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Exodus to Red Sea - Part Two:
THE EXODUS ROUTE PIHAHIROTH,
MIGDOL AND BAALZEPHON
by Mary Nell Wyatt
"Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp
before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before
it shall ye encamp by the sea."Exodus 14:2
When God gave Moses these instructions, it is evident that Moses knew where
these places were -- he was familiar with the land. On the north end of the
beach area, there are the remains of an ancient Egyptian fortress, which would
have prevented their going north when they entered the area. This fortress was
another evidence that Egyptian territory extended all the way through the Sinai
peninsula.
(See color photo of this fortress on the northern end of the beach area.) We
believe this was Pihahiroth. As they were in between Migdol and the sea,
Migdol could either be the mountains to the west, which make a perfect barrier,
enclosing them on the beach -- or it may have been a watch-tower which was
positioned on top of one of those mountains. We have not yet climbed all the
mountains to searched for a watch-tower. But the Egyptians did have
watch-posts all through the Sinai Peninsula, and most likely would have had one
here, to keep an eye on ships coming up the Gulf of Aqaba. It is historically
documented that they flashed messages from watch-tower to watch-tower using
reflected sunlight by day and fire by night. In fact, that may well be how
pharaoh knew exactly where Moses and the people had gone. Moses would have
most certainly been aware of these watch-towers. On the opposite shore, in
Saudi Arabia, exactly across from where they entered the sea, is another ancient
structure. All alone on the beach, it may have been a Midianite fortress,
dedicated to Baal; we believe this was Baalzephon. The phrase "over
against" seems to mean "opposite of" in respect to being across a body of water
-- in the next verse, the same phrase is used when speaking of being across the
Jordan River from Jericho: "Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount
Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the
land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession"
Deuteronomy 32:49. The fact is that chariot parts have never been found in
the Red Sea anywhere except at this site. The question has been asked: "Isn't
this site for the crossing too far away? Wouldn't it have taken them a long time
to get there?" Well, in 1967, Moshe Dyan marched his troops from Nuweiba (the
crossing site) to Suez City (near ancient Tharu/Succoth) in six days. And they
camped at night. The Israelites were told to use only unleavened bread for seven
days - indicating that they would be travelling quite briskly without time to
camp for seven days. "Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the
seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD. And thou shalt shew thy son in that
day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came
forth out of Egypt" Exodus 13: 6,8. The Israelites didn't stop and encamp
every night, as Moshe Dyan's troops did -- they travelled both day and night:
"And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the
way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and
night" Exodus 13:21. With the Divine assistance of the Lord, this massive
wave of people traveled in an orderly fashion both day and night, with great
speed: "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on
eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" Exodus 19:4. The eagle is used
to denote speed: "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and
in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were
stronger than lions" 2 Samuel 1:23.
ONE LAST EVIDENCE In 1978, when I first visited the beach area
with my two sons, we found a Phoenician-style column lying on the southern end
of the beach. Partially in the water, the inscriptions had been eroded away, or
possibly they were purposefully chiseled away. We found this during the time
that Israel was occupying the Sinai, and we pointed it out to the soldiers who
were patrolling the beach. The next time we returned, we found they had moved it
across the road and set it up in concrete.
We didn't fully understand the importance of this column until a few years
later -- we did recognize that it was definitely not of Egyptian style. But in
1984, when we were imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, our captors, in an effort to
verify our story that we believed Mt. Sinai was there and that "Musa" (Moses)
led the people across the sea to their country, had me take them to the beach
where they arrived after passing through the sea. I directed them to the spot in
a helicopter. Landing here, I found another column -- identical to the one on
the opposite shore -- except this one had the inscriptions intact. Noting
carefully the Phoenician (Archaic Hebrew) letters, we were later able to have it
translated. It contained the words: Mizraim (Egypt); Solomon; Edom; death;
pharaoh; Moses; and Yahweh. From this, we knew that King Solomon had erected
these columns in honor of Yahweh and dedicated them to the miracle of the
crossing of the sea. And, that column possibly saved my sons' and my lives -- it
proved what I had been telling my Saudi jailers! This year, we discovered that
the Saudis have removed the column on their beach from its original location --
they have sunk a large marker in concrete where it was located -- and we are
trying to locate it in their antiquities files. But we have documented the
solitary marker, sunk into the ground in concrete, on the beach, just down from
the remains of the ancient fortress we believe was Baalzephon. We will study the
sites on the Mt. Sinai side of the gulf later this year.
THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE "RED SEA" There has been much
controversy through the years over which Red Sea is being referred to in the
Exodus account. You will see here, that "Red Sea" is used to refer to all
section of that sea -- the main body, the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. If
you will get a large map of Egypt, you will note that the Red Sea is quite large
-- beginning at Ethiopia on the southwest and Yemen on the southeast. It
separates northern Africa from Arabia. At its northern end, it splits into two
arms - the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. Let's go to the first reference
to the Red Sea in the Bible -- the plague of the locusts had covered all the
land of Egypt. If you go the map, you will see that Egypt extended far south of
the Suez arm of the Red Sea. Thebes, the ancient capital of Egypt, lay a
good 150 miles south of the beginning of the Gulf of Suez (as the crow flies.)
