But in course of time these foreign guests were subjected to changed treatment.  Forced labour was exacted of them for the construction of new public works in Goshen, an exaction which was felt to be an assault upon their freedom and honour, and which in point of fact was fitted to take away all that was distinctive of their nationality.  But they had no remedy at hand, and had submitted in despair, until Moses at last saw a favourable opportunity of deliverance.  Reminding his oppressed brethren of the God of their fathers, and urging that their cause was His, he taught them to regard self-assertion against the Egyptians as an article of religion; and they became once more a united people in a determination to seek refuge from oppression in the wilderness which was the dwelling-place of their kindred and the seat of their God.  At a time when Egypt was scourged by a grievous plague, the Hebrews broke up their settlement in Goshen one night in spring, and directed their steps towards their old home again.  According to the accounts, the king had consented to the exodus, and latterly had even forced it on, but it was none the less a secret flight.

To a not very numerous pastoral people such an undertaking presented no great difficulty.  Nevertheless its execution was not to be carried out unimpeded.  The Hebrews, compelled to abandon the direct eastward road (Exod. xiii. 17, 18), turned towards the south-west and encamped at last on the Egyptian shore of the northern arm of the Red Sea, where they were overtaken by Pharaoh’s army.  The situation was a critical one; but a high wind during the night left the shallow sea so low that it became possible to ford it.  Moses eagerly accepted the suggestion, and made the venture with success.  The Egyptians, rushing after, came up with them on the further shore, and a struggle ensued.  But the assailants fought at a disadvantage, the ground being ill suited for their chariots and horsemen; they fell into confusion and attempted a retreat.  Meanwhile the wind had changed; the waters returned, apd the pursuers were annihilated./1/

************************************ 1.  Exod. xvi. 21, 24, 25, 27, 30, 31.  According to the Old Testament the exodus took place 480 years before the building of Solomon’s temple, and 960 years before the end of the Babylonian captivity.  These figures are “systematic” or at least systematised, but even so they are certainly more trustworthy than the combinations of the Egyptologists. ************************************

After turning aside to visit Sinai as related in Exodus, the emigrants settled at Kadesh, eastwards from Goshen, on the southern borders of Palestine, 2

*********************************** 2.  The site of Sinai (= Horeb?) hardly admits of ascertainment.  The best datum would be the sanctuary of Jethro, if we could identify it with Midian (Jakut, iv. 451), which lies on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea obliquely facing the traditional Sinai.  With regard to Qadesh, see Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund (1871), pp. 20, 21. *************************************