Nadene Goldfoot
Moses (1391 BCE-1291 BCE) , former Prince of Egypt that had suddenly disappeared and was gone for a good 50 or more years, suddenly appeared in about 1311BCE at the age of 80 and wanted to free all of Egypt's slaves, which was their workforce, and take them to Canaan, 464.9 miles away as the geese flew or by driving on routes 50 M and route 90 today.
For Moses, who lived 3,500 years ago, I'll give it as 500 miles by walking along yesterday's paths.
This was a time of Egypt's New Kingdom from 1550-1069 BCE. Egypt had been in existence since their Old Kingdom days back in 2686 BCE, which was 4,678 years ago. This was a good 1,000 years earlier than the days of Moses and the Exodus. The people may have whispered among themselves that Canaan wasn't far away, but Moses had a surprise in store for them. They were not going to travel the obvious route, the close one.
They were to start from Rameses. The Children of Israel (Jacob's name had been changed to Israel) journeyed from Rameses ( the new capital built by the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) at Qantir, near the old site of Avaris. The city had served as a summer palace under Seti I (c. 1290–1279 BC), and may have been founded by Rameses I (c. 1292–1290 BC) while he served under Horemheb. Moses had arrived by 1311 BCE in Egypt by Jewish records, so was about the time that Rameses was finished being built by the slaves.
The weather in Egypt is generally warm in the winter, very hot in the summer and dry most of the year, with the exception of a rainy period in the winter that occurs mostly in the northern part of the country. In the desert there are great extremes of hot and cold on a daily basis. Daytime and nighttime temperature differences of 80̊F (45̊C) have been recorded. The Tropic of Cancer roughly divides Egypt into north and south. It was that way in ancient Egypt as well.
A Civil War soldier in the 1860s could expect to cover at least fifteen miles per day when on the march, with forced marches occasionally covering up to thirty miles in a single day. Did our walkers have to carry bundles or did they have carts for that?
The Boy Scouts of America's rule is that a 6 foot male (72 inches) can carry up to 239 lbs. in their backcountry Philmont trek which can be from 7, 9 to 12 day trek. Imagine 40 years. Moses almost made it to the finish line, dying just outside it at age 120. He started at age 80.
You might think that the soldier's standard burden has become heavier over the centuries, but in the Winter 2010 issue of the Australian Army Journal, Lieutenant Rob Orr found that, since the beginning of recorded warfare, the weight of the foot soldier's load has remained roughly the same as a percentage of body weight. In fact, the American Civil War may have been a relative low point in average weights. The Union soldier's average load, for example, averaged between forty-four and fifty pounds, while the Confederate soldier's average load, because of limited supplies, could be anywhere between thirty and eighty pounds.
By comparison, the average Roman legionnaire carried eighty pounds, and in Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers' average loads are between 100 and 120 pounds. Since the Roman weighed around the same as the average Civil War soldier, and the average modern American soldier weighs around twenty to thirty percent more than soldiers in previous centuries, Civil War soldiers were typically carrying ten to twenty five percent less of their body weight on a typical march.
The Romans came into the picture about 1,500 years later, but their soldiers walked to their destinations carrying a lot of supplies. Standards varied over time, but normally, recruits were first required to complete 20 Roman miles (29.62 km or 18.405 modern miles) with 20.5 kg in five summer hours, which was known as "the regular step" or "military pace". (The Romans divided daylight time into twelve equal hours.)
I'd say that our Exodus ancestors lacked good shoes for walking. They had no special tennis shoes or hiking boots. Look at the flimsy shoes Romans had a thousand years later! Where were the cobblers?There are no surviving artifacts or descriptions of Jewish shoes from the period of the early Bible (Nahshon 2008 p2). However, footwear does hold an important significance to early Israelites. According to the Scriptures, God gave man a ‘coat of skins’ to wear. Once the Hebrews acquired the art of tanning they used thick hide for sandals. The Biblical sandal was either leather or wooden footboards held to the foot with finer leather thongs (Nahshon 2008). For 40 years, they had to do with what they wore.
Moses took a census before he started on the Exodus from Egypt. He was responsible for leading 603,550 people to freedom. Egyptian soldiers had been in Canaan. It probably took them 5 hours to walk 20 miles a day, that would have been a unit of strong men. As an older woman, I used to walk one mile in 20 minutes without carrying anything. Today, I'm doing well to walk one mile. On occasion, I have walked 2 miles. Then I'm done for the day. How did Moses think this would be possible?