Now, these locusts were in all the coasts of Egypt, including Thebes and beyond.
"And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and
cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of
Egypt" Exodus 10:19. A west wind, blowing the locusts into the Red
Sea, would blow them into the main body of the sea and the Gulf of Suez. The
second reference is: "But God led the people about, through the way of the
wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of
the land of Egypt" Exodus 13:18. This "wilderness" was the land
between the two arms of the Red Sea. Now, we will go to a scripture concerning
Solomon's navy: "And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is
beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom" 1 Kings 9:26.
This reference is definitively speaking of the Gulf of Aqaba, because we know
where Eloth (Eilat) was. And this is the same Red Sea that Moses led the great
multitude across. The Red Sea of Moses' day was the same Red Sea we know today
-- the main body of the lower Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba.
Again, we can only marvel at how the Lord has preserved these sites throughout
history. If the true location had been known all along, there would be no
evidence left. We live in a time when people simply don't believe the Red
Sea crossing ever really happened, and God tells us that He knew that time would
come: "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more
be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land
of Egypt" Jeremiah 16:14. But He does "live", and before it's all
over with, He will vindicate His Word to the world.
THE EXODUS EVIDENCES In our last newsletter, we examined the
route taken by Moses and the great multitude as they fled Egypt. We will now
examine the evidences which tell us exactly who were the Egyptian royalties
involved and the approximate date the Exodus occurred. This is a subject that
gets quite involved and we will only be able to present a bare frame of
reference in this publication. Bear with us, as we will attempt to present a
large amount of information in a short space.
THE CHARIOT WHEELS We will begin with the chariot wheels that
Ron and the boys found in the Gulf of Aqaba. In 1978, on their first dive
at the site, they found these chariot remains. Like Noah's Ark, these were
not in perfect condition and required careful examination to see exactly what
they were. They were covered in coral, which made it difficult to see them
clearly, but it appears that the coral was the agent the Lord used to preserve
them. They found numerous wheels- some were still on their axles, and some
were off.
Here is a photo of a chariot wheel on an axle They found chariot
cabs without the wheels, also: "...in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the
host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled
the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove
them heavily..." Exodus 14:24,25. So far, this coincided with the biblical
account. They found several 6-spoked wheels, as well as an 8-spoked wheel. And
finally, in 1988, Ron found the 4-spoked gold chariot wheel, which looks almost
perfect. The reason this one was so well preserved is that coral does not grow
on gold. The wood inside the gold "veneer" was deteriorated, which made it
very fragile and for that reason, he has not attempted to retrieve it from the
water.
Here is the gold chariot wheel. The significance of
these wheels is of extreme importance to the dating of the Exodus and
determining which dynasty was involved. Back in the late 70's, Ron actually
retrieved a hub of a wheel which had the remains of 8 spokes radiating outward
from it. He took this to Cairo, to the office of Nassif Mohammed Hassan, the
director of Antiquities whom Ron had been working with. Mr. Hassan examined it
and immediately pronounced it to be of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. When
Ron asked him how he knew this so readily, Mr. Hassan explained that the
8-spoked wheel was only used during the 18th Dynasty. This certainly narrowed
the date. After finding the 4,6 and 8 spoked wheels, we began to thoroughly
research the Egyptian chariot and soon discovered that the fact that these
wheels date to the 18th Dynasty according to numerous sources, such as the
following: "Egyptian literary references to chariots occur as early as the
reigns of Kamose, the 17th Dynasty king who took the first steps in freeing
Egypt from the Hyksos, and Ahmose, the founder of the 18th Dynasty. Pictorial
representations, however, do not appear until slightly later in the 18th
Dynasty...." (From "Observations on the Evolving Chariot Wheel in the 18th
Dynasty" by James K. Hoffmeier, JARCE #13, 1976)
Here, we learn that it was only at the beginning of the 18th
Dynasty that the chariot comes into use in the Egyptian army. The Bible mentions
that in the time of Joseph, chariots were in use, but apparently they weren't
developed sturdily enough for use in war until much later. The author goes on to
explain how it was only during the 18th Dynasty that the 4, 6 and 8 spoked
wheels are used - and that monuments can actually be dated by the number of
spokes in the wheel: "Professor Yigael Yadin maintains that during the earlier
part of the 18th Dynasty, the Egyptian chariot was `exactly like the Canaanite
chariot:' both were constructed of light flexible wood, with leather straps
wrapped around the wood to strengthen it, and both utilized wheels with four
spokes. In Yadin's eyes, the four-spoked wheel is diagnostic for dating
purposes; it is restricted to the early part of the 18th Dynasty. It remained in
vogue, he says, until the reign of Thutmoses IV, when `the Egyptian chariot
begins to shake off its Canaanite influence and undergo considerable change.'
