The Passover and the Crossing of the Sea

On the day before the people went out of Egypt, since they did not yet know how to reckon dates, they were told by God’s command to count the month then passing as the first of all months. They were told that the sacrifice of that day was to be offered solemnly and regularly in the ages to come: on the fourteenth day of the month a lamb without blemish, one year old, was to be killed as a victim, and the doorposts were to be sprinkled with its blood; its flesh was to be eaten entirely, but not one of its bones was to be broken; for seven days they were to keep away from anything leavened and use only unleavened bread; and they were to hand the observance down to their descendants. [a]

So the people went out rich, both with their own wealth and still more with the spoils of Egypt. From the seventy-five Hebrews who had first gone down into Egypt, their number had grown to six hundred thousand men. From the time when Abraham first reached the land of the Canaanites, four hundred and thirty years had passed, and from the flood, five hundred and seventy-five years.

As they went out in haste, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night went before them. Because the gulf of the Red Sea lay in between, the road led through the land of the Philistines. But so that the Hebrews, shrinking from the desert, would not later have the chance of returning to Egypt by a familiar road, overland all the way, they turned aside at God’s command and traveled toward the Red Sea, where they halted and pitched their camp.

The king was told that the Hebrew people had mistaken the road and found the sea right in front of them, and that they had no way of escape, since the deep would stop them. Vexed and furious that so many thousands of men should escape from his kingdom and power, he hurriedly led out his army. Already the weapons, the standards, and the battle lines drawn up across the wide plains could be seen. The Hebrews were terrified and gazed up to heaven, when Moses, instructed by God, struck the sea with his rod and divided it. So a road was opened for the people as if on firm land, with the waters giving way on both sides. Nor did the king of Egypt hesitate to follow the Israelites as they went forward: he entered the sea where it had opened, and as the waters quickly came together again, he was destroyed with all his army.