Kebir,a village in the centre of the valley of Tumeilat
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with remains of antiquity in its vicinity. The other is probably represented by Tell Ramsis, a quadrangular mound on an arm of the Nile opposite the modem vil- lage of Belbeis, located on the Damietta branch of the railway, about seventeen miles south-west of the former place. The canal which conveys the sweet water of the Nile from Cairo to Suez passes through both these villages, parallel with the railway, by way of Ismailia, pursuing very nearly the same line as the ancient one constructed for the same purpose, but choked up and obliterated for many centuries. By this route small craft, during the Roman period and the Middle Ages, used to furnish a communication with the market at Memphis for the citizens of Clysma, which was situ- ated in the immediate vicinity of Suez, as traces of the name still attest. The Suez Canal, which was opened in 18G9 for navigation between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, has made this neighborhood public to thousands of persons travelling across the isthmus to India and China, as large steamers sail directly through it from European ports to these distant lands. Those who wish to see more of Egypt can disembark at Alex- andria, take the cars for Cairo, and thence back by way of Ismailia, intercepting their vessel again at Suez. Thus most of the spots rendered memorable by the ex- odus of the Israelites have been rapidly seen, at least from a distance, by multitudes of passengers on their way to and from the more distant East. The abrupt contact of modern improvements with these ancient scenes is calculated, perhaps, to dissipate some of the romantic haze which the imagination of Bible-readers usually throws around them, but deepens rather than lessens their interest by the familiarity of approach.
After these preliminaries, we are prepared to follow the Hebrews in their exit from the land of their bond- age. On the eve of the Passover, corresponding to our Easter, they had rendezvoused, by divine appointment, at Rameses. Memphis, the capital, was forty miles dis- tant, and hence Moses's final interview with Pharaoh,
when the Israelitish leader uttered the ominous words, " Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more," must have taken place at some nearer point. The sacred meal was eaten in haste, the destroying an- gel at midnight smote all the first -born, and by the morning light the Israelitish host were on their march. As it is expressly stated that "Cod led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, . . . but by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea" (not the desert between Cairo and Suez, as Palmer thinks [Sinai from the Monuments, p. 144], but the great desert of et-Tih if- self), we are sure that they took the direct south-easterly route towards the head of the Gulf of Suez, doubtless corresponding substantially with the modern pilgrim road. This way would lead them out of the fertile val- ley of Goshen across a rolling gravelly plain between low hills of shifting sand the whole distance. There was no obstruction to their journey, and they would make rapid progress. They had but little household stuff, for Orientals, especially those of nomadic habits such as the Israelites inherited from their tent-dwell- ing forefathers, are not apt to encumber themselves much with furniture. Rain-water would be abundant in the pits and rocks along their path at that time of the year, and they carried with them provisions enough to last several days. Their first day was a long one, and they, no doubt, were anxious to fall as soon as pos- sible into the main Haj road. Their first camp is call- ed Succoth, or "booths" (Exod. xii, 37 ; xiii, 20; Numb. xxxiii, 5(5), probably a rough khan, like those estab- lished in all ages along this thoroughfare. The pres- ent Derb el-Ban, a northern branch of the great pilgrim route, leads direct from Belbeis, south-west down the valley by way of Rubeihy and Aweibet, and falls into the main Haj road at the castle of Ajrud, sixty miles from Belbeis. Ajrud has been thought by many to correspond to the next station of the Israelites, "Etham, in the edge of the wilderness" (Exod. xiii. 20 ; Numb. xxxiii, 0). It is a long-established Egyptian outpost
f ' few
M IV M-'> '
Map of the rtegion between the Nile and the Red Sea.
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on the frontier of the desert The whole air of the sa- cn 'l narrative gives us the impression that this was a greal landmark for travellers, and that it formed the first or immediate poini of destination for the Hebrews on their journey. Iiii - bi Etham, it will be necessa- ry to allow thirty miles for each day's journey, which, under the pressing circumstances, is nol extravagant, although an ordinary day's march in caravan is only about tw< ntj miles. See Etham.
A i Etham the Israelites received this divine com- mand: " I'um and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over againsl Baal-zephon: before ii shall ye encamp by the sea" (Exod. xiv, 2). This ilirrciii.n must be carefully examined, as il is the only pri cise description we have of the actual crossing-place of the Red Sea by the Israelites. It is substantially re- peated in ver. 9, where the Egyptians are said to have overtaken the Hebrews "encamping by the sea, be- side Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon." Of the names of these localities no trace at present exists : their iden- tification, therefore, must depend upon a comparison of the circumstances of the narrative, with some slight corroboration from the etymology and historical appli- cation of the names. Three or lour places have been selected by different writers as rivals for the honor of ( this remarkable crossing, and their claims have been somewhat hotly contested, at times. We propose calm- ly and carefully to discuss their respective merits, and to be guided by the cxjdi.it terms of the Biblical ac- count, irrespective of any theological considerations as to whether the miracle involved may thus be enhanced or lessened. We take them up in their geographical order.