Exodus: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13a 13b 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30a 30b 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38a 38b 39 40
14:1 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ (King James translation): And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN (BibleNet translation): Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying...
14:2 DABER EL BENEY YISRA-EL VE YASHUVU VE YACHANU LIPHNEY PIY HA CHIYROT BEYN MIGDOL U VEYN HA YAM LIPHNEY BA'AL TSEPHON NICH'CHO TACHANU AL HA YAM
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיָשֻׁבוּ וְיַחֲנוּ לִפְנֵי פִּי הַחִירֹת בֵּין מִגְדֹּל וּבֵין הַיָּם לִפְנֵי בַּעַל צְפֹן נִכְחוֹ תַחֲנוּ עַל הַיָּם
KJ: 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.
BN: "Speak to the Beney Yisra-El. Tell tem to turn back and make camp outside Piy Ha Chiyrot, between Migdol and the sea, before Ba'al Tsephon. Make your camp right up against it, on the sea side.
But this is not the journey that was described in Chapter 13! And we need to ask: why is YHVH making them turn back: what danger is in front of them? And bear in mind, as per 13:17 ff, he only sent them this way to avoid danger the other way! I will return to that after we have attempted to locate them.
Using recent archaeology, we can follow this route along the easternmost tributary of the Nile, traveling north-eastwards - but definitely north-eastwards, and not more than thirty miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea at any point, but not south or south-eastwwards and several hundred miles towards the Red Sea; though of course YHVH in one version and Elohim in another may have sent the people on very different journeys!
PIY HA CHIYROT: PIY HA means "mouth of the...", which is probably going to refer to the Nile, but it could be any one of the hundreds of side-streams that comprise the Delta. CHIYROT (חִירֹת) is more difficult. CHIYRAH (חִירֹה) = "noble", though its only other use as such is in Genesis 38:1 and 12, for Chirah the Adul-Ami (Adullamite), with whom Yehudah travelled south en route to his meeting with Tamar.
Could it be PIY HA CHOROT (פִּי הַחִורֹת), with the Yud (י) rather than the Vav (ו) as an error of a later scribe; we have seen this many times already in the texts. But CHOROT is not much more meaningful than "noble"; either "holes" or "hollows" in that form of the word, or "white linen", which is probably conencted to the nobles because white linen required retting and was therefore rich-man's clothing.
Could it be CHARAH (חִרֹה), but this time with an erroneously added Yud? CHARAH means "to burn" or "to kindle", and would merit the Yud in the Pi'el or intensive form, when used as a gerund: "the mouth of burning", which could be a euphemism for a place either of cremation or the customary rites of Moloch - or indeed a volcanic site, which would connectit with the pillar of fire by night, but the place is specifically connected here with two other places, one a watchtower, MIGDOL, for the observation of the heavens, the other with a name of multiple meanings that need further exploration.
A MIGDOL is a watchtower, as we have seen many times already (here, for example); so any MIGDOL anywhere could bear the name; but clearly it is not the MIGDOL that is marked on the map in Chapter 13.
BA'AL TSEPHON may mean "Ba'al of the North", and TSAPHON certainly has that meaning - and we are definitely going in that direcion, despite Exodus 13:17. TSEPHON has a sense of "hiding" or "concealment": Exodus 2:2, Joshua 2:4; specifically for defensive purposes in Psalm 27:5, or in the sense of laying up riches for safe-keeping in Job 21:19 and Psalm 31:20, which also makes a clear distinction between LEHASTIR and LEHITSTAPHON as forms of concealment. The prophet Tsephan-Yah (Zephaniah) took his name from the same root ("whom Yah protects" is the probable meaning, though Jewish sources today would insist on male YHVH rather than female Yah). And of course, given that they are carrying his bones for future burial, we cannot ignore Yoseph's Egyptian title, which was Tsaphnat Pa'ne'ach (and note at the link that Yoseph is itself probably a Yehuditisation of Yah-Suph, the goddess of the Sea of Reeds, the precise area where they are currently pilgrimaging.
All of which ties together very nicely, but the "Ba'al of Concealment" still doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, unless there are mythological or liturgical details of the ancient Egyptian pilgrimage ceremonies that the archeologists haven't unravelled yet. However, let us go back to "Ba'al of the North" as an option, and remember that we are right on the Mediterranean coastline at the moment, as far north as you can get in Egypt. The ancients regarded the north - the one quarter of the sky in which the sun never appears on its day-time journey from east via the south to setting in the west - as dark and obscure (hidden? concealed?); but Ra's return journey at night, as described in the Am Tu'at, follows precisely this route, starting where he sets in the west and going through the twelve gates of the northern sky to reach his rising-point in the east. A logical enough starting-point then for a pilgrimage to celebrate the return of Setto the Underworld and the return of Osher to the Upperworld.
(All of which, for orthodox Jews, in their context for this journey, is a significant challenge to the Red Sea crossing.)
Go back now to Pharaoh's name for Yoseph: TSAPHNAT PA'NE'ACH (צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ); we have just been told, and it seemed entirely out-of-context at the time, a tag-on by a later editor, or simply a mention-it-and-move-on in the original, that Mosheh has brought Yoseph's bones with him for eventual burial. Yoseph's mythological role, as explained in my commentaries at the time, is the earthly representative of Osher the corn-god. We also know that the north gate of the Temple was where Tammuz was worshipped (Ezekiel 8:14), precisely because that had been for centuries the threshing-floor of Ornah, and he was the corn-god in the Babylonian version, the equivalent of Osher (Osiris) in the Egyptian; the north gate was specifically where the women wept for him after his death, as Mary and Mary and Martha would for Jesus after he had been sent back to the Underworld at the Passover.
So we can read Ba'al Tsephon as "the god of the northern sky", which connects with the three days of darkness that preceded the plagues and the Passover festival; and PIY HA CHIYROT as an ancient crematorium, to which the "bones of Yoseph", or in this context "the bones of Set", are being brought for ritual cremation, as an integral phase of the pilgrimage to the holy mountain, on which Osher will be reborn as Hor, both in the Golden Calf which is his parental totem animal, and in the figure of the Risen Lord, which is the image we will be given of Mosheh, descending with the Law Tablets, fully horned with beams of light in parallel with the Golden Calf that represents him at base camp.