He was dealing with people who have been held as slaves, a people in this condition for the past 430 years. They had had no experience in walking any distance, or they might have become run-away slaves. You could say that they were out of condition, or maybe better than our couch potatoes of today.
They slaved at their job, probably 12 hours a day as long as their was light, and were very tired physically. They ate well, had an assortment of food, though never enough, just enough to keep them at top level of working.
Moses had to have donkeys, possibly even some camels at hand ready to take on the trip. Perhaps he had some sort of wagons for the elderly to be pulled by oxen. He and his brother, Aaron had to do a lot of planning to pull this off, just in case their plan worked and the Pharoah weakened a moment and let them all leave if they wanted to follow Moses.
All told, it took Moses 40 years to get to Canaan. They ended up with less people than they started with and had a loss of 1,820, even with all the births along the way. Their final count showed they had 601,730.
Judah was the largest tribe of the 12. They had started with 74,600 people and ended with 76,500 people, one of seven of the tribes showing a gain. Manasseh was the smallest tribe with 32,200 and gained 20,500 by the end with 52,700. The tribe who lost the most people was Simeon who lost 37,100 people. They had started with 59,300 and ended with 22,200.
THEY STARTED ON THE EXODUS
Pi-Ramesses (also known as Per-Ramesses, Piramese, Pr-Rameses, Pir-Ramaseu) was the city built as the new capital in the Delta region of ancient Egypt by Ramesses II (known as The Great, 1279-1213 BCE). It was located at the site of the modern town of Qantir in the Eastern Delta and, in its time, was considered the greatest city in Egypt, rivaling even Thebes to the south. The name means 'House of Ramesses' (also given as 'City of Ramesses') and was constructed close by the older city of Avaris.
The association of the new city with Avaris gave it instant prestige in that Avaris was already legendary by the time of Ramesses II as the capital of the Hyksos who had been defeated and driven from Egypt by Ahmose I (c. 1570-1544 BCE), initiating the period of Egypt's empire now referred to as the New Kingdom (c. 1570 - c. 1069 BCE). The victory of Ahmose at Avaris, ending Hyksos control of the Delta, was greatly respected by the people of the New Kingdom, but even before that Avaris had been an important center for trade.
They traveled to Succoth, (An Egyptian Sukkot is the second of the stations of the Exodus. According to the Hebrew bible, an unnamed Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to leave Egypt, and they journeyed from their starting point at Pi-Rameses to Succoth (Exodus 12:37). Both appear to be towns within the Land of Goshen, which is generally believed to be in the eastern Delta.
The millions were about 6,000,000 men on foot, aside from children. Moses was evidently counting fighting men for protection. They included a mixed multitude (a multitude of people of various nationalities converted to Judaism and accompanied the Jews out of Egypt) who went up with them, and had flock and cattle, and very much livestock. They baked the dough that they took out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for they could not be leavened, for they were driven from Egypt for they could not delay, nor had they made provisions for themselves.
The quickest and most direct route from Egypt to Canaan "Eretz Yisrael" is northeast, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, a route that goes through Philistia, which is on the west coast of the Holy Land. However, just as this was the easiest way to leave Egypt, it was also the easiest way to return there.
Since the war-like Philistines were sure to fight the Jewish "invaders," G-d knew that the people would lose heart and return to Egypt. To avoid this, He led them on a roundabout path through the Sinai Desert, going east and then north, so that they would enter the land from the west. This would take them so far from Egypt that it would be difficult for them to return. Even so, there were times in the Wilderness when they complained and wanted to return to Egypt . Had such a return been quick and easy, they would surely have attempted it.
Moses said to his people, "Remember this day on which you departed from Egypt, from the house of bondage, but with a strong hand God removed you from here, and therefore chametz (regular bread) may not be eaten (they would have no chance to bake regular bread.) Did they have yeast in those days? Evidently they did. Fire was the first force of nature tamed for cooking.
Yeast was second. In the early days of ancient Egypt, around 3100 B.C.E, there lived a ruler named Scorpion. When Scorpion died, pyramids had not yet been invented, so he was buried in a broad, low tomb that today we call a mastaba (the Arabic word for "bench"). Inside the mastaba, German archaeologists discovered 700 jars that had originally contained 4,500 liters of resinated wine. The resin was from the terebinth tree, which was used in ancient times to slow the wine's inevitable oxygen-induced march toward vinegar, and to mask any off-flavors. Fresh grapes and figs had also been added, along with mint, coriander, and sage.
