EXODUSMOSES BRINGS THE JEWS OUT OF EGYPT

- Excerpts from the book “La Bibbia senza Segreti” (Bible with no Secrets) by Flavio Barbiero -

THE TEN PLAGUES

The most difficult and complex part of Moses' plan was convincing the Jews to leave Egypt and embark on an uncertain and risky adventure (Ex.4,1-17). "Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the sons of Israel and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped." (Ex. 4,29-31).

The moment was favorable. The building corvées were oppressive and provoked considerable discontent among the population. Nevertheless, the enterprise Moses and Aaron proposed must have seemed little short of suicide in the eyes of the elders. It is not credible that they could be fooled by a few conjured tricks. Moses and Aaron must have employed much more convincing arguments, but about these the Bible is silent (this subject will be discussed again later on). The final result, in any case, was that the tribal chiefs became convinced. Together, they all studied the details and organized the plan to leave Egypt. Obviously, they swore to keep it secret.

In the meantime, certain of Moses' agitators worked among the population to create an atmosphere of expectation . They fueled the peoples’ imagination and planted rumors of prodigious happenings. They aroused their enthusiasm for the flight. Excitement increased as preparations for the departure progressed; incredible rumors circulated, miracles were happening everywhere.

The biblical narrative seeks to give credence to the version that indicates the Egyptians were forced to let the Jews go because of terrible calamities wrought by God through Moses. This attempt is executed with great ingenuity and absolute transparency.

During those days of ferment, in which great things were in store for the Jewish people, popular imagination became over-excited; people sought to see prodigious happenings wherever something a little out of the ordinary occurred. It is a well-known fact that in popular accounts, a block of wood can become a wolf and a wolf a whole pack! Especially if there is someone interested in spreading news of miraculous events, ready to magnify the facts, as Moses' friends must have done in that situation.

The "plagues" were for the most part quite banal happenings that, in any case, recurred often in Egypt. To call some of these happenings "plagues" is ridiculous. In any case all were exaggerated beyond measure. One example can serve for all: the hail. At first, it is described as a scourge never before seen, that cut down men, animals and every kind of tree (Ex. 9,24-25). Then later the truth surfaces: the wheat was not damaged at all, because...it had not yet come into ear! (Ex. 9,32). A normal springtime hailstorm!

Most historians view these accounts of the ten "plagues" with skepticism since they are not reported in the Egyptian chronicles. It would indeed be surprising if such a correlation were to be found. As we have seen in Joseph’s case, when the Bible speaks of the "land of Egypt,” it normally refers to that part of Egypt where the Jews lived. Therefore, the "plagues" were certainly local happenings that involved villages and the countryside around Goshen, and could not have been referred to the Court for insertion in official chronicles.

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The Egyptians certainly were not even aware they were being subjected at that time to so many extraordinary "calamities;” they were so only in the minds of the Jews. The latter were not able, on the other hand, to ascertain the true extent of these "plagues,” for they were, of course, regularly exempt from them: this was all part of the marvel.

The final "plague,” the most terrible of all--the death of all the Egyptian firstborn children--was probably no more than the chance death of a single firstborn: that of the Egyptian Governor under whose control the Jews lived, and who was, therefore, given the title of Pharaoh (Ex. 4,23). The child died the same night that the Jews prepared for the departure. The following morning, while they were setting out, the entire city echoed with cries and mourning lamentations. No one turned back to check who had died.

It appears fairly evident from reading the biblical text, that the ten "plagues" did not have the slightest influence upon the Egyptians' decision to authorize the Jews to go out into the desert to make sacrifices to their God (but never did they authorized the Jews to leave the country). The supposed plagues did, however, convince the Jews to depart--to leave a situation which was, after all, fairly comfortable and safe and to embark on a risky adventure (Ex.16,3). Little did they realize what they would encounter and how long they would regret that decision!

The departure preparations took several months. They had to relinquish all property that could not be transported, bartering everything for precious objects, if possible, without losing too much on each deal; they had to equip themselves for a long journey, purchase carts, provisions, cereals, weapons and so forth. All without making it too obvious. Yet these preparations could not pass unobserved by the Egyptians. The news that the Jews were preparing to abandon the country must have been public knowledge. Moses could not have overlooked this fact in his plans and must have made provision for it.

Since they were semi-nomadic shepherds, the Jews had almost certainly complete liberty of movement; they could come and go and arrange meetings without having to seek anyone’s permission (and in fact Aaron went to and from the Sinai whenever he pleased). As long as they did not go beyond the bounds of the territory assigned them, invading pastures intended for others, no one troubled them. So if they wanted to go into the desert...let them! Almost certainly they went out there to graze their livestock after the rains. No one imagined they would have wanted to abandon, of their own free will, those pastures assigned them, leaving behind the "best land in all of Egypt."

However, in the face of all those preparations and in view of the rumors circulating, the Governor ruling over Israel began to worry. He certainly could not let them go en masse, and thereby deprive the local economy of one of its pillars; the Pharaoh would surely have dismissed him from office.

Therefore, he summoned the tribal chiefs and demanded an explanation. They denied, of course, having any desire to leave Egypt; the carts, the food, the gold and jewelry all served for a great gathering in the desert: "Let us take a three-day journey into the desert, to offer sacrifices to the Lord, our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword" (Ex.5,3). The Vizier hesitated: "Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land" (Ex.8,25). Impossible: "It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, as he shall command us." (Ex. 8,26-27). The Vizier asked for guarantees, asking that the Jews leave their women and children behind (Ex.10,11). Out of the question: "We shall go with our youngsters and our

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aged, with our sons and daughters, with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord" (Ex. 10,9). They should leave their livestock behind (Ex.10,24). No: "Our livestock too must go with us: not a hoof is to be left behind; we have to use some of them in worshipping our Lord and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord." (Ex.10,25-26).