This still does not explain why they went past and then turned back; to which the logical answer is that, by doing so, they had to approach the place from the south, which could well have some religious logic to it.
All of which takes forward the Pesach version of this tale entirely logically. But mixed up (you will have to get used to this as Exodus progresses: there are at least four different tales continually merging here)... One other alternative, for those willing to consider seriously my volcano theory - that the danger in front of them was itself the volcano, starting to erupt. The next verse will in fact mitigate against this: the danger is not in front of them, but coming from behind them, because they have turned back, which is to say they are now facing west.
And then one more possible alternative: that they are going into "hiding", because Pharaoh is on his way, armed and with chariots - though it is unclear how 1.5 million people can hide in a desert, so this too is rejected.
Which leads to one last observation. There is a use of the word TSAPHON in Yo-El (Joel) 2:20, towards the end of a lengthy vision of the apocalypse which bears remarkable similarity to this tale: mixtures of cloud with darkness, an army drowning in the sea, and TSAPHON used metaphorically to describe that army as "a plague of locusts". This certainly merits some more detailed exegesis; but within the Pesach-Creation reading, not the Ach-Mousa, nor the volcano, nor the pilgrimage around the water shrines.
14:3 VE AMAR PAR'OH LIVNEY YISRA-EL NEVUCHIM HEM BA ARETS SAGAR ALEYHEM HA MIDBAR
וְאָמַר פַּרְעֹה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְבֻכִים הֵם בָּאָרֶץ סָגַר עֲלֵיהֶם הַמִּדְבָּר
KJ: For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
BN: "And Pharaoh will say of the Beney Yisra-El: They are trapped in the land, the desert has shut them in...
VE AMAR: Rather than the customary VA YOMER.
They are being taken this way, we were told earlier, because of the fear of war. Yet here is war, coming to them.
Odd grammar, saying LIVNEY, which really means "to the Beney Yisra-El" and not "about them". YHVH imagines that Pharaoh has already sent out his footmen to see where the Habiru have gone, and by what route, and responds that they are foolish, that they have chosen a route that will bog them down (if it's the Sea of Reeds), that the desert will entrap them (if they are heading for the Red Sea); and out of this response, presumably, the realisation that he can still change his mind yet one more time, and if not by calling them back, then at least by pursuing them and driving them back. And in this case: why did YHVH tell Mosheh to go by this route? Clearly, as with everything else in the tale, if you believe that Omniscient YHVH is controlling all the action, then we are still inside the liturgy even now, and our desperately low self-esteemed YHVH needs yet one more opportunity to convince himself, through others, that he really is as almighty as he is determined to believe. The next verse will confirm this reading.
I am also thinking of that famous Borges story that prompted my tale of "Theseus and the Labyrinth" in "The Captive Bride": how does a desert shut you in? The text may actually be a vocative: "shut them in the desert", as in "get the army out there and block every possible route".
NEVUCHIM: The root of the Yiddish "nabbuch", meaning "a poor unfortunate soul". What does it really mean here?
KJ: And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
The Egyptians kept very detailed records of the lives and deaths of their Pharaohs, usually engraved on stele, on the walls of their sarcophagi, on the faces of the pyramids - no mention at any point of their history of a Pharaoh who died by drowning in the Red Sea.
14:4 VE CHIZAKTI ET LEV PAR'OH VE RADAPH ACHAREYHEM VE ICHAVDAH BE PHAR'OH U VE CHOL CHEYLO VE YAD'U MITSRAYIM KI ANI YHVH VA YA'ASU CHEN
וְחִזַּקְתִּי אֶת לֵב פַּרְעֹה וְרָדַף אַחֲרֵיהֶם וְאִכָּבְדָה בְּפַרְעֹה וּבְכָל חֵילוֹ וְיָדְעוּ מִצְרַיִם כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן
KJ: And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
BN: "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will follow after them; and I will gain great glory out of Pharaoh, and from his army; and the Mitsrim will know that I am YHVH." And they did so.
Odd grammar, if this is happening at the time rather than being written as much later narrative, to say "them" instead of "you". CHEYLO is definitely his army, not his "host" as other translations prefer. Host is always "TSEVA'OT".
VA YA'ASU CHEN: And they did so. After such a long sentence, it is not immediately obvious what this refers to; in fact it is the turning back to Piy Ha Chiyrot.
14:5 VA YUGAD LE MELECH MITSRAYIM KI BARACH HA AM VA YEHAPHECH LEVAV PAR'OH VA AVADAV EL HA AM VA YOMRU MA ZOT ASIYNU KI SHILACHNU ET YISRA-EL ME AVDENU
וַיֻּגַּד לְמֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם כִּי בָרַח הָעָם וַיֵּהָפֵךְ לְבַב פַּרְעֹה וַעֲבָדָיו אֶל הָעָם וַיֹּאמְרוּ מַה זֹּאת עָשִׂינוּ כִּי שִׁלַּחְנוּ אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵעָבְדֵנוּ
KJ: And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
BN: And it was reported to the king of Mitsrayim that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned towards the people, and they said: "What have done, allowing Yisra-El to leave off serving us?"
Is this yet another version of the text? Small but subtle differences. He is called MELECH MITSRAYIM, not Pharaoh, which has happened before, but rarely. BARACH means "fled", and we know that they did not flee; they received permission, were told to get out, and half of Mitsrayim stood at the roadside handing them jewels, gold, silver and fine clothing. Or is there a sense that, if they were genuinely heading for Sinai and the Hajj, they would have gone by a different route, so somthing is amiss?
VA YEHAPHECH is a verb not used before, replacing the more usual "hardening" of his heart; the root means "to turn", and it yields HAPHUCH, which means "opposite", so it is a complete turn, full 180 degrees, endorsing my comment about "fled" above. Normally the hardening refers only to Pharaoh, whereas here it is his servants too. Again "what have we done?"
VA YUGAD: Picking up my comment on YHVH's "VA AMAR" in verse 3.
