And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, had dismissed them and sent them out of the country, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, which would have been the shortest, the most direct route; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. The Israelites, disheartened and weakened by a life of servitude, were at that time in no condition to cope with the warlike Philistines.
Related Commentaries of Exodus 13:17
Exodus 13:17
17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: