossed was a northern extension of the Gulf of Suez, at a point a little S. of this lake.
[140] The Migdol of Eze 29:10; Eze 30:6, mentioned as a frontier-city of Egypt (render each time as RVm.), is probably the Magdolo of the Itin. Anton., 12 m. S. of Pelusium: but this is far too N. for the present ‘Migdol’. See Migdol in EB.
[141]
(3) The site of Baal-phn is quite unknown; all that can be said of it is that as the Israelites were to encamp over against it, i.e. (as we should now say) opposite to it, it will have been on the Asiatic side of the sea, opposite to Migdol (wherever ‘Migdol’ was).
The name ‘Ba‘al-ephon’ is interesting. We know that there were many local Baals (Ba‘al of Lebanon, of Tarsus, &c.), some of whom gave their names to places (as ‘Ba‘al of Peor’). Ba‘al-ephon either means ‘Baal of the North,’ or is a combination of Baal with the Phoen. god aphon ( Rel. Sem. 2 [142] , p. 95); cf. Baal-Gad. We know, now, from a treaty between Esarhaddon (b.c. 681 668) and the Phoenicians, that there was a Tyrian god, bearing the same name, viz. Baal-apna ( KAT. 3 [143] 357), and also, from the annals of Tiglath-pileser and Sargon ( ib. p. 479), that there was a mountain Ba’li-apnah, evidently so named from this deity. The place, Ba‘al-ephon, no doubt, either was, or had been, a sanctuary of the same deity. In Egypt itself, also, among the deities worshipped at Memphis, mention is made of a goddess Ba‘alath-aphon ( EB. s.v. Baal-zephon; W. M. Mlller, As. u. Eur. 315), who may have had some connexion with the corresponding male deity.
[142] W. R. Smith, The Religion of the Semites, ed. 2, 1894.
[143] Die Keilinschriften und das A T., 1903, by H. Zimmern (pp. 345 653) and H. Winckler (pp. 1 342).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That they turn – i. e. away from the wilderness, and go southwards, to the west of the Bitter Lakes, which completely separated them from the desert.
Pi-hahiroth – The place is generally identified with Ajrud, a fortress with a very large well of good water, situated at the foot of an elevation commanding the plain which extends to Suez, at a distance of four leagues. The journey from Etham might occupy two, or even three days.
Migdol – A tower, or fort, the Maktal of Egyptian monuments; it is probably to be identified with Bir Suweis, about two miles from Suez.
Baal-zephon – The name under which the Phoenicians, who had a settlement in Lower Egypt at a very ancient period, worshipped their chief Deity. There can be no doubt it was near Kolsum, or Suez. From the text it is clear that the encampment of the Israelites extended over the plain from Pi-hahiroth: their headquarters being between Bir Suweis and the sea opposite to Baal-Zephon. At Ajrud the road branches off in two directions, one leading to the wilderness by a tract, now dry, but in the time of Moses probably impassable (see next note); the other leading to Suez, which was doubtless followed by the Israelites.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. Encamp before Pi-hahiroth] pi hachiroth, the mouth, strait, or bay of Chiroth. Between Migdol, migdol, the tower, probably a fortress that served to defend the bay. Over against Baal-zephon, baal tsephon, the lord or master of the watch, probably an idol temple, where a continual guard, watch, or light was kept up for the defence of one part of the haven, or as a guide to ships. Dr. Shaw thinks that chiroth may denote the valley which extended itself from the wilderness of Etham to the Red Sea, and that the part in which the Israelites encamped was called Pi-hachiroth, i.e., the mouth or bay of Chiroth. See his Travels, p. 310, and his account at the end of Exodus.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Pi-hahiroth, Heb. the month of Hiroth, i.e. the entrance or straits of Hiroth, two great mountains, between which they marched, and were enclosed on both sides.
Migdol, a city in Egypt, Jer 44:1, wherein it is thought there was a garrison.
