that night. And Moses stretched out his hand upon the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to flow back by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea dry land, and divided the waters. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground: and the waters were a wall to them both on their right and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and came after them, all the horse of Pharaoh, and his chariots, and horsemen, into the midst of the sea. And it came to pass in the morning watch that Jehovah looked out upon the camp of the Egyptians in the pillar of fire and cloud, and put the camp of the Egyptians into consternation, and he turned off [or took off] the wheels of his chariots, and they drove them with difficulty: and the Egyp tians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fights for them against the Egyptians. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, and let the waters return upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched out his hand upon the sea, and the sea returned at the turning of the morning [that is, at daylight] to its ceaseless flow; and the Egyptians fleeing, the waters met them; and Jehovah shook out the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all the strength of Pharaoh which came after them into the sea; there was not even one of them left.

Such is the inspired account of this wonderful event in the history of Israel. We have quoted it thus fully as a basis for the remarks which follow. We now advance to the question,

WHERE DID ISRAEL CROSS THE SEA?

We must answer this question by asking and answering several other questions: first such as, What was the number of the people of Israel? In what part of Egypt did they live? or, Where was the land of Goshen? etc.

WHAT WAS THE NUMBER OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL?

In the forty-sixth verse of the first chapter of Numbers we have the sum of the males given who were over twenty years of age, namely, 603,550. So also Exod. xii, 37; xxxviii, 26; and Num. ii, 32. This includes all the tribes except the tribe of Levi. This tribe had of males over one month old 22,000. Thus the proximate sum of males in Israel was 625,000. The number of women and children under twenty years was twice as many, making the entire population 1,876,650. Then we FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXVII.-20

are to add the mixed multitude mentioned in Exod. xii, 38, and we have a company not much less than 2,000,000 of people.*

IN WHAT PART OF EGYPT DID ISRAEL RESIDE? OR, WHERE WAS THE LAND OF GOSHEN?

From Gen. xlv, 10 we learn, that Joseph informed his father, Jacob, that when he came down to Egypt he should dwell in the land of Goshen; and from xlvii, 6 we learn, that Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell:" and in verse 27 it is said, "And Israel dwelt . . . in the country of Goshen; and they had possession therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly." Goshen, therefore, was not a city, but a country of Egypt. It was doubtless on the east side of the Nile, extending easterly from the Nile to the desert, embracing all the cultivated land on the cast of the Delta, in the vicinity of Belbeis, which is about twenty miles below Cairo, on the fresh-water canal which runs to Ismailia and Suez. That this was its true location we may infer from Exod. xiii, 17: “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the Philistines, because [?] that was near; " also from 1 Chron. vii, 21, where it is said the men of Gath came down to take the cattle of Ephraim while Israel yet sojourned in Egypt.

Again, in Gen. xlvi, 29, Joseph is said to have gone up to salute his father Jacob after he had come into Goshen, which is every-where said of one who makes a journey from Lower Egypt into Palestine.

Again, the speedy passage of the Israelites out of Egypt shows that Goshen was not far removed from the Red Sea. It is also to be remarked that in Gen. xlvii, 6, it is called "the best of the land." Such it has ever been, down to the present day. In the remarkable document, translated by De Sacy, containing a valuation of all the provinces and villages of Egypt in the year 1376, this province is valued higher than any other, with one exception.

This province is at present called Chackieh. Its capital is

* See Dr. Adam Clarke's estimate, Commentary on Exodus xii, 37. He makes the number of Israel more than 3,003,000 souls.

Zagazig. Its principal towns are Belbeis and Ibrahimich. The railroad from Suez to Cairo passes through Zagazig, running first northerly to Ismailia, forty miles, and then westerly to Zagazig, thirty miles. About eight miles south of Zagazig is Belbeis, on the fresh-water canal leading from Cairo to Suez, which we take to be the ancient Rameses, the ancient capital of Goshen, and the head-quarters of the Israelites.