Yadin believes that the eight-spoked wheel, which is seen on the body of
Thutmoses IV's chariot, was an experiment by the Egyptian wheelwrights, who,
when it proved unsuccessful, settled thereafter for the six-spoked wheel. So
widespread and meticulous is the delineation of the number of wheel spokes on
chariots depicted on Egyptian monuments, that they can be used as a criterion
for determining whether the monument is earlier or later than 1400 BC." (Quoted
from the same article as above.) For more information on the chariots of the
Egyptian army, let's go to the biblical account, when Pharaoh and his army go
after the multitude: "And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with
him: And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and
captains over every one of them" Exodus 14:6,7. This verse makes it quite
clear that the Pharaoh took every chariot in Egypt- his own, his generals (or
"Captains") and a group called his "chosen" chariots, which seem to be in
addition to his regular army ("all the chariots of Egypt"). Who might these "600
chosen chariots" have been? This group seems too small to have been a
division of the army. We do not know the exact number in a squadron, but we do
have information that a pharaoh, one of his names being Rameses II, had an army
of 20,000 troops, which was divided into four divisions. This would imply that
each division consisted of 5,000 troops. But the army took more than just
soldiers, many times. To get a little insight, we need to understand a bit about
the Egyptian government and economy. "The priests and military men held the
highest position in the country after the family of the king, and from them were
chosen his ministers and confidential advisers, `the wise counselors of
Pharaoh,' and all the principal officers of state." (From "The Ancient
Egyptians- Their Life and Customs" by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, 1854, vol.1,
p.316.) The priesthood and the military were closely associated- the Egyptian
government was a combination "church and state," so to speak. Their system of
"gods" was quite elaborate and we can't possibly present an accurate description
of their religious system in this limited article. But for our purposes, we need
to understand that there were many, many gods in ancient Egypt- but the ultimate
"god" was the one represented as the "sun." This god was known throughout
the various times as Amon, Aten and Re or Ra, among other names. And it was of
this "ultimate god" that the pharaoh was considered the "earthly embodiment."
The divisions of the army were named after the gods, i.e. "the first army, that
of Amon, the army of Re, the army of Ptah and the army of Sutech." When
the army set out to war, elaborate ceremonies were performed at the various
temples, asking the various gods to give them victory over their foes. Then,
booty that was gained as a result of victories was dedicated to the priesthoods
and temples of the deities. All military victories were directly attributed to
the favor of the gods. Sometimes, the priests would accompany the army to the
battlefield in hopes that the "god(s)" would show special favor in their
endeavors. And the evidence at hand shows that when Pharaoh and his army set out
after Moses and the great multitude, he took with him the all priesthood of all
the gods of Egypt. After all, he had seen the power of the true God, the great
"I AM." If the Egyptian army ever needed supernatural intervention by the hands
of their so-called "gods," it was at this time. We believe that every priest of
every god was summoned to accompany the army as they went after Moses and the
multitude, as well as all the ministers of state. All of this is leading up to a
discussion of the gold-veneered, 4-spoked chariot wheel Ron found in 1988. Since
he found it on the Egyptian side of the Gulf of Aqaba, that indicates that
whoever was driving that particular chariot was at the rear of the army. It
makes sense to us that a priest, who is not trained in battle, would be in this
position at the rear of the army. Also, a gold chariot would not be practical
for battle- these chariots were more "ceremonial" than those used by the
chariotry. We also know that the priesthood were given gold chariots, which were
booty of various foreign defeats. There is an inscription of Thutmoses III (18th
Dynasty) which relates: "He went forth, none like him, slaying the barbarians,
smiting Retenu, bringing their princes as living captives, their chariots
wrought with gold, bound to their horses." In fact, we have many, many
inscriptions of the kings of the 18th Dynasty receiving gold-plated foreign
chariots, either as spoils of war or as tribute received from conquered peoples.
There are, as well, inscriptions telling that these gilded chariots were many
times dedicated to various temples and gods, which meant that the priests would
receive these chariots. We do know from inscriptions that the king did go to war
in a "glittering chariot of electrum" as stated in one of Thutmoses III's
inscriptions- but, we doubt very seriously that he would have remained at the
rear of the army. However, Dr. Bill Shea of the Biblical Research Institute,
told us a few days ago, that he believed it was possible that the pharaoh may
have been at the rear of the army. With all of this information, we feel we may
conclude that the gold wheel most likely belonged to a member of the priestly
caste who was accompanying the army, or possibly a high minister of state. If it
had belonged to the pharaoh, it would have probably had his "cartouche" or name
on it- and the one Ron found did not have this, at least not on the exposed
side. Either way, we have evidence from ancient tombs that the Egyptians
constructed wheels of this design, and also the Retenu (Syrian) chariot wheels
were of this same design and size.
Here we see a drawing of Egyptians building a chariot. These
drawings are from "The Ancient Egyptians" by Sir J. Gardiner Wilkinson, and are
taken from 18th dynasty tombs and monuments. They show a depiction of a Retenu
(Syrian) chariot and also Egyptians constructing chariots- both of these wheel
designs are consistent with the 4-spoked, gold veneered wheel Ron found.
Here is a drawing of an Egyptian chariot.
(Continued)
Next page: The Eighteenth Dynasty
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