Baal-zephon, another place of note, situated in a high place, and having a fair and large prospect, and possibly a garrison too.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Speak unto the children ofIsrael, that they turn and encampThe Israelites had nowcompleted their three days’ journey, and at Etham the decisive stepwould have to be taken whether they would celebrate their intendedfeast and return, or march onwards by the head of the Red Sea intothe desert, with a view to a final departure. They were already onthe borders of the desert, and a short march would have placed thembeyond the reach of pursuit, as the chariots of Egypt could have madelittle progress over dry and yielding sand. But at Etham, instead ofpursuing their journey eastward with the sea on their right, theywere suddenly commanded to diverge to the south, keeping the gulf ontheir left; a route which not only detained them lingering on theconfines of Egypt, but, in adopting it, they actually turned theirbacks on the land of which they had set out to obtain the possession.A movement so unexpected, and of which the ultimate design wascarefully concealed, could not but excite the astonishment of all,even of Moses himself, although, from his implicit faith in thewisdom and power of his heavenly Guide, he obeyed. The object was toentice Pharaoh to pursue, in order that the moral effect, which thejudgments on Egypt had produced in releasing God’s people frombondage, might be still further extended over the nations by theawful events transacted at the Red Sea.
Pi-hahiroththe mouthof the defile, or passa description well suited to that of Bedea,which extended from the Nile and opens on the shore of the Red Sea.
Migdola fortress orcitadel.
Baal-zephonsome markedsite on the opposite or eastern coast.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn,…. Not return to Egypt, or to the place, or towards the place from whence they came, but turn off, out of the road in which they were; for, as a late traveller says a,
“there were two roads, through which the Israelites might have been conducted from Cairo (which he supposes may be Rameses) to Pihahiroth. One of them lies through the valleys, as they are now called, of Jendily, Rumaleah, and Baideah, bounded on each side by the mountains of the lower Thebais; the other lies higher, having the northern range of these mountains (the mountains of Mocattee) running parallel with it on the right hand, and the desert of the Egyptian Arabia, which lies all the way open to the land of the Philistines, on the left, (see Ex 13:17) about the middle of this range we may turn short on our right hand into the valley of Baideah, through a remarkable breach or discontinuation, in which we afterwards continued to the very banks of the Red sea; this road then, through the valley of Baideah, which is some hours longer than the other open road, which leads directly from Cairo to Suez, was in all probability the very road which the Israelites took to Pihahiroth, on the banks of the Red sea.”
And again he says b, this valley ends at the sea in a small bay, made by the eastern extremities of the mountains, and is called “Tiah beni Israel”, i.e. the road of the Israelites, from a tradition of the Arabs, of their having passed through it; as it is also called Baideah from the new and unheard of miracle that was wrought near it, by dividing the Red sea, and destroying therein Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen:
and encamp before Pihahiroth: which was sixteen miles from Etham c, and by some d thought to be the same with the city of Heroes (or Heroopolis), on the extreme part of the Arabic gulf, or the Phagroriopolis, placed by Strabo e near the same place: according to the above traveller f, Pihahiroth was the mouth, or the most advanced part of the valley of Baideah to the eastward toward the Red sea; with which Jarchi in some measure agrees, who says Pihahiroth is Pithom, now so called, because the Israelites became free: they (Hahiroth) are two rocks, and the valley between them is called (Pi) the mouth of the rocks: so Dr. Shaw observes g; the word may be deduced from , “a hole” or “gullet”, and by a latitude common in those cases, be rendered a narrow “defile”, road or passage, such as the valley of Baideah has been described: but as the Israelites were properly delivered at this place from their captivity and fear of the Egyptians, Ex 14:13 we may rather suppose that Hhiroth denotes the place where they were restored to their liberty; as Hhorar and Hhiroth are words of the like sort in the Chaldee: but another very learned man h says, that in the Egyptian language Pihahiroth signifies a place where grew great plenty of grass and herbs, and was contiguous to the Red sea, and was like that on the other shore of the sea, the Arabian, which Diodorus Siculus i speaks of as a pleasant green field:
between Migdol and the sea; which signifies a tower, and might be one: there was a city of this name in Egypt, and in those parts, but whether the same with this is not certain, Jer 44:1
over against Baalzephon; which the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem take to be an “idol”: and so does Jarchi, and say it was the only one left of the idols of Egypt; see Ex 12:12 and so some Christian as well as Jewish writers suppose it to be; and that it was as a watch, or guard, or amulet, to keep fugitives from going out of the land: but by Ezekiel the tragedian k it is called a city; and so by Josephus l, who says they came to Baalzephon the third day, a place situated by the Red sea; which is most likely, and it is highly probable that this and Migdol were two fortified places, which guarded the mouth of the valley, or the straits which led to the Red sea: Artapanus m the Heathen historian agrees with Josephus in saying it was the third day when they came to the Red sea:
before it shall ye encamp by the sea; and there wait till Pharaoh came up to them.