14:6 VA YE'SOR ET RICHBO VE ET AMO LAKACH IMO
וַיֶּאְסֹר אֶת רִכְבּוֹ וְאֶת עַמּוֹ לָקַח עִמּוֹ
KJ: And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
BN: And he made ready his chariots, and took his people with him.
Chariots pulled by donkeys, or by horses? Some recent archaeological findings have included a horse skeleton in the region of Avaris, suggesting that the horse may have come into Mitsrayim (Egypt) with, or at least at the time of the Hyksos. More information here.
But which group is which? If the Pharaoh is Ach-Mousa, and the people he is driving out are the Hyksos, then our Mosheh is leading the Hyksos - and we are pretty certain that the Beney Yisra-El of the Yoseph story were indeed the Hyksos, so it would be right if it were that way around.
14:7 VA YIKACH SHESH ME'OT RECHEV BACHUR VE CHOL RECHEV MITSRAYIM VE SHALISHIM AL KULO
וַיִּקַּח שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת רֶכֶב בָּחוּר וְכֹל רֶכֶב מִצְרָיִם וְשָׁלִשִׁם עַל כֻּלּוֹ
KJ: And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
BN: And he took six hundred of his choicest chariots, and all the chariots of Mitsrayim, in squadrons of thirties.
SHALISHIM: from SHALOSH = 3; this goes with the CHAMUSHIM that we had at Exodus 13:18: 30s and 50s.
14:8 VA YECHAZEK YHVH ET LEV PAR'OH MELECH MITSRAYIM VA YIRDOPH ACHAREY BENEY YISRA-EL, U VENEY YISRA-EL YOTSIM BE YAD RAMAH
וַיְחַזֵּק יְהוָה אֶת לֵב פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם וַיִּרְדֹּף אַחֲרֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל יֹצְאִים בְּיָד רָמָה
KJ: And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
BN: And YHVH hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Mitsrayim, and he pursued after the Beney Yisra-El; for the Beney Yisra-El went out with a high hand.
YAD RAMAH: Hand versus hand, one CHAZAKAH, the other RAMAH. One looking like a Hamsa, with an Eye of Hor in its midst (see verse 31, below), the other looking like it's making the Yevarechecha or bathing in the mikveh, the arms uoraised (Ramah), the fingers spread to make the letter Sheen (ש), just like Mosheh's trident - click here.
Or does it simply mean "high-handed"? If so, Merriam-Webster defines that as "having or showing no regard for the rights, concerns, or feelings of others : arbitrary, overbearing". Arrogant, in other words.
How long after their departure does this "turn-about" take place? The impression is that they went that night, and Pharaoh woke the following morning, as with each of the previous occasions, regretting his decision. But maybe it wasn't the same day, maybe it was one, even two days later - nothing in the text suggests it was longer than that. And how far can the Beney Yisra-El have travelled in that time? Twenty miles? The nearest point of the Red Sea is more than a hundred miles.
14:9 VA YIRDEPHU MITSRAYIM ACHAREYHEM VA YASIYGU OTAM CHONIM AL HA YAM KOL SUS RECHEV PAR'OH U PHARASHAV VE CHEYLO AL PIY HA CHIYROT LIPHNEY BA'AL TSEPHON
וַיִּרְדְּפוּ מִצְרַיִם אַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיַּשִּׂיגוּ אוֹתָם חֹנִים עַל הַיָּם כָּל סוּס רֶכֶב פַּרְעֹה וּפָרָשָׁיו וְחֵילוֹ עַל פִּי הַחִירֹת לִפְנֵי בַּעַל צְפֹן
KJ: But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
BN: And the Mitsrim pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his cavalry, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Piy Ha Chiyrot, in front of Ba'al Tsephon.
CHONIM: Which does indeed mean "to set up camp", and is used multiple times in the Tanach for precisely that. But isn't it interesting how words grow other meanings - Shemu-El's mother, for example, has the name Chanah, which appears to be the word that we have here, though actually it is derived from the root CHANUN, whence CHEN = "grace" (cf Psalm 77:10), and so it is unconnected with CHONIM. Appearances decieve! Because the root of CHONIM is indeed CHANAH; just a different CHANAH. This one has to do with things beings set down, like the Mishkan in Numbers 1:50, or "declining", like the sun going down in Judges 19:9, a coincidence that does rather reinforce my explanation of Ba'al Tsephon and Piy ha Charot at verse 2.
Unfortunately, as we have demonstrated above, Piy Ha Chiyrot is not "beside" the sea, or at least, nowhere near the Red Sea. A good few miles inland from the Mediterranean, so sea-side, if not fully seaside; but in northern Egypt, not its south-east.
14:10 U PHAR'OH HIKRIYV VA YIS'U VENEY YISRA-EL ET EYNEYHEM VE HINEH MITSRAYIM NOSE'A ACHAREYHEM VA YIYR'U ME'OD VA YITS'AKU VENEY YISRA-EL EL YHVH
וּפַרְעֹה הִקְרִיב וַיִּשְׂאוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת עֵינֵיהֶם וְהִנֵּה מִצְרַיִם נֹסֵעַ אַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּירְאוּ מְאֹד וַיִּצְעֲקוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל יְהוָה
KJ: And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
BN: And when Pharaoh came close, the Beney Yisra-El lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Mitsrim were marching after them; and they were scared stiff; and the Beney Yisra-El cried out to YHVH.
And only about half-way along the route that YHVH in verse 1 said he would not take them, in case they encountered aggressive Pelishtim (aggressive Pelishtim? In the Gaza Strip? Don't be silly!) and were forced to engage in war, and wished they were back in Egypt. Doubly ironic in the circumstances of the day! Triply ironic in the circumstances of our day.
14:11 VA YOMRU EL MOSHEH HA MI BLI EYN-KEVARIM BE MITSRAYIM LEKACHTANU LAMUT BA MIDBAR MAH ZOT ASIYTA LANU LEHOTSIY'ANU MI MITSRAYIM
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל מֹשֶׁה הֲמִבְּלִי אֵין קְבָרִים בְּמִצְרַיִם לְקַחְתָּנוּ לָמוּת בַּמִּדְבָּר מַה זֹּאת עָשִׂיתָ לָּנוּ לְהוֹצִיאָנוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם
KJ: And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
BN: And they said to Mosheh: "Because there were no graves in Mitsrayim, have you taken us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Mitsrayim like this?
