Antiquities Book 2, Chapter 15
How The Hebrews Under The Conduct Of Moses Left Egypt.
1. So the Hebrews went out of Egypt, while the Egyptians wept, and
repented that they had treated them so hardly.—Now they took their
journey by Letopolis, a place at that time deserted, but where Babylon
was built afterwards, when Cambyses laid Egypt waste: but as they went
away hastily, on the third day they came to a place called Beelzephon,
on the Red Sea; and when they had no food out of the land, because it
was a desert, they eat of loaves kneaded of flour, only warmed by a
gentle heat; and this food they made use of for thirty days; for what
they brought with them out of Egypt would not suffice them any longer
time; and this only while they dispensed it to each person, to use so
much only as would serve for necessity, but not for satiety. Whence it
is that, in memory of the want we were then in, we keep a feast for
eight days, which is called the feast of unleavened bread. Now the
entire multitude of those that went out, including the women and
children, was not easy to be numbered, but those that were of an age fit
for war, were six hundred thousand.
2. They left Egypt in the month Xanthicus, on the fifteenth day of the
lunar month; four hundred and thirty years after our forefather Abraham
came into Canaan, but two hundred and fifteen years only after Jacob
removed into Egypt. 28 It was the eightieth year of the age of Moses,
and of that of Aaron three more. They also carried out the bones of
Joesph with them, as he had charged his sons to do.
3. But the Egyptians soon repented that the Hebrews were gone; and the
king also was mightily concerned that this had been procured by the
magic arts of Moses; so they resolved to go after them. Accordingly they
took their weapons, and other warlike furniture, and pursued after them,
in order to bring them back, if once they overtook them, because they
would now have no pretense to pray to God against them, since they had
already been permitted to go out; and they thought they should easily
overcome them, as they had no armor, and would be weary with their
journey; so they made haste in their pursuit, and asked of every one
they met which way they were gone. And indeed that land was difficult to
be traveled over, not only by armies, but by single persons. Now Moses
led the Hebrews this way, that in case the Egyptians should repent and
be desirous to pursue after them, they might undergo the punishment of
their wickedness, and of the breach of those promises they had made to
them. As also he led them this way on account of the Philistines, who
had quarreled with them, and hated them of old, that by all means they
might not know of their departure, for their country is near to that of
Egypt; and thence it was that Moses led them not along the road that
tended to the land of the Philistines, but he was desirous that they
should go through the desert, that so after a long journey, and after
many afflictions, they might enter upon the land of Canaan. Another
reason of this was, that God commanded him to bring the people to Mount
Sinai, that there they might offer him sacrifices. Now when the
Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them, and by
their multitude they drove them into a narrow place; for the number that
pursued after them was six hundred chariots, with fifty thousand
horsemen, and two hundred thousand foot-men, all armed. They also seized
on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting
them up 29 between inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was
[on each side] a [ridge of] mountains that terminated at the sea, which
were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their
flight; wherefore they there pressed upon the Hebrews with their army,
where [the ridges of] the mountains were closed with the sea; which army
they placed at the chops of the mountains, that so they might deprive
them of any passage into the plain.
4. When the Hebrews, therefore, were neither able to bear up, being
thus, as it were, besieged, because they wanted provisions, nor saw any
possible way of escaping; and if they should have thought of fighting,
they had no weapons; they expected a universal destruction, unless they
delivered themselves up to the Egyptians. So they laid the blame on
Moses, and forgot all the signs that had been wrought by God for the
recovery of their freedom; and this so far, that their incredulity
prompted them to throw stones at the prophet, while he encouraged them
and promised them deliverance; and they resolved that they would deliver
themselves up to the Egyptians. So there was sorrow and lamentation
among the women and children, who had nothing but destruction before
their eyes, while they were encompassed with mountains, the sea, and
their enemies, and discerned no way of flying from them.
5. But Moses, though the multitude looked fiercely at him, did not,
however, give over the care of them, but despised all dangers, out of
his trust in God, who, as he had afforded them the several steps already
taken for the recovery of their liberty, which he had foretold them,
would not now suffer them to be subdued by their enemies, to be either
made slaves or be slain by them; and, standing in midst of them, he
said, "It is not just of us to distrust even men, when they have
hitherto well managed our affairs, as if they would not be the same
hereafter; but it is no better than madness, at this time to despair of
the providence of God, by whose power all those things have been
performed he promised, when you expected no such things: I mean all that
I have been concerned in for deliverance and escape from slavery. Nay,
when we are in the utmost distress, as you see we ought rather to hope
that God will succor us, by whose operation it is that we are now in
this narrow place, that he may out of such difficulties as are otherwise
insurmountable and out of which neither you nor your enemies expect you
can be delivered, and may at once demonstrate his own power and his
providence over us. Nor does God use to give his help in small
difficulties to those whom he favors, but in such cases where no one can
see how any hope in man can better their condition. Depend, therefore,
upon such a Protector as is able to make small things great, and to show
that this mighty force against you is nothing but weakness, and be not
affrighted at the Egyptian army, nor do you despair of being preserved,
because the sea before, and the mountains behind, afford you no
opportunity for flying, for even these mountains, if God so please, may
be made plain ground for you, and the sea become dry land."
repented that they had treated them so hardly.—Now they took their
journey by Letopolis, a place at that time deserted, but where Babylon
was built afterwards, when Cambyses laid Egypt waste: but as they went
away hastily, on the third day they came to a place called Beelzephon,
on the Red Sea; and when they had no food out of the land, because it
was a desert, they eat of loaves kneaded of flour, only warmed by a
gentle heat; and this food they made use of for thirty days; for what
they brought with them out of Egypt would not suffice them any longer
time; and this only while they dispensed it to each person, to use so
much only as would serve for necessity, but not for satiety. Whence it
is that, in memory of the want we were then in, we keep a feast for
eight days, which is called the feast of unleavened bread. Now the
entire multitude of those that went out, including the women and
children, was not easy to be numbered, but those that were of an age fit
for war, were six hundred thousand.
2. They left Egypt in the month Xanthicus, on the fifteenth day of the
lunar month; four hundred and thirty years after our forefather Abraham
came into Canaan, but two hundred and fifteen years only after Jacob
removed into Egypt. 28 It was the eightieth year of the age of Moses,
and of that of Aaron three more. They also carried out the bones of
Joesph with them, as he had charged his sons to do.
3. But the Egyptians soon repented that the Hebrews were gone; and the
king also was mightily concerned that this had been procured by the
magic arts of Moses; so they resolved to go after them. Accordingly they
took their weapons, and other warlike furniture, and pursued after them,
in order to bring them back, if once they overtook them, because they
would now have no pretense to pray to God against them, since they had
already been permitted to go out; and they thought they should easily
overcome them, as they had no armor, and would be weary with their
journey; so they made haste in their pursuit, and asked of every one
they met which way they were gone. And indeed that land was difficult to
be traveled over, not only by armies, but by single persons. Now Moses
led the Hebrews this way, that in case the Egyptians should repent and
be desirous to pursue after them, they might undergo the punishment of
their wickedness, and of the breach of those promises they had made to
them. As also he led them this way on account of the Philistines, who
had quarreled with them, and hated them of old, that by all means they
might not know of their departure, for their country is near to that of
Egypt; and thence it was that Moses led them not along the road that
tended to the land of the Philistines, but he was desirous that they
should go through the desert, that so after a long journey, and after
many afflictions, they might enter upon the land of Canaan. Another
reason of this was, that God commanded him to bring the people to Mount
Sinai, that there they might offer him sacrifices. Now when the
Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them, and by
their multitude they drove them into a narrow place; for the number that
pursued after them was six hundred chariots, with fifty thousand
horsemen, and two hundred thousand foot-men, all armed. They also seized
on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting
them up 29 between inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was
[on each side] a [ridge of] mountains that terminated at the sea, which
were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their
flight; wherefore they there pressed upon the Hebrews with their army,
where [the ridges of] the mountains were closed with the sea; which army
they placed at the chops of the mountains, that so they might deprive
them of any passage into the plain.
4. When the Hebrews, therefore, were neither able to bear up, being
thus, as it were, besieged, because they wanted provisions, nor saw any
possible way of escaping; and if they should have thought of fighting,
they had no weapons; they expected a universal destruction, unless they
delivered themselves up to the Egyptians. So they laid the blame on
Moses, and forgot all the signs that had been wrought by God for the
recovery of their freedom; and this so far, that their incredulity
prompted them to throw stones at the prophet, while he encouraged them
and promised them deliverance; and they resolved that they would deliver
themselves up to the Egyptians. So there was sorrow and lamentation
among the women and children, who had nothing but destruction before
their eyes, while they were encompassed with mountains, the sea, and
their enemies, and discerned no way of flying from them.
5. But Moses, though the multitude looked fiercely at him, did not,
however, give over the care of them, but despised all dangers, out of
his trust in God, who, as he had afforded them the several steps already
taken for the recovery of their liberty, which he had foretold them,
would not now suffer them to be subdued by their enemies, to be either
made slaves or be slain by them; and, standing in midst of them, he
said, "It is not just of us to distrust even men, when they have
hitherto well managed our affairs, as if they would not be the same
hereafter; but it is no better than madness, at this time to despair of
the providence of God, by whose power all those things have been
performed he promised, when you expected no such things: I mean all that
I have been concerned in for deliverance and escape from slavery. Nay,
when we are in the utmost distress, as you see we ought rather to hope
that God will succor us, by whose operation it is that we are now in
this narrow place, that he may out of such difficulties as are otherwise
insurmountable and out of which neither you nor your enemies expect you
can be delivered, and may at once demonstrate his own power and his
providence over us. Nor does God use to give his help in small
difficulties to those whom he favors, but in such cases where no one can
see how any hope in man can better their condition. Depend, therefore,
upon such a Protector as is able to make small things great, and to show
that this mighty force against you is nothing but weakness, and be not
affrighted at the Egyptian army, nor do you despair of being preserved,
because the sea before, and the mountains behind, afford you no
opportunity for flying, for even these mountains, if God so please, may
be made plain ground for you, and the sea become dry land."