WHERE WAS ETHAM? EXO 13:20 And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. Etham was in the "edge of the wilderness." What wilderness was this? The answer is in the Exodus account: EXO 13:18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea:...
It was the Wilderness of the Red Sea-- the mountainous land of the mid and southern Sinai Peninsula. This was along a route that was commonly taken in those days by both caravans and the army, and it was called "the southern route." This route was taken because it was safer than travelling along the coast, where the Philistines were.
Etham was not a singular location, like a town- it was a designation of the land that lay around the mid-northern edge of the Gulf of Aqaba. We know this because once they cross the sea, they are still in an area called Etham: NUM 33:8 And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.
It was while they were at Etham on the western side of the sea that God told Moses: EXO 14:2 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. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
In order for them to be "entangled in the land," they would have to be travelling through an area of wadis (canyons) with high mountains all around, which would seem to hem them in. This takes place prior to crossing the sea, so I looked for an area such as this which would terminate on a beach or shore of the sea which was large enough to hold perhaps 2 or 3 million people, as well as their flocks. I found a beach of tremendous size on the Gulf of Aqaba at Nuweiba, and the only passage to it is through an 18 mile long wadi system. (See color photo of this beach enclosed.)
From "Etham in the edge of the wilderness", they changed their direction of travel from a northerly direction, (which would have soon taken them around the northern tip of the sea,) and went south, through a wadi system that must have appeared like an endless maze to them. Hemmed in to the left and right, they could only travel in one direction-- and the only path through that wadi leads to the tremendous sized beach.
THE SITE OF THE CROSSING As I mentioned, I found this tremendous beach on the Gulf of Aqaba which could easily have held the multitude, their flocks, and also pharaoh's army-- separating the 2 groups by several miles. But there's another interesting fact about this site...
Josephus gives an additional bit of information in his "Antiquities of the Jews," Book II, Chapter XV. Speaking of pharaoh's army pursuing the multitude, he states: "They also seized upon the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting them up between the inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was [on each side] a [ridge of] mountains that terminated at the sea, which was 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;..."
When I first visited the site of Nuweiba in 1978, these mountains could be seen on the south end of the beach area which terminated at the sea-- no passage would have been possible to the south. (See color photo of this area, where the mountains meet the sea on the south end.) As I found the chariot parts when diving on the southern end of the beach, this implies that the multitude travelled to this section of the beach.
Pharaoh's army entered from the same wadi, which is the only entrance onto the beach. This wadi is located midway of the beach, and once the army entered the area, the multitude's only means of escape would have been to the south. But the mountains to the south extend all the way to the sea-- they had no way of escape, or so it seemed.
