Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea before Baal-Zephon, opposite to it, shall ye encamp by the sea.
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
God tells Moses to turn the people around. They camp at a spot with water on one side and Egypt's border country on the other. The route is not a mistake. It is a command. So why would God march His rescued people into a dead end?
God Chose the Campsite
Israel did not wander into trouble. God named the place.
The first thing the Lord did was to shut His people in, humanly speaking, in a position with no hope at all. They camped by the sea, with the wilderness all around them. He placed them there so that if Pharaoh followed them — as He intended he should — there would be no human way of escape. This was done to lure Pharaoh to his destruction, and to reduce the children of Israel to entire dependence upon Himself.
A Route That Looked Like a Blunder
By human reasoning the order looks like a mistake, and that is how the watching king read it. Yet the longer way did something a short road could not.
Human reason would call him a blunderer for leading a helpless crowd into such a trap. Pharaoh saw it, and rejoiced; to his eye there was no escape. Moses would have chosen a nearer way, but God led them by a way that kept them from going back to Egypt.
The Names on the Map
The name of the camp itself carries a lesson.
Pi-hahiroth is part of God's ways with us, to teach us how useless the flesh is. A new believer often says, "Now I am going to do good. I will be a different person. I will live a different life." We are full of self-confidence until we learn that we can do nothing, and that God must do everything. It is a very remarkable thing that the meaning of the word Pi-hahiroth is "The gate of liberty."
Migdol, the landmark on the other side, is no comfort either.
It is "between Migdol and the Sea" that Pharaoh comes upon them. We have seen what the Sea is; what is Migdol? It means "watch-tower." It was often a military post, the natural thing to find in border country. Did jealous eyes watch the escaping hosts of Israel? Egypt was not friendly now. A watch-tower in an enemy's country is no place of help or refuge. It is a stronghold armed to the teeth against them.
One Direction Left Open
Every way out on the ground was blocked. That was the point.
The Lord meant to be honoured over Pharaoh and all his army. So He told His people to camp in a place that made their position, humanly speaking, almost hopeless. Mountains hemmed them in, the sea lay in front of them, and behind them the Egyptian army would soon appear. Only the view upward to heaven was open. From there help had to come.
The Lesson Israel Could Not Learn Any Other Way
Stopped at the water's edge, Israel learned something harder than knowing they were sinners.
The Israelites got to the Red Sea, and found they could not go any further, and that is very humbling. It is a much more humbling thing to learn you are without strength than that you are a sinner. God says, "Trust Me and go forward." God is a Deliverer. And the sea did this much for them: it protected them on the right hand and on the left. The very thing they dreaded was deliverance to them; they walked through it.
Why God Does Not Route Us Around Trouble
If God can place His people in such a spot on purpose, then hard positions are not proof that He has withdrawn.
The Lord does not offer us escape from trial and trouble. Quite the opposite: He tells us we will have to meet both. But He promises to be with us in them, and this is far better. God's presence in the trial is much better than exemption from the trial. The sympathy of His heart with us is sweeter far than the power of His hand for us.
Summary
- Shut in by God. God assigned the dead end. Israel did not stumble into it. He named the camp before Pharaoh ever set out.
- Shut in on purpose. One position did two things: it drew Pharaoh to his destruction and drove Israel to depend on God alone.
- Shut in by enemies. Migdol was a watchtower in enemy country, not a refuge. The only open direction was up.
- Shut in to learn weakness. Knowing you are a sinner is one lesson; discovering you have no strength to save yourself is a harder one.
- Shut in, then let out. The sea they dreaded became the road through, and God's presence in the trial proved better than escaping it.