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10 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 12

stop after leaving Rameses was at Succoth -- swift horsemen report back to headquarters?
also known as Serabit -- three days’ journey into Exodus 14:5.
the wilderness. After freeing the slaves in the 8. Could Pharaoh’s army overtake Israel
mines they observed THE LAST HIGH DAY of with the head start that the Israelites had? Verse
Unleavened Bread -- the 21st of Nisan. 9.
Evidence of the sacrifices they made can COMMENT: The pharaoh knew
be seen to this day in the area of Serabit exactly where the Israelites were before he
el-Khadem. For more information send for our caught up with them. When he heard that the
article, The Great Ash -Heap in the Wilderness! Israelites had turned and pitched camp, he
5. After spending the last Holy Day of believed that they had lost their way. This meant
Unleavened Bread at Succoth, where did the that the pharaoh felt with a degree of certainty
Israelites journey to next? Exodus 13:20. that he had the situation under control.
COMMENT: From Succoth in the It is interesting to note that the pharaoh
center of the Sinai peninsula the Israelites was convinced that the Israelites were confined
traveled to Etham “where the desert began.” in the desert. They were on the Sinai peninsula.
There they pitched camp “in the edge of the If they were confined there, it meant that they
wilderness,”and two verses prior to this (verse were south of a line between the northern points
18) the text indicates WHICH wilderness -- of the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. Since
namely “the wilderness of the Red Sea.” The the Israelites were on the way to Midian, were
wilderness of the Red Sea was what we call the shut in in the desert, and had pitched camp BY
Sinai peninsula, or the Sinai desert, today. They THE SEA, then they were on the WEST BANK
pitched camp in the Etham area (which OF THE GULF OF AQABA. Or to put it another
surrounded the INNER PARTS of the GULF OF way, they were on the EAST COAST of the
AQABA, and the desert of Etham lay to east of present day Sinai peninsula -- between the
the Gulf of Aqaba in Midian, in what today is mountains and the sea -- just as Pharaoh’s
Saudi Arabia. chariot spearhead legions thundered in behind.
6. What about the next day? What did Elation in the Israelite camp congealed
Moses tell the people? Exodus 14:2. into stark terror!
COMMENT: Wasn’t it to “Turn off this Then the pillar of cloud, in which
way, you are not really leaving Egypt -- a type of YEHOVAH God’s Shekinah Glory was present,
sin -- as long as you follow the well-traveled, moved between the two camps as it flamed
popular road. Only by YEHOVAH’s deliver- bright in the deepening dusk (Exodus 14:19-20
ance can you actually escape from sin”? and 13:21).
YEHOVAH knew Pharaoh would 9. Did YEHOVAH God Almighty get
pursue and that it was necessary for the His people safely across the Red Sea before
Israelites’ own good they be trapped and daylight? Exodus 14:21-27.
supernaturally delivered by YEHOVAH’s own 10. Then on the daylight part of the day
power, to prove to them, and to us in modern they crossed the Red Sea was there great
times, that YEHOVAH alone offers salvation. rejoicing? Were hymns were sung in memoriam
As far as Etham, Israel was still in touch and thanksgiving to YEHOVAH God? Exodus
with civilization. But Etham was the edge of the 15:1-18, 20-21.
wilderness (Exodus 13:20; Numbers 33:6).
Now they were to strike out straight into the Recommended Reading...
desert.
7. As soon as Israel turned away from
Secrets of Golgotha, by Ernest L. Martin
populated places what message did Pharaoh’s

Days of Unleavened Bread -- Your Part in YEHOVAH’s Master Plan