Let us be clear; there are about one and a half million of them, and only two of Mosheh and Aharon; no one forced them to go on this journey, and they could have said no. But the point is, they are a bunch of whiners and moaners, presumably the consequence of being passive serfniks and jobniks and followers of orders for the past 430 years. This is the greatest lesson that the Yehudit Bible has to teach, and sadly humanity has still not learned it: that if you are passively complicitous, if you collaborate in your own victimhood, it will become your default position, your way of life, and your children's, and your children's children's, and getting out of that habit is unbelievably difficult. A moral lesson for the African-American community in Baltimore, for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, for the Burqa-clad women of Saudi Arabia, for the harajan of India, for the aboriginals of Australia, for the Gulag-inhabitants of post-Communist Russia. It will likely take forty years of wandering in the wilderness, but there is no alternative, because "fleshpots" are not bikini-beaches but bare-chested slavery.
14:12 HA LO ZEH HA DAVAR ASHER DIBARNU ELEYCHA VE MITSRAYIM LEMOR CHADAL MIMENU VE NA'AVDAH ET MITSRAYIM KI TOV LANU AVOD ET MITSRAYIM MI MUTENU BA MIDBAR
הֲלֹא זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְנוּ אֵלֶיךָ בְמִצְרַיִם לֵאמֹר חֲדַל מִמֶּנּוּ וְנַעַבְדָה אֶת מִצְרָיִם כִּי טוֹב לָנוּ עֲבֹד אֶת מִצְרַיִם מִמֻּתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר
KJ: Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
BN: "Is this not what we told you before we ever left Mitsrayim, saying: 'Leave us alone, that we may serve the Mitsrim?' It was better for us to serve the Mitsrim, than that we should die in the desert."
No mentioning of names here, which leaves us wondering who the spokespersons might have been? Korach already?
And where in the text did it tell us they ever said this to him? Mosheh worried that they would (Exodus 4:1, 4:10), and got into YHVH's bad books for saying so, but the actuality is never described.
14:13 VA YOMER MOSHEH EL HA AM AL TIYRA'U HITYATSVU U RE'U ET YESHU'AT YHVH ASHER YA'ASEH LACHEM HA YOM KI ASHER RE'IYTEM ET MITSRAYIM HA YOM LO TOSIPHU LIR'OTAM OD AD OLAM
וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל הָעָם אַל תִּירָאוּ הִתְיַצְּבוּ וּרְאוּ אֶת יְשׁוּעַת יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה לָכֶם הַיּוֹם כִּי אֲשֶׁר רְאִיתֶם אֶת מִצְרַיִם הַיּוֹם לֹא תֹסִפוּ לִרְאֹתָם עוֹד עַד עוֹלָם
KJ: And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
BN: And Mosheh said to the people: "Fear not. Stand firm, and you will see the salvation of YHVH, which he will work for you to-day; as to the Mitsrim who you are seeing to-day, you shall never, ever, see them again...
YESHUA'T: The source of the name Yehoshu'a? In Numbers 13:16 we are told that he is named Hoshe'a (הוֹשֵׁ֥עַ), but that Mosheh changed it to Yehoshu'a (יְהוֹשֻֽׁעַ) From this root may also come the name Yishai (יִשַׁי), or Jesse, the father of King David, and a probable source for the name Yeshu (Jesus). There is also Yesha-Yahu (Isaiah) from the same root (יָשַׁע-יהו).
14:14 YHVH YILACHEM LACHEM VE ATEM TACHARISHUN
יְהוָה יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם וְאַתֶּם תַּחֲרִשׁוּן
KJ: The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
BN: "YHVH will fight for you, and you will hold your peace."
The phrasing really warrants this to be translated as: "YHVH will fight for you, so shut up!" Which rather endorses my above point. Very sad! The main reason, it seems to me, why the human world is still at such a low state of harmony and decency and civilisation to this very day.
14:15 VA YOMER YHVH EL MOSHEH MAH TITS'AK ELAI DABER EL BENEY YISRA-EL VA YISA'U
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה מַה תִּצְעַק אֵלָי דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִסָּעוּ
KJ: And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
BN: And YHVH said to Mosheh: "What are you shouting at me for? Speak to the children of Yisra-El, and get moving...
MAH TITSAK ELAI: Just as the tone of the previous verse was really rather more colloquial than most translations render it, so also here. And actually it isn't Mosheh who is doing the complaining; and actually he responded in exactly the same tone to the Beney Yisra-El in verse 14 - which provides a middle-ground between my "Prometheus Unbound" and orthodoxy's "leave everything to the Almighty"; an expectation that appointed leaders will get on with it and lead, and not keep coming back to daddy to ask what they should do next.
If the explanation of PIY HA CHIYROT etc is rejected, then an explanation is needed as to why YHVH had them turn around and go there, since no description is given of what they actually did there, except make camp and whine, and then be told to get up and move on again.
14:16 VE ATAH HAREM ET MAT'CHA U NETEH ET YADCHA AL HA YAM U VEKA'EHU VA YAVO'U VENEY YISRA-EL BETOCH HA YAM BA YABASHAH
וְאַתָּה הָרֵם אֶת מַטְּךָ וּנְטֵה אֶת יָדְךָ עַל הַיָּם וּבְקָעֵהוּ וְיָבֹאוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה
KJ: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
BN: As to you, raise your sceptre, and stretch your hand out over the sea, and divide it; and the Beney Yisra-El will walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground...
That middle-ground is nonetheless questionable, because YHVH, more a Jewish mother than a Jewish father, cannot help himself but has to interfere in absolutely everything, if only as another opportunity to declare how wonderful he is and build up his eternally flagging self-conviction. So Mosheh is told to lead, but the methodology of leadership is to raise the magic wand supplied by the Almighty, and have the Almighty perform a miracle on his behalf - so it isn't really Mosheh leading after all; and when, later on, he tries to lead, by drawing the water from the rock at Merivah, oy but the Almighty is going to be broyges with him! So even leaders who are meant to lead are expected to "leave everything to the Almighty", just one tier higher in the hierarchy of passive compliance. Ecce religionis!