Finally, after long arduous negotiations they came to an agreement: the Jews could go where they pleased with whatever they wanted to take with them; only they had to accept the presence of a large contingent of Egyptian troops, ordered to keep an eye on them. At their own expense, of course. These were the conditions Moses foresaw and for which he advocated.

The Egyptians felt secure and at ease. The Vizier of Pi-Rameses controlled the road to Palestine and had at his disposal the finest and fastest Egyptian troops--the best in the world! Six hundred war chariots (Ex.14,7) were set on the heels of the Jews: if they tried any tricks, they would be annihilated. All this was foreseen in Moses' plan.

THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA

The Jewish people numbered many thousands (see following chapter 14); they owned two-wheeled wagons pulled by pairs of oxen (Numbers 7,3-9), herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. On the move the wagons formed an endless column and the herds were scattered around it for miles since they had to be grazed along the way. To guide and coordinate the movements of such a mass posed a serious problem. Moses solved it in a simple manner, which presumably was common in those times: at the head of the column on the move, a large brazier of burning bitumen was placed on a wagon. A column of dense smoke arose from it which could be seen from a great distance, thus serving as a beacon during the march. At night the glow of the fire in the brazier served the same purpose (Ex. 13,21).

The Egyptian troops followed the Jews from a distance, so naturally they also followed the movements of the brazier. This was an important part of Moses' plan; from Exodus 14,19-20, it becomes evident that the brazier must have played a very important part during the night of the Red Sea crossing.

After a fifteen-day journey (the Jewish people could not cover more than 14-16 kilometers a day, and in any case they had to stop in order to water their herds), on the day of the new moon, Moses set up camp on the shore of the Red Sea facing the sand banks, the existence of which he alone knew and which were hidden at the moment since high tide was then at its maximum.

The Egyptian troops camped on a high point, well in sight of the Jewish encampment, but too far away to notice what was going on there during the night. This was obviously an essential condition for the success of his plan, so Moses must have worked out something that compelled the Egyptians not to set up camp too close by. From the account this is easy to grasp: at one of the previous stops the Egyptians had evidently camped in the immediate vicinity of the brazier (Ex. 14,24).

Moses must have organized an incursion into their encampment to block the wheels of their war chariots (Ex.14,25), perhaps by filling the hubs with sand. Following this incident, the commanding officer of the Egyptian detachment must have instituted a series of elementary security measures, preventing being taken again by surprise. The most logical step would have been to set up camp at a greater distance from the Jews and to post sentries (Ex.14,25). He probably adopted these measures that evening.

Moses had seen to it that the brazier was placed well in sight, behind the Jewish camp on the desert side facing the Egyptians, but screening the Jewish camp with it in

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such a way that the Egyptians could not see what was going on (Ex. 14,19-20). Night fell (Ex. 14,21; Dt. 16,1), a dark moonless night (Ex. 14,20). As soon as it was dark, the Jews broke camp. They assembled all their household goods and chattel, their flocks and herds; they readied everything for the march, then awaited orders.

A breeze sprang up (Ex. 14,21), the usual night breeze, quite steady in that season, enough to ripple the surface of the sea. The tide began to turn. On the shore, Moses, surrounded by the tribal elders, was waiting tensely. The tide was dropping. At last the miracle occurred: slowly a slender tongue of sand emerged from the waters.

The waves raised by the night breeze broke along the edges of the sand bank on both sides. In the whitish foam myriads of microscopic organisms flitted and darted, giving off a weak light, sufficient to mark the way ahead in the utter darkness. It was certainly forbidden to light torches or fires of any sort during the crossing, in order not to arouse the suspicions of the Egyptians before necessary.

It must have been about one a.m. when the order to start was given; the Jews moved swiftly into the Red Sea in ordered and silent columns, urging their livestock ahead of them.

In the Egyptian camp, in the meantime, most were sleeping. The sentries could faintly hear the lowing of cattle and the frenzied barking of dogs, borne on the breeze--unusual. The Egyptians grew slightly nervous. But the great brazier was still there, flaming, immobile--no cause for alarm.

At about two-thirty a.m. the great brazier suddenly began to move. The commanding officer, who had been awakened, hurried to see: yes, it was really moving--towards the sea and quickly, too. Very strange! He ordered the troops awake and followed this with an order to be ready to move as soon as possible. In the meantime he watched the movements of the brazier; sooner or later it would be at the shore and would have to turn left or right; that would be the moment when he would move to intercept the column.

It was past three a.m.; the troops were ready to move. The brazier continued its movement in the same direction, it seemed to be...in the sea! The Commanding officer was jittery: he ordered the advance. It was pitch dark and he needed almost an hour to reach the seashore. The brazier was still moving away, seemingly in the middle of the sea. Of the Jews, their tents, their wagons, and of the thousands of head of livestock, not a single trace. The Egyptian Commander was stupefied, confused, agitated. What was happening? He continued to follow the light of the brazier; when he reached the seashore, an unexpected and incredible scene appeared in the weak first light of the dawn: a long stretch of sand connected the two shores, little more than five kilometers apart. At the center, the Jews' brazier was hurrying towards the far bank. He gave a cry of anger and without thinking twice, rushed into the chase, followed by his troops, along the narrow sand bank, which at that time began to shrink. The tide was coming in rapidly. The Egyptians spurred their horses on, riding desperately. They had already reached the center of the gulf, when the last vestige of the sand bank disappeared beneath the rising tide. Then disaster struck!

