Exodus 13:20

“And they took their journey from Succoth, etc.] On the second day, as Jarchi observes, from their coming out of Egypt, which was the sixteenth of Nisan: and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness which had its name from it, and was called the wilderness of Etham, (<043308>Numbers 33:8). Etham is said to be eight miles from Succoth f407. Josephus f408 calls Succoth Latopolis, which had its name from the fish Latus, formerly worshipped them, where, he says, Babylon was built when Cambyses destroyed Egypt, and is thought by many f409 to be the same with Troglodytis, by the Red sea; and Etham is supposed to be the Buto of Herodotus f410, where were the temple of Apollo and Diana, and…”

“encamped in Etham--This place is supposed by the most intelligent travellers to be the modern Ajrud, where is a watering-place, and which is the third stage of the pilgrim-caravans to Mecca. "It is remarkable that either of the different routes eastward from Heliopolis, or southward from Heroopolis, equally admit of Ajrud being Etham. It is twelve miles northwest from Suez, and is literally on the edge of the desert" [Pictorial Bible].”

“Etham - The house or “sanctuary of Tum” (the Sun God worshipped especially by that name in Lower Egypt), was in the immediate vicinity of Heliopolis, called by the Egyptians the fortress of Zar, or Zalu (i. e. of foreigners); the frontier city where the Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty reviewed their forces when about to enter upon a campaign on Syria. The name Pithom (see Exodus 1:11) has precisely the same meaning with Etham, and may possibly be identified with it. return to 'Top of Page'”

“13:20 The locations of Succoth and Etham are uncertain, although the reference to the edge of the wilderness suggests that they were in the region southeast of the Nile delta toward the Gulf of Suez.”

“Num 33:5, Num 33:6 Exodus 13:21”

“From Succoth they went to Etham. With regard to the situation of Succoth (from סכּת huts, probably a shepherd encampment), only so much can be determined, that this place was to the south-east of Ramses, on the way to Etham. Etham was "at the end of the desert," which is called the desert of Etham in Num 33:8, and the desert of Shur (Jifar, see Gen 16:7) in Exo 15:22; so that it was where Egypt ends and the desert of Arabia begins, in a line which curves from the northern extremity of the Gulf of Arabia up to the Birket Temseh, or Crocodile Lake, and then on to Lake Menzalet. According to the more precise statements of travellers, this line is formed from the point of the gulf northwards, by…”