Éxodo 13:18

18 mas hizo Dios al pueblo que rodeara por el camino del desierto del mar Bermejo. Y subieron los hijos de Israel de Egipto armados

Éxodo 13:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 13:18

But God led the people about
Instead of their going to the west, or northwest, towards Gaza and the Mediterranean sea, the Lord going before them in a pillar of cloud and fire, as after related, directed them to turn off to the right, between the east and south, to the southeast: through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea:
the wilderness of Etham, by the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt
or "girt" ^F13 about the loins under the fifth rib; not with armour, as some ^F14 understand it, for it is not likely that they could, or that Pharaoh would suffer them to be furnished with armour, but their garments were girt about them, and so fit for travelling; or they went up "by fives" ^F15, as it may be rendered, either by five in a rank, or rather in five bodies or squadrons, and so marched out, not in a disorderly and confused way, but in great order and regularity. The latter is much more reasonable to suppose, for five in a rank is too small a number for an army of 600,000 men to march in; since allowing the ranks to be but three feet asunder, and a mile to consist of about two thousand yards, the front and rear of the army would be sixty miles distant from each other ^F16.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Myvmx) "accincti", Fagninus, Vatablus, Cartwright; so Onkelos, Aben Ezra.
F14 Kimchi & Pen Melech.
F15 "Quintati", Montanus: "quini", Piscater, Rivet.
F16 See the Bishop of Clogher's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 272.

Éxodo 13:18 In-Context

16 Te será, pues, como una señal sobre tu mano, y por un memorial delante de tus ojos: Que el SEÑOR nos sacó de Egipto con mano fuerte

17 Y luego que el Faraón dejó ir al pueblo, Dios no los llevó por el camino de la tierra de los filisteos, que estaba cerca; porque dijo Dios: Que por ventura no se arrepienta el pueblo cuando vieren la guerra, y se vuelvan a Egipto

18 mas hizo Dios al pueblo que rodeara por el camino del desierto del mar Bermejo. Y subieron los hijos de Israel de Egipto armados

19 Tomó también consigo Moisés los huesos de José, el cual había juramentado a los hijos de Israel, diciendo: Dios ciertamente os visitará, y haréis subir mis huesos de aquí con vosotros

20 Y partidos de Sucot, asentaron campo en Etam, a la entrada del desierto