On the other shore, upright upon a rock, Moses surveyed the scene. The sun was rising at his back (Ex. 14,27). He watched, grinning, at the horses as they struggled in the waters, and he saw the soldiers drowning, dragged down by their armor. The plan he had worked upon so meticulously for years had at last borne fruit. He had foreseen every detail. His heart swelled with pride, and with good reason! The brilliance and audacity of the concept, the complexity of the operation, the meticulous planning required and the brilliant and decisive execution of it, all this has no equal in History.

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The son of unknown parents, a stutterer, wanted for murder, having nothing but his genius and audacity, had dared to challenge the most powerful sovereign of those times, managing to take from him an entire population with all its wealth and, what is more, to destroy a large part of what was then the most powerful army in the world. All this by making use of nothing more than the elements of Nature.

No man ever dared to conceive and accomplish a risky venture such as this one. The slightest miscalculation, one false move, and the great adventure could have become a great tragedy. I like to think that not a single goat was lost!

This reconstruction, deliberately presented as a news item, is by no means hypothetical, and still less fanciful. The main reason why modern Scriptural Scholarship rejects an effective historical content of the Exodus narrative is that the Israelite crossing of the Red Sea, in the manner described, is presumed to be impossible.

In fact, at first sight the crossing appears to be so completely outside the bounds of possibility, that all the scholars have rejected it out of hand, preferring to dedicate their research to other alternatives. However, a more detailed examination of the question reveals this dogma to be hurried and unjustified. Surprisingly, in fact, the only method we can adopt to provide a rational explanation of this episode is that we not reject one single piece of evidence given in the Bible. Of course the Bible relates the facts as they were experienced and understood by the people involved; they were unable to provide a rational explanation of what happened and, therefore, could only attribute it to divine intervention. But they must have reported the facts in a true and precise manner. The essential facts of their story are these: The Jews crossed over in the midst of a real sea, having water both on their left and on their right (Ex.14,22). The sea in question was the Red Sea, that is, that branch now known as the Gulf of Suez, not the Mediterranean or any other stretch of water, as is often to be read; they crossed the sea by night, a moonless night, and, therefore, it was the time of the new moon (Ex. 14.20; Dt. 16,1); before and during the crossing, a stiff breeze sprang up (Ex. 14,21); the Egyptian troops rushed to the chase at first light, following the same route as the Jews, but they were engulfed by the waters before they could pass over (Ex. 14,23; 14,27); the bodies of the drowned soldiers were carried by the current onto the strand (Ex. 14,30).

These are the main points of the biblical narrative, which are repeated and confirmed time and time again in a wide range of contexts. They must, therefore, be the facts exactly as they happened. On the basis of this narrative, there are no alternatives to the scene just previously described.

Moses' escape plan had to be based upon elements about which he was absolutely certain; it is unreasonable to suppose that he could or would count on accidental happenings beyond the norm. Not one of the Jewish tribal chiefs would have been prepared to risk the lives of his people and his own by following Moses just in the hope that one day or another a wind would arise strong enough to dry up the Red Sea or any other stretch of water... and that such a wind would last just long enough to allow his people to cross, graciously dying down as soon as the inevitable pursuers reached the middle of the crossing. This is a widely spread theory, but it is quite absurd.

In order to solve the problem it is necessary to begin with a question: why did Moses lead the Jewish people across that particular sea? It was certainly not the normal route to Palestine, neither was it the shortest or the easiest (Ex. 13,17-18). There must have been a precise and very important reason for it. What was it? The final effect of the Red Sea crossing was the annihilation of the pursuing Egyptians.

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Therefore, it follows that the reason Moses led his people across the Red Sea must have been to liberate them from the Egyptian forces.

The fact that the Egyptian troops were tailing the Jews from the beginning of their journey is obvious from the narrative. Exodus 14,8 states explicitly that "the Pharaoh began the pursuit of the Israelites while these went out [from Pi-Rameses] with hands raised,” that is, from the first day of the Exodus. Exodus verses 14,20 and 14, 24-26 demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that during the journey the Egyptians regularly set up camp in the vicinity of the Jewish encampment. The Jews took the women, children, and elderly with them, plus their herds and household goods. Their movements were slow and awkward; they were unarmed and had no experience whatsoever with war, while the Egyptian troops with their chariots were infinitely more powerful and swift.

Thus, there was not the slightest possible hope of escape, unless these troops were in some way removed. In fact, when the Jews realized they were being followed they were filled with dismay; in order to induce them to proceed, Moses had to assure them that the Lord himself would intervene to destroy the Egyptian soldiers (Ex. 14,10-14). There could have been only one reason for the decision to cross the Red Sea and that was to eliminate the Egyptian surveillance.

Moses alone was responsible for creating and executing this plan, but it is simply unthinkable that he could really have had the power to divide the waters of the sea. Therefore, he must have had knowledge of some Red Sea phenomenon that existed at that time but does not happen now. The epoch in which these events occurred is very important to this analysis: it was said to be in the third or fourth year of the reign of Merenptah, towards the end of the 13th century BC, more than three thousand years ago.

