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A paper that discusses the route of the Exodus.
Citation preview
ROUTE OF THE EXODUS
__________________
A Paper
Presented to
Dr. Gregory Smith
The College at Southwestern
__________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for BIB1203 - A
__________________
by
Wes Terry
April 1 2008
ROUTE OF THE EXODUS
The book of Exodus contains a narrative which illustrates God bringing Israel
out of Egyptian captivity and into the Promise Land. It is a fascinating retelling of history
and contains several references to geographical landmarks which shed light on the
location of the Exodus as told in the Biblical text. However, there are sections of the
Exodus narrative that are not so geographically clear. One of those areas is the route of
the Exodus. The evidence which has been interpreted has led scholars to divide the route
of the Exodus into three separate possibilities: the northern route, the southern route, and
a middle route. A brief summary of each route and glimpse of the evidence for the
making of these theories will show why studying such a topic is important to Biblical
studies and relevant beyond the classroom.
A Brief Summary of the Routes
The first route to be discussed will be the northern route. This would be the
most direct route and has been commonly called the Via Maris, “the way of the sea,”
because it skirts along the Mediterranean.1 The Egyptians named the road, “The Way of
Horus,” but Scripture calls it “The Way of the Land of the Philistines,2” and instructs the
Israelites that this is the one route they should not take. For this reason, the northern route
would be an unlikely one. The Via Maris may have been the most direct route to Canaan
1Charles F. Pfeiffer, Egypt and the Exodus (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964), 51.
2Exodus 13:17-18. All Scripture quotations will be from the ESV
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but to travel on it would be to travel oppositely the will and direction God.3
The second route is known as the “Way of Shur.” Egyptians had built a wall at
their eastern frontier to control caravan traffic and Shur (a name meaning wall) was most
likely the name of the town which grew up around that established check point.
The third route, also known as the southern route, is the traditional response to
the route of the Exodus and can be seen in two possible forms in the map below.4 This
route submits that the Israelites
crossed the Red Sea at the Gulf of
Suez and then wondered south to
Mt. Sinai and then back
northward to Canaan.
Geographical land
marks that are given in the
biblical narrative shed some light
on where the Israelites may have
been during parts of their journey.
They made stops at places such as
Succoth and Etham. Exodus 14:1-2 shows God giving Moses these specific instructions,
“Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between
Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon, you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.” It is
assumed that Pihahiroth, Migdol and Baal-zephon in these verses have Semitic names
(‘mouth of the channels’, ‘tower’, ‘lord of the north’) and probably laid on or near the
3Louis F. Hartman, "Exodus," in Dictionary of the Bible, 2nd ed.
4Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1st ed., s.v. "Exodus."
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coast of the Mediterranean to the east of the Delta.5
Succoth and Etham remain uncertainties, despite the many attempts to nail
down a location. That they were on the outskirts of the wilderness (Exodus 13:18)
implies that they were located in the east-southeasterly direction of Egypt. In the words
of John Durham, “The Israelites were headed out of Egypt by as direct as possible a route
which would not offer an armed resistance.”6
In dealing with different theories for the route of the Exodus one will also have
to deal with the location of the Red Sea crossing. Each route proposes a different
location. Some will say that since the word used for Red Sea can also be translated Sea of
Reeds it would be reconcilable that the Israelites crossed a marshy set of wetlands or a
tidal swamp. Though elaborate and textually critical, this theory is irreconcilable with the
Biblical text.
Exodus 14:22 states that the sea was made dry land and that the waters were
like a “wall” on their right and on their left. This goes to show that the actual crossing
place would need to be either at the southern end of the Bitter Lakes or the northern end
of the Red Sea. It could not be at Lakes Ballah, Timsah, Menzaleh, or the one suggestion
that it was at the sandy strip of land that separates Lake Sirbonis from the Mediterranean.7
Those who wish to deny the miraculous by assuming that the strong east wind in Exodus
14:21 merely acted as an evaporative agent on the already low tide, allowing the
5William Johnstone, Matters Historical: Clearing the Ground, in Genesis and Exodus, (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 198.