AL HA YAM: Yes, but which sea? We are at Piy Ha Chiyrot remember, not Eilat. The area where they are is marshland in the eastern delta of the Nile; dozens of rhines and streams and watery rivulets, but not sea. Not even the Mediterranean Sea, though verse 9 described it as "beside" - probably fifteen or twenty miles north of where they are. Archaeologists generally regard YAM SUPH as meaning the Sea of Reeds, which is to say the marshlands in the delta of the Nile, and figure this as a descriptor of the marshes.
14:17 VA ANI HINENI MECHAZEK ET LEV MITSRAYIM VA YAVO'U ACHAREYHEM VE ICHAVDAH BE PHAR'OH U VE CHOL CHEYLO BE RICHBO U VE PHARASHAV
וַאֲנִי הִנְנִי מְחַזֵּק אֶת לֵב מִצְרַיִם וְיָבֹאוּ אַחֲרֵיהֶם וְאִכָּבְדָה בְּפַרְעֹה וּבְכָל חֵילוֹ בְּרִכְבּוֹ וּבְפָרָשָׁיו
KJ: And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
BN: "And as for me, watch and I will harden the hearts of the Mitsrim, and they will go in after them; and I will obtain glory out of Pharaoh, and out of his army, his chariots, and his cavalry...
Film-director YHVH, plotting his scenario, anticipating his Oscar!
MECHAZEK: Is this perhaps an idiom for something quite different than "hardening his heart"? Its constant repetition is not the reason for the question, but the fact that no further hardening is needed; Pharaoh is already here with his army. Is it possible that it means "made him steadfast", in the sense of fulfilling his part of the liturgy? (I think I may have made this same suggestion previously - see Exodus 12:33)
ICHAVDAH: You think I am being harsh on the Almighty, or simply cynical about religion, when I repeat and re-repeat this matter of the divine psychology and its apparent lacks, flaws and irredeemable sense of its own inferiority; but the text bears me out again and again, as in this verse, and the next one, where the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, the amassing of an army, the miracle of the parting of the waters, are designed, not to teach the Mitsrim or the Beney Yisra-El an important moral lesson, or help them to grow as worthy human beings, but simply, like a crusading knight stealing booty from a razed village, that YHVH may get "honour", or "glory"; and yet, what kind of honour is it, to drown a vast army, and the horses too, and to leave so many widows and orphans? We shall see in later Jewish writings (try here, or here, or go directly to the sources: in the Talmud Megillah 10b, Sanhedrin 39b, Berachot 31a, Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, based on Exodus 14:28; or biblically in Proverbs 24:17 or Ezekiel 33:11) that the Prophets and the Rabbis are as unimpressed by this as I am, and make clear that we should always remember the tragic fate of the Mitsrim when we remember the liberation of the Habiru, the former diluting our pride and joy in the latter.
I-Chavod is the name given to the child born to Pinchas, the son of Eli, after the foolishness of taking the Ark into battle against the Pelishtim, and its being captured. Pinchas was killed; his wife gave the child the name. (1 Samuel 4:21 and 14:3) (see also my note to Yocheved, Mosheh's mother, at Exodus 6:20)
14:18 VE YAD'U MITSRAYIM KI ANI YHVH BE HIKAVDI BE PHAR'OH BE RICHBO U VE PHARASHAV
וְיָדְעוּ מִצְרַיִם כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה בְּהִכָּבְדִי בְּפַרְעֹה בְּרִכְבּוֹ וּבְפָרָשָׁיו
KJ: And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
BN: And the Mitsrim shall know that I am YHVH, when I have gained glory from Pharaoh, and his chariots, and from his cavalry."
This will make more sense when we get to the Song of the Sea that Mosheh, and then Mir-Yam (Miriam), will sing after this episode (Exodus 15). These verses may well simply be an attempt to make historical a most famous song that is not actually about history at all.
14:19 VA YISA MAL'ACH HA ELOHIM HA HOLECH LIPHNEY MACHANEH YISRA-EL VA YELECH ME ACHAREYHEM VA YISA AMUD HE ANAN MIPNEYHEM VA YA'AMOD ME ACHAREYHEM
וַיִּסַּע מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים הַהֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵי מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֵּלֶךְ מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּסַּע עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן מִפְּנֵיהֶם וַיַּעֲמֹד מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם
KJ: And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
BN: And the messenger of Elohim, who went before the camp of Yisra-El, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them.
MAL'ACH: There has been no mention of this "angel" or "messenger" previously - or perhaps there has, and these are the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire? No, that cannot be, because the Mal'ach has gone to the rear, but the fire and cloud are still in the diatant vanguard. However, as we have just switched in this verse from the YHVH text to the Elohim text, it may not be surprising (again, we need to check whether angels appear in both Elohim texts and YHVH texts, or only one, but generally it is only Elohim texts that have angels). As so often, the Redactor appears to have found himself with two versions, in one the angel guiding them, in the other the pillar of cloud; and so, unable to choose between them, which would have offended one part or other of the confederation, he left both in.
Is this the same angel who [did not actually, because the text clearly states that it was YHVH himself in the form of a MASHCHIT, Exodus 12:23] passed over the houses on the night of Passover, or a different angel?
14:20 VA YAVO BEYN MACHANEH MITSRAYIM U VEYN MACHANEH YISRA-EL VA YEHI HE ANAN VE HA CHOSHECH VA YA'ER ET HA LAILAH VE LO KARAV ZEH EL ZEH KOL HA LAILAH
וַיָּבֹא בֵּין מַחֲנֵה מִצְרַיִם וּבֵין מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיְהִי הֶעָנָן וְהַחֹשֶׁךְ וַיָּאֶר אֶת הַלָּיְלָה וְלֹא קָרַב זֶה אֶל זֶה כָּל הַלָּיְלָה
KJ: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
BN: And it came between the camp of Mitsrayim and the camp of Yisra-El; and there was the cloud and the darkness here, yet it gave light by night there; and the one did not come near the other all night.
