I. =From Rameses to the Red Sea.= (Exod. 12-14; Num. 33:5-8.) The sojourn of the Israelites was passed in the Land of Goshen, between the Nile and the Isthmus of Suez. The court of the reigning Pharaoh during the time while Moses was negotiating for the departure of the Israelites, was at Zoan, or Tanis (Psa. 78:12), the royal city of the Delta. Rameses, the place of meeting for the Israelites, was probably a district rather than a city (Gen. 47:8), but may have been at _Abu Kesheib_. Pithom (Exod. 1:11) has been discovered at _Tell Maskutor_, ten miles west of Lake Timsah. Succoth, "booths" or "tents," was probably not a city but a camp, and its location is unknown. Etham, "wall" (Exod. 13:20), may indicate a place near the great wall which extended across the isthmus. Pi-hahiroth may be at _Agrud_, near Suez. Baal-zephon may be the mountain _Jebel Alaka_. The Israelites crossed the sea at the narrow Strait of Suez, where the distance from shore to shore is about two-thirds of a mile. At that time the gulf probably extended several miles north of its present position. The northeast wind drove out the waters, leaving a path across the gulf, with pools on either side, as a "wall" or defense to the crossing Israelites. II. =From the Red Sea to Mount Sinai.= (Exod. 15-19; Num. 33:8-15.) The general direction can be traced with certainty, but the precise places of encampment are only conjectural. It is probable that so vast a body of people, about two millions, must have occupied a large extent of territory, and the "stations" were the various headquarters of the camp. This section of the journey was mostly spent in the two narrow plains along the coast, the Wilderness (or desert) of Etham, and that of Sin. At Marah (_Ain Hawârah_) the bitter waters were healed; at Elim (_Wady Ghurundel_) they were refreshed by the "twelve wells and three-score and ten palm trees." At the next station, No. 9, "the encampment at the Red Sea," they saw for the last time the waters of the western gulf, and the land of Egypt beyond them. Here they turned eastward, and, passing the mountain barrier, entered the Wilderness of Sin. (This is to be distinguished from the Wilderness of Zin, or the Arabah, on the eastern side of the peninsula.) In this wild and barren country, food failed them, and the manna began to be supplied (Exod. 16), to last for forty years. Their general course was now eastward, through the _wadies_, or dry beds of winter torrents. At Rephidim (station 13) two events are recorded as occurring. The want of water led to a miraculous supply from the smitten rock (Exod. 17:2-7); and the Israelites fought the first battle in their history, with the wandering Amalekites, who attacked the rear of the scattered host. Under Joshua, who here appears for the first time, they were defeated, and devoted to complete destruction. (Exod. 17:8-16; Deut. 25:18.) The next station was Mount Sinai, in front of which they encamped, probably on the plain _er Rahah_.