The Pillar of Fire guides the Bnei Yisrael (Children of Israel) from Egypt
According to the Jewish Parashas Bo and Beshalach in the Jewish Chumash (Torah Portions of the Pentateuch), the moment the Bnei Yisrael (Children of Israel) were jettisoned out of Egypt after the dramatic death of every firstborn son of every Egyptian family, plus every firstborn calf of a young heifer, every first born lamb of a ewe and including also the first born colt of a donkey (the only redeemed non-kosher animal in the Torah); the affect of the “strong arm of G-d” began to take its affect upon the psychic of Pharaoh.
The destruction that surrounded the land of Egypt was phenomenal. The devastation of this once mighty empire appeared almost complete. The Hebrew-Israelites were about to take a journey that would astound the world as to its breadth and its immensity that it has been recounted over and over within the Jewish faith for almost 3,600 years. It would also be remembered by the inhabitants of the entire world in legends and traditions that suggests in an age without global tele-communications as to its immense impact upon the global populations.
The sages of Judah suggest that at that epic moment of time, 600,000 men that were of the age to fight in military battles, plus women and children and elderly senior citizens led to a total population of almost two million Hebrew-Israelites. The “Day-after”, they began an epic trek eastward towards their “Promised Land”. This moment of time was remembered by the G-d of Israel, as recorded by the Prophet Jeremiah when He said:
Jeremiah 2:2 – “I remembered for your sake the kindness of your youth, the love of your bridal days, how you followed Me into the wilderness in an unsown land.”
What a testimony of what can happen when a spiritual moment of awareness is cast upon a multitude of people and in faith (emuna) they grasp it and bring it to its full revelation. It is also a vignette of what is about to happen during this “time of the end” that is unfolding in front of our own eyes.
The evening of the 14th day of Pesach, eve of the 15th day of Nisan was now over and this vast multitude began to make its journey to the east with great haste on what the Pharaoh thought was just a three-day journey. They left with “banners, songs and celebration” according to Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi), 12th century Jewish Kabbalist sage, physician, and legal authority on the Torah that was born near Barcelona, Spain. It gave proof by the Israelites and witnessed by the Egyptians that they had no intention of returning back to Egypt.
The journey in most people’s minds was an arduous and lengthy journey across rocky and barren desert lands in the central region of the Sinai Peninsula. Yet we may have to reconsider that position for the evidence by the Jewish historians suggest otherwise, and our understanding of who HaShem was and how He wanted to do the best for His people, suggests that the wilderness upon which they entered was a lush desolated paradise with plenty of foraging grounds for the cattle, sheep and goats to graze as they were herded towards the land of the Promise. According to the Parashah Beshalach:
"The Delivery of Israel Pharaoh and his Hosts Overwhelmed in the Red Sea" by Francis Danby (1825)
Parashah Beshalach – “Israel left Egypt on the morning of the 15th Nissan and the sea split on the 21st Nissan. The chronology of events during those seven days was as follows:
- 15th Nissan: Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth (150 miles).
- 16th Nissan: They traveled from Succoth to Etham (120 miles).
- 17th Nissan: They retreated back toward Egypt and encamped at Pi-hahiroth (30 miles).
- 18th Nissan: Pharaoh’s agents reported that the “three days to serve G-d” had gone by and the Hebrew-Israelites were not returning to their servitude.
- 19-20th Nissan: Pharaoh organized his forces and pursued the Children of Israel (270 miles).
- 21st Nissan: The Sea split or parted to save Israel and then returned to its place to swamp Egypt.
When we look at this itinerary, we say wow, how could this be? Is it possible that two million Bnei Yisrael (Children of Israel) fled from Egypt and traveled all the way to the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds) in just three days and were prepared in one week to cross over to the other side, symbolic of crossing over to the “world to come” within another four days? And all these events happened before they were able to truly begin their pathway of reeducating themselves in preparation for their final redemption in the Land of Israel (world to come)?
Scholars, archeologists and historians have wondered why there was not any archeological evidence of the Hebrew-Israelites passing through or living within the Sinai Peninsula. Maybe we need to reconsider that the Christian chroniclers have been looking at the wrong pathway, or the wrong site of that mount called Sinai?
These facts could easily be affirmed by the fact that the Jewish rabbanim affirmed that the Hebrew-Israelites were just passing through these wilderness meadows and then rested; all in only seven days. If so, then they had neither the time to build any monuments, nor did they set up any encampments. Neither did they lay out any border markers to the sites of their encampments that demarcated the sites upon which each of their tribes would reside in their tent dwellings.
The pathway to their rendezvous with the G-d of Israel at the Mount called Sinai was so urgent that they had to complete the preliminary process of crossing the Red Sea before the “appointed time” had passed for the critical timing of cause and effect of the apocalypse was still in progress. The Divine Will was now fully engaged in orchestrating this massive rendezvous with destiny of His chosen ones; the descendants of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
At the moment of the Exodus, HaShem changed completely his relationship with the Children of Israel from that which He had manifested Himself with the three Patriarchs. As the bible revealed, HaShem revealed Himself to All Israel not as El Shaddai but in a different manifestation.
