Where God Parted the Red Sea, Part 7
Time Enroute
Some have thought that Mount Sinai was only a three-day journey from
the Israelites' home in Egypt based on the following passages:
…let us go three days' journey into the wilderness… (Exodus 3:18 NKJ)
…let us go three days' journey into the desert… (Exodus
5:3 NKJ)
We will go three days' journey into the wilderness… (Exodus 8:27
NKJ)
Pharaoh, however, denied these requests. Therefore, God sent plagues
on Egypt. Before the final plague, God said to Moses:
"I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward
he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive
you out of here altogether." (Exodus 11:1 NKJ)
After the final plague, Pharaoh did the following:
Then [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise,
go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go,
serve the LORD as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds,
as you have said, and be gone (Exodus 12:31-32 NKJ) [mine]
Moses did not say he would return to Egypt after three days' journey into
the wilderness. Nor did Pharaoh command the Israelites to return
to Egypt after three days. Moses' request of Pharaoh only partially
revealed God's plan. God withheld the remainder of his plan from
Pharaoh.
The Bible does not mention how long it took the Israelites to reach
the Red Sea crossing site, but the Bible does mention some other time frames
of their journey.
The Israelites began their journey the night they ate the Passover lamb,
which they had killed in the evening on the fourteenth day of the first
month.
On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the
LORD's Passover. (Leviticus 23:5 NKJ)
The Israelites crossed the Red Sea and then went three days into the wilderness
of Shur.
So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the
Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness…
(Exodus 15:22 NKJ)
They later arrived at Elim, departed from Elim, and then camped by the
Red Sea.
They moved from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. (Numbers 33:10
NKJ)
Then they came to the Wilderness of Sin; the Bible gives their arrival
date.
They moved from the Red Sea and camped in the Wilderness of Sin.
(Numbers 33:11 NKJ)
…the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of
Sin … on the fifteenth day of the second month… (Exodus 16:1
NKJ)
If the Israelites were using the Egyptian solar calendar, then a month
was 30 days long. If the Israelites were using a lunar calendar,
then a month fluctuated between 29 and 30 days. Since the Israelites
came to the Wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month,
they arrived at the Wilderness of Sin between 30 and 31 days after the
night of Passover, when they began their journey.
The Israelites arrived in the Wilderness of Sinai, near Mount Sinai,
on the third day of the third month.
In the third month from the Exodus of the Children of Israel
from Egypt, on this day, they arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai
… and encamped in the Wilderness; and Israel encamped there, opposite the
mountain. Moses ascended to God, and [the LORD] called to him from
the mountain… (Exodus 19:1 ST; for clarity, [the LORD] is substituted
for "Hashem," which means "the Name," a Jewish substitution for God's Name,
Yahweh)
Since the Israelites arrived in the Wilderness of Sinai on the third day
of the third month, their total travel time to Mount Sinai was between
47 and 49 days, depending on whether the Israelites were using a lunar
or solar calendar.
If the ancient Israelites camped near Mount Sinai at the Wadi al Abyad
on the east side of the Jabal al Lawz mountain range, then the Wilderness
of Sinai is the Wadi al Abyad. The distance from Goshen (the Israelites'
former home in Egypt) to the Wadi al Abyad, via a likely route for the
Israelites to have taken, is approximately 405 kilometers (252 miles).
In 47 days, the Israelites would have traveled an average of about 8.6
kilometers (5.4 miles) per day enroute to Mount Sinai. God gave the
Israelites a pillar of fire to light their path by night, so this average
rate of movement is reasonable for such a large crowd.
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