DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14564#0141
124
CITIES OF EGYPT.
Ezekiel speaks of these limits ' from Migdol to Syene'
(xxix. 10, xxx. 6, margin). Elephantine is an island
opposite to Syene, the border-town on the south; Samut,
as just remarked, still holds its place on the map. The
name of Migdol implies that it was a fort, but a town
must have grown around it, for it received a colony of
fugitive Jews in the time of Jeremiah (xliv. i). Under
the Pharaohs it had been apparently the most important
fort on the eastern frontier, but in the later days of the
monarchy, the great danger of attack by sea raised the
consequence of Pelusium or Sin, which became ' the
strength of Egypt' (Ezek. xxx. 15).
We will now endeavour to trace the Israelite route
on the map. From Zoan to near Migdol the distance in
a straight line does not exceed thirty miles. As Mr.
Greville Chester has remarked, a much directer course
could have been followed at the time of the Exodus than
is now possible, if (as is certain), Lake Menzeleh was
anciently far less extensive (Quarterly Statement Palestine
Exploration Fund, July 1880, p. 146). Ten or twelve
miles a day would be as much as the Israelites could
accomplish. The journey was not through ' the way of
the land of the Philistines, although that (was) near'
CITIES OF EGYPT.
Ezekiel speaks of these limits ' from Migdol to Syene'
(xxix. 10, xxx. 6, margin). Elephantine is an island
opposite to Syene, the border-town on the south; Samut,
as just remarked, still holds its place on the map. The
name of Migdol implies that it was a fort, but a town
must have grown around it, for it received a colony of
fugitive Jews in the time of Jeremiah (xliv. i). Under
the Pharaohs it had been apparently the most important
fort on the eastern frontier, but in the later days of the
monarchy, the great danger of attack by sea raised the
consequence of Pelusium or Sin, which became ' the
strength of Egypt' (Ezek. xxx. 15).
We will now endeavour to trace the Israelite route
on the map. From Zoan to near Migdol the distance in
a straight line does not exceed thirty miles. As Mr.
Greville Chester has remarked, a much directer course
could have been followed at the time of the Exodus than
is now possible, if (as is certain), Lake Menzeleh was
anciently far less extensive (Quarterly Statement Palestine
Exploration Fund, July 1880, p. 146). Ten or twelve
miles a day would be as much as the Israelites could
accomplish. The journey was not through ' the way of
the land of the Philistines, although that (was) near'