TIMELINE OF THE EXODUS

TIMELINE OF THE EXODUS Sat 10 Nisan Sun 11 Nisan Mon 12 Nisan Tue 13 Nisan Wed 14 Nisan Thu 15 Nisan Fri 16 Nisan Sat 17 Nisan Sun 18 Nisan Succoth (Booths) Etham (Enduring) Pi-Hahirot (Freedom) Red Sea Crossing Lamb Chosen Goshen (Approaching) Lamb Slaughtered Approval Egypt Pesach Praise Suffering Blood Entry into Jerusalem Unrighteousness Messiah Crucified Carried on Eagles’ Wings Mon 19 Nisan Tue 20 Nisan Wandering Bikkurim Wed 21 Nisan Thu – Fri 22 Nisan – 14 Iyar Marah (Bitter) Elim (Trees) Wilderness of Etham Red Sea Eating the Unleavened Bread of Affliction Sign of Jonah (72 hours) Resurrection (Rebirth) Testing Sufficiency Green Tree (Sweet) Righteousness Sat 15 Iyar Sun 16 Iyar Mon 17 Iyar Tue 18 Iyar Wed 19 Iyar Thu 20 Iyar Fri 21 Iyar Sat 22 Iyar Sun 23 Iyar Mon 24 Iyar Tue 25 Iyar Wed 26 Iyar Thu 27 Iyar Fri 28 Iyar Quails 1st Manna 2nd Manna 3rd Manna 4th Manna 5th Manna 6th Manna Sabbath Ropheka (Healer) Alush (Multitude) Water (Promise) Hilltop (Elevation) Jethro (Visit) Judgment (Delegation) Wilderness of Sin Rephidim Flesh Eating the Bread of Angels Weakness Bread of Life New Covenant (Confirmation) Sat 29 Iyar Sun 1 Sivan Mon 2 Sivan Tue 3 Sivan Wed 4 Sivan Thu 5 Sivan Fri 6 Sivan Ascent Mt. Sinai 1st Message 2nd Message 3rd Message Boundaries Torah Wilderness of Sinai Shavuot Eating the Bread of Angels Spirit Spirit (Promise) Authority (Ascension) Power to Keep Torah Torah (Teaching) The 15th Nisan was a Thursday, the New Moon of Iyar was Shabbat, as Nisan is typically thirty days long. And the New Moon of Sivan was on the 1st day of the week, as Iyar is typically twenty-nine days long. (BT Shabbat 87b) And the children of Israel traveled from Goshen and encamped in Succoth on the 15th day of the 1st month. (Jash 81:5) In an instant, Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, as per: “And I bore you on eagles’ wings.” (Exod 12:35, Mekhilta) On the third day they came to a place called Beelzephon, on the Red Sea. Pilgrimage Gentiles (Salvation) (Josephus, Ant. 2.15.1) After traversing a wide space, the Hebrews came on the third day to the Red Sea. (Eusebius, Praep. Ev. 9.27.34) Timeline of the Exodus NOTES GENERAL CHRONOLOGY The Exodus of God’s firstborn son Israel not only foreshadows the feasts of Passover, Firstfruits, and Pentecost, but also the vicarious work of the Messiah. From his entry into Jerusalem until the outpouring of the Spirit, the Exodus mirrors Yeshua’s death, resurrection, and ascension. While the sources agree that the Torah was given 50 days after Israel’s exit from Goshen, we must retain that the Exodus is a shadow. How to correctly determine the date of Shavuot was only revealed at Mount Sinai [note: as typified by the parting of Yam Suph and Yeshua’s wave offering, the omer count starts after the weekly Sabbath, not after the High Sabbath as Judaism teaches]. The Babylonian Talmud informs us about the months of the Exodus: The 15th Nisan was a Thursday, the New Moon of Iyar was Shabbat, as Nisan is typically thirty days long. And the New Moon of Sivan was on the first day of the week, as Iyar is typically twenty-nine days long. (BT Shabbat 87b) PRIOR TO THE CROSSING OF YAM SUPH The Gulf of Aqaba was long neglected as the crossing site due to its deficient portrayal on antique maps, yet the biblical references to Yam Suph (‘Boundary Sea’) clearly refer to this gulf (Exod 23:31; 1 Kgs 9:26). Scripture says Israel traveled for several days from Yam Suph to Marah. What about Goshen-Succoth, Succoth-Etham, and Etham-Yam Suph? Why would Scripture not also record that each of these trips lasted for several days if that was the case? The simple reason is: they did not last several days; those were day trips. Israel’s travel narrative after Mt. Sinai, when she carried the ark and had to set up the tabernacle, cannot serve as a pattern for her travel habits prior to Mt. Sinai. The Book of Jasher says, the Hebrews left Goshen on 15th Aviv and arrived on the same day in Succoth, which was a Thursday: The exodus took place on a Thursday. L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, vol. 3 (Philadelphia, 1911), 10. And the children of Israel travelled from Goshen and encamped in