Blog 50: Israel's Seven-Day Flight
From birth, YHWH prepared Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Schooled in the wisdom of Egypt in his first forty years, he knew the logistics of commanding whole troops and managing resources in the desert. For the next 40 years, Moses shepherded sheep and goats in the Midian wilderness (see Blog 42). At eighty, Moses commenced his last forty years shepherding Israel’s approximately two million1 population to the Mountain of God and then to Canaan. Besides sending His servant Moses, YHWH provided many miracles and judgments to facilitate Israel’s escape and proclaim His name to the nations.
He remembered His everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to inherit the land of Canaan, protecting them when they were few in number and miraculously increasing their descendant’s number in Egypt. Israel’s fruitfulness caused Egypt’s threatened Pharaoh to react with their enslavement.
Psa. 105:23-25 NKJV
23 Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.
24 He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
YHWH performed signs, the plagues, that broke Egypt and struck their firstborn. After He had destroyed the first of the land of Ham’s strength, YHWH brought Israel out with silver and gold (Psa. 105:37). Not a dog barked as Israel left Egypt in orderly ranks while the Egyptians were burying their dead (Exo. 11:7; 13:18; Num. 33:3-4). Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of the Israelites had fallen upon them (Psa. 105:38). Still, Israel knew well Pharaoh’s change of heart after each of the plagues, and deep down, they fully expected to see Pharaoh chasing after them.
YHWH did not lead Israel by way of the Philistines, although that was near, but He led the people around by way of the Wilderness of Yam Suph. After racing away from Rameses in high spirits in the dark at the beginning of Abib 15, Israel camped at what was later known as Succoth. Israel took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness, traveling day and night, for there was none feeble among His tribes (Exo. 13:22; Num. 33:3-5; Psa. 105:37).
Exo. 13:21-22 NKJV
21 And YHWH went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
Josephus wrote that because Israel went away hastily, after three days, they were at Beelzephon2 (from this mountain on the Mediterranean Sea, they were 90° clockwise from east), just south of Etham at Pi Hahiroth, the Wadi Watir.3 How was it possible? Following the wadis or valleys, the surface of the trans-Sinai highway trading route was hard like concrete, making travel swift.4 At that time of year, when God led Israel out of Egypt, He provided storms that produced abundant rain runoff and pasture (Psa. 68:7-10). The breed of Jacob’s sheep acquired from Laban was not difficult to keep, requiring little grain and only water every three to four days.5 Because the wilderness provided no food, Israel ate kneaded unleavened loaves of flour, warmed only by low heat. Each person had only an amount of bread for necessity, not for satiety6 (Deu. 16:3). They drank no wine or other fermented drink (Deu. 29:6). During YHWH’s leading the Hebrews through the wilderness, their clothes and sandals did not wear out (Deu. 29:5). The pillar of cloud by day sheltered the caravan from the heat, and the pillar of fire by night lit the way (Psa. 105:39). Though Israel underwent a degree of affliction, rushing against time, YHWH described Israel’s escape, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.” (Exo. 19:4; Isa. 40:31)
Deu. 32:11-12 NKJV
11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
12 So YHWH alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.
YHWH’s world-renowned miracles continued as His people entered the mouth of the caves, Pi Hahiroth, and the sea crossing (Num. 33:7-8). At His command, Israel had turned back from traveling east at Etham to a southern direction that took them into a narrow snake-like corridor to the beachhead at Yam Suph. The Pi hahiroth entrance was between the Sinai Peninsula’s interior towering rocks on the west and the wilderness slopes of Yam Suph on the east (Exo. 14:2). The root of Hiroth means “the crevice of a serpent, the cell of a prison, hole” (Strong’s H2352), giving the feeling that Israel traveled through a passage of the underworld. As the sixth day drew to a close, Pharaoh’s pursuing army caught up with the weary Israelites at Yam Suph, trapping them between the mountains and the sea. With the Egyptian arm pressing in on them, any retreat was blocked, yet YHWH’s presence in the pillars separated the two nations. An upcoming blog will cover the sea crossing wonder in more detail.
Takeaway:
From beginning to end, Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt revealed YHWH’s glory in the power of His mighty hand and outstretched arm, taking for Himself a nation from the midst of another country, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, and by great terrors, that the nations and Israel might know that YHWH is God and there is none other besides Him (Deu. 4:34-35).
Fun Factors:
The three place names in Exodus 13 of Israel’s seven-day unleavened bread trek to freedom, Succoth (סֻכֹּת letter sum 480), Etham (אֵתָם letter sum 441), and Yam Suph (יַם-סוּף letter sum 196) total 1117 or 212 + 262. The name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush, I AM, equals 21, and the letter sum of YHWH is 26. The sum 1117 speaks of the power of “I AM YHWH” who brought you out. In Blog 42’s Fun Factors, 1117 was the sum of Shiphrah, Puah, Moses, and YHWH. The three “shining ones” names resonate with YHWH’s light, saving from death to flourishing, and the three exodus place names call out YHWH’s name of glory, “I AM YHWH,” completely rescuing Israel during the seven days of Unleavened Bread. When the seven names, three on either side of YHWH, are added, it equals the sum of two squares, 472 + 52, saying numerically, “YHWH’s might hand + behold His grace.”
Footnotes:
1 Exo. 12:37-38 The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38 A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds — a great deal of livestock. The number agrees with the half-shekel offering taken at Mount Sinai from all the men twenty years and older, totaling 603,550 (Exo. 38:26) and the Numbers 1 census of 603,550 men (Num. 1:46).
2 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Ch. XV, p. 62.
3 Fritz, Glen A., Searching for the Red Sea Crossing, Session 5: From the Turn to the Sea. In the ancient world, Baal Zephon (Canaanite and Phoenician god, meaning “lord of the north, storm god, protector of mariners”) was a northern mountain navigation point on the Mediterranean Sea, the Greek Mount Casius of Zeus, and today, Jebel Aqraa in Turkey.
4 Mahoney, T. P. (Director). (2020). Patterns of Evidence, The Red Sea Miracle I, Thinking Man Films.
5 When Jacob fled from Laban, he traveled 350 miles from Haran to the Gilead mountains with young children and women, flocks and herds, in just ten days (35 miles/day) before Laban overtook him (Gen. 31:22-23).
6 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Ch. XV, p. 62.
I also find it interesting that before Jacob’s name became Israel there were no Israelites. They were of the Syrian nation including Abraham, Sarah, Isaac & Rebeccah, & Jacob, Leah & Rachel and Jacob’s concubines. Moab and Ammon came from Lot and his 2 daughters and of course all the descendants of Ishmael and his 12 sons who were princes. I wonder if any of them understand how they are all related and if that would bring some peace. But again who fights more than family!