a Dr. Shaw’s Travels, p. 307. Ed. 2. b lb. p. 309. c Bunting’s Travels, p. 82. d See the Universal History, vol. 3. p. 387. e Geograph. l. 17. p. 553. f Shaw, ib. p. 310. g Ut supra. (a) h Jablonski de Terra Goshen, Dissert. 5. sect. 9. i Bibliothec. c. 3. p. 175. k Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 29. p. 444. l Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 1. m Apud Euseb. ib. c. 27. p. 436.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
XIV.
THE PURSUIT BY PHARAOH AND THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA.
(2) Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn.The march of the Israelites had been hitherto almost due south-east. They had reached the edge of the desert (Exo. 13:20), near the head of the Bitter Lakes. If this direction had been maintained, their next days march would have taken them out of Egypt into the wilderness of Ethama desolate tract, in which there was no water, and probably scarcely any herbage. The Bitter Lakes would have been upon their right hand, and, so far as the Egyptians were concerned, they would have been in safety. But at this point an express command was given them to turn. Kaiisch, Rosenmller, and others understand this as a command to return, or retrace their steps; but this is clearly not what was intended, since their march was to bring them to the sea, which they had not reached previously. The question arises, What sea? Brugsch suggests the Mediterranean; but it is against this that the Mediterranean has not yet been mentioned in Exodus, and that, when mentioned, it is not as the sea, but as the sea of the Philistines (Exo. 23:31). The sea of this verse can scarcely be different from the Red Sea of Exo. 13:18, the only sea previously mentioned by the writer. To reach this sea it was necessary that they should deflect their course to the right, from south-east to south, so keeping within the limits of Egypt, and placing the Bitter Lakes on their left hand.
Pi-hahiroth . . . Migdol . . . Baal-zephon.These places cannot be identified. They were Egyptian towns or villages of no importance, near the head of the Gulf of Suez, situated on its western shores. The names nearest to Pi-hahiroth in Egyptian geography are Pehir and Pehuret. Migdol would, in Egyptian, be Maktal; and there was an Egyptian town of that name near Pelusium, which, however, cannot be intended in this place. Baal-zephon was probably a Semitic settlement, which had received its name from some worshippers of the god Baal. Eastern Egypt contained many such settlements. The accumulation of names indicates an accurate acquaintance with Egyptian topography, such as no Israelite but one who had accompanied the expedition is likely to have possessed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 14:2. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn Dr. Shaw is of opinion, that this expression to turn, &c. may serve to determine the geography of Etham, the second station of the Israelites; which, if it appertain to the wilderness of the same name, the edge of it may be well taken for the most advanced part of it towards Egypt; and, consequently, to lie contiguous with some portion or other of the mountains of the lower Thebais, or of Mocattee, near Kairo. Removing from the edge of this wilderness, the Israelites are immediately ordered to turn (to the southeast) from the course, as we may imagine, of their former marches, which was hitherto in an easterly direction, and to encamp before Pi-hahiroth. As Pi-hahiroth, therefore, must lie to the right hand of the wilderness of Etham, within or on the side of these mountains; so the second station, or the particular portion of this wilderness of Etham, may be fixed about fifty miles from Kairo, at or near the breach mentioned in the note on Exo 14:18 of the last chapter.
Pi-hahiroth Or, the chops of Hhiroth. A geographical description of the route of the Israelites at this interesting time must be so pleasing to the learned reader, that I shall be excused if I give Dr. Shaw’s account at large: “That the Israelites,” says the doctor, “before they turned towards Pi-hahiroth, had travelled in an open country, appears to be further illustrated from hence; that upon their being ordered to remove from the edge of the wilderness, and to encamp before Pi-hahiroth; it immediately follows, Exo 14:3 they are entangled in the land: the wilderness (betwixt the mountains, we may suppose, of Gewoubee and Attackah, for the Hebrews call all uncultivated land, which is fit only for pasture, midbar, wilderness) hath shut them in: or, is it is in the original, saggar, hath shut up the way against them; for, in these circumstances, the Egyptians might well imagine, that the Israelites could have no way to escape, inasmuch as the mountains of Gewoubee would stop their flight or progress to the southward, as those of Attackah would do the same towards the land of the Philistines: the Red-sea likewise lay before them to the east, while Pharaoh closed up the valley behind them with his chariots and horsemen.
This valley ends at the sea in a small bay, made by the eastern extremities of the mountains which I have been describing, and is called Tiah Beni Israel, i.e. the road of the Israelites, from a tradition, which is still kept up by the Arabs, of their having passed through it; and is also called Baideah, from the new and unheard-of miracle (which the word signifies in the Arabic) which was wrought near it by dividing the Red-sea, and destroying therein Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen. The third encampment, then, of the Israelites was at this bay. It was before Pi-hahiroth, betwixt Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon; and according to Num 33:7 it was before Migdol, where the word lipni, before, being applied to Pi-hahiroth and Migdol, may signify no more than that they pitched within sight of, or at a small distance from, the one and the other of those places. Baal-zephon may be interpreted the god, or idol of the north; for baal signifies god or lord, and zephon is rendered north in many places of Scripture; and he is so called, perhaps, in contradistinction to other idols of the Lower Thebais, whose places of worship were to the south or east. If zephon be related to tzape, to spy out or observe, then Baal-zephon will, probably, signify the god of the watch-tower, or the guardian god; such as was the Hermes of the Romans, &c. Now, whether Baal-zephon may have relation to the northern situation of the place, or to some watch-tower, or idol-temple erected upon it; we may properly take it for the eastern extremity of the mountains of Suez or Attackah, the most conspicuous of these deserts, as it overlooks a great part of the Lower Thebais, as well as the wilderness which reaches towards, or which rather makes part of the land of the Philistines. Migdol then might lie to the south, as Baal-zephon did to the north of Pi-hahiroth; for the marches of the Israelites from the edge of the wilderness being to the sea-ward, i.e. towards the south-east, their encampments between Migdol and the sea, or before Migdol, could not well have another situation.” Migdol signifies a tower. The LXX render it Magdolos; and it is supposed to be the same with the place so called by Herodotus. Pi-hahiroth, or chiroth rather, without regarding the prefixed part of it, may have a more general signification, and denote the valley, or that whole space of ground which extends from the edge of the wilderness of Etham to the Red-sea. For that particular part only, where the Israelites were ordered to encamp, appears to have been called Pi-hahiroth, i.e. the mouth of Hhiroth; for when Pharaoh almost overtook them, it was (with respect to his coming down upon them, Exo 14:9.) al pi hachirot, i.e. besides, or at the mouth, or the most advanced part of chiroth, to the eastward. likewise, in Num 33:7 where the Israelites are related to have encamped before Migdol, it follows, Exo 14:8 that they departed miphni hachirot, from before chiroth, and not from before Pi-hahiroth, as it is rendered in our translation. And in this sense it is taken by the LXX, by Eusebius, and St. Jerome. It has been already observed, that this valley is closely confined betwixt two rugged chains of mountains. By deducing chiroth, therefore, from chor or chour, i.e. a hole or gullet, (as the Samaritan and Syriac copies understand it,) it may, by a latitude very common in these cases, be rendered a narrow defile, road, or passage; such as the valley of Baideah has been described. Pi-hahiroth, therefore, upon this supposition, will be the same as the mouth, or the most advanced part of this valley, to the eastward toward the Red-sea. But as the Israelites were properly delivered at this place from their captivity and fear of the Egyptians, Exo 14:13 we may rather suppose, that chiroth denotes the place where they were restored to their liberty; as chorar and chiruth are words of the like import in the Chaldee. In Rashi’s Commentary, we have a further confirmation of this interpretation. Pi-hahiroth, says he, is so called because the children of Israel were made Beni chorim, free-men at that place, in the Targum likewise, ben chorin is used to explain chapsi, ch. Exo 21:2; Exo 21:5 a word which denotes liberty and freedom in these and other parts of Scripture. And it may be further urged in favour, as well of this explication as of the tradition still preserved, of the Israelites having passed through this valley, that the eastern extremity of the mountain, which I suppose to be Baal-tzephon, is called, even to this day, by the inhabitants of these deserts, Jibbel Attackah, or the Mountain of Deliverance; which appellation, together with those of Baideah and Tiah Beni Israel, could never have been given, or imposed upon these inhabitants at first, or preserved by them afterwards, without some faithful tradition that such place had once been the actual scene of these remarkable transactions. The sea, likewise, of Kolzun, i.e. Destruction, as the correspondent part of the Red-sea is called in the Arabian Geography, is a further confirmation of this tradition. Moreover, the Icthyophagi, who lived in this very neighbourhood, are reported by Diodorus Siculus, (lib. 3: p. 122.) to have preserved the like traditionary account from their forefathers of this miraculous division of the Red-sea.
