IN SEARCH OF PHARAOH'S LOST ARMY
(THE RED SEA CROSSING)
Jonathan GrayTHE desert pushed right down to the water's edge. And as Sayid, our Egyptian friend, packed the sleeping gear on to the
IN SEARCH OF PHARAOH'S LOST ARMY
(THE RED SEA CROSSING)
Jonathan GrayTHE desert pushed right down to the water's edge. And as Sayid, our Egyptian friend, packed the sleeping gear on to the roof rack, Paul watched the sun climb over the sea. If we were not mistaken, there was something quite startling down there on the floor of the Red Sea.
But this whole saga began much, much earlier.. in that ancient land of Egypt.
SPLENDOUR OF EGYPT
Egypt... The very name evokes feelings of romance and mystery. Some 3,500 years ago, in the most glorious era of her history, Egypt was the granary of the world. She was eminent in science, the arts, luxury and magnificence. Egypt was, in a sense, the U.S.A. of that era - the super power of the world.
Egypt - a nation sophisticated though she was - had cast one ethnic group within her borders into slavery.
And the Pharaoh pushed tyranny to the extreme when he decreed that every new-born Hebrew male should be killed.
But by an amazing twist of events one of these infants - Moses - was adopted into the Egyptian Royal Family. He grew up in the palace, educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, being groomed for a position of leadership.
He became a great Statesman and General. Yet his mother had taught him that the thousands of slaves working in the brick-pits were his people, and that his destiny was linked with theirs.
The tirne came for Moses to make his decision. He could choose to become King of what was the world's greatest empire, or to be numbered among the sweating and grumbling slaves. His sympathies aroused for the Hebrews, he rashly killed an Egyptian and was forced to flee to Midian.
Midian is identified as Northern Saudi Arabia and also East of Palestine (Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia, Vol. 13, p.413). This indicates that Moses travelled across the modern-day Sinai peninsula, around the Gulf of Aqaba, south into Arabia.
When Moses came to Midian in Saudi Arabia, we find him talking to God at Mount Horeb (Ex. 3:1). God told him, "when you bring the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain" (Ex. 3:12).
Moses gathered the Israelites at Succoth (Ex. 12:37), an ancient military staging point near the Suez Canal. This place was known to Moses, he being a former Egyptian Military Commander.
There were two ancient trails across the Sinai peninsula for him to take: "the Way of the Philistines" and "the Way of the Wilderness" (Ex. 13:17,18). The quickest way across was the Way of the Philistines because it went north-eastward along the coast of the Mediterranean (a much straighter distance). The other way went southward, tending eastward across the peninsula, then southward again.
From Succoth God sent them by this second route, the Way of the Wilderness (Ex. 13:17,18). At this time they were entering the Sinai peninsula and the Red Sea crossing hasn't happened yet.
Egypt about the time of the Exodus controlled the whole Sinai peninsula and all of the coastal area up into modern-day Lebanon (Historical Atlas of the Holy Land). As long as Moses, and then later during the Exodus, all of the Israelites, remained in this territory, they were susceptible to the risk of being captured, cornered, and conquered. The Israelites were not a safe distance from the territorial limits of Egypt until they crossed the entire peninsula. It would have been no use to them for God to perform the Red Sea crossing from one part of Egyptian territory into another. This would have been the case if it was the Gulf of Suez or the Suez Canal area that they crossed.
From Succoth the Israelites travelled day and night into the Sinai. After they had travelled a certain distance, "the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they TURN... " (Ex. 14:1,2).
Leaving the highway, the Hebrews turned aside through the Wadi Watir, a wide and wild mountain gorge, a natural roadway from Egypt.
THEY WERE "ENTANGLED IN THE LAND"
The trail led them through an area with mountains all around, which seemed to hem them in. Pharaoh concluded that they had lost their way. "They are entangled in the land, " he said (Ex. 14:3).
Pharaoh undoubtedly had military observation posts set up throughout the region and was monitoring their progress to within a few hours of accuracy. At any given time he had information to within a few miles as to the Israelites'