Bible Discussion Thread

Baal Zephon is on an island in the Straits of Tiran. It is a mountain worship center for Baal Zephon-the god of sea and storms. Migdol is a mountain watchtower west of these straits where Egyptians scouted out the land below. Along the western shore of the Sinai peninsula is a wide sandy shoreline that was used as a highway.

So, the archeological sites I googled think that Pi Hahiroth was between the Migdol tower and the Straits of Tiran (Southeast tip of Sinai peninsula). They think that Etham a plain was north of Pi Hahiroth that dead ended with mountains all around and to the shoreline. the only way out was to retrace their steps south. The Red Sea has 2 arms. The western arm is the Gulf of Suez and the eastern arm is the Gulf of Aqaba. The sea around the southern tip of the peninsula is also called the Red Sea. So, these two archeological sites came to the same conclusion about the location of these named places and the most plausible place for the Red Sea crossing.

The Israelites traveled day and night, God knew what Pharaoh would be thinking. It seems that spies must have sent back word of the Israelites meeting up with a dead end at Etham.

The Israelites had backtracked to the mouth of a bay at the southern tip of Mt. Sinai facing the island where Baal Zephon was. The other side of the strait was Midian. There is a natural raised land bridge at this strait crossing from one side to the other coastline. There are other theories about the route and location of this point. One could read up on it to see what has been researched on this topic.

Pharaoh heard that the Israelites were hemmed in. He thought that they must have been traveling without knowledge of the land and so got in a place where he could overtake them.

The Israelites did not know about this peninsula, but Moses did. More than that, God knew every hill, valley, stream, etc. He directed them with the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. When the pillar stopped, they camped.