through the Red Sea. pp 



mentioned, 2it Em elMoufeh ; at the Diftance only of four or The ifra- 

 five Miles from that fame Point of the Red Sea '. But this doesthroWll^he 



r" 111 » I -Kf^ Sea at 



not feem probable on many Accounts. s^dur. 



I. Becaufe it cannot well be fuppofed, that the Ifraelites, 

 in leaving the Land of Go/Jjen, came down dircdtly upon this 

 Part of the Red Sea : inafmuch as this would be to go hy the 

 way of the Land of the Thiliftmes, [Ex. 15. 17.) which they 

 were not permitted to do. Their 'Departure (v. 18.) was to he 

 hy the way of the Wildernefs of the Red Sea : and therefore it 

 may be prefumed, that their Marches had always a Tendency 

 and Direction, by this Way, towards Mount Sinai, which feems 

 to have been their Kihlah or Point of View, at this Time. 

 For the Lord faid mVioMofes, Ex.%. \i. when thou haft hr ought 

 the Teople out of Egypt, ye Jljallfer've God upon this Mountain. 



1. The Wildernefs of Etham, all along this Road, is for the 

 moft Part upon a Level : it cannot at leaft, with any Propriety, 

 be called Mountainous ; and therefore could never give Occa- 

 fion to the Egyptians to fay, Ex. 14. g. The/ are int angled in 

 the Land, the Wildernefs has flmt them in, ("iJD) Sogar, viam 

 illis claufit, as that Word is explained by Tagninus. For the 

 Ifraelites, in travelling along this Part of the Wildernefs of 

 Etham, had Room enough to efcape to the Northward, to- 

 wards the Land of Canaan ; or elfe they were near enough 

 and had it in their Power to get round this narrow Gulf of the 

 Red Sea, to their Brethren who dwelt in Seir. Whereas by 

 travelling in a long narrow Valley, betwixt two Ranges of im- 

 paflable Mountains ; as I fuppofe they did, (Trav. p. 34-5-.) 

 either a little while after, or immediately upon their leaving 

 the Land oiGofjen \ (for this Valley reaches, with a Variety of 

 Mountains, from the Nile to the Red Sea ♦,) thisCircumftance 

 of Scripture, which is here of great Purport and Significancy, 

 will very well accord with fuch a Defile or confined Situation, 

 and with no other. Becaufe the Mountainous Wildernefs had 

 here properly fJjut them in to the North and to the South ; 

 Tharaoh clofed up the weftern Part of the fame Valley, with 

 his Chariots and his Horjemen ; and no other Way confequent- 

 ly could be left open for their Efcape, except that miraculous 



I Concerning this PafTage, through the Rfrf 5c4, Y id. DesVrgnoles Chroiwlogie. Tom. i, 

 1.3. p. <5oj. Vid. Noiinum de Buccho. i. e. Oftride. i. e. Moefa, of his paffing the Sea &c. 



B b X one. 