To their ancestral Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the G-d of Israel revealed Himself as El Shaddai (meaning sufficient). He was the Divine One who set the limits of Creation by defining the Laws of Nature that divinely regulate Planet Earth within the limits of how the entire universe was created to function.
Here was El Shaddai who revealed Himself as the G-d who performs miracles within the governing forces that guide that control the normal forces of nature. To the Patriarchs, the G-d that was revealed to them helped them to survive famines, gave them victory over the forces of enemies that were far superior to them, but the miracles in which HaShem was prepared to reveal to the Bnei Yisrael was on a plane of consciousness that was of a far greater magnitude than what the Patriarchs were privileged to witness.
At this “appointed time” the world would witness the G-d of Israel that would transcend all creation. The forces of nature were now within the palms of His hands, to manipulate and to mold in order to save His people, and to do so with a “strong hand”.
He would guide and direct the Israelites according to His Divine Will and mold these forces of nature into His apocalyptic rage of judgment down upon the peoples who held an implacable hatred towards His chosen ones, the Hebrew-Israelites they had oppressed and enslaved. Now facing the Red Sea, the Egyptians were preparing with great wrath to complete their “Final Solution” to exterminate to the last person, the Bnei Yisrael (Children of Israel) and drive them into the sea. This planned Holocaust would be turned upon them, and it would be the Egyptians who would be exterminated.
How G-d was planning to redeem the Children of Israel was contained in four different expressions that have for almost 3600 years been honored each Passover as four progressive steps of redemption. These are the Four Cups that are set out every year at the Pesach Seder. As the Spanish 13th century Rabbi Bachya ben Asher expressed and recorded in the Parashas Va’eira, we read as follows:
- “I shall take you out! G-d would remove the yoke of slavery from upon the Hebrew-Israelites while they were still recognized as slaves, a subclass of people in Egypt and before they were permitted by the Pharaoh to leave the country of Egypt. For one year, Moses would be in Egypt invoking the demands by the G-d of Israel to “let My people go!” Six months later, on Rosh Hashanah, the yoke of slavery was taken away from them. For another six months, the Ten Plagues wreck havoc to the Egyptian economy and culture, before their actual physical deliverance at Pesach.
- “I shall rescue you! The actual Divine Act of rescuing the Children of Israel and sending them forth from Egypt at the dawn of the sun in the 15th day of Pesach would come with miraculous signs in the heaven that no human being had ever seen or encountered. Before the break of dawn the heaven was lit up with a magnificent “pillar of fire”, that all of Egypt were awakened and marveled with fear. As the dawn of a new sun rose in the eastern sky they witnessed the movement of the pillar of fire and then associated with the manifestation of a new marvel, a “pillar of cloud” In unison they maneuvered themselves as a guiding force that cast an elevated spiritual state of consciousness that impelled the entire human mass of Hebrews forward towards the east; to the Land of Promise given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- “I shall redeem you! The redemption of the Hebrew-Israelites would not come for seven days and would be memorialized for all generations as the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The final revelation of redemption would not come until the “Splitting of the Sea” when “G-d’s outstretched arm with great judgments” crushed the imperial power of Egypt. As the Sages of Judah taught, “the punishment inflicted upon the Egyptians at the Sea was five times as great as those they suffered during the Ten Plagues.”
- “I shall take you! The G-d of Israel took the Hebrew-Israelites to the mount called Sinai. As His chosen people, He forged them into a nation and gave them the Torah as a blue-print of holy living there at the blazing volcanic inferno. This was to be the climax, the purpose, and the fulfillment of the Exodus.
As the great throng of two million peoples headed to the east from Giza, the movement of the “pillar of fire” and the “pillar of cloud” corralled and guided the massive movement of the Israelites onward towards their future destination. The Egyptian masses left behind were spellbound with awe and fear.
Later when the word came back that Pharaoh’s invincible military force, with their horses and chariots were completely destroyed; the fear of the might of the G-d of Israel was imbedded within the Egyptian’s hearts. Their king and their great warriors had disappeared into the bottom of the Red Sea as it entered through the Straits of Tiran into the Gulf of Aqaba. At this moment of time, the power and majesty of HaShem, the G-d of Israel was indelibly imprinted upon the Egyptian psychic.
The Route of the Exodus to Mount Al-Lawz (Mount Horeb/Sinai)
According to Ramban, the Torah referred to the “pillar of fire” as an angelic emissary of G-d and that G-d’s Presence rested in the fiery pillar. Yet, also according to Rabbi Moses ben Nahman Girondi (Nahmanides), the “pillar of cloud” was the resting place of “G-d’s Heavenly Court.” They were not one pillar with two manifestations, but two pillars that guided the Hebrew-Israelites so that they could travel twenty four hours a day, eating only the provisions in which they carried out of Egypt.
