26 EDOUARD NAVILLE ON 



Israelites received a command which at first must have seemed 

 to them most extraordinary.* " And the Lord spake mito 

 Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they 

 turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol 

 and the sea, before Baal-zephon : over against it shall ye 

 encamp by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of 

 Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath 

 shut them in." Certainly this command was of a nature to 

 shake the confidence of the Israelites in their leader. They 

 had reached the desert, they had nothing in front of them, 

 and instead ot hastening towards the wilderness so as to be 

 as soon as possible out of the reach of their oppressors, they 

 were told to change entirely their route, to retrace their 

 steps so as to remain on Egyptian soil, and even to put the 

 sea between themselves and the desert. Surely it would 

 encourage Pharaoh in his pursuit. For the king, the reason 

 of this sudden change and of this extraordinary move was 

 obvious. The Israelites were afraid of crossing the desert. 

 They were entangled and wandering in the land of Egypt, 

 because the desert was for them an insuperable barrier. This 

 is in my opinion the right explanation of the words, " the 

 wilderness hath shut them in ;" viz., the desert which is in front 

 of them prevents them from going out. Curiously the word 

 translated here shut in is the Hebrew "OD ; the same word 

 met with before, in Egyptian, in the description of the district 

 of Succoth. The desert is for the Israelites a segair, 



IG^\ 3 E, a wall closing the passage, as we saw there 



was one in Succoth. 



It is to be noticed that whereas in other parts of Scripture, 

 and especially iu the description of the route in the wilder- 

 ness, the geographical data are sometimes vague and always 

 very concise, here they are given with a remarkable precision. 

 It is not said to the Israelites merely that they are to stop 

 near the sea in the most favourable camping ground, or 

 something of the like. They are to reach a definite spot, 

 the landmarks of which are given ; on the north. Pi-hahiroth, 

 the sanctuary of Osiris ; on the south, Migdol, the watch 

 tower on the hill, now called the Serapeum ; in front, the sea ; 

 and on the opposite side, the shrine or the stone of Baal 

 Zephon. The reason of this description seems to be the fol- 

 lowing : at that particular spot a phenomenon occurred which 

 was to be the means of escape for the Israelites — the sea 



* Exodus xiv., 1. 