The contents would probably not seemed much like modern wine, but perhaps something akin to the Greek wine still made with resin today, retsina. In addition to all the fruit and herbs, scientists who analyzed the residue found one other chemical signature: fragments of the DNA of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast, but did they know enough to use it in rising bread dough? Ancient Egyptian yeasts just recently found have now been used to bake bread. Can't believe it, after all these years, it was usable. Then why didn't my packet of dry yeast do a better job after lying in my drawer for a few years?
"Today you are leaving in the month of springtime. And it shall come to pass when you will be in the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Emorite, the Hippite, and the Jebusite which He swore to your forefathers to give you--a land flowing with milk and honey."
With a route like this that was not direct, perhaps the route was much longer. After they crossed the Red Sea they camped at a place called Marah, where the waters were bitter, and after they complained God sweetened the water by a miracle. After that they camped at Elim where there were 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees to encourage God's people, and strengthen their faith. Then they came to Rephidim, and continued through the wilderness of sin. They passed by Dophkah and Alush,
and it was here in the wilderness that God provided them Manna for food, turning the dew into wafer-like bread. The manna continued until they reached the land of Canaan. Later Moses provided water for the Israelites by smiting a rock in Horeb. After this Moses was visited by his father-in-law Jethro, a priest from Midian, who brought Moses' wife and children to him. When the Israelites came to Mount Sinai they were terrified of God, who revealed himself on the mountain. During this time God delivered the 10 Commandments to Moses, and spoke them to the Israelites from the mountain. After these powerful events the Israelites came to Taberah, Kibroth, and Hattavah.
Aaron's wearing the breastplate and turban
Soon after this Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses. After this they journeyed through the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh-barnea. From Kadesh-barnea the Israelites sent 12 spies, one from each of the 12 tribes, to look over and spy out the land of Canaan. After seeing the land, 10 of them returned with a very bad report because they were afraid of the walled cities and the giants in the land. Only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, brought back a good report and had courage to enter the land. The Israelites after hearing the bad news were afraid, and wanted to return to Egypt. God was so displeased with their lack of faith that he "decreed that all who were 20 years old and upwards, except Joshua and Caleb, should die in the wilderness."The account is found in Numbers 13:1–33, and is repeated with some differences in Deuteronomy 1:22–40. They spied during the season of the 1st ripe grapes.
2. Simeon=Shaphat, son of Hori
3. Judah=Caleb, son of Jephunneh gave good reports
4. Issachar=Yigal, son of Joseph
5. Ephraim=Hoshea, son of Nun, called Joshua by Moses gave good reports
6. Benjamin=Palti, son of Raphu
7. Zebulun=Gaddiel, son of Sodi
8. Joseph=(Manasseh)=Gaddi, son of Susi
9. Dan=Ammiel, son of Gernalli
10. Asher=Sethur, son of Michael
11. Naphtali=Nahbi, son of Vophsi
12. Gad=Geuel, son of Machi
They had arrived.
Judah and Ephraim became the two leading tribes.
Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim was chosen by Moses to take his position and continue leading the people by choosing the land for each tribe.
There was a reason for taking 40 years. It was the special span of time needed to change conditioned slave mentality into a conditioned group of people into a believing force that would affect the other peoples of the world into a new form of thinking. It didn't matter who the rescued people were, though most were of the ancestors of Jacob (Israel) the stiff-necked people. It's what they would become under the tutelage of Moses during those 40 precious years.
There are those today who look upon the story of the Exodus as a fairy-tale. Moses worked so hard to validate this experience, citing numbers, places, dates that it happened as he understood it. He lived in a time of reading and writing and arithmetic, love and hate, vindictiveness and thoughtfulness. He had interrupted his life at age 80 to do a deed that was on his mind; to rescue his people from slavery, and he knew he had the power to do it. He could not continue to sit by and do nothing. He was compelled to act. His conscience would not let him rest. He went back to Egypt from Midian (Moses, in order to escape the Pharaoh's death penalty, fled to Midian (a desert country south of Judah), where he married Zipporah,
to face the consequences of killing an overseer who had been beating a slave to death in his anger and free his people. When nervous, he still stuttered. Zipporah was the oldest daughter of Jethro, priest of Midian.