So, what was different then, compared to modern times? A seemingly insignificant fact: the sea levels all over the Earth (and therefore also in the Red Sea) were 4 or 5 meters lower than they are today, due to remaining Pleistocene ice that persisted here and there. A glance at a nautical chart (see following fig) permits us to understand the significance of this fact.

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The Suez Bay, at the extreme northern end of the Red Sea is, so to speak, obstructed by a line of sand banks running from point Ras el-Adabiya on the western side and East-North-East towards the opposite shore. It is a more or less continuous cordon (now broken by a canal which has been dredged to allow navigation), with a depth of no more than 6 or 7 meters. In Moses' time that same line of sand banks, “anchored” to a series of barely emerging rocks, was probably only a couple meters below the surface, perhaps even less. It is quite likely that at maximum low tide they emerged, making it possible to cross the bay from one shore to the other--even by heavy transport, since the Red Sea's sand is very compact.

It was a desert area, frequented only by an occasional passing Bedouin. This phenomenon could only occur at maximum high and low tide, when the moon and the sun are in conjunction--during the new moons. Since this phenomenon had scant practical value, probably no one prior to Moses bothered to establish its cause, duration, or recurrence.

Moses must have come to know this phenomenon during his flight into the Sinai (Ex. 2,15); it must have impressed him so much as to induce his return year after year in order to study it more thoroughly. It should not have been difficult for him to understand the mechanics of it, closely bound as it was to the lunar phases and solar movements. In order to complete his plan Moses had to know the day and hour in which the sand banks would emerge, and the hour in which they would again disappear.

Some collateral factors that he had certainly taken into account assumed very important significance. The moonless night, for example, allowed the Jews to move without being seen, but could also present a serious obstacle to their march across the sand banks--except, the warm waters of the Red Sea teemed with luminescent organisms, excited by the strong nocturnal breeze and breaking waves, which traced out the route without need of artificial light. The wind, therefore, without having any influence whatsoever on the tide, assumed a fundamental importance.

Once we accept that the sand banks in the Suez Bay emerged during the lowest tides, it becomes relatively easy to grasp the essentials of Moses' plan. If we follow faithfully the indications in the Bible, aware that every single minute detail of the narrative has been handed down strictly in accordance with its importance, and must, therefore, have a precise rational explanation, it becomes clear.

To conclude: the Jews crossed the Red Sea along the sand banks of the Suez Bay, a distance of little more than 5 kilometers. Since they were unaware of the mechanics that made this possible, it must have seemed to them a most extraordinary miracle. In the darkness of the night they could just glimpse the waters, thanks to the weak micro-organic luminescence and the whiteness of the breaking waves; the optical illusion of two walls of water on either side must have been perfect. One wonders how terrified they must have been as they made that crossing!

The Egyptians rushed in along the same route. Moses must have calculated the exact moment. He had estimated their reaction time and the period they required to prepare for action. He had also calculated the time required to go from the high ground to the seashore. He had ordered the brazier moved at precisely the correct moment; it was essential that the Egyptians be in the middle of the gulf when the high tide would resubmerge the sand banks.

By dawn the Egyptians would have covered the 5 kilometers that separated the two shores in no more than half an hour. The success of Moses' entire plan and the destiny of the Jewish people depended upon that crucial half hour.

If the Egyptians had arrived at the bay too early, they would have been in time to reach the far shore; if too late, they would have found the sand banks already

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submerged, in which case they would have rounded the gulf and reached the Jews after several hours. In either case the reprisals would have been terrible. Israel would have paid a high price for the attempt, and for Moses and his companions it would have been the end.

It was a very great risk, well calculated but with a safety margin of only ten or fifteen minutes, albeit probably lengthened by precautionary measures such as various obstacles spread along the second half of the route to slow down the Egyptian chariots.

However it is viewed, this was an enterprise of breath-taking audacity. Moses pulled it off; the Egyptian army was annihilated. The bodies of the drowned troops were spread along the shores of the Red Sea for many kilometers (Ex. 14,30), tangible evidence of the power of Jahweh and of his earthly spokesman Moses.

The Jews were free to go on their way undisturbed through the desert, towards a new life and a new destiny.

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THE EXODUS EPOCH

The scenario just described, incredible though it may seem, corresponds in every detail to the description in the Bible, and brings together all the Exodus passages in a coherent and rational manner. The existence of the Suez sand banks, the tides, and every other detail of natural phenomena all agree perfectly with the narrative. Even the name of the area found immediately beyond the sand banks, "Ayun Musa" (the Moses' wells), corroborates it. And as we will see later, starting from this point all the rest of the itinerary parallels the Bible text exactly. Nearly everything coalesces to confirm exactly what is described in the Bible. There is, however, one particular detail that at first does not seem to fit with this reconstruction, and that is the time of year in which the crossing is believed to have occurred.

According to our reconstruction, the Red Sea crossing took place during a new moon. The departure from Pi-Rameses, fifteen days previously, therefore coincided with a full moon. The Jews traditionally celebrate Easter in memory of that event, coinciding with the first full moon of Spring.

However, by examining the Bible, we can establish with certainty that this tradition is incorrectly based. First of all, we note that the Jewish custom of celebrating Easter, after a long period of suspension, was revived only after they returned from exile in Babylon. During this exile they not only adopted the Aramaic language, but also the Babylonian calendar, which began with the new moon closest to the Spring equinox. Since the Bible stated that Easter was to be celebrated on the fifteenth day of the year (Lev. 23,5; Nm. 9,3-5; 28,16; 33,2; etc.), from that time on Easter was fixed to coincide with the first full moon of Spring.

