Exodus 14 · a question people ask
Where did Israel cross the sea?
Exodus 14 calls it simply "the sea". The LORD tells Israel to "encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal Zephon" (14:2), and Numbers lists the same stops (Numbers 33:7-8). The text gives the names but not a map, and the lexicon can't place them either: Brown-Driver-Briggs describes Pihahiroth as "on E. border of Egypt. Site unknown." Elsewhere Exodus names the sea in Hebrew yam suf (13:18; 15:4), which the WEB translates "Red Sea". Suf is the word for the "reeds" where Moses' basket was laid by the river (2:3); Brown-Driver-Briggs defines it "reeds, rushes". The Hebrew Bible also uses the name for the sea at Ezion Geber, "on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom" (1 Kings 9:26), and the New Testament calls it the Red Sea (Acts 7:36; Hebrews 11:29). Christians hold different views on where the crossing took place. The chapter itself dwells on how, not where: "The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground" (14:22).
The verses
““Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal Zephon. You shall encamp opposite it by the sea.”
“They traveled from Etham, and turned back to Pihahiroth, which is before Baal Zephon, and they encamped before Migdol. They traveled from before Hahiroth, and crossed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness. They went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah.”
“but God led the people around by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.”
“He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea.”