Exodus 14:1-4
Now YHWH spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon: you shall camp before it by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ 4 Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am YHWH.” And they did so.

YHWH gave Moses the navigational landmarks for Israel when they reached the Wilderness of Etham to change direction back into Egyptian territory. His reason for doing so was primarily to give Pharaoh the impression that Israel had lost their bearings because their God had left them¹, leaving them easy prey for Egypt to repossess them. Israel’s falling back was to further YHWH’s humiliation of Egypt’s and the nation’s gods by His saving a weaponless, entombed Israel from their enemy by His mighty power. Pharaoh considered himself the son of Egypt’s mighty sun god, Re, embodying a cunning, deceptive snake-like nature. In contrast, Israel carried Joseph’s bones, a symbol of faith in YHWH’s covenant promises. Pharoah’s defeat showed the nations that Israel’s God, the Creator over all the earth, alone must be worshiped, for the worship of YHWH gives life; worship of other gods is death.

Strategically, the landmarks of the turn² told Israel something about YHWH’s supremacy over the gods apportioned to the nations while His portion was Israel. Israel’s right-angle turn (90°) into Pi-Hahiroth³ was perilous, hedging them in so they could only go forward (nikkho, straight away to the sea camp). It was the perfect bait for Pharaoh, thinking he could swallow up Israel since they had gone three days in the wilderness to worship their God. The opening to the wadi was “in the face of” (lifney) or directly south (10° East of North) of Baal-Zephon, a mountain located on today’s southern coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea called Jebel Aqraa but known to the Greek worshipers of Zeus as Mount Casius⁴. The Egyptians were well aware that the Canaanites and Phoenicians worshiped Baal at Baal-Zephon as the “lord of the north,” “storm god,” and “protector of mariners” ⁵. As a reference point, Zephon denotes north, navigation from the place Baal held council and ruled the Canaanite pantheon, the nations’ place of worship. YHWH was taking Israel out of the nations to worship on His holy mountain, Mount Sinai in Arabia, which is “in the face of” (lifney), directly south (by 4 mi. East of North) on the same longitude⁶ as Jerusalem. In the cosmic view, the sovereign YHWH, the true Lord of the North, navigates Israel and the nations to worship Him in the Land on His holy mountain, Jerusalem, where He meets with His people.

YHWH directed Israel’s flight from Egypt so that He would “gain glory” for Himself before all the world (Exo. 14:4). The plagues had shown Egypt that their gods were impotent, and YHWH alone was God. Yet, knowing Israel had fled Egypt, Pharaoh and his officials, regretting the loss to his empire, changed (H2015, overturned, reversed) his mind saying, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and lost their services!” (Exo. 14:5). When the report of Israel’s apparent confusion in the Egyptian peninsula reached Pharaoh, with his usual hardness of heart, he saw his chance to restore Egypt’s labor pool by once again bringing the Israelites under his subjection. Since Egypt’s kings considered themselves divine, Pharaoh’s hard heart in pursuing a nation purchased by YHWH declared war on YHWH. Pharaoh had feared Israel would overpower Egypt with their enemies in order to leave the land. However, he unwittingly picked a fight with the almighty YHWH instead of unarmed Israel.

Exodus 14:6-9
6 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; 7 and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And YHWH hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. 9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by [`al, at] the sea, beside [`al, by reason of] Pi-hahiroth, in front [lifney, in the face of] of Baal-zephon. NASB

Boasting, Pharaoh and the Egyptians pursued Israel with a force of 600 choice chariots plus all the other chariots in Egypt and their drivers, eager to destroy Israel and divide the spoil (Exo. 15:9). Driving hard, in three days, they overtook Israel camped at Yam Suph. Bursting forth from Hahiroth onto the beach, Egypt’s army walled off any means of Israel’s escape but, in great weariness from their mad chase, planned to attack the unarmed Israelites the next day⁷.

Takeaway:
Israel’s turn into Pi-Hahiroth lured Pharaoh’s army into a trap, though it appeared the nation of YHWH was the prey for Egypt to swallow up. YHWH gave Israel directions specific to Baal-Zephon, a northern mountain of Baal and Zeus worship, contrasting it with His mountain of worship, Jerusalem above, north of Mount Sinai. Though Israel was free to worship YHWH because He purchased them through the lamb’s blood, Pharaoh’s hard heart sought to restore his worship and empire built on the shifting sands of mass slavery. (For believers who are free in Yeshua, Satan attempts to reenslave us to sin because it energizes his kingdom.) In a statement of faith, Israel carried the bones of Joseph with them as a reminder of YHWH’s covenant promise to bring them into His land to worship Him on His holy mountain, a kingdom built without hands upon the Chief Cornerstone.

Fun Factors:

The 14 Hebrew words of Numbers 33:7, “They left Etham, turned back to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of  Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol,” have a letter value of 3160 (factored as 40 x 79), which is the 79th triangular number and the 40th hexagonal number.  By adding 3160 to its reverse 613, we get 3773, the same number pattern of Genesis 1:1’s sum, 37 x 73, giving us the idea that what was about to happen was repeating the creation event of conquering tohu and bohu, then filling the earth with life and nearness to YHWH.  Humanity’s return from exile is 360°; 3160’s divisors can be divided into two sets of 3600.

Pharaoh and his army overtook Israel encamped “at the sea by reason of Pi-Hahiroth facing Baal-Zephon” (Exo. 14:9), letter sum of 1460, 20 x 73, is the sum of two squares 26² + 28², the power of His name YHWH (26) plus His wisdom/skill in bringing Israel out to worship Him on His holy hill (7 x 4).