The Exodus Jews, however, came from Egypt and at the time of the narrated events they almost certainly used the Egyptian calendar, the beginning of which coincides with the flooding of the Nile in June. So the fifteenth day of the year, when they departed from Pi-Rameses, must have been in June (Nm. 33.3).

Various factors support this statement. Some of the events that preceded the Exodus are in fact dated; for example, the seventh plague--the hailstorm--is dated with a maximum margin of error of a week. It occurred when "the flax was blooming and the barley already twilled,”12 but not yet the wheat (Ex. 9.31-32); clearly this was between the 5th and the 15th April. After this, three more plagues occurred. The Exodus, therefore, took place some time later; it could hardly have happened during the first full moon of Spring. Other biblical indications conflict with a departure at the beginning of Spring, but there is one that puts it definitively in June. It is reliable evidence because it dates from a period very near the events in question, and the Bible states it clearly in the Book of Joshua.

Joshua began the invasion of Palestine during the harvest period (Josh. 3,15; 5,11). In the Jordan Valley today, the grain harvest occurs during the second half of May. Taking into account that nowadays the tendency is to cultivate early varieties and to thresh as early as possible, we are reasonably certain that the harvest in those times did not take place before the end of May. Joshua crossed the Jordan on the tenth day after the beginning of the year (Js. 4,19); five days later he celebrated Easter (Js. 5,10). There can be no doubt--it was in June. Exactly fifteen days later came the recrossing of the Red Sea--at the end of June or at the latest, the beginning of July.

Having established the time of the year in which the Exodus took place, the next step is to discover the precise date. Incredible though it may seem, the Bible itself

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provides evidence which makes it possible to determine not only the year, but the exact day on which that event--the crossing of the Red Sea so fundamental to the history of the Jewish people and perhaps the most important in all human history--occurred. It all hinges on whether a certain interpretation of the ninth "plague" is exact or not, that is, the three days of "darkness" that fell upon Egypt.

All the so-called plagues refer more or less to extraordinary events that really occurred, but which in some cases are highly exaggerated. Such was the case with the hailstorm (Ex. 9,24-32). The question is how can we interpret these "days of darkness.” The most plausible explanation, the one that seems to be the most sensible, is an eclipse of the sun. This is an event which is quite extraordinary, but not sufficiently so to be defined as a "plague;” to become so, the duration would have to be prolonged to an extreme. In fact it became three days, but here "three" is clearly a period of indeterminate length.

The eclipse plainly occurred when the sun and moon were in conjunction, that is, during a new moon. Since this was after the seventh plague, which occured in April, it must have been the new moon immediately preceding the one at the time the Jews crossed the Red Sea. This puts the time frame at or very close to the end of May.

The interesting thing about eclipses is that the dates can be calculated, even those in remote history. Therefore, we need only ascertain if in Egypt, in what was most probably the time of the Exodus, there was actually a total eclipse of the sun, and then calculate the exact day. The Jews crossed the Red Sea twenty-nine days later.

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THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS

The Jews had asked and obtained permission from the Pharaoh to go into the desert for "three walking days" in order to make sacrifices to their God (Ex.8,27). But the first leg of their journey, from Pi-Rameses to Succoth, was a seven-day’s march. The questions that arise here are many; one wonders whether they had lied or not kept their word. Then there is the question of the Egyptian troops, who followed them closely from the first day (Ex.14,8), but strangely did not stop them. We must ask whether this whole story is credible or not. The truth is that a "day's march,” then as now, is a unit of distance quite apart from the maximum or minimum speed of any given traveler. The distances along mountain tracks even today are always indicated by "walking hours;” the times are clearly dependent upon the difficulty of the terrain as well as the distance to be covered, but gauged on the constant pace of the average mountaineer. Traveling with the entire family, children and grandparents, perhaps stopping now and then to gather berries etc., one must calculate a period for the whole route at least three times the norm.

The "day's march,” apart from the difficulties along the route, must take into consideration the availability of water, an essential factor in the desert; it should end, then, at a spot where there is at least a well. Then as now, however, a day's march was gauged on a problemless journey of a typical commercial or military caravan--between 35 and 45 kilometers. Therefore, the Jews' destination, the sacred place where they would honor their God, was situated in the desert more than one hundred kilometers from Pi-Rameses.

This, however, was no commercial caravan; it was an entire population, with women, children, the elderly and the sick, with herds and flocks, with all their possessions, their tents and household goods, their tools and their supplies and provisions of every sort. A part of these goods was loaded onto pack animals, but the major part had to be carried in "covered wagons", drawn by oxen (Nm.7,3-9). Each tribe possessed a certain number of these and, therefore, the total must have been rather high. It was a seemingly endless column that stretched out for several kilometers.

The old and sick, together with the women and smaller children, traveled on the wagons (Gn. 46,5). The older boys gave the adults a hand, driving the cattle along the flanks of the column, leading by hand the pack animals and those yoked to the wagons. The rate of march was governed by the slow pace of the oxen, about two kilometers per hour. They could not have traveled more than an average of 15 kilometers per day. Therefore, they needed three days to cover the distance of a "day's march."

Since the "day's march" normally took them from one watering hole to the next, the Jews could not count on replenishing their stocks along the way; they had to ensure their water and food supplies were sufficient for the duration of the march. They also had to provide reserves of water and forage for the pack animals and the oxen drawing the wagons. The untethered animals could graze whatever grass they could find, but they were not watered. This could only be provided at the end of that leg of the journey.

Anyone who has watched livestock being watered in the desert has an appreciation for the time required to water dozens of flocks and herds. The women took advantage of this time to knead loaves of unleavened bread which would be baked during bivouacs in the following days; simultaneously, additional supplies of water and, where possible, forage and firewood, were also gathered. All this required an entire day's halt. So in order to cover the distance of a "day's march", the Jews required

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exactly four days--three marching and one resting. This was the fastest speed they could manage.

The Jews covered the first two "days' march"--more than 70 kilometers--in one seven-day segment; this journey would be commemorated every Easter. It was the longest stage of the whole journey and was possible only because the first leg took them through a "green belt,” where there was an abundance of water, allowing the herds and flocks to be watered along the route. On the seventh day they arrived at Succoth, where they camped for a couple of days.

As soon as the Jews set out of Pi-Rameses, the Egyptian surveillance troops began to tail them (Ex.14,8); they probably maintained a rearguard position a fair distance behind. If necessary, in an hour they could cover a distance that would take the Jews a whole day. Perhaps it was at Succoth where they stayed for the first time so near to the Jews' encampment; they too needed to water their horses and secure their own drinking water. In all probability the incursion into the Egyptian encampment mentioned in Ex. 14,24-25, when the Jews blocked the wheels of the war chariots, took place right there. Obviously no permanent damage was done, nevertheless the troop commander decided it was more prudent to distance his camp from that of the Jews and to post sentries.

On the morning of the tenth day following their departure, the Jews left Succoth for Etham on the outer limits of the desert of the same name (Ex.13,20; Nm.33,7). Five days later they broke camp at Pi-Hahirot and crossed the Red Sea (Nm. 33,8). The name Pi-Hahirot must have indicated an extended territory; in fact an additional two references were considered necessary in order to pinpoint the spot where the Jews camped: "Opposite Migdol, in sight of Baal-Zefon" (Ex. 14,2; Nm. 33,7). The name Baal-Zefon means "Lord of the North" and refers to a religious site dedicated to that divinity. It was the Jews’ declared destination: a holy place in the desert, three days' march from Pi-Ramses, where they intended to make sacrifices to their God.

Moses had to time the arrival at Pi-Hahirot to occur only at the very last moment, in the afternoon, a few hours before the crossing. The phenomenon of emerging sand banks happened several nights in succession during that new moon and if the Jews had to pass even one night at Pi-Hahirot, the Egyptians could have discovered it and upset their plans. Moses dared not take such a risk.

Etham must have been situated a few kilometers from Pi-Hahirot, 8 or 10 at most, probably near to the modern day Suez. It was the other extreme of the third "day's march", which began at Succoth. It took the Jews three days to cover the distance; they arrived at Etham in the evening of the twelfth day. Moses spent the following two days going over his plan, meticulously checking times and route. There is no doubt that he went over to the sand banks of the Suez Bay at low tide and, with a few of his faithful followers, verified the phenomenon and assessed the difficulties, the time required for the crossing, etc.

The Jews left Etham on the morning of the fifteenth day, the last of the lunar month. In the afternoon they camped at Pi-Hahirot; they had a meal and rested for a few hours. As soon as it was dark, they loaded up their baggage, yoked the oxen to the wagons, reassembled the flocks and arranged themselves in the order of march. About one a.m. the crossing began; it took them a little less than three hours to traverse the Red Sea. They stopped for the whole morning on the far shore, near the Ayun Musa wells, to water the animals and allow them to rest from the fatigue of the crossing; but the Jews themselves were too elated by the events of the night to think about rest! There was great rejoicing with singing and dancing the entire morning. They departed again in the early afternoon, free at last, on their way to the Promised Land.

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In Numbers 33 the Bible relates the whole route, stage by stage and even gives the date for certain stages. It was the moon that marked the rhythm of their days; its face, now dark, now luminous, linked the memory of events. They had left Pi-Ramses on the fifteenth day of the first month (Nm. 33,3) at full moon. They crossed the Red Sea at new moon, fifteen days later. At the subsequent new moon, the fifteenth day of the second month, they reached the Sin desert (Ex. 16,1). They finally set up camp in the Sinai on the first day of the third month (Ex. 19,1), again coincident with the new moon.

From the biblical data, therefore, we know precisely and with no possibility of error, the duration of the entire journey from Pi-Rameses to the sacred Mount Horeb: one and a half lunar months, exactly forty-four days. Of these, fourteen took them to the Red Sea, while the remaining thirty days were needed to go from the eastern shore of the Bay of Suez to Har Karkom. Following faithfully the descriptions given in the Bible, it should not be difficult to ascertain which path the Jews took on their journey between these two places; if the narrative has any historical value at all, it must agree completely with the journey’s reconstruction.

The Jews in their thousands, with all their wagons, supplies, household goods and livestock, could not possibly have taken any secondary routes, along difficult tracks without a plentiful supply of water; Moses, therefore, was forced to lead them along one of the major passable wagon tracks, which joined Egypt with Palestine across the Sinai Peninsula (see fig at the end). There was another reason for this decision; although most of the pursuing Egyptian troops had been exterminated, there were undoubtedly survivors; thus it was logical to assume that within a few days the Egyptians could organize a further contingent of troops to again take up the chase. So the Jews had to get away as fast as possible. The quickest route was obviously the great track, along which their wagons could move at their most rapid speed, which, as we have seen, was four days for each "day's march"--three on the move and one of rest.