Succoth on the fifteenth day of the first month. (Jash 81:5) In an instant, Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, as per: “And I bore you on eagles’ wings.” (Exod 12:35, Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael) i Timeline of the Exodus Goshen Sukkot Etham Nuweiba Mt. Sinai 50 miles Figure 1: Exodus Route | Num 33:5–15 ii Timeline of the Exodus God did not employ the eagle-wing metaphor to sound poetic but to convey swiftness [at times, eagles let their young drop from a nest, and if the latter struggle, the mother swoops down under them and carries them home on her wings; in horizontal flight travels up to 70 mph]. The firstborn son was carried in three days to Yam Suph to typify the resurrection of the firstborn Son; that was the spot where Pharaoh had to be after three days. On 16th Aviv, the Hebrews traveled from Succoth to Etham, because we read: After traversing a wide space [the Hebrews] came on the third day to the Red Sea. (Eusebius, Praep. Ev. 9.27.34) Many of the heathen joined them in their departure from Egypt and in their journey of three days in the wilderness [across the Sinai Peninsula]. M. Gaster, The Chronicles of Jerahmeel or The Hebrew Bible Historiale (London, 1899), 127. There was a reason why God told Moshe to only ask permission for a 3-day trip into the desert (Exod 3:18; 5:3; 8:27): For he [God] knew before what they would do; how that having given them leave to depart, and sent them hastily away, they would repent and pursue them (on the third day, to prevent The Salvation of the Lord; Sirach 19:1–2) On the second day, Pharaoh was told that Israel would not return after three days (otherwise she would have turned around after 1.5 days). Her route was likely observed from watchtowers and signalled to Memphis by employing mirrors; this is a viable option since Egyptian technology was highly advanced. And on the third day after the Egyptians had buried their first born, many men rose up from Egypt and went after Israel to make them return to Egypt, for they repented that they had sent the Israelites away from their servitude. And one man said to his neighbor, Surely Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh, saying, We will go a three days’ journey in the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God. Now therefore let us rise up early in the morning and cause them to return. (Jash 81:8–10) When the sun rose on the third day, Pharaoh marched out of Memphis. S. Baring-Gould, Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets (New York, 1881), 285 Pharaoh “covered in one day the ground which it had taken the Israelites three to traverse. L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, vol. 3 (Philadelphia, 1911), 12. That no one can walk 90 miles a day is entirely irrelevant within the Exodus setting, and only our esteemed post-Enlightenment experts, being obsessed with finding “rational” solutions, would be foolish enough to sit down with a map and a calculator. God could have brought Israel in one day to the Red Sea or in one minute – such ability is implied in omnipotence ; yet the time-plan demanded three days. Covering long distances iii Timeline of the Exodus Figure 2: Red Sea Crossing Site – Nuweiba, Gulf of Aqaba (Egypt) | Exod 14:2 iv Timeline of the Exodus in a fraction of time is a common token of divine assistance (cf. Acts 8:39–40; 1 Kgs 18:12; 2 Kgs 2:16; 2 Bar 6:3; Ezek 8:3;); the author has experienced this supernatural phenomenon himself. A note on Baal Zephon: according to the following sources it is located on the Egyptian side; it is not Ash Sharaf or any other place in Midian: The Hebrews went out of Egypt; on the third day they came to a place called Beelzephon, on the Red Sea. (Josephus, Ant. 2.15.1) Israel was to encamp “between Migdol and the sea, before the idol Zephon, that is left of all the idols of Mizraim. For the Mizraee will say, More excellent is Baal Zephon than all idols, because it is left, and not smitten; and therefore will they come to worship it, and will find that you are encamped nigh unto it, on the border of the sea.” (Exod 14:2, Targum of Palestine) THE CROSSING OF YAM SUPH The estimate assumes that the Egyptians entered the