The massive tide of people took turns guiding their donkeys and flocks so while one party rested, the other kept the arduous trek continuing on and on and on. The first day alone they traveled from the Delta Region of Goshen to the east of the Bitter Lakes and then down along the Gulf of Suez for 150 miles in 24 hours as they traveled about 6 miles per hour. Yet, there was no rest. It was important that they continue plunge onward.
The second day, the massive throng continued along the beaches of the Gulf of Suez from Succot to Migdol the biblical Pi-Hahiroth. It was called the “mouth of waters” for it guarded the entrance from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba that traverses all the way up to Ezion Geber, near where the Israeli Port City of Eilat in Southern Israel resides today. Then they turned upwards towards Etham. This was a walking or riding day’s journey of about 100 miles.
Exodus 13:21 – “They journeyed from Succoth, and encamped in Ethan, at the edge of the Wilderness. HaShem went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel day and night. He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night from before the pillar.”
And then something mysterious happened. On the 3rd day, on the 17th Nissan, the clouds turned around and with the entire mass of peoples following, it appeared as if they were retreating back towards Egypt as they traveled downwards about 30 miles and encamped back at Pi-Hahiroth. What was happening? Were the masses of peoples panicking or rebelling and returning back to Egypt?
Imbedded within the massive throngs of the Hebrew-Israelites were Egyptian commando spies that also went along to gather intelligence to send back to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Even if they followed from a distance, they could clearly see for miles ahead the great pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. It was a natural phenomenon that would be indelibly imprinted upon the ancient minds.
What the Pharaoh was most interested in knowing was what the Bnei Yisrael (Children of Israel) would do after three days. When he heard the news that the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud were turning back, he thought the Children of Israel were becoming confused or were weakening in their resolve to continue to their full escape and emancipation. As the Jewish Sage, Rabbi Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno revealed, the Pharaoh already knew that the Israelites had no intention of returning back to Egypt. But what were they doing?
According to the intelligence that was streaming back to Pharaoh’s court, the Egyptian idol, Baal Zephon was the only idol in Egypt that was not toppled during the biblical apocalypse called the “Ten Plagues”. Every one of the plagues targeted one of the Egyptian gods, but Baal Zephon alone remained. Maybe the survival of Baal Zephon was an “omen” the he and the imperial state of Egypt would survive.
This news strengthened the court of the Pharaoh. He was revived from his earlier fear and anger filled his soul that he had been so weakened by the “magic” of Moses and Aaron. He regretted freeing the slaves of Bnei Yisrael. It was time to take action and finish his earlier mission, to exterminate the entire Children of Israel. His nation was destroyed, and if he went down, they would go down with him. At least his name would be recorded on the hieroglyphs of the temples of Egypt as one of the bravest of the Pharaohs. As the biblical text alludes:
Exodus 14:1-4 – “HaShem spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Children of Israel and let them turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal Zephon; you shall encamp opposite it, by the sea.
Pharaoh will say of the Children of Israel, ‘They are imprisoned in the land, the Wilderness has locked them in.’ I shall strengthen the heart of Pharaoh and he will pursue them, and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and his entire army and Egypt will know that I am HaShem.’ And so they did.”
And Pharaoh was right. The Children of Israel with the guidance of the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud had journeyed into a landlocked trap as can be perceived in the colored map of the route of the Exodus above. There was only a narrow beachhead and with the sea to the east, the mountains to the south of the traditional Mount Musa (Mount Sinai) mountainous range near the center of the Sinai Peninsula, there was no other place to escape.
Yes, the two million Hebrew-Israelites had no other place to go. The “Final Solution” was about to be enacted by the mighty forces of Egypt. The Pharaoh would literally “drive the Jewish-Israelites into the sea.”
HaShem, the G-d of Israel had other plans.
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All of have wondered how the G-d of Israel will bring all the prophetic events to their fulfillment at the time of the end. Watching the “Finger of the Divine” stirring up nations of the world is far more fascinating than watching a movie drama. The end results will be that all nations will pool all their economic resources at the “gates of Israel” and be prepared to once again to evoke the “Final Solution” this time amongst the remnant of the Jewish peoples that include all the Jews of the Diaspora that have fled to Israel as a land of safety before their life would be thrust into “the world to come”. And during this same time, the G-d of Israel is wooing each one of you, the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel, to return and be stored back into brotherhood with the Jews of the House of Judah so that He will send His Messiah to clean house of all the wickedness and corruption on Planet Earth.
If you want to learn more divinely led prophecies, we invite you to Contact “Kol Ha Tor Vision”, the Voice of the Turtledove. Here you will discover is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This super Event of all Times will bring the restoration and the Shomron Region, the Ancient Biblical Heartland of the Patriarchs plus the Judean Wilderness as part of the entire Land of Israel. There we will witness the Divine as the “Land” will be restored and prepared for the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel and then the Redemption of All Israel.
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