On traveling to Egypt with Moses, she saved her son's life by circumcising him. Later, she returned to her father with her 2 sons, Gershom and Eliezer, rejoining Moses at Mount Sinai (Exod:18:1). Moses served his father-in-law, Jethro, as a shepherd for forty years. The fact that Jethro was “a priest of Midian” (Exodus 2:16) indicates that the Midianites, at least during Moses’ time, still retained the knowledge of the God of their father Abraham (cf. Jethro’s words and actions in Exodus 18). At the end of Moses’ time in Midian, God appeared to Moses—still in Midian—and commissioned him to lead the Israelites out of slavery (Exodus 3—4).
As the children of Israel traveled through the wilderness, they employed the services of a guide familiar with the desert—Moses’ Midianite brother-in-law, Hobab, son of Ruel, the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses, (Numbers 10:29).also called Jethro. Jethro is called a priest of Midian and became father-in-law of Moses after he gave his daughter, Zipporah, in marriage to Moses. He is introduced in Exodus 2:18. Jethro is recorded as living in Midian, a territory stretching along the eastern edge of the Gulf of Aqaba, northwestern Arabia.Names. There is some disagreement over the name(s) of Moses' father-in-law. In the KJV translation of Judges 4:11, a man named Hobab appears as Moses' father-in-law, while Numbers 10:29 makes him "the son of Raguel [Reuel] the Midianite, Moses' father in law". Reuel is noted Exodus 2:16, as "a priest of Midian" who had seven daughters. Exodus 2:18 "the girls returned to Reuel their father". Reuel becomes Moses' father in law in Exodus 2:21 "Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage."It became, however, generally accepted that he had seven names: "Reuel", "Jether", "Jethro", "Hobab", "Heber", "Keni" (comp. Judges i. 16, iv. 11), and "Putiel"; Eleazar's father-in-law (Ex. vi. 25) being identified with Jethro by interpreting his name either as "he who abandoned idolatry" or as "who fattened calves for the sake of sacrifices to the idol".It is uncertain which deities the Midianites worshipped. Through their apparent religio-political connection with the Moabites they are thought to have worshipped a multitude, including Baal-peor and the Queen of Heaven, Ashteroth.
However, the relations between the Israelites and the Midianites began to sour when the Midianites joined forces with the Moabites in order to hire Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 22). Later, when Israel fell into idolatry and sexual sin with the Moabite women (Numbers 25), we find that a prominent Midianite woman was also involved (Numbers 25:6). The Lord then told Moses to wage war against the Midianites: “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader” (Numbers 25:17–19). The Israelites did eventually attack the Midianites, meting out divine retribution against their enemies (Numbers 31). Five kings of the Midianites were killed, as was Balaam (Numbers 31:8). This battle was one of the last things Moses accomplished as leader of the Israelites.
It was not an easy, peaceful trek from Egypt to Canaan.
Resource:
Tanakh, the Stone Edition; Numbers 12, 13,
https://rawi-magazine.com/articles/bread-in-egypt/
https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub364/entry-6158.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot_(place)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi-Ramesses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_march#:~:text=Standards%20varied%20over%20time%2C%20but,time%20into%20twelve%20equal%20hours.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_ancient_Egypt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses#:~:text=Moses%2C%20in%20order%20to%20escape,)%2C%20where%20he%20married%20Zipporah.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Memphis_(Ancient_Egypt)/#:~:text=Memphis%20was%20one%20of%20the,an%20important%20religious%20cult%20center.&text=3150%20BCE)%20who%20united%20the,Egypt%20into%20a%20single%20country.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/yeast-making-food-great-for-5000-years-but-what-exactly-is-it/#:~:text=In%20the%20early%20days%20of,not%20look%20like%20The%20Rock.&text=3-,Fire%20was%20the%20first%20force%20of%20nature%20tamed%20for%20cooking,Head%2C%20Ashmolean%20Museum%2C%20Oxford.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midian#:~:text=the%20historical%20scene%E2%80%A6-,Religion,the%20Queen%20of%20Heaven%2C%20Ashteroth.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Midianites.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_(biblical_figure)#:~:text=20%3A23).-,Names,Moses'%20father%20in%20law%22.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Spies
https://theshoeman647325124.wordpress.com/2020/02/11/sandals-in-biblical-times/
https://www.philmontscoutranch.org/philmonttreks/trekrequirements/healthmedicalrequirements/
https://newrepublic.com/article/86592/fort-sumter-civil-war-soldiers-march-weight#:~:text=A%20soldier%20could%20expect%20to,miles%20in%20a%20single%20day.
https://bible-history.com/old-testament/exodus-from-egypt
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