Sunday Sermonette: Get me rewrite!

This is one of the more famous events in the Bible, but it ' s also like one of those " Can you spot the errors? " cartoons. Then theLord said to Moses,2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.3 We still don ' t know in what physical manner God is speaking to Moses, but in any case, God seems to be mighty confused. These are not the actual names of any places in Egypt. Migdol means a tower in Hebrew, so conceivably it ' s a reference to some tower or other. Pi Hahiroth is not the name of a place either. Some people have speculated about how it might refer to some geographic feature based on it similarity to Egyptian or Hebrew words. We do know where Baal Zephon, is however. It ' s a mountain associated with the Canaanite storm God Baal, and it is located on what is today the border between Syria and Turkey near the Mediterranean. It ' s maybe 700 miles away from the nearest point on the west bank of the Red Sea and, of course, on the opposite side. It ' s also 300 miles or so north of Canaan. WTF?Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’4 And I will harden Pharaoh ’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am theLord. ” So the Israelites did this.Again, God makes Pharaoh pursue th...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs