In Egypt, the children of Israel lived in Goshen, along the eastern edge of the Nile Delta about 100 km (60 miles) or so northeast of Cairo.  East of Goshen stretches the barren desert of northern Sinai, one of the most inhospitable deserts on earth.  This is a sandy desert, like those in the movies, with huge sand dunes moving at the whimsy of the wind, sometimes burying standing palm trees, and then weeks or months or years later moving on again.*  The skies are often clear, especially in the summer, and the temperatures soar.  Summer average monthly highs in Sinai reach 41° C (106° F), so hot an air-conditioned tour bus can only with difficulty make it bearable.  At night, especially in the winter, the temperature can plummet below freezing.

* These dunes can reach a height of 27 m (90 feet).  This is completely unlike the deserts of Israel or of southern Sinai, which are rock deserts, with little or no sand at all. 

When the wind is from the east, it can come howling across Sinai into Egypt, bringing all kinds of dust and sand with it.  This is the east wind mentioned in the plague of locusts, the 8^th plague that spread dark clouds of hungry insects across the green fields of Egypt (Ex. 10:13).  This same east wind may also have brought the 9^th plague, the plague of darkness that the Bible says could be "felt" (Ex. 10:21).  One of the soils found in the deserts of the Middle East is called "loess," a very fine, dust-like soil, like tan talcum powder.  The wind can carry it thousands of meters into the sky where it can remain for days.  If there's enough of it, it can turn the sky dark.  This may be what happened while Jesus was on the cross, when the sky grew dark for three hours (Matt. 27:45). 

The next plague, the 10^th and final plague, was the plague of the first-born. This was the plague for which the children of Israel had to prepare a lamb and put its blood on their lintels and doorposts--the original Passover, pointing to a yet greater deliverance at the cross.*  That same night, a mourning Pharaoh sent them out to begin their journey to the Promised Land (Ex. 12:30,31,42). 

* In Christian tradition, the pattern of the blood on the lintel and doorposts was understood to make the sign of the cross. 

To get to Canaan (Israel), they had to cross the forbidding deserts of Sinai.  This was no easy task, even for the Bedouin who lived in the desert.  Moses had a huge group of a couple of million people with him--most of whom had never been in the desert before.  How would they survive?  How would they find food and water for so many--as well as for the flocks and herds they brought with them?*   

*  The tremendous logistical difficulties in crossing Sinai are neglected by the recently re-popularized theory of a Red Sea crossing into Arabia through the branch of the Red Sea east of Sinai known as the Gulf of Aqaba or Gulf of Eilat (The Gold of Exodus by Howard Blum; also the books and tapes of Ron Wyatt, Larry Williams, and Bob Cornuke).  The relatively short desert journey to the turqoise mines at Serabit el-Khadim--only 150 km (100 miles) east of Cairo--was undertaken by the Egyptians with trepidation and extensive provisioning.  How much more to enter the desert interior!  Tremendous miracles of provision would have been necessary--both for the army of Pharaoh and the children of Israel.  But such miracles are mentioned only after the sea crossing.  This theory also abandons the clear chronology of Exodus itself, that places the sea crossing after three days of travel (Ex. 12-14, confirmed by Num. 33:5-8).  A minimum of seven days was required to cross northern Sinai along a coastal route well-provisioned with water and supplies.  Even more time would have been necessary for the difficult crossing through central Sinai, with no waiting provisions of food and water, and assuming no hostilities were encountered from local tribes (as Moses and the Israelites faced at the hands of the Amalekites; Ex. 17:8-16). 

In the spiritual realm, the start of their perilous journey is parallel to the moment we accept Jesus as our Messiah and are set free from the bondage of Satan.  At first, all we can see are the joy and the excitement of our new-found freedom.  But before long, we notice that God is taking us a way we've never been before, a foreboding, dangerous-looking way.  How will we eat, how will we survive? 

The shortest route to Canaan was the road along the north shore of Sinai, near the Mediterranean Sea.  But this was well guarded with Egyptian forts and troops, which would surely lead to war (Ex. 13:17).  Nor could they go straight east--that was the dangerous desert of northern Sinai.  The only other alternative was southeast to Southern Sinai, where there was more water.  This was a much longer route.  But it was the only realistic way to go (13:18).*

* The proposal by some of a northerly route for the Exodus must be rejected in light of God's explicit instructions to Moses to avoid the northern route (the "way of the land of the Philistines"; Ex. 13:17), not to mention the difficulty of travel through the northern sandy desert if they set out cross-country.  Central Sinai, a rock desert, was more passable, as can be seen by the Darb el-Hajj route used by Egyptian pilgrims to Mecca.  But these pilgrims were unencumbered by flocks and herds, for whom there is no pasturage in this desert wasteland.  Only to the south would the children of Israel find adequate, though sparse, pasturage for the extensive flocks they brought with them.  Historical support for this route can be found in Papyrus Anastasi V, a record of other Egyptian slaves who escaped in this same southerly direction. 

The first day's journey took them about 20 miles southeast to Succoth, near the modern city of Ismailia (12:37).  This wasn't so bad.  It took them through a desert to be sure, but they started and ended the day in well-watered areas:  Succoth is in the Wadi Tumilat--the last section of inhabited land before the deep desert, the desert of Shur, like a wall protecting Egypt on the east. 

The next night they camped in Etham, right at the edge of the desert (13:20).  If they continued east, there would be no water for days.  Here, at Etham, is the first mention of the pillar of cloud and fire, a sign of God's presence with them--sorely needed in the face of the barren desert ahead (13:21,22).

But instead of continuing straight into the desert, God instructed Moses to circle back to Pi-hahiroth, at the western edge of the Bitter Lakes ("the sea," 14:1-3).*  If you look at this area on a satellite map, God's strategy makes perfect sense:  it follows the only tiny strip of watered land going south.  But to Pharaoh, this doubling back looked like they had become lost and were wandering aimlessly, or were frightened of the desert.**
 
* The Bitter Lakes is the name of a two-lobed lake that today is part of the Suez Canal.  Other suggestions for the Red Sea (actually "reed" sea in Hebrew) are nearby Lake Timsah, which seems too small, and the northern tip of the Gulf of Suez (the traditional site), which has recently received support as the crossing site because of some experiments with a scale model of the seabed and a hair dryer.  But the tiny channel opened up in the experiment was anything but "dry land" and probably too narrow to fit the story (see below)--not to mention that the Gulf lacks the necessary reeds.  ("Sea" in Hebrew can be used for any sizeable body of water.)

** Camping on the western side of the Bitter Lakes certainly made them appear trapped:  to the east was the lake, to the south was a desert mountain, Baal-zephon, to the west another desert.  This made it look easy for Pharaoh to capture them (14:6-9).  But in fact, God was preparing a trap of his own.   

You can just imagine how the Israelites felt:  in the distance they could see the ascending dust of their old slave master and his army (14:10).  After only three days of freedom, their past was about to catch up with them to destroy them.  They began to think, and to say, that it would have been better never to be set free, to stay a slave in Egypt, rather than face a fight with the enemy's army (14:11,12).

But to battle the enemy always seems too difficult, because we can't win against Satan in our own strength.  If we only look at our own ability and Satan's ability, we might as well give up.  But there is someone else involved in the fight, whose ability is infinitely greater than our ability.  As Moses put it, "Don't fear!  Stand strong and see the salvation of the LORD" (14:13).  Or as Paul says in Eph. 6:14:  "Stand, therefore."  Resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7).  Or as Moses goes on to say:  "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent"  (Ex. 14:14). 

When God struck Egypt with the plagues, all they had to do was put the blood of the lamb on the doors of their homes.  As with Christians, when we mark our lives with the blood of the Lamb, God sets us free.  But that's not the end of the war.  It's only the first battle, when we make Satan our enemy.  Later, he comes to attack us in full force, when we're still a little weak, a little uncertain, when we're facing the unknown.  That's when we need to stand strong and see the salvation of the Lord. 

The people weren't the only ones worried.  Moses must have been crying out to God, too, since God says to him, "Why are you [singular] crying out to me?" (Ex. 14:15)  Moses had faith that God would deliver them.  But he had not yet stepped out, trusting in that deliverance.  "Tell the sons of Israel to go forward" (14:15).  They had to step out in obedience to God, and then God would do his part. 

Just then the pillar of cloud and "the angel of God" moved behind them, coming between them and the Egyptians (14:19,20).  This is the first we hear that the Angel of the Lord is with them.  This is the same angel that God later says has the power to judge them ("obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression") because God's "name," that is to say his authority, "is in him" (Ex. 23:20,21).

The Biblical interpretation of this angel and the pillar of cloud and fire appears in Revelation 10.  Here John sees a mighty angel clothed with a cloud, whose feet are like pillars of fire (Rev. 10:1).  The imagery in Revelation clearly identifies this angel as divine:  a rainbow appears over his head, as in Eze. 1:28 where he speaks and acts as God (Ez. 1:28, 2:4; compare Rev. 4:3 where the rainbow appears over the throne of the Father). He is also identified as Jesus:  his face shines like the sun as at the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:2), he is clothed with a cloud as Jesus said he would be at his return ("coming in a cloud," Luke 21:27), and he roars like the Messianic Lion of Judah (Gen. 49:9).  The angel of God that came to their rescue in the desert is Jesus: the Son of God, the arm of the Lord, the angel of the Lord--whose very name means "Salvation."*  Together with the cloud, which is the presence of the Holy Spirit, they are the "mighty hand and outstretched arm" by which God sets his people free (Deut. 4:34, 5:15)! 

* Yeshua in Hebrew.  This is one of the many pre-incarnate appearances of the Son of God in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament). 

When Moses stretched out his own hand over the sea, the wind began to blow--an east wind, coming from the desert (Ex. 14:21).  It blew all night long and actually blew the water right out of the lake bed. This is what the words of verse 21 actually say:  "And the LORD caused the sea to go back by a mighty east wind all night and he made the sea dry land."  There is no mention of a narrow pathway through the sea as it is often pictured in religious art and movies.  This agrees with the simple logistics of the crossing: for a couple of million people to file through single file or even in several lines would have taken days if not weeks.  Only if the gap was at least 5 km (3 miles) wide could they have crossed in a single night.*

* This according to a report attributed to the Quartermaster General of the Army.  Vs. 22 says "the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left."  It gives no indication of how far apart these walls of water were.  The verse can also, and probably should, be translated "the waters were a wall to the south and to the north of them."  The meaning would then be that the blown back waters protected them (like a wall) by preventing Pharaoh's army from going around to the north or south of the lake bed.

Although this was a fantastic miracle, it's not the only time this has ever happened.  A similar event is mentioned in a story dating all the way back to the Egyptian Old Kingdom period, in which the water of a lake piled up on one side, laying the lake bed bare, before it came back again.*  There are also modern reports of the wind blowing back the water of these desert lakes.**

*"The Marvel Which Happened in the Reign of King Snefru," Bob Brier, Ancient Egyptian Magic, 1981. Snefru reigned in the 4th dynasty. From a papyrus written in the Hyksos Period. Quoted on www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/thera/reedsea.html.

**Ali Shafei, Bulletin de la Societe royale de Geographie d'Egypte, XXI, p. 278 in K. Kitchen, "Red Sea" article in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1976.

Some have rejected the Bitter Lakes as the site of the crossing, claiming the water was too shallow.  But water levels in recent years are not necessarily an accurate indication of levels in the past, since the water found in lakes in arid regions can vary dramatically from year to year and from season to season.  But it wasn't just the depth of the water that killed them--surely some of them knew how to swim!  It was the force of the sediment-laden flood waters as they rushed back into the lake bed, creating deadly undertows and whirlpools as they washed together, just as in much more recent floods around the world that have destroyed homes and lives.   

The "morning watch" in which God released the waters against the pursuing Egyptians was the last watch before dawn, between 3 am and 6 am (14:24,25).  By sunrise all the army of Pharaoh was destroyed (14:27,28).  Wow!  What an experience of deliverance for the children of Israel!

Paul describes this experience, which as we have seen brought total victory over the enemy, as a picture of Christian baptism (1 Cor. 10:1-2).  In the early years of Christianity this is exactly how they understood baptism:  as an empowerment to live a sinless life, with total victory over Satan! 

For the Israelites, it was also a resurrection experience, going from what seemed like certain death at the hands of Pharaoh to new life.  So, too, Paul says, we are baptized into Jesus' death in order to rise up in newness of life (Rom 6:3-7).  We have died to the slavery of Egypt, and risen to follow the Angel of God out into the desert.  This is a new way of life, in which our own strength is not enough.  But with Jesus leading the way, we will have more than enough.  If we keep our eyes on ourselves, we'll be defeated.  But if we keep our eyes on Jesus, and keep moving forward by faith, we'll make it all the way to the Promised Land.

Stand strong!  And see the salvation of God!

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