At this point we know a large number of facts regarding the itinerary and it is clear that a faithful reconstruction of it must correspond exactly to all of them. These facts are as follows:

- The date and place of departure (Pi-Ramses, the fifteenth day of the first month)

- the date and place of arrival (Har Karkom, the first day of the third month) - the date and the exact point of the Red Sea crossing (Suez Bay last day of the

first month) - three intermediate dates (arrival at Succoth the 21st day of the first month;

arrival at Mara on the third day of the second month; arrival at Sin desert the fifteenth day of the second month)

- the various legs of the journey listed in Numbers 33,7-15 (Pi-Rameses, Succoth, Etham, Pi-Hahirot, Marah, Elim, Sea of Reeds, Desert of Sin, Dophkah, Alush, Rephidim, Sinai)

- the speed and method of travel (three days' march at a daily average between 13 and 15 kilometers, plus a fourth day of rest)

- the ancient tracks of the Sinai Peninsula (mainly corresponding to today's roads).

With the help of these facts, the Exodus route can be easily retraced day by day, exactly and with certainty. After the Red Sea crossing the Jews had to stop for the whole morning at the Ayun Musa wells in order to water and refresh the livestock and to replenish their own supply; then they moved off northwards into the Etham desert until they reached the track that took them towards Palestine. It can be ascertained from the

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Bible itself that they started off in a northerly direction: while they hugged the sea coast they saw the corpses of the drowned Egyptian soldiers (Exodus 14,30). These troops were overwhelmed by the incoming tide as they crossed over the sand banks of the Bay of Suez; their bodies were carried to the north. The Jews' initial route was therefore northwards.

The quickest and most direct route to Palestine from the Bay of Suez passes by Bir et-Temada and Bir Assane. Initially the Jews had two alternatives to reach Bir et-Temada: either through the Mitla Pass or through the Jiddi pass. The first of these options would have taken them about twenty kilometers along secondary tracks as far as Bir el-Mura, then a further 45 or so to the Bir el-Tawal oasis and, lastly, a little more than 40 kilometers to Bir-et-Temada. But with the second option they would have had to travel about 40 kilometers, as far as Little Bitter Lake, then another 50 or so to the Bir-el Jiddi oasis, and as many again up to Bir et-Temada.

Both of these routes are more or less in accord with the indications in the Bible; there are, however, certain factors--apart from the fact that it is the most direct and the shortest one--that point us towards the Mitla Pass option. It took them three days to arrive at Mara (Ex. 15,22; Nm.33,8). We have to take into consideration that they must have started off in the afternoon of the first day, and that the verses of Exodus 15,22 and Numbers 33,8 both specify (the only occasion in the whole itinerary ) that to reach Mara they passed "across the desert.” This gives the impression that they traveled along minor tracks, or perhaps no track at all, and so probably covered no more than about twenty kilometers during those three days. Furthermore, in order to reach the Bitter Lakes, the Jews would have had to pass in front of Etham again. This name means "fortress", so it was certainly an Egyptian roadblock with a permanent garrison. These troops most probably did not have war chariots and were in any case too few in number to go chasing after the Jews. They were certainly able to block the way, however, should the Jews dare to pass close.

The biblical Mara, therefore, should be identified with the similar sounding Bir el-Mura, situated about ten kilometres as the crow flies to the north-east of Ayun Musa (a little more then twenty kilometers along the track). As with other areas in the Sinai bearing the same name, Bir el-Mura has wells containing very bitter water, and something approaching a revolt almost broke out as a result (Ex.15,24). From there, the Jews pressed on toward Palestine at a forced rate of march. It took them three days to get from one oasis to the next and at each one they rested for a whole day. These are the stages of the journey referred to in Numbers 33.

They left Bir el-Mura on the morning of the fifth day, crossing the Mitla Pass on the sixth and reaching Bir el-Tawal during the afternoon of the seventh. Bir el-Tawal is identifiable with the biblical Elim, an oasis with twelve wells and seventy palms, where they rested for the whole of the eighth day. They left again on the morning of the ninth and reached the following oasis, Bir et-Temada after the usual three days' march, on the eleventh day of the month. The daily average for this first stretch was 13-14 kilometers. Bir et-Temada is situated at the confluence of a vast system of wadis, which occupies the entire central area of the Sinai peninsula; it presented a vast expanse of marshy ground invaded by reeds, from which the biblically attributed name "Sea of Reeds," is derived.

Following the usual one day’s rest, the Jews set off again on the morning of the thirteenth day, arriving with the full moon at Bir Assane, an oasis which today still maintains its biblical name: the Sin Desert. Exodus 16,1 reports that this was on the fifteenth day of the second month. There are exactly 47 kilometers between the two oases, and therefore the daily average was 15,6 kilometers, fairly high but not

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excessive for that route. They departed Bir Assane on the morning of the seventeenth day.

According to the biblical narrative, the journey required fifteen days between the Sin Desert and Mount Horeb, including three intermediate stops: Dophcah, Alus and Rephidim. The latter was situated no more than 15 kilometres from Mount Horeb, since the distance between the two was covered in a single day (Ex.19,1). We, therefore, have a total of ten days' march, during which the Jews could not have covered more than 150 kilometres. On the basis of these limiting factors there could be no alternative: they must have followed the track to Kuseima. After three days' march at the approximate daily average of 12 kilometers they reached the oasis of Bir el-Hadira, the biblical Dophcah, where they remained for the entire twentieth day.