seabed 1 hour after Israel’s entry and perished at 5am (Exod 14:27–28). The waters began to recede on Saturday night at the end of Shabbat, i.e., on 17th Aviv around 6pm “as it dawned towards the first day of the week” (Mt 28:1). Around 2am, the Red Sea had parted, and Israel entered the seabed on a convenient slope of 6.2° (Fritz, 2019, p. 13). The 1-mile shoreline of granitized magma at the southend of Nuweiba Beach suggests that Israel crossed the Gulf of Aqaba on a 1-mile-wide corridor, flanked on each side by 800-meter-high ice walls: The water on the right and on the left was held as if frozen solid. (The Ascents of James, 1.34.6; cf. Isa 51:10; Ps 77:18) The Hebrews would have covered the distance of 13.6 miles within 3 hours, reaching safety at 5am. Yam Suph meant life for some, and a watery grave for others. Besides foreshadowing the opening of the tomb and the Messiah’s resurrection, it signifies the burial of ‘the old man’ who belongs to the fallen world, i.e., to Egypt. Israel was baptized into Moshe “in the sea” (1 Cor 10:2), and we are baptized into the Moshiach in water (Gal 3:27); repentance is hereby our ‘consent to a heart surgery’ that is supernaturally performed during water immersion: Cutting away the old nature by the circumcision performed by the Messiah, we are buried with him through baptism into death (Col 2:11; Rom 6:4). This circumcision is spiritual. It reunites the human soul and spirit by removing the ‘partition wall’ which had stood between them since the fall. The Messiah makes the heart whole – he heals the ‘broken-hearted.’ v Timeline of the Exodus Nuweiba Rephidim Mt. Sinai Marah Elim 5.0 miles Figure 3: Route from the Red Sea vi to Mount Sinai | Num 33:8–15 Timeline of the Exodus For the Word of God [the Messiah] is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the division of soul and spirit. (Heb 4:12a) Israel and the Egyptians who had joined her were also baptized “in the cloud”, which typifies Spirit immersion. We are infilled with the ruach (‫ | רוח‬spirit, wind) who is also represented by fire (since the cloud turned to fire at night): He will baptize you with the fire of the Spirit of Holiness. (Mt 3:11) In sum: Yam Suph expresses the creation of ‘the new man’ who separates himself from the fallen world and joins regenerate Israel (without replacing ethnic Israel). It is a ‘crossing over’ from a realm of slavery, idolatry, and darkness into a realm of freedom, holiness, and light: Then you were raised to life because you had faith in the power of God [who] delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. (Col 2:12; 1:13) The victory over Pharaoh is the victory over the fallen cherub (note: in Rev 15:3, the redeemed sing The Song of Moses and the Lamb). [At the Red Sea] He saved them from the power of the adversary; he redeemed them from the power of the enemy. (Ps 106:10) Attempting to reconstruct the Exodus route while ignoring these types is ‘the way of the world,’ i.e. the way of unregenerate, humanistically conditioned man, which leads to error. AFTER THE CROSSING OF YAM SUPH Before leaving the landing site in the morning, Israel collected all weapons that had been cast onto the shore and disarmed any Egyptian corpses lying on the beach: The next day Moses gathered together the weapons of the Egyptians, which were brought to the camp of the Hebrews, by the current of the sea. (Ant. 2.16.6) To reach the nearest oasis without running into Amalek, Israel departed in a southern direction and her first stop lay likely at the entrance to the Wilderness of Shur. The verse segment is often overlooked, yet it implies an additional encampment on 18th Aviv after a day trip prior to entering the mountains: vii Timeline of the Exodus And Moses led the children of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they traveled toward the Wilderness of Shur. (Exod 15:22a) Over the next three days, Israel cut through 30 miles of mountainous terrain using wadis and arrived eventually on 21st Aviv in what would be dubbed Marah: They came late in the evening to a place [later] called Marah. (Josephus, Ant. 3.1.1) Tidal wives triggered by the displacement of water four days earlier would have flooded the plains of