THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
as this element was for them so invaluable. The water sometimes becomes corrupt when the Nile is low, but the fact that it now grew exceptionally foul at .the command of Moses was evident proof of Yahweh's agency. Seven days after the first (combine Ex. vii. 25 and viii. 1) followed the second plague, an invasion of frogs, especially favored by the stagnant water. These were the small rana Nilotica and Mosaica, indigenous in Egypt; by their unusual number and obtrusiveness they became a national calamity. The magicians also succeeded in producing both these plagues but could not remove them, and the king had to seek help from Moses. As, however, the king relented only for the moment, the third plague ensued, that of gnats. These insects are always annoying in Egypt, but perhaps through the drying-up of the stagnant water, they now became a veritable scourge. Here the power of the magicians failed and they were obliged to acknowledge a divine agency. Since the ruler was still obdurate, the fourth, the plague of lice (Septuagint, kunomuia, " dog-flies ") followed. This infliction was so severe that Pharaoh was moved to consent that the Israelites should sacrifice to God in Egypt; Moses wisely refused. The promise then given by Pharaoh in his extremity, that the Israelites should be permitted to make the three days' journey into the desert, was not kept when this plague was removed and so a fifth was sent, a terrible murrain. The plague of boils was the sixth and this afflicted even the magicians. All these visitations were on a gradually ascending scale; three others were of exceptional severity. Firstly, as the seventh plague, a destructive and even deadly hailstorm which, according to Ex. ix. 31, took place at the end of January or the beginning of February. The plague of grasshoppers, the eighth, completed the misfortune, since they appeared in unprecedented numbers (Ex. x. 14). The king now consented to the departure of the adults, provided the children and the cattle remained, but no compromise was accepted and the ninth plague, of three days' darkness, ensued. This may be connected with the khamsin, which sometimes, usually in March, brings clouds of dust and obscures the sun. Pharaoh was now ready to let the children go also, only wishing to keep the cattle as a pledge. When this was refused, he again opposed his will to that of God and the tenth plague was inflicted, destined to break down his obstinate resistance. As the Egyptians would not recognize Yahweh's paternal authority over Israel, his first-born, he avenged himself by taking away the cherished firstborn of the land. Preparations were made to protect Israel from the plague and also for a speedy departure. The visitation fell upon the homes of the Egyptians, and while the sound of mourning was heard in every house, the Israelites marched forth, urged thereto by the terrified Egyptians, who showered gifts upon them so as to be rid of them the sooner.
The feast of the Passover was from this time a memorial of the preservation from the destroying angel and of the hasty departure. The sanctification of the first-born is referred to the sparing of the first-born of Israel in Egypt (Ex. xiii. 2, 11-16).
The Exodus took place (P) on the fifteenth of the month Abib which from that time was to be counted
the first month (Num. xxxiii. 3; Ex. 4. The xii. 2). The city of Ilaamses is men- Exodus, tioned as the point of departure,
doubtless the city which the Israelites were forced to build (Ex. i. 11). The site is not determined; from Ex. xii. 31, it seems that the Pharaoh resided there. It was probably in Goshen, a little to the west or north of the first station Succoth, Egyptian Thuket or Thuku, originally the name of a district and then of its chief city, Pithom-Hieropolis, the Tell Mashuta of to-day (cf. E. Naville, The Store City, in the Memoirs of the Egypt Exploration Fund; q.v.). The present Wadi Tumilat was traversed, where the mass of the Israelites joined the march. Etham was the second station (Egyptian, Khetem, " fortification "), a bulwark for protection against attacks from the east; it was at " the edge of the desert." Here the route was deflected from the natural course in a southerly and then in a northeasterly direction, so that the gulf lay between the Israelites and the desert. This gulf, which was afterward traversed, the " Reedy Sea," is the Gulf of Suez, an arm of the Red Sea (q.v.). Its characteristics corroborate the statements of the narrative, especially its sudden and strong tides, particularly when favored by the wind during the vernal equinox. If, as assumed above, the march was through the Wadi Tumilat, the passage was probably by the Bitter Lakes, south of the present Ismailiya. Led by God's Pillar of Fire and Cloud (q.v.), the Israelites had moved southward from Etham. When the Pharaoh was informed of this, he realized from the continuance of their march that there was no hope of their return; at the same time, the direction taken led him to think that the leaders had no certain plan and that, hemmed in by the trackless desert, the throng could be easily overtaken and brought back. Already repenting of his consent, he started in pursuit with his chariots. He encountered the Israelites encamped on the seashore to the west of the gulf; their position seemed hopeless. At the prayer of Moses, however, God showed a miraculous way of escape through the sea, the waters of which divided, allowing the Israelites to pass dry-shod. Eager to secure their prey, the Egyptians hastened after them the same night; in their passage, a panic arose among their chariots, caused by the fiery reflection from the pillar, and, to complete the catastrophe, the waters returned and overwhelmed the Egyptians. As a natural cause, a strong northeast wind may be conjectured which left the ford dry at ebb-tide while a shift of the wind to the contrary direction swelled the returning flood-tide. The sublimest monument to this event was raised by Moses, in his magnificent song (Ex. xv. 1 sqq.), the authenticity of which can not rightly be disputed, although some additions may have been made to it. The rescue of the Israelites at the Red Sea marks the birth-hour of the people of Yahweh; the later prophetic and poetic literature looked back to this event as the climax of the deliverance and it became a type of salvation (Isa. xi. 15, lxiii. 11 sqq.; Ps. lxxviii., cv., cvi.).