Exodus 13:17-22
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near.
For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”
18 But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.
21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
In Exodus 12:30 it is written:... there was a great cry in Egypt.
To it corresponds the Ipuwer Papyrus 3:14:
It is groaning that is throughout the land, mingled with lamentations.The statues of the gods fell and broke in pieces: "this night... against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment" (Exodus 12:12).
A book by Artapanus, no longer exists, which quoted some unknown ancient source and which in its turn was quoted by Eusebius, tells of "hail and earthquake by night [of the last plague], so that those who fled from the earthquake were killed by the hail, and those who sought shelter from the hail were destroyed by the earthquake. And at that time all the houses fell in, and most of the temples."
Revolt and Flight
The description of disturbances in the Papyrus Ipuwer, when compared with the scriptural narrative, gives a strong impression that both sources relate the very same events.
It is natural to look for mention of revolt among the population, of a flight of wretched slaves from this country visited by disaster, and of a cataclysm in which the pharaoh perished.
Although in the mutilated papyrus there is no explicit reference to the Israelites or their leaders, three facts are clearly described as consequences of the upheaval:
The wretched or the poor men fled;
The Pharaoh perished under unusual circumstances....
PAPYRUS 4:2 Forsooth, great and small say: I wish I might die.
5:14f. Would that there might be an end of men, no conception, no birth! Oh, that the earth would cease from noise, and tumult be no more!
The escaped slaves hurried across the border of the country. By day, a column of smoke went before them in the sky; by night it was a pillar of fire.
EXODUS 13:21 ... by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.
After the first manifestations of the protracted cataclysm, the Egyptians tried to bring order into the land. They traced the route of the escaped slaves. The wanderers became "entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in" (Exodus 14:3).
PAPYRUS 7:1 Behold, the fire has mounted up on high. Its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land.
The wanderers turned to the sea, they stood at Pi-ha-Khiroth. "The Egyptians pursued after them. The Egyptians marched after them." A hurricane blew all the night and the sea fled.
In a great avalanche of water "the sea returned to his strength", and "the Egyptians fled against it". The sea engulfed the chariots and the horsemen, the pharaoh and all his host.
Exodus 14:1-4
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “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. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
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Professor of Archaeology Adam Zertal, University of Haifa, has undergone a transformation of faith. From finding a High Place.
Zertal believes this is the altar the Bible Moses wrote saying build on Mount Ebal, after the Israelites arrived in the promised land. This is where land is given among the 12 tribes, and where the Israelites “became a people,” as the Old Testament puts it.
“We are digging up Bible stories!” Adam Zertal commented: “We discovered this place, all covered with stones, in April 1980. At that time I never dreamed we were dealing with the altar because I was taught in Tel Aviv University — where anti-Biblical tendencies say theories are untrue, and Biblical accounts were written later. I didn't even know of the story of the Joshua's altar. But we surveyed every meter of the site, and in the course of nine years of excavation, we discovered an ancient structure with no parallels to anything we had seen before.”
Carbon dating of artifacts play out.
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17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near.
For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”
18 But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.