And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.
They took their journey from Succoth - (see the notes at Exodus 12:37; also at Leviticus 23:43; Numbers 33:5-6).
And encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness - [Septuagint, Othoom para teen ereemon. Jablonsky considers Etham an old Egyptian word, ATIOM, signifying 'boundary or border of the sea'-the name implying what, in the opinion of many travelers, is indisputably established, that the gulf extended anciently much further to the north, 20 or 30 miles to the salt marsh (Lord Valentia's 'Travels'). But others, and those acute scientific explorers, are doubtful 'whether the basin of the Bitter Lakes formed a prolongation of the gulf of the Red Sea, or was covered with brackish water, separated from the Red Sea, as now, by a tract of higher ground, through which the Israelites advanced' (Robinson's 'Bib. Research.,' vol. 1: pp. 79,80). This place is supposed by the most intelligent travelers to be the modern Ajrud, where is a watering-place, and which is the third stage of the pilgrim caravans to Mecca. 'It is remarkable that either of the different routes eastward from Heliopolis, or southward from Heroopolis, equally admit of Ajrud being Etham. It Isaiah 12 miles northwest from Suez, and is literally on the edge of the desert,' ('Pict. Bib.')
But Robinson doubts this identification, although generally entertained. 'The wilderness' referred to is called Shur (Exodus 15:22), and Etham (Numbers 33:8). The place of encampment was apparently situated at the point 'from which,' as Robinson remarks, 'the direct course of the Israelites would have led them around the present head of the gulf, and along its eastern side,' Assuming, as we have done, that Goshen was identical with the modern province of Esh-Shurkiyeh (Genesis 45:10), in the northeastern portion of the Delta, bordering on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, and that Rameses stood on the site occupied by the city afterward called Heroopolis (Abu-Keisheid), the exodial route of the Israelites-from whatever district of Goshen the different tribes had come-would be through Rameses, as the general rendezvous to the south eastward along the valley of the ancient canal to the head of the Arabian Gulf.
This view of Dr. Robinson has been warmly espoused by Hengstenberg, on the ground that the journey to the Red Sea, by the route specified, could be accomplished in three days. But the Scripture narrative does not necessarily imply that the distance was traversed within that brief space of time. It speaks only of three encampments, Rameses, Succoth, and Etham; and Von Ranmer ('Der zug der Israeliten aus AEgypten nach Canaan,' Leipzig, 1837) has shown, by a reference to Numbers 10:33; Numbers 33:15-16), that a marked distinction is made by the sacred historian between days' journeys and successive stages or halting places. But the theory of Robinson, though supported by most modern expositors and critics, is not universally acquiesced in.
There are some writers of eminence who maintain that Goshen was situated on the Heliopolitan nome, and extended in a south direction on the Pelusiac arm of the Nile; so that they look for the site of Rameses in the neighbourhood of On (Heliopolis). There are two theories as to the route of the Israelites from that point to the sea.
The first, that which was broached by Father Sicard, a Jesuit missionary ('Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses,' tom. 3:, p. 325), and supported by Dr. Wilson ('Lands of the Bible,' vol. 1:, pp. 117-132), supposes Rameses to have been at Basantin, and that the route to the sea was through Wady Ramliyah, and its eastern continuation the valley of Bedeah, or Wady Tawarik, which also bears the Arabic name of Wady Musa. On this hypothesis the place of muster was opposite Memphis, the supposed capital of Pharaoh; and the way would necessitate the Israelites to round the mountain range of the Mukattem at the time, when it might well be supposed that the most direct route would be chosen by a skillful and able leader, who would be anxious to get out of Egypt as speedily as possible. Besides, the entire route would be through mountain defiles, which are in many parts so narrow and so frequently blocked up, that it must have been extremely difficult, if not almost impracticable, for such a host as that of the Israelites to have penetrated the extent of Wady Ramliyah in a moderate time.
The second hypothesis is that of Niebuhr-that Birket-el-Haj-the modern rendezvous of Mohammedan pilgrims on the eve of setting out for Suez-was probably Succoth, the place of booths; and consequently that the Israelites moved in an eastward direction, keeping north of the Mukattem hills until they came to Bir-Suweiss, or to Ajrud. To the west of Suez, and extending north to Ajrud, is a hard gravel plain which would afford a most suitable space for the encampment of the Israelites. This course, which is an intermediate transit between the northern route suggested by Dr. Robinson, and the southern one proposed by Sicard, was adopted as the most convenient and the most direct by Burckhardt, and has been more recently supported by Von Raumer ('Beitrage zur Biblischen Geographie,' Leipzig, 1843), and by the learned traveller and Biblical critic, Tischendorf, in his able and most comprehensive treatise ('De Israelitarum per Mare Rubrum Transitu,' Lipsiae, 1847).
The Hebrew word х hamidbaar (H4057)], the wilderness, is applied not merely to barren deserts, but to those vast and uncultivated grassy steppes which are not regularly inhabited, and which furnish pasturage to the flocks, not only of rude and nomadic tribes, but of more civilized nations. If the Israelites started from Heroopolis, the way would be through a district well irrigated, and consequently abounding with verdure-which is a sufficient answer to the question, Where was food to be obtained for the flocks and herds? If they started from Basantin, and journeyed by the Wady Badiyah, they would be at no loss for forage to their cattle; because Sicard describes the ground as covered with tamarisk, broom, clover, tufts of brushwood, besides every other variety of odoriferous plant and herb proper for pasturage. Or if they went by the middle course, from Cairo to Suez, although there is not one continuous vale, there are several small vales connected, in which there are one or two wells, and patches of verdure here and there. These circumstances afford a sufficient answer to the cavil, that the flocks and herds could not obtain food in any part of the desert.