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You probably know the story.
The Israelites have finally left Egypt. After generations of slavery, Pharaoh has let them go, and one of the most dramatic journeys in the Bible is about to begin. We know what is coming next: Pharaoh will change his mind, his army will pursue them, the Israelites will find themselves trapped beside the sea, and Moses will stretch out his hand as the waters part.
But before any of that happens, there is a detail immediately before the crossing of the Red Sea that I had read many times without really thinking about.
Exodus tells us that there was a shorter way.
When the Israelites left Egypt, they did not need to travel the route they eventually took. There was a much more direct road towards the land they were heading for, through the territory of the Philistines.
Exodus spells it out deliberately:
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.”
Those words immediately make me want to ask: Why not?
After everything Israel has endured, surely the shorter route would have been welcome. They have spent generations in slavery, lived through the plagues and the chaos surrounding their departure. They are carrying children, possessions and whatever they have managed to bring with them from Egypt.
If ever a group of people deserved the easy road, you might think it was them. Yet God deliberately does not take it.
