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The Exodus

Follow Israel stop by stop from the Passover night in Egypt, through the sea, to the storm on Mount Sinai, with the main theories for the route shown side by side.

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Passover night: the marked door
Passover night: the marked door
The pillar of cloud over the desert
The pillar of cloud over the desert
The sea at night
The sea at night

Key facts

  • Israel set out the day after the Passover, on the 15th of the first month (Numbers 33:3).
  • God led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21–22).
  • Numbers 33 lists the camps from Rameses to the wilderness of Sinai; they reached Sinai in the third month (Exodus 19:1).
  • Yam Suph, the Hebrew name of the sea, means “sea of reeds”; the Greek Bible called it the Red Sea.
  • Only Rameses, the city of Pi-Ramesse at Qantir in the Nile delta, is securely located.
  • Exodus 12:37 counts about 600,000 men on foot besides children; how to read the number is debated.

Key verses

21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Exodus 13:21–22 · King James Version
21 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. 22 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.
Exodus 14:21–22 · King James Version
20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. 21 And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Exodus 15:20–21 · King James Version

Talk about it

  1. God did not lead Israel by the short coast road but round by the wilderness (Exodus 13:17). When has a longer road been the safer one for you?
  2. Miriam led the women in song right after the crossing. Why do you think praise came first, before anything else?
  3. We don't know exactly where the sea crossing or Mount Sinai was. Does that change how you read the story? Why or why not?

How sure can we be?

The Bible says
  • The Passover, the cloud and fire, the crossing on dry ground and the camps of Numbers 33 are in the text.
  • Arrival at Sinai in the third month, and the thunder, lightning and trumpet at the mountain (Exodus 19).
Our reconstruction
  • The 3D scenes are artistic depictions of the text: the houses, people and the parting sea are our choices.
  • The Sinai scenes use the real terrain of the traditional site, Jebel Musa; that it is Sinai is plausible, not certain.
Still debated
  • Where the sea was crossed: a northern lake, the Bitter Lakes or Gulf of Suez, or the Gulf of Aqaba (the last is speculative).
  • The date: about 1446 BC or about 1260 BC.
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