Exodus 13:18
in Exodus 13So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt arrayed for battle.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Exodus 13
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBut God led the people about - Dr. Shaw has shown that there were two roads from Egypt to Canaan, one through the valleys of Jendilly, Rumeleah, and Baideah, bounded on each side by the mountains of the lower Thebais; the other lies higher, having the northern range of the mountains of Mocatee running parallel with it on the right hand, and the desert of the Egyptian Arabia, which lies all the way open to the land of the Philistines, to the left. See his account of these encampments at the end of Exodus. See Clarke’s note on Exo 40:
This site's exposition
God led them not through the way of the land
on Exodus 13:17-18
The short road is refused because of what God knows about the people, and the text gives the reason in full, lest they see war and return to Egypt. They say very nearly that at Exodus 14:11-12 with the sea in front of them, and at Numbers 14:4 it becomes a plan to appoint a captain and go back. The word harnessed at verse 18 occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and it has been rendered armed, in ranks of five, and in orderly divisions, with the commentators leaving the question open.
This site's exposition
by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea
The Hebrew name for the Red Sea is yam suph, which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown render the weedy sea for the plants that grow in it. John Wesley ties the wilderness road to the sign of 3:12, that the people would worship God on the mountain. God led them toward it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Just as the Jews were saved and extricated through the waters of the Red Sea, so we are delivered from the land of Egypt, that is, from the sins of the flesh, and reborn through regeneration by the sacred water. The very name of the …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
God had given it to Moses for a sign, chap. iii, 12, ye shall serve God in this mountain. They had again and again told Pharaoh that they must go three days journey into the wilderness to do sacrifice, and therefore it was requisite they should march that way, else they had justly been exclaimed against as dissemblers.
There were two ways from Egypt to Canaan. One was a short cut from the north of Egypt to the south of Canaan, perhaps about four or five days' journey; the other was much further about, through the wilderness, and that was the way in which God chose to lead his people Israel,
But God led the people about,....
Judge nothing before the time. There was one reason why God did not lead them the nearest way, which would have brought them after a few days' march to the land of the Philistines (for it was that part of Canaan that lay next to Egypt), namely, because they were not as yet fit for war, much less for war with the Philistines,
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, &c.--This wondrous expanse of water is a gulf of the Indian ocean. It was called in Hebrew "the weedy sea," from the forest of marine plants with which it abounds. But the name of the Red Sea is not so easily traced.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Harnessed - More probably, “marshalled” or “in orderly array.” There is not the least indication that the Israelites had been disarmed by the Egyptians, and as occupying a frontier district frequently assailed by the nomads of the desert they would of necessity be accustomed to the use of arms. Compare Exo 1:10.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּסֵּ֨ב | vaiyasev | and he caused to go around | H5437 → | 161 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֧ים׀ | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָעָ֛ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| דֶּ֥רֶךְ | derekh | [the] way of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר | hamidbar | the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| יַם־ | yam- | [the] sea of | H3220 → | 396 times |
| ס֑וּף | suf | reed[s] | H5488 → | 28 times |
| וַחֲמֻשִׁ֛ים | vachamushim | and arrayed for battle | H2571 → | |
| עָל֥וּ | ʾalu | they went up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| בְנֵי־ | venei- | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| מֵאֶ֥רֶץ | meeretz | from [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִצְרָֽיִם׃ | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
וַיַּסֵּ֨בand he caused to go around
vaiyasevH5437 →161 times
אֱלֹהִ֧ים׀God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָעָ֛םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
דֶּ֥רֶךְ[the] way of
derekhH1870 →707 times
הַמִּדְבָּ֖רthe wilderness
hamidbarH4057 →270 times
יַם־[the] sea of
yam-H3220 →396 times
ס֑וּףreed[s]
sufH5488 →28 times
וַחֲמֻשִׁ֛יםand arrayed for battle
vachamushimH2571 →
עָל֥וּthey went up
ʾaluH5927 →890 times
בְנֵי־[the] people of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
מֵאֶ֥רֶץfrom [the] land of
meeretzH776 →2504 times
מִצְרָֽיִם׃Egypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 32:10He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
it leads to
- Zechariah 2:8
For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—
- Deuteronomy 8:15–16
He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.
- Hosea 13:5
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
- Psalms 17:8
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
- Psalms 32:7–10
You are my hiding place. You protect me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
- Zechariah 2:8
Through
Exodus 14:2“Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon.
it leads to
- Numbers 33:7–8
They set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon, and they camped near Migdol.
- Jeremiah 44:1
This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in the land of Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis—and in the land of Pathros:
- Numbers 33:7–8
Through
Exodus 12:51And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.
it leads to
- Exodus 12:41
At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 12:41
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Exodus
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 80.6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.