Midyan, thereby salinizing groundwater; Moses was not cognizant of this. Today, in Arabic the site is called Al Malha (‘The Salty’). It is a 1 sq. km mud-brick settlement exhibiting the remains of an ancient well system. Al Malha is located between the ‘Caves of Yitro’ (in the West), the ‘Circles of Yitro’ (in the North), and the ‘Well of Moshe’ (in the East). Naturally, being situated in the very centre of Al Bad, it is the oldest part of the oasis. Israel needed unlimited food and water supplies, and the former military general knew where to find them – Elim was the next stop: “And they came to Elim, and there they found twelve springs of water.” We are hereby apprised that it was specially favoured above all other places. Know this to be so, for there were twelve springs there, which sufficed for only seventy palm trees; but when Israel came and sixty ten thousands encamped there, it sufficed for them. (Exod 15:27, Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael) The meaning of the oasis’ Arabic name Maqna is ‘sufficiency.’ The Ain Musa (‘Spring of Moses’) is fed by a confined aquifer and was therefore unaffected by any groundwater salinization. Still today, the springs discharge 220 litres per minute (Alsaleh, 2017, p. 8). Elim provided freshwater, dates, fish, etc. and unlimited space for Israel to spread out along the beach. After a strenuous escape from Egypt and a 3-day hike through the mountains with little water, Israel would have encamped here for a few weeks before resuming her journey to Mt. Sinai. When the Israelites pitched in the Desert of Sin on 15th Iyar, it was likely not more than 10 mi from Elim, because quails came from the sea that evening (cf. Num 11:31). Josephus portrays quails as “a bird more plentiful in this Arabian Gulf than anywhere else, flying over the sea.” (Ant. 3.1.5). Regarding the timing of the provision of manna, the Talmud states: The Manna fell for them on the sixteenth day of Iyar, which was the first day of the week. (BT Shabbat 87b) Israel left camp after one week and on the same day she reached Dophkah or Ropheka as per LXX. While we cannot know their exact location, Ropheka must be in the Desert of Sin, likely east of Al-Bad’, while Alush is some 10 miles further north near Wadi al-‘Ifal: They proceeded to depart from the desert of Sin by stages [Ropheka, Alush] and camped at Rephidim. (Exod 17:1) viii Timeline of the Exodus Figure 4: Rephidim ix | Exod 17:1 Timeline of the Exodus Given the fight with Amalek, the smiting of the rock, the building of the altar, plus Yitro’s visit and advice, Israel must have stayed for four days at Rephidim. It was the 26th Iyar when living water gushed forth from the split rock, ten days before Shavuot. It foreshadowed Yeshua’s promise of ‘Living Water’ ten days before Shavuot: the outpouring of the Ruach HaKodesh (‘Spirit of Holiness’). Moshe on a mountaintop and his prayer reaching the throne of God foreshadows the Messiah’s ascension from the Olivet. Considering the seismicity of the region, one cannot insist the topography was identical 3,500 years ago. Certain wadis may have been open which would have shortened the final journey. The Talmud even proposes a 1-day trip from Rephidim to Mount Sinai: They left Refidim and arrived and camped in the desert on the same Sunday. (BT Shabbat 87b) That Sunday was the 1st Sivan: In the third month of the Exodus of the sons of Israel from the land of Mizraim, on that day, the first of the month, came they to the desert; for they had journeyed from Rephidim, and had come to the desert of Sinai; and Israel encamped there in the desert, of one heart, nigh to the mountain. (Exod 19:1–2, Targum Palestine) And on the 6th Sivan they received the Torah: In the third month from the children of Israel’s departure from Egypt, on the sixth day thereof, the Lord gave to Israel the ten commandments on Mt Sinai. (Jash 82:6) On the 6th day of the month of Sivan, the Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish people. (BT Shabbat 86b) A final remark on Exod 4:27, since it is frequently cited to undermine that “Sinai is a mountain in Arabia” (Gal 4:25): I doubt the slave Aharon simply left Goshen after work, hiked 380 km to meet Moshe at Jabal Musa (the traditional Mt. Sinai), and then both walked back 380 km to meet with the elders. Since Egypt has many gods (and likely some hills), ‫ הר האלהים‬ought to be rendered “hill of the gods” – probably some dunghill on Goshen’s eastern periphery. x Timeline of the Exodus Appendix | THE WISE MEN FROM ARABIA Circumstantial evidence of Mt. Sinai being in Midian may be gleaned from the fact that the magoi came from Arabia. Justin Martyr, writing in 150 CE, gives this location (Dial. 77, 78, 88, 102, 103, 106), which is also affirmed by Tertullian, Clement of Rome, and Tanakhic prophecy: Caravans from Midian and Ephah will come to your light. The kings of Sheba will bring gifts of gold and frankincense and bow down before him. (Isa 60:3, 6; Ps 72:10–11, paraphrased | note: frankincense and myrrh are harvested from trees that only grow in southern Arabia). Referencing Ps 72:17, the Talmud identifies the honored one as the Messiah: Before the sun was, His name was Yinnon [‘will continue’]. (BT Sanhedrin 98b). Moreover, a 4th-century Syriac version of the Protogospel of James states that the Magi were translated by the Spirit: They set out from [Arabia] at cockcrow and at daybreak they entered Yerushalayim. E. Budge, The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary (London, 1899), 36. Besides features such as the ‘Green Tree’ (Marah), the ‘Smitten Rock’ (Rephidim), or the ‘Moses-like Prophet’ (Mt. Sinai), all of which are associated with Arabia, the clearest type of Bethlehem’s ‘Heavenly Bread’ is the bread that first fell from heaven in Midian. The Messiah’s birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension were foreshadowed in Midian. Wise men from Arabia, i.e. Nabateans, seem therefore more fitting than soothsayers from Babylon, the latter location being an emblem of idolatry throughout Scripture. xi Timeline of the Exodus REFERENCES Alsaleh, Mohammed A. “Natural springs in northwest Saudi Arabia,” Arabian Journal of Geosciences 10 (2017): 335. Baring-Gould, Sabine. Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets: And Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources. New York: American Book Exchange, 1881. Budge, E. A. Wallis, ed. The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Likeness of Christ which the Jews of Tiberias Made to Mock at: the Syriac Text Edited with English Translations. London: Luzac & Co, 1899. Fritz, Glen A. The Exodus Mysteries of Midian, Sinai & Jabal al-Lawz. Vero Beach, FL: GeoTech, 2019. Gaster, Moses, trans. The Chronicles of Jerahmeel or The Hebrew Bible Historiale: A Collection of Apocryphal and Pseudo-Epigraphical Books Dealing with the History of the World from the Creation to the Death of Judas Maccabeus. London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1899. Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews. Vol. 3. Bible Times and Characters from the Exodus to the Death of Moses. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1911. Noah, Mordecai M., ed. ‫ הישר ספר‬or The Book of Jasher: Referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel; Faithfully Translated from the Original Hebrew into English. New York: Alex S. Gould, 1840. ADDITIONAL IMPRESSIONS OF THE EXODUS ROUTE BELOW: xii Timeline of the Exodus Figure 5: Canyon winding its way through Migdol (Copt. megtol ‘many hills’) xiii 0.5 miles from Pi-Hahiroth, the ‘Mouth of Freedom’ (Egypt) | Exod 14:3 Timeline of the Exodus Figure 6: Marah (Arab. Al Malhah ‘the salty’) | Exod 15:23 xiv Timeline of the Exodus xv palm trees (Arab. Maqna ‘sufficiency’) | Exod 15:27 Figure 7: Elim with its twelve natural springs and seventy Timeline of the Exodus Figure 8: The Desert of Sin betweenxvi Elim and Mount Sinai | Exod 16:1–36 Timeline of the Exodus xviimiles southwest of Rephidim) – peradventure Ropheka | Num 33:12 Figure 9: Remains of a mudbrick settlement in the Desert of Sin (20 Timeline of the Exodus Figure 10: Mount Sinai | Exod 19:2 xviii Timeline of the Exodus ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF THE RED SEA CROSSING SITE & MOUNT SINAI AT: (PDF) THE RED SEA CROSSING – A SELECTION OF IMAGES (researchgate.net) (PDF) MOUNT SINAI – A SELECTION OF IMAGES (researchgate.net) xix