There are likewise other circumstances to prove, that the Israelites took their departure from this valley in their passage through the Red-sea. For it could not have been to the northward of the mountains of Attackah, or in the higher road which has been before taken notice of; because, as this lies for the most part upon a level, the Israelites could not have been here, as we find they were, shut up and entangled. Neither could it have been on the other side, viz. to the south of the mountains of Gewoubee; for then (besides the insuperable difficulties which the Israelites would have met with in climbing over them; the same likewise which the Egyptians would have had in pursuing them,) the opposite shore could not have been the desert of Shur, where the Israelites landed, ch. Exo 15:22 but it would have been the desert of Marah, which lay a great way beyond it. What is now called Corondel, might, probably, be the southern portion of the desert of Marah, the shore of the Red-sea from Suez hitherto having continued to be low and sandy; but from Corondel to the port of Tor, the shore is, for the most part, rocky and mountainous, in the same manner with the Egyptian coast which lies opposite to it; neither the one nor the other of them affording any convenient place either for the departure of a multitude from the one shore, or the reception of it upon the other. And besides, from Corondel to Tor, the channel of the Red-sea, which from Suez to Shur is not above nine or ten miles broad, begins here to be so many leagues; too great a space certainly for the Israelites, in the manner they were encumbered, to pass over in one night. As the Israelites then, for these reasons, could not have landed, according to the opinion of some authors, either at Corondel or Tor, so neither could they have landed at Ain el Mousah, according to the conjectures of others; for, if the passage of the Israelites had been so near the extremity of the Red-sea, it may be presumed, that the very encampments of six hundred thousand men, besides children, and a mixed multitude, would have spread themselves even to the farther, or the Arabian side of this narrow isthmus, whereby the interposition of Providence would not have been at all necessary; because in this case, and in this situation, there could not have been room enough for the waters, after they were divided, to have stood on an heap, or to have been a wall unto them, particularly on the left hand. This, moreover, would not have been a division, but a recess only of the waters to the southward. Pharaoh likewise, by overtaking them, as they were encamped in this open situation by the sea, would have easily surrounded them on all sides; whereas the contrary seems to be implied by the pillar of the cloud, (Exo 14:19-20.) which divided or came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and thereby left the Israelites (provided this cloud should have been removed) in a situation only of being molested in the rear: for the narrow valley which has been described, and which, we may presume, was already occupied and filled up behind by the host of Egypt, and before by the encampments of the Israelites, would not permit or leave room for the Egyptians to approach them, either on the right hand or on the left. Besides, if this passage was at Ain Mousah, how can we account for that remarkable circumstance, ch. Exo 15:22 where it is said, that when Moses brought Israel from the Red-sea, they went out into, or landed in, the wilderness of Shur? For Shur, a particular district of the wilderness of Etham, lies directly fronting the valley from which, I suppose, they departed, but a great many miles to the southward of Ain Mousah. If likewise they landed at Ain Mousah, where there are several fountains, there would have been no occasion for the sacred historian to have observed, at the same time, that the Israelites, after they went out from the sea into the wilderness of Shur, went three days in the wilderness (always directing their marches towards Mount Sinai) and found no water. For which reason Marah is recorded, in the following verse, to be the first place where they found water; as their wandering thus far before they found it seems to make Marah also the first station after their passage through the Red-sea. Beside, the channel over against Ain Mousah is not above three miles over, whereas that betwixt Shur or Sedur, and Jibbel Gewoubee and Attackah, is nine or ten, and therefore capacious enough; as the other would have been too small for drowning or covering therein (ch. Exo 14:28.) the chariots and horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh. And therefore, by impartially weighing all these arguments together, this important point in the sacred geography may, with more authority, be fixed at Sedur, over against the valley of Baideah, than at Tor, Corondel, Ain Mousah, or any other place. Over-against Jibael Attackah, and the valley of Baideah, is the desert, as it is called, of Sdur, the same with Shur, ch. Exo 15:22 where the Israelites landed, after they had passed through the interjacent gulph of the Red-sea. The situation of this gulph, which is the Jam Suph, , the weedy sea, or the tongue of the Egyptian sea, in the Scripture language; the gulph of Heroopolis in the Greek and Latin Geography; and the western arm, as the Arabian geographers call it, of the sea of Kolzun; stretches itself nearly north and south, and therefore lies very properly situated to be traversed by that strong east wind which was sent to divide it, ch. Exo 14:21. The division which was thus made in the channel, the making the waters of it to stand as on an heap, (Psa 78:13.) they being a wall to the Israelites on their right hand, and on their left, ch. Exo 14:22 besides the twenty miles distance, at least, of this passage from the extremity of the gulph, are circumstances which sufficiently vouch for the miraculousness of it; and no less contradict all such idle suppositions as pretend to account for it from the nature and quality of tides, or from any extraordinary recess of the sea. See Dr. Shaw’s Travels, p. 310, &c.
REFLECTIONS. They were now got well out of Pharaoh’s reach; but God hath farther designs for his own glory in the overthrow of that haughty monarch. He therefore commands Moses to wheel to the right, to that part hemmed in by the sea and the wilderness, knowing the heart of Pharaoh, and that the difficulties of their situation would induce him to follow them, where he should meet with merited destruction. God has wise designs, even in the straits to which he reduces his people, that, in their deliverance, he may make his power, grace, and love more evidently appear.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 14:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
Ver. 2. That they turn, ] i.e., Return. In passing the Red Sea, the Israelites made a semicircle. Compare Exo 13:20 Num 33:8 . God must be followed, though he lead us through a maze or labyrinth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = sons.
Migdol. The great fortress on the “Shur” or wall, built to protect Egypt from Asia. The present geography of the Eastern Delta does not, to day, agree with the Biblical record. But its geography in the nineteenth dynasty is well known from papyri, and is in perfect accord with it, as given in Exodus.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
that they: Exo 14:9, Exo 13:17, Exo 13:18, Num 33:7, Num 33:8
Pi-hahiroth: Pihachiroth, “the mouth of Chiroth,” as it is rendered by the LXX. Dr. Shaw is of opinion, that Chiroth denotes the valley which extends from the wilderness of Etham to the Red Sea. “This valley,” he observes, “ends at the sea in a small bay made by the eastern extremities of the mountains (of Gewoubee and Attackah, between which the valley lies) which I have been describing, and is called Tiah-Beni-Israel, i.e., the road of the Israelites, by a tradition that is still kept up by the Arabs, of their having passed through it; so it is also called Baideah, from the new and unheard of miracle that was wrought near it, by dividing the Red sea, and destroying therein Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Migdol: The word Migdol signifies a tower, and hence some have supposed that it was a fortress which served to defend the bay. But the LXX render it , Magdolus, which is mentioned by Herodotus, Hecateus, and others, and is expressly said by Stephanus (de Urb.) to be , “a city of Egypt.” This Bochart conjectures to have been the same as Migdol – see the parallel passages. Jer 44:1, Jer 46:14, Eze 29:10, Heb
Baalzephon: This may have been the name of a town or city in which Baal was worshipped; and probably called zephon, from being situated on the north point of the Red sea, near the present Suez.
Reciprocal: 1Co 1:25 – the foolishness
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
14:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they {a} turn and encamp before {b} Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
(a) From toward the country of the Philistines.
(b) So the Sea was before them, mountains on either side, and the enemies at their back: yet they obeyed God, and were delivered.