THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT TO THE RED SEA PART ONE! All scriptures are taken from

1. THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT TO THE RED SEA PART ONE! All scriptures are taken from A New English Translation by Fred Coulter unless otherwise noted. Revised April 11th, 2012

2. What is our focus to be during the Days of Unleavened Bread beginning with the Night to be much observed at the beginning of 15th Day of the month of Nisan (Abib)? Many have puzzled over this in the past and perhaps many still do. The answer is very clear!

3. Exodus 12:41-42, “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed to the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations.

4. “Observe” means “to see or notice something, especially while watching carefully”. God wants us to “observe” or reflect on the incredible miracles He performed in dealing with the Egyptians and in bringing Israel out of slavery in Egypt!

5. Exodus 13:3, And Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for the LORD brought you out from this place by the strength of His hand. There shall be no leavened bread eaten.

6. Our making an effort to remember and learn more of the events of the Exodus each year will ensure that we do not forget the magnitude of God’s power in dealing with His people and will enable us to better understand that the same power is available to aid us when necessary, if we ask!

7. Eating Unleavened Bread for seven days helps point us to the events of the Exodus. It is a daily reminder that we can trust our Father to look after our best interest as He delivers us from our slavery to our human nature, if we ask Him to! And to know that, no matter what happens to us in this life, if we are determined to serve Him, He will give us eternal life at the resurrection!

8. Deuteronomy 16:1, “Keep the month of Abib, and observe the Passover to the Lord your God. For in the month of Abib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Israel did not begin to leave Egypt until Sundown at the beginning of Nisan 15!

9. The events of that night and the following daysare to be remembered! Deuteronomy 16:2-4, “And you shall therefore sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord shall choose to place His name there.

10. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day in which you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

11. And there shall be no leaven seen with you in all your borders for seven days. Nor shall any of the flesh which you sacrifice the first day at sunset remain all night until morning.” The Lamb’s remains had to be burned during the night!

12. The Days of Unleavened Bread, beginning with the Night to be much observed are a separate Feast from the Passover and are an observance of the great works or miracles God performed in bringing the Israelites out of slavery in the land of Egypt.

13. Exodus 13:9-10, And it shall be a sign to you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD'S law may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this law in its season from year to year.

14. Exodus 12:35, And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses. And they asked for articles of silver, and articles of gold, and clothing from the Egyptians. They received their “wages” for their Labour and were reasonably well off and equipped when they left Egypt!

15. Israel spent the daylight portion of the 14th of Nisan collecting their “back wages” (spoils) from the Egyptians, taking their personal belongings and making their way from their respective homes to Rameses which was their “forming-up place” for the march out of Egypt.

16. They Israelite may have formed up into their respective clans or tribes for the march. Exodus 12:36-38, And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, and they granted their request, and they stripped the Egyptians.

17. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from little ones. And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks and herds, very much livestock.

18. Moses, an experienced military commander, had given instructions to the people to assemble at Rameses in their family or tribal groups in preparation for the march to the Red Sea.

19. The Exodus from Egypt did not begin on the 14th of Nisan but began after sundown or the beginning of the 15th day of Nisan.

20. Exodus 13:17-18, And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines(road name) although that was near, for God said, "Lest the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt".

21. But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea (road name). And the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. Notice Israel had weapons with them! Which road was known as “the way of the Red Sea”?

22. The next slide, taken from an old Worldwide Church of God publication, illustrates the route of the Exodus beginning at Rameses and along the Way of the Red Sea running along the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez. Notice the name “Wilderness of Etham”

23. .

24. Why is the Red Sea called the Red Sea? Is it really Red? Is it another name for the Sea of Reeds as it is called in some translations? The following writing explains the origin of the name Red Sea.

25. March 18th. -- We sailed from Bahia. A few days afterwards, when not far distant from the Abrolhos Islets (Western Australian coast), my; attention was called to a reddish-brown appearance in the sea. The whole surface of the water, as it appeared under a weak lens, seemed as if covered by chopped bits of hay, with their ends jagged. These are minute cylindrical confervae (type of algae), in bundles or rafts of from twenty to sixty in each.

26. Mr. Berkeley informs me that they are the same species (Trichodesmium erythraeum) with that found over large spaces in the Red Sea, and whence its name of Red Sea is derived. Charles Darwin

27. Exodus 13:20, And they moved from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. The next slide shows a location named Etham by the person who created the map. It seems more likely the name Etham pertains to the whole area and they camped “at the edge of the wilderness of Etham”.

28. Three stops on the way to the Red Sea Exodus 13:20, 14:2

29. NOTE: In locating the crossing point of the Red Sea, the crossing point needs to be possible, logical and harmonize with scripture. For example, crossing a shallow freshwater lake like the Bitter Lakes, where winds merely blew the water away, does not explain how the Egyptian army drowned.

30. On the other hand, a crossing through the centre of the Gulf of Suez where the water is often 1,800 meters (1.12 miles) deep easily explains the drowning of the army, but creates a problem in actually getting one million men, women, children and livestock to negotiate the steep 60 degree downward slope to the bottom almost a mile deep, then back up the other equally steep side.

31. All things considered, the Straits of Tiran in the Gulf of Aqaba illustrated on the next slide, seem the best candidate for the crossing point. The depth of water in the area they could have crossed is relatively shallow at 250 to 300 metres yet deep enough to drown an army. The greatest depth shown in this area is 903 metres, quite a difference with the 1800 metres in depth across the Gulf of Suez!

33. There is one other natural land bridge that provides the only other possible crossing site in the Gulf of Aqaba which we will examine later. The Gulf of Aqaba is a very deep channel of water ranging from 800-1800 meters in the middle. However at the Straits of Tiran, there is also a natural land bridge so the deepest point the Israelites would encounter is only 366 meters.

34. The crossing at the Straits of Tiran is 18 km long and a natural land bridge provides for an 800 meters wide pathway the full distance of the crossing. The Straits of Tiran have a shallow coral reef in the middle with a one way shipping lane on either side.

35. From modern nautical charts, we can see that the eastern "Enterprise Passage" is 205 meters deep and 800 meters wide and the western "Grafton Passage" is only 70 meters deep and 800 meters wide.

37. A diver need go only 13 meters at deepest point on top of Jackson’s Reef from the surface. Coral growth over the last 3,500 years since the miraculous crossing means that we cannot really know exactlywhat the sea floor looked like back then.

38. For example, as the coral grew up and came to the surface, the tides flowing around the coral would dig a natural channel deeper on the north and south ends of the reef where all the water would flow around.

39. Gradually, the coral reefs would act like a partial dam over the center 80% of the strait. This is a very realistic scenario and means that 3,500 years ago, the coral was under water and therefore the tides would not dig the deep channel at either end of the reef where it is today.

40. But even with the depths we see today, it causes no problems for the exodus crossing. The slope of descent is far more important than the depth. The Straits of Tiran, as we see them today pose absolutely no problem for a crossing by a million people since the slope is shallow and the depth is no more than 600 feet. (205 meters).

41. So 3,500 years ago the 18 km crossing point at the Straits of Tiran would likely have been deeper than it is now over the coral reef and shallower than it is now in the two shipping channels.

42. In other words, 3,500 years ago it may have been a uniform depth of between 100 and 200 meters for the entire 18 km . A very easy crossing indeed. The incline across the Enterprise Passage on the west side of Gordon Reef is easy even today to cross.

43. There is one other natural land bridge that provides the only other possible crossing site in the Gulf of Aqaba that is adjacent to Nuweiba. This is not likely the crossing point, since the depths there reach 765 meters (2,300 Ft.) and with much steeper slopes.

45. Nuweiba is also in the middle of a mountain range making it difficult to access for the Israelites. It doesn’t have easy continuous access back to Goshen like the Straits of Tiran offer. It does too good a job of "shutting them up on the wilderness" since there is a very narrow and long canyon through the mountains they needed to cross to even get to the shore at Nuweiba.

46. Nuweiba is therefore a distant second choice to the Straits of Tiran for the location of the Red Sea crossing. The next slide shows how passage is severely restricted or non-existent for a large body of people to travel north along the west side of the Gulf of Aqaba. This slide is a satellite photograph of the Sinai Peninsula, a desert bounded by the Red Sea.  The Gulf of Suez is to the left and the Gulf of Aqaba is to the right.

48. Notice the location of a Migdol or fortified watch tower at the junction of three main bodies of water, the Gulf of Suez, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba on the next slide. Notice the name Succoth on the map.

49. Three stops on the way to the Red Sea Exodus 13:20, 14:2

50. Scriptures which mention Succoth: Exodus 12:37: “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from the little ones."