But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.
Led the people about ... This wondrous expanse of water is a gulf of the Indian Ocean. It was called in Hebrew х yam (H3220) cuwp (H5488)] 'the weedy sea,' from the forest of marine plants with which it abounds. But the name of the Red Sea is not so easily traced. Some think it was given rein its contiguity to the countries of Edom (red), others derive it from its coral rocks, while a third class ascribe the origin of the name to an extremely red appearance of the water in some parts, caused by a numberless multitude of small seaweeds (see the note at Exodus 15:4). This sea, at its northern extremity, separates into two smaller inlets-the eastern called anciently the Elanitic Gulf, now the Gulf of Akaba; and the western, the Heroopolite Gulf, now the Gulf of Suez, which, there can be no doubt, extended much more to the north anciently than it does now. It was toward the latter the Israelites marched. The children of Israel went up harnessed, х wachªmushiym (H2571)]. This word, which is of doubtful etymology, has been variously interpreted. It is of rare occurrence, being found only four times in the Old Testament (Joshua 1:14; Joshua 4:12; Judges 7:11; Jeremiah 46:4). [In the first three of these passages it is rendered in our version "armed;" so Aquila, enooplismenoi; Symmachus, kathooplismenoi; Vulgate, armati; and on the hypothesis of this being the only correct translation, an objection has recently been raised against the historical credibility of this narrative.] 'It is impossible,' says Colenso, 'that a grossly oppressed and enslaved people could be universally furnished with military weapons.'
Those, however, who take the word as denoting armour, do not suppose that the Israelites were accoutred as a modern army: the very idea of comparing such a horde to a disciplined and fully equipped body of troops is quite preposterous. A few or many might be armed; which could be the more easily done as the armour used in that age was simple, consisting of a bow and arrows, a bull's hide shield, a sling, a heavy club, etc. (see Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egypt.') That a number, though not all of them, might be equipped with arms of this sort-some having a spear, others a club received among the parting gifts of the Egyptians-is rendered probable from the fact, that Eastern people, on the eve of undertaking a journey, are exceedingly desirous to be furnished with means of personal defense. 'I have often been struck,' says Porter, 'when residing in Syria, with the intense eagerness of every man about to set out on a journey to obtain a good supply of arms. If he has none himself, he will beg, borrow or steal them.'
But the context does not, in any of the four passages where the word chamushim occurs, necessarily point to 'armed' as the only admissible meaning of the term; and it is a striking evidence of the obscurity of its import that the Septuagint has translated it by euzoonoi, 'well girt for a journey,' in Joshua 1:14; and dieskeuasmenoi 'marshalled,' 'ranged in order,' in Joshua 4:1-24:l2 .
In the passage before us the Septuagint gives a totally different meaning to the word. Considering it as coming from х chaameesh (H2568)], five, that version translates it: pemptee genea, in the fifth generation; while others, who agree in this derivation of the word, render it variously: Ewald-after the fathers, by five divisions-namely, 'the van, the center, the rear, with two flank squadrons, under five presiding officers, according to the usages of all large caravans;' others, 'five in a rank' (as in the margin of the English Bible); 'every one with five children' (Targum of Jonathan), and through a slight change of the vowels, so as to make [hamishiym] 'by fifties' (the number of a military company in the times of the monarchy, 2 Kings 1:9; 2 Kings 1:11; 2 Kings 1:13), as in the Septuagint (Judges 7:11), en tee parembolee. Grotius, following the Jewish writer Kimchi, who derives chªmushiym (H2571) from х chomesh (H2570)], the belly, the abdomen, translates, 'the children of Israel went up girt under the fifth rib.' [Gesenius, taking it as the passive participle of the verb chaamash (H2571), makes it here 'fierce, active, eager, brave in battle.' Knobel, tracing it to an Arabic root which signifies to 'arrange,' renders it, 'went up' in organized bands. Furst ('Lex.') collects all these meanings, accincti, parati, instructi, armati, as philologically correct: while Rosenmuller, by comparing Numbers 32:32 with Joshua 1:14, and Joshua 4:12 with 5:13, showing that chªmushiym (H2571) is used as synonymous with chªuw`iym, 'girt about the loins,' regards it as equivalent to the general phrase, 'equipped,' prepared for travel.']
This last interpretation is by most modern commentators, and in most modern versions, preferred to all others, not only as yielding a sense in unison with the context of all the passages where the word occurs, but peculiarly appropriate in the verse before us, as a record that the Israelites set out on their march in the manner enjoined on them (Exodus 12:10). In whatever way they were arranged, the spectacle of such a mighty and motley multitude must have presented an imposing appearance, and its orderly progress could have been effected only by the superintending influence of God.