From Rameses Israel departed under Moses. (Exod. xii, 37; Num. xxxiii, 3, 5.) Rameses was not only a city, but a division of the province, and probably included Heliopolis, which is about eight miles below Cairo. Josephus says that Pharaoh gave Heliopolis to Jacob and his children. (Antiq., ii, 6.) This place was also called On, and the Septuagint places it near to Rameses, meaning probably near the town or city, which was about twelve miles north of Heliopolis. Rameses was about twenty miles north-easterly from Cairo, and about twenty-five miles from Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. Belbeis also is the same as the old Onion, built by Onias, out of the ruins of the temple, Bovßáoriwę dypías. (See Josephus, Antiq., xiii, 3.) And Makrizi identifies it with the old Rameses.

It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose that Israel was in the immediate vicinity of Memphis. It is not necessary to suppose that Pharaoh held his court at the capital alone. Kings anciently, as in modern times, held their courts at other places, as the Emperor William, of Germany, held his court at Ver sailles, in France, in 1870-1, for several months.

The city of Pithom, also mentioned in connection with Rameses, was probably a few miles to the east. Herodotus speaks of Pithom, (ii, 158,) and, after him, Stephen of Byzantium, under the name of IIáтovμoç Apaẞías, and as on the road to Heroopolis.

A further consideration, which demonstrates that this part of Egypt was the ancient Goshen, is the fact that the children. of Israel, consisting of two millions of people, with their flocks and herds, made the journey to the Red Sea in three days. See Num. xxxiii, 5-7: "And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the desert; and they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is eastward of Baal-zephon," that is, Suez.

The distance of Rameses to Suez in a straight line is about fifty English miles. But the children of Israel did not go in a straight line to Suez or to the Red Sea. We are told that when they came to Etham, in the edge of the desert, that the pillar of cloud turned and led them toward the Red Sea, which they reached on the evening of the third day. They went, then, undoubtedly, in the usually traveled road, which ran to Heroopolis, or the Bitter Lakes, which must have made the journey about ten miles longer, that is, sixty miles. This would make their journey twenty miles per day, which must

have been performed with no small difficulty by such a multitude. It is not usual for small caravans to go farther. Twenty miles was about the average made by our party in the journey through the desert. Disciplined armies do not usually march over twelve or fifteen miles per day. All theories, therefore, which place the land of Goshen more distant, and farther into the interior, must be taken as incorrect.

JOURNEY OF ISRAEL FROM RAMESES TO THE RED SEA.

The first day's journey ended at Succoth. The word Succoth means tents or booths, and this name may indicate something of the evanescent character of the place. The name has disappeared. Josephus says it was Letopolis. (Antiq., ii, 15, 1.) It must have been about twenty miles north-east of Rameses. The second day they came to Etham, in the edge of the desert. Etham is the name of the desert lying between Egypt and the Philistines' land, and extending southward along the eastern shore of the Red Sea, or Gulf of Suez. (See Exod. xxxiii, 8.)

*

On the morning of the third day they set forth. But the pillar of fire did not go farther in an easterly direction toward the land of Canaan, but strangely turned southerly toward Suez. On the evening of the third day they found themselves, after a long and tiresome march over yielding desert sands, on the western shore of the Red Sea. There was Mcunt 'Atakah on their right, presenting a solid wall of rock, and the sea was on their left and in their front, and the armies of the Egyptians were pressing upon their rear. Well did Pharaoh say, "They have lost their way, the desert hath shut them in." (See Exod. xiv, 3.) Pharaoh thought they are now an easy prey. Consternation seized the camp of Israel, and they murmured against Moses. But Moses replied, "Stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah." The pillar of fire removed, and took its position in the rear of Israel as the darkness of the night shut in. On the side toward the Egyptians it was darkness, but on the side toward Israel it shone as a burning flame. Thus the Egyptians quietly waited till the coming morning watch, little thinking of the sad fate which awaited them. There is a depression, cor responding with the bed of the sea, extending north-westerly

* The Niphal participle, wandering about, not knowing where they were; the English version, "entangled in the land," is too indefinite.