On the morning of the twenty-first day of the second month, they set off from Bir el-Hadira. Toward the end of the following day they reached a fork: the north-east track goes on to Kuseima and Palestine; on the right, to the south-east, there is a ten-kilometer secondary track to Darb-el-Aza, the high road that descends directly to Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba. The Jews turned right and that same evening set up camp along the Darb-el-Aza, at Bir Sheida.

They were headed to Palestine, so this choice may seem inexplicable and illogical. But some simple considerations make it clear that they had no alternative--entering Palestine would have meant suicide. Palestine was by no means uninhabitated. On the contrary, as reported by those explorers who accompanied Joshua a year later, there were many prosperous and large populations with professional armies, war chariots and cities surrounded by fortified walls (Nm.13,33; Dt. 1,28).

The Jews were shepherds, who had lived until then under the protection of the Egyptian army. They had no experience in war, they had no army, and no weapons other than knives used for butchering their animals. They had no unified state organization, still being split into autonomous tribes. They did not even have a leader, since Moses at that time was considered only a "guide,” without any definite authority. Having with them all their women, children, cattle, gold and other precious goods, they represented an irresistible attraction for looters, thieves, etc. (Nm.14,3; Dt.1,39). In these circumstances they had not the slightest hope of occupying any territory in Palestine, something of which the Jewish elders must have been perfectly aware. Therefore, they were forced to take refuge in some isolated and safe area where they could take the time necessary to remedy their serious organizational deficiencies. Moses had lived for a long period in that very area of Mount Horeb and he knew it very well. He knew, therefore, where they would find a well-hidden valley in the desert, difficult to access and easily defended.

They proceeded down the Darb-el-Aza during the whole of the twenty-third day of the month. It was an easy march with many wells along the way and they made better going than usual. They had to travel a little less than 20 kilometers, reaching Riyash, the biblical Alus, situated on the bed of a wadi that still keeps its ancient name: Lussan. They departed Riyash on the morning of the twenty-fifth day and at once left the Darb-el-Aza, moving into the Paran Desert in the direction of Har Karkom. They traveled about forty kilometres at a daily average of 14, and in the afternoon of the twenty-seventh day of the second month they arrived at Beer Karkom--a locality seven kilometres from Har karkom, which Dr. Anati, on the basis of significant archaeological evidence, has identified with the biblical Rephidim.

The following day the Jews sustained their "baptism of fire," clashing with a local tribe of Amalekites. The battle lasted until the evening (Ex.17,8-13). It is symptomatic that the Jews should be attacked for the first time at that very spot. The main track was

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in a sense a free zone; any person had the right to use it. But the moment the Jews moved off it and turned onto a local track, they provoked the immediate reaction of the population owning that entire territory. This reaction was predictable and was in fact foreseen by Moses, who upon arriving at Rephidim that same evening had made arrangements for the following day’s battle, placing Joshua at the head of the Jewish force (Ex.17,9).

The Amalekites who attacked the Jews owned an area indicated in the Bible as the "Paran Desert," which presumably stretched from Beer Karkom as far as Ein-Kudeirat in the Cadesh area. These people were certainly bedouins, semi-nomadic, much less numerous than the Jews, and possessed only light weapons with no professional army. The great difficulty Joshua had in overcoming them was a clear indication of the Jews' lack at that time of a war fighting capability; they would need a long period of preparation and organization before becoming capable of attacking those peoples inhabiting Palestine who were by far more numerous and warlike than the Jews.

The hard-won victory over the Amalekites, who were completely wiped out (Ex.17,13), enabled Israel, on the twenty-eighth day of the second month, to take over a territory which, although a desert area and small, constituted a secure base in which they could become organized for the next conquest without being disturbed.

The two days following the battle were spent burying the dead, medicating the wounded, and dividing the spoils of the vanquished. It was the one and only stop, after the Red Sea crossing, at which the Jews stayed for more than one day. On the first day of the third month, they left Rephidim and in the afternoon they set up camp on a vast plain at the foot of the Holy Mountain. They stayed there for a whole year, during which Moses went from being a simple guide, to become the undisputed head of the "Chosen People" and changed the course of History.

Synthesized below is the entire itinerary of the Exodus, showing the various legs of the journey, the duration of each march and the stops with the respective dates (the dates emphasized are those reported in the Bible or confirmed as certain - see fig. 14):

List of legs of journey day of stop day of duration arrival over departure of journey

1st Month 1. Pi-Ramsess 15th 7 d2. Succoth 21st 2 24th 3 d3. Etham (Suez?) 26th 2 29th 1/2 d4. Pi-Hahirot (Suez Bay) 29th 1/2 29th 3 h Red Sea Crossing 29th (Night) 3 d

2nd Month 5. Mara (Bir el-Mura) 3rd 1 5th 3 d6. Elim (Bir et-Tawal) 7th 1 9th 3 d7. Sea of Reeds (Bir et-Temada)11th 1 13th 3 d8. Sin Desert (Bir Assane) 15(Ex.16.1) 1 17th 3 d9. Dopcah (Bir el-Hadira) 19th 1 21st 3 d10. Alus (Riyash) 23rd 1 25th 3 d

3rd Month11. Rephidim (Beer Karkom) 27th 3 1st 1 d12 Horeb (Har Karkom) 1st (Ex.19.1)

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