Exodus 14:2

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

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. Speak ... that they turn and encamp.

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, , 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.

Exodus 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 Exodus 13:20 Numbers 33:8. God must be followed, though he lead us through a maze or labyrinth.

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 (Exodus 13:20), near the head of the Bitter Lakes. If this direction had been maintained, their next day’s march would have taken them out of Egypt into the “wilderness of Etham”—a 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, Rosenmüller, 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” (Exodus 23:31). “The sea” of this verse can scarcely be different from “the Red Sea” of Exodus 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.

Verse 2. Encamp before Pi-hahiroth] פי ההירת pi hachiroth, the mouth, strait, or bay of Chiroth. Between Migdol, מגדל migdol, the tower, probably a fortress that served to defend the bay. Over against Baal-zephon, בעל צפן 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.

2. turn back] viz. from the route past Etham, straight on to Palestine. The ‘turn’ is the same as that mentioned by E in Exodus 13:18. The motive assigned for it is however a different one: in Exodus 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-haḥ ?iroth, &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-haḥ ?iroth, with Piḳ ?ereḥ ?et, which he argues was on the SW. edge of Lake Timsβḥ ?, depends upon most precarious grounds (see p. 122). And no independent data whatever exist for determining the sites of Migdol and Baal-ẓ ?μphφn: 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-haḥ ?iroth, Migdol, and Baal-ẓ ?ĕ ?phτn (Exodus 14:2) (1) Pi-haḥ ?iroth. M. Naville identifies Pi-haḥ ?iroth with the Egypt. Piḳ ?ereḥ ?et or Piḳ ?eḥ ?eret. In lists of the ‘nomes’ of Egypt (Naville, Pithom, ed. 4, p. 24b, cf. pp. 6b, 8a), sometimes the temple of Pithom, sometimes that of Piḳ ?ereḥ ?et or Piḳ ?eḥ ?eret, is mentioned as the principal sanctuary of the 8th nome of lower Egypt, in the ‘region of Thukke’ (Succoth: Exodus 12:37); and in the Inscription of Ptolemy II, found by M. Naville at Pithom (ibid. p. 18b), this temple of Piḳ ?eḥ ?eret is mentioned as an abode of Osiris; and it is stated (l. 7; ibid. p. 19b) that Ptolemy, in his 6th year, went to Nefer ab (i.e., probably, the capital of the nome, Heroopolis), visited the temple of Piḳ ?ereḥ ?et, and dedicated it to ‘his father Etτm (see on Exodus 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 Piḳ ?ereḥ ?et with this, and places it at the foot of Jebel Mariam, on the SW. edge of L. Timsβḥ ?, 12 miles E. of Pithom (p. 25; cf. p. 22a, and see the Map at the end of his volume). Not only, however, does Piḳ ?ereḥ ?et not agree phonetically with Pi-haḥ ?iroth 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 Piḳ ?ereḥ ?et was the shrine of a serpentine god (Ḳ ?erḥ ?(et) = ‘serpent’) in Pithom itself, and not 12 miles E. of it (cf. W. M. Mόller in DB. ii. 1439, n.

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.

THE RED SEA , Exodus 14. 2, 3. That they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth — The Hebrews were now at Etham, near the head of the Gulf, whence the direct route to Palestine would be northeast, by way