Whenever angels come into the tales, it is usually a safe bet that some sort of astronomical event is taking place, Ya'akov at Beit-El gazing up at the Milky Way and desribing it as a ladder with angels ascending and descending, the plagues perhaps as the meteorite storms in constellation Lyra that always precede the vernal equinox (see my notes at Exodus 7:4), and here, perhaps, the passage of a comet or the twinkling of a supernova. Which one is over which one is not stated, but it is a battle of light and darkness in two hemispheres, so we are unlikely to be wrong if we assume that this is still Set versus Osher in some final episode of the Pesach rituals.
Evidently this is all taking place at night-time (it seems as if the entire liturgy has taken place at night). The ANAN (cloud) is stated, but both descriptors are given: the cloud and the fire. Is there some mysterious liturgical or mythological intention, by which it is day-time for the Beney Yisra-El but night-time for the Mitsrim ? Is this comparable with the cosmological events described in Joshua 10:11-12, which appears to be the account of a lunar or solar eclipse?
My feeling is that it is part of the re-Creation aetiology: just as the sea will soon be divided, so also the clock, so also light and darkness, so also fire and water, and throughout the scenes leading up to, and during, the plagues, we witnessed multiple verbs for the different types of division and separation which are the natural processes of Creation, from cell division to the sprouting of twigs and vines and branches, to the emanations of the womb, to forked lightning splitting open the trunks of trees. This image of universal bifurcation takes us back, yet again, to the process of Creation described in Genesis 1. We are, we can now recognise, still inside the same liturgy, still telling the same Passover tale of the New Year. And if Creation is now imminent, can we assume that even now "RU'ACH ELOHIM MERACHEPHET AL PENEY HA MAYIM" - וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם - that "the spirit of Elohim hovered over the face of the waters", as in Genesis 1:2? See the very next verse (and wait, as a pregnant woman always waits, for that key moment when the waters part and the waters break - and then Creation is fulfilled!
14:21 VA YET MOSHEH ET YADO AL HA YAM VA YOLECH YHVH ET HA YAM BE RU'ACH KADIM AZAH KOL HA LAILAH VA YASEM ET HA YAM LE CHARAVAH VA YIBAK'U HA MAYIM
וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת יָדוֹ עַל הַיָּם וַיּוֹלֶךְ יְהוָה אֶת הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כָּל הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם
KJ: And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
BN: And Mosheh stretched out his hand over the sea; and YHVH caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
It is definitely night-time - I re-state this only because YHVH in the Genesis version, being a sun-god, works exclusively by day, whereas here the moon, as we have seen, predominates, and the moon is female: Delilah not Shimshon (Samson), so to speak; Yah not Yahweh. The words that are used to describe this are YAVASHAH in verse 16, and again in 22; MIKVEH now. Both of these are crucial to the description of Creation in Genesis 1; see Genesis 1:9 for YAVASHAH, 1:10 for MIKVEH. YAVASHAH is also crucial to the No'achic tale of the end-and-recreation of the world (Genesis 8:14).
AZAH: the word means "strong", but it is an odd coincidence that geographical Azah, which we mis-pronounce as Gaza, is precisely the strip of land into which the Beney Yisra-El are wandering, by way of the Sea of Reeds, along the Mediterranean coast (and nowhere near the Red Sea).
14:22 VA YAVO'U VENEY YISRA-EL BETOCH HA YAM BA YABASHAH VE HA MAYIM LAHEM CHOMAH MIY'MIYNAM U MI SMOLAM
וַיָּבֹאוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה וְהַמַּיִם לָהֶם חוֹמָה מִימִינָם וּמִשְּׂמֹאלָם
KJ: And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
BN: And the Beney Yisra-El walked into the middle of the sea, but on dry ground; and the waters formed a wall for them on their right hand, and on their left.
There are times when it is perhaps best not to make commentary. This is one of them.
14:23 VA YIRDEPHU MITSRAYIM VA YAVO'U ACHAREYHEM KOL SUS PHAROH RICHBO U PHARASHAV EL TOCH HA YAM
וַיִּרְדְּפוּ מִצְרַיִם וַיָּבֹאוּ אַחֲרֵיהֶם כֹּל סוּס פַּרְעֹה רִכְבּוֹ וּפָרָשָׁיו אֶל-תּוֹךְ הַיָּם
KJ: And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
BN: And the Mitsrim pursued, and went in after them into the middle of the sea, all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his cavalry.
To state the matter yet one more time, there are about one and a half million Beney Yisra-El crossing this sea on foot, with large quantities of sheep and cattle, and elderly, and babes. Even the tortoise and the hare does not work as an analogy for this particular race.
I have been waiting for the best time to point this out, and haven't found one suitable yet. So why not now. The sea is called Yam Suph in Yehudit, as we have seen several times. Yam means "sea", usually "ocean", but a large lake would use the same word, as Kinneret in the Galil does. As to Suph: it has nothing to do with "redness", which would be ADOM, and connects to all sorts of other mythological and aetiological fables, but not this one. Suph is written סוּף, and, when it is not being the word for "reeds", it is the word for "end"; and no one has a clue why the homonym, but probably one is Egyptian and the other Babylonian, so they aren't really homonyms at all. Nonetheless "The Sea at the End of the World" - exactly where you would expect Set to end his days, and indeed his nights, when finally the Spring brings to an end the Winter.
The ancient Egyptians, for the information, called the Red Sea "the Green Space". Red was their adjective for Sinai, which they called the "Red Desert". They now call it al-bahr al-ahmar (البحر الأحمر), which does indeed mean the Red Sea, but that is a modern translation, based on British colonial rule and the earlier Greek name, Erythra Thalassa (Ερυθρά Θάλασσα)
The ancient Egyptians, for the information, called the Red Sea "the Green Space". Red was their adjective for Sinai, which they called the "Red Desert". They now call it al-bahr al-ahmar (البحر الأحمر), which does indeed mean the Red Sea, but that is a modern translation, based on British colonial rule and the earlier Greek name, Erythra Thalassa (Ερυθρά Θάλασσα)
14:24 VA YEHI BE ASHMORET HA BOKER VA YASHKEPH YHVH EL MACHANEH MITSRAYIM BE AMUD ESH VE ANAN VA YAHAM ET MACHANEH MITSRAYIM
וַיְהִי בְּאַשְׁמֹרֶת הַבֹּקֶר וַיַּשְׁקֵף יְהוָה אֶל-מַחֲנֵה מִצְרַיִם בְּעַמּוּד אֵשׁ וְעָנָן וַיָּהָם אֵת מַחֲנֵה מִצְרָיִם
KJ: And it came to pass, that 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,
BN: And it came to pass, by the morning watch, that YHVH looked out on the host of the Mitsrim through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and he discomfited the army of the Mitsrim.
If you look up into the sky on a beautiful sunny morning, just after dawn, and not half an hour ago you were out there with your telescope, seeing how red Mars was, and look there's Lyra, King David's star, there's the new moon just becoming visible in her slender crescent; but you went in for a cup of coffee and a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, and the dawn came up, and now - they're gone! Where are they gone! The entire host of the heavens, discomfited, obliterated by the sun-god, the moon too, gone, poor Delilah, drowned in the breaking waters of the firmament! An empty sky, devoid of heavenly hosts; starless. But the day, the new day, Creation itself, flowers opening, birds tweeting like US Presidents, cocks crowing like St Peter, cars hooting - yes, Creation itself has been achieved. What honour, what glory, for the sun-god! Mazal tov! Quite literally (a mazal is a constellation, tov means good).
BE ASHMORET HA BOKER: Like Ya'akov's "night spirit", who cannot be in the world once the sun has risen, so YHVH the sun god cannot come out into the world until the dawn is done. Another form of bifurcation of course, this equality of the genders in the management of the cosmos (cf Genesis 1:14-16), this separation of day from night.
Something has changed with the two pillars; we were specifically told that one was for the day and the other for the night, yet they are both here concurrently. Can we deduce then that we are at the exact point of sunrise, the "BEYN HA ARBA'IM" of Exodus 12:6? So we witnessed the passage from winter to spring in the previous Creation tale, now we witness the equivalent progress from night to day in this one.
VA YAHAM ET MACHANEH MITSRAYIM: "Discomfited the host" is a most unfortunate translation, but useful as a way of conveying the parallel concepts, the heavenly-metaphorical and the earthly-allegorical, so to speak. YHVH Tseva'ot, as the Lord of Hosts, is organising the cosmos, taking charge of it from the moon, at the cosmological level, but it is also the "angels" of the Yisra-Eli cult versus those of the Egyptian pantheon, and simultaneously the armed pilgrims of Mosheh versus the massive cavalry of Pharaoh. Note the use here of the word MACHANEH (מַחֲנֵה) = "camp". When he was preparing to meet Esav, after signing his treaty with Lavan, Ya'akov likewise undertook some acts of division, dividing his own hosts into quarters like those of the heavens, each wife and each concubine separated, at a place named Machanayim - and remember that the epic of Ya'akov starts with him dreaming the Milky Way as a ladder of "angels" at Beit-El (Genesis 28:10 ff), before ending with his personal Pesach at Penu-El (Genesis 32:4 ff).
14:25 VA YASAR ET OPHAN MARKEVOTAV VA YENAHAGEHU BICH'VEDUT VA YOMER MITSRAYIM ANUSAH MIPNEY YISRA-EL KI YHVH NILCHAM LAHEM BE MITSRAYIM
וַיָּסַר אֵת אֹפַן מַרְכְּבֹתָיו וַיְנַהֲגֵהוּ בִּכְבֵדֻת וַיֹּאמֶר מִצְרַיִם אָנוּסָה מִפְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי יְהוָה נִלְחָם לָהֶם בְּמִצְרָיִם
KJ: And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
BN: And he took off their chariot wheels, so they were mere dead weight being dragged; so that the Mitsrim said: "Let us flee from the face of Yisra-El; for YHVH is fighting for them against Mitsrayim."
Why MARKEVOTAV, in the singular, and not the plural? The translation should be "his", not "their”, but the intention is clearly "their".
And of course, if this was the Red Sea that they were trying to cross, chariot wheels haven't got a chance - at that northern point of the water, there is nothing on the sea-bed but coral. Holiday swimmers at Eilat orSharm el-Sheikh would never go into the water without sandals on.
And of course, if this was the Red Sea that they were trying to cross, chariot wheels haven't got a chance - at that northern point of the water, there is nothing on the sea-bed but coral. Holiday swimmers at Eilat orSharm el-Sheikh would never go into the water without sandals on.
pey break
14:26 VA YOMER YHVH EL MOSHEH NETEH ET YADCHA AL HA YAM VE YASHUVU HA MAYIM AL MITSRAYIM AL RICHBO VE AL PARASHAV
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה נְטֵה אֶת יָדְךָ עַל הַיָּם וְיָשֻׁבוּ הַמַּיִם עַל מִצְרַיִם עַל רִכְבּוֹ וְעַל פָּרָשָׁיו
KJ: And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
BN: Then YHVH said to Mosheh: "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may rush back over the Mitsrim, over their chariots, and over their horsemen."
14:27 VA YET MOSHEH ET YADO AL HA YAM VA YASHAV HA YAM LIPHNOT BOKER LE EYTANO U MITSRAYIM NASIM LIKRA'TO VA YENA'ER YHVH ET MITSRAYIM BETOCH HA YAM
וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת יָדוֹ עַל הַיָּם וַיָּשָׁב הַיָּם לִפְנוֹת בֹּקֶר לְאֵיתָנוֹ וּמִצְרַיִם נָסִים לִקְרָאתוֹ וַיְנַעֵר יְהוָה אֶת מִצְרַיִם בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם
KJ: And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
BN: And Mosheh stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea became again as it had been before the morning broke; and Mitsrayim fled from it, but YHVH overthrew Egypt in the midst of the sea.
