Numbers 33:7

7 And they removed from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is opposite Baal-Zephon, and encamped before Migdol.

Numbers 33:7 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 33:7

And they removed from Etham, and turned again to Pihahiroth,
&c.] Which was sixteen miles from Etham. This turning, Aben Ezra says, respects the cloud, or Israel; and indeed it may respect both, for, as the cloud turned, Israel turned, being directed by it; and this does not mean that they had been at Pihahiroth before, and now returned to it again; but that they by direction turned out of the straight way in which they were to go to Pihahiroth; for the word "again" may as well, or better, be left out, (See Gill on Exodus 14:2):

which is before Baalzephon;
the name of an idol, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, supposed to be placed here, to watch and guard the passage, as Zephon signifies:

and they pitched before Migdol:
which was either the name of a city, the same with Migdol, ( Jeremiah 44:1 ) or it was a tower, as the word signifies, placed here on the borders of the land, for the defence of it.

Numbers 33:7 In-Context

5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth.

6 And they removed from Succoth and encamped in Etham, which is at the end of the wilderness.

7 And they removed from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is opposite Baal-Zephon, and encamped before Migdol.

8 And they removed from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah.

9 And they removed from Marah, and came to Elim; and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm-trees, and they encamped there.