6John Durham, Word Biblical Commentary: Exodus (Waco: Word Incorporated, 1987), 186.
7Peter H. Davids Walter C. Kaiser Jr. et al., Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press Academic, 1996), 145.
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Israelites to cross over a tidal basin, would be out of bounds in the estimation of this
author.
Likewise, in addition to the uncertainty of the Red Sea crossing, debatable
evidence on the route of the exodus also allows room for the location of Mount Sinai.
Most say Mount Sinai was located at Jebel-Musa, in the modern Sinai Peninsula, while
others claim a Midianite (northwest Saudi Arabian) location for Mount Sinai. Each
proposal is conditional to how one interprets the evidence (both Biblical and non-biblical
sources) and the route by which one accepts as most probable. These very particularities
have sadly led many to doubt the text as historically reliable and they have thus lost sight
of the very reason Moses wrote the account the way he did.
This author affirms the statement made by scholar Douglas Stuart who states
that “[o]ur ignorance of the exact modern locations for places mentioned in Exodus does
not in itself change either the message of the book or the confidence we may have in its
historical reliability.”8 Exodus was written by Moses to communicate a message! While
archaeological evidence is helpful in understanding the text, it does not supersede the
theological implications that were aimed at the original audience. Further, the lack of
such evidence does not make the Bible any less truthful or reliable.
Significance of the Route of the Exodus
The Exodus is an extremely important event. Historically and theologically this
is the most important event in the Old Testament. Minus the Wisdom Literature, Yahweh
is constantly referred to as “the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, out of
the house of bondage.” This event was at the forefront of Israel’s mind and she celebrated
8Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus: The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006), 24.
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God’s mighty redemptive act in her creeds and in her worship.9
The prophets often reminded Israel that election and covenant were closely
related to the Exodus. The Exodus was to Israel what the death and resurrection of Christ
was to Christians in the New Testament.10 The Exodus sheds a great amount of light on
the character of God and the how he delivers his people from bondage. God’s way is not
always practical and, often times, is in total contradiction to what man would do when
left to himself. However, in the end, God’s way is always the best way and is fashioned
so that it will most glorify his holy name.
The route of the exodus is not definitive. It may never be. But, may the reader
ponder these words as he determines the significance of the route from the actual event of
the Exodus.
“What the cross of Christ is to the Christian, the exodus was to the Israelite: yet we know neither the exact date nor the exact place of the crucifixion, any more than Israel knew the exact date or location of Sinai. The very existence of these problems in our minds only shows that we are scientifically-minded Westerners.”11
Conclusion
If one were to leave from point A and travel to point B there are most often
several ways to get there. The significance of the event is whether or not the individual
who is traveling actually arrives at his location. This was the focus of Moses as he wrote
the Exodus account. However, if the individual traveling from point A to point B were to
lose his wallet along the way it would be most beneficial to know what route he took on
his trip so that the wallet could be recovered!
9Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1st ed., s.v. "Exodus."
10Ibid.
11R. Allen Cole, Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 16.
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The Exodus route may never be fully known but the search of the correct route
is not a vain one. Archaeological evidence is always helpful in giving background
information to the text of the Bible. Knowing the route of the Exodus would help
archaeologists know where to dig. So, is the Route of the Exodus an essential to the faith?
No. Is it worth splitting fellowship with another Christian brother? No. Is it worth the
hard toil of intelligent archaeologists as they pursue to shed as much light on the Biblical
text as possible? Yes, it most assuredly is.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cole, Allen R. Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973.
Durham, John. Word Biblical Commentary: Exodus. Waco: Word Incorporated, 1987.
Johnstone, William. Matters Historical: Clearing the Ground. In Genesis and Exodus. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001.
Kaiser, Walter C., Peter H. Davids, F.F. Bruce, & Manfred T. Brauch. Hard Sayings of the Bible. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press Academic, 1996.
Pfeiffer, Charles F. Egypt and the Exodus. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964.
Stuart, Douglas K. Exodus: The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006.
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