LIPHNOT HA BOKER: LIPHNEY means "before", and so, yes, the surmise was correct: it was the very point of sunrise. We are in the obverse of Penu-El here; then, the night demon at the point of sunrise lost his power because the sun came up; now YHVH gets his strength back by rising into the sky - the sun-god now in command, no longer the moon-goddess: that moment when Shimshon's sun-locks had grown back to sufficient strength that he could pull down the pillars of the temple of the Pelishtim (Judges 16:28-29). We can also presume that the parting of the waters is a metaphor for the parting of the elemental waters, that divide day from night. Creation again. But was there an earlier version, before the Redactor attempted (unsuccessfully, as has just been demonstrated) to monotheise the myth; a version in which this part of Creation was achieved by the sea-god Yam, rather than the sky or sun god who would not then have been named YHVH, but perhaps Elohim?
Why do we keep switching between HA YAM ("the sea") and HA MAYIM ("the waters)? The answer to this can also be found in Genesis 1. It is, as per Sherlock Holmes, "elementary".
14:28 VA YASHUVU HA MAYIM VA YECHASU ET HA RECHEV VE ET HA PARASHIM LE CHOL CHEYL PAR'OH HA BA'IM ACHAREYHEM BA YAM LO NISH'AR BA HEM AD ECHAD
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ הַמַּיִם וַיְכַסּוּ אֶת הָרֶכֶב וְאֶת הַפָּרָשִׁים לְכֹל חֵיל פַּרְעֹה הַבָּאִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם בַּיָּם לֹא נִשְׁאַר בָּהֶם עַד אֶחָד
KJ: And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
BN: And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the cavalry, the entire army indeed of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; not a single one of them remained.
The Egyptians kept very detailed records of the lives and deaths of their Pharaohs, usually engraved on stele, on the walls of their sarcophagi, on the faces of the pyramids - no mention at any point of their history of a Pharaoh who died by drowning in the Red Sea.
14:29 U VENEY YISRA-EL HALCHU VA YABASHAH BETOCH HA YAM VE HA MAYIM LAHEM CHOMAH MIY'MINAM U MI SMOLAM
וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָלְכוּ בַיַּבָּשָׁה בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם וְהַמַּיִם לָהֶם חֹמָה מִימִינָם וּמִשְּׂמֹאלָם
KJ: But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
BN: But the Beney Yisra-El walked on dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall for them on their right hand, and on their left.
See my note to verse 22 and note again the YABASHAH, again a key term in Genesis 1.
14:30 VA YOSHA YHVH BA YOM HA HU ET YISRA-EL MI YAD MITSRAYIM VA YAR YISRA-EL ET MITSRAYIM MET AL SEPHAT HA YAM
וַיּוֹשַׁע יְהוָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּד מִצְרָיִם וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת מִצְרַיִם מֵת עַל שְׂפַת הַיָּם
KJ: Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
BN: Thus YHVH saved Yisra-El that day out of the hand of Mitsrayim; and Yisra-El saw the Mitsrim dead upon the sea-shore.
And yes, it is possible that, if this was the Red Sea, and what was happening at Chorev was a volcanic eruption, that a tsunami might have occurred, as the tectonic plates shifted, and by amazing chance it happened just as the Habiru were reaching the shore... but no, wait, verse 29 disputes that.
And if it was indeed the Red Sea, and the Beney Yisra-El are now safely across on the Midyanite side, and it was an east wind that blew (verse 21), which means the Egyptians would have been swept back to the western, Egyptian side, then they are looking back from a distance of several miles, even at the very tip of the Gulf of Suez (the two towns nearest the northern tip today, Ain Sokhna on the western side and Ras Sedr on the eastern, are, well work it out for yourself, but by boat, not by car... rather too far to actually see any Mitsrim dead upon the sea-shore. I might also point out (or allow bible.ca to point out, by directing you to its website) that the bottom of the Gulf of Suez, which is the part of the Red Sea which the Beney Yisra-El are supposed to have crossed, is about a mile deep at its heart, so the crossing would have been very steeply downhill and then very steeply uphill to the other side.
And yes, it is possible that, if this was the Red Sea, and what was happening at Chorev was a volcanic eruption, that a tsunami might have occurred, as the tectonic plates shifted, and by amazing chance it happened just as the Habiru were reaching the shore... but no, wait, verse 29 disputes that.
14:31 VA YAR YISRA-EL ET HA YAD HA GEDOLAH ASHER ASAH YHVH BE MITSRAYIM VA YIYRE'U HA AM ET YHVH VA YA'AMIYNU BA YHVH U VE MOSHEH AVDO
וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת יְהוָה וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּיהוָה וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ
KJ: And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.
BN: And Yisra-El saw the great work which YHVH did in Mitsrayim, and the people feared YHVH; and they believed in YHVH, and in his servant Mosheh.
YAD HA GEDOLAH: noted several times already, this notion of the "hand" is present in the Hamsa, which has become a popular icon among modern Jewry, but it isn't really Yisra-Eli/Jewish; it's Arabian, as the Eye of Hor in its centre makes very explicit. The "hand" is also key to modern forms of historial commemoration, specifically Yad va Shem, the Holocaust Memorial in Yeru-Shala'im, whose name translates as "Hand and Name", the "Name" being a way of naming the deity without using a proper noun
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| Image from haggadot.com, which is wonderfully ironic, given the presence of an Eye of Horus in the centre of the palm! |
YIYRE'U...YA'AMIYNU: This represents a huge conceptual leap. We know the ancients "feared" god, and we have examples a-plenty, from general fear to PACHAD YITSCHAK. We know from the Psalms that a concept of faith did exist - it is there in the word "amen", which means "I have faith" (see the last chapters of Deuteronomy where it becomes the Oath of Allegiance), and is a means by which an individual or congregation can affirm the words of a prayer uttered, somewhat equivalent to the French "je suis d'accord". But YA'AMIYNU extends this much further, into an intellectual paradigm of faith: "I believe empirically, because I have experiential evidence to support rationally the position I am adopting". This is the modern concept of rational conviction, a long distance from subjective faith; but when did it commence? Certainly not before the 6th century BCE, which is when the human child first reached the stage of abstract thought and began to enter adulthood (see Gore Vidal's "Creation"). We can reasonably conjecture that VA YIYRU was in the original, VA YA'AMIYNU edited by the Redactor.
The Yud in both words is almost certainly a late addition; they have been retained in the transliteration, but in truth they are anachronisms.
Pey break
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