Exodus 14:2

“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn, etc.] Not return to Egypt, or to the place, or towards the place from whence they came, but turn off, out of the road in which they were; for, as a late traveller says f414, “there were two roads, through which the Israelites might have been conducted from Cairo (which he supposes may be Rameses) to Pihahiroth. One of them lies through the valleys, as they are now called, of Jendily, Rumaleah, and Baideah, bounded on each side by the mountains of the lower Thebais; the other lies higher, having the northern range of these mountains (the mountains of Mocattee) running parallel with it on the right hand, and the desert of the Egyptian Arabia,…”

“That they turn - i. e. away from the wilderness, and go southwards, to the west of the Bitter Lakes, which completely separated them from the desert. Pi-hahiroth - The place is generally identified with Ajrud, a fortress with a very large well of good water, situated at the foot of an elevation commanding the plain which extends to Suez, at a distance of four leagues. The journey from Etham might occupy two, or even three days. Migdol - A tower, or fort, the “Maktal” of Egyptian monuments; it is probably to be identified with Bir Suweis, about two miles from Suez. Baal-zephon - The name under which the Phoenicians, who had a settlement in Lower Egypt at a very ancient period, worshipped…”

“They were got to the edge of the wilderness, Exo 13:20, and one stage or two would have brought them to Horeb, the place appointed for their serving God, but instead of going forward, they are ordered to turn short off, on the right - hand from Canaan, and to march towards the Red - sea. When they were at Etham, there was no sea in their way to obstruct their passage; but God himself orders them into straits, which might give them an assurance, that when his purposes were served, he would bring them out of those straits. Before Pi - hahiroth - Or the straits of Hiroth, two great mountains, between which they marched. Migdol and Baal - zephon were cities of Egypt and probably garrison'd.…”

“14:2 The precise locations of Pi-hahiroth, Migdol, and Baal-zephon are unknown. • the sea: See study note on 13:18.”

“that they: Exo 14:9, Exo 13:17, Exo 13:18; Num 33:7, Num 33:8 Pi-hahiroth: Pi̇hachiroth, "the mouth of Chiroth," as it is rendered by the LXX. Dr. Shaw is of opinion, that Chiroth denotes the valley which extends from the wilderness of Etham to the Red Sea. "This valley," he observes, "ends at the sea in a small bay made by the eastern extremities of the mountains (of Gewoubee and Attackah, between which the valley lies) which I have been describing, and is called Tiah-Beni-Israel, i.e., the road of the Israelites, by a tradition that is still kept up by the Arabs, of their having passed through it; so it is also called Baideah, from the new and unheard of miracle that was wrought near it,…”