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

1

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."

2

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.

3

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.

4

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.

5

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.

6

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.

7