The word here translated “harnessed” has been interpreted in various ways. Some commentators have thought that it meant to be “armed,” “girded,” or “organized into five divisions.” Others have explained it as meaning “arrayed,” “arranged,” or marching “five abreast.” Texts such as Joshua 1:14; 4:12; Judges 7:11 have led many translators to accept the meaning “armed” (RSV, “equipped for battle”). Such a translation raises the question as to where the cast-out slaves procured the weapons, and when they received training in their use. This interpretation cannot be correct, for “they were unarmed, and unaccustomed to war” (PP 282). Whatever the correct meaning of the word translated “harnessed” in the KJV, it obviously conveys the idea that the Israelites left Egypt, not as a mob of fleeing fugitives, but as a wellorganized body under a wise and determined leader (see PP 281).

That is, the wilderness lying between Egypt and the Red Sea (see above), not the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. This is clear because of the following facts:

 (1) The Hebrew grammatical construction, as noted above, indicates the Red Sea as the objective of this stage of the journey.

 (2) The parallel construction of v. 17, which reads literally, “toward the land of the Philistines,” requires that v. 18 mean “toward the Red Sea.”

 (3) Moses immediately designates the “wilderness” as the one which they entered upon leaving Etham (v. 20).

 (4) This is the wilderness indicated by Ellen G. White (PP 282, 283).

God’s purpose in selecting the Red Sea route was twofold:

 (1) The Israelites were unarmed and untrained in the art of war, and thus unprepared to encounter the warlike Philistines (see on v. 17). This reason the Israelites could understand, and it is therefore the one God gave them at this time (v. 17).

 (2) As God had already instructed Moses (ch. 3:12), He purposed to meet with the people at Mt. Horeb.

There they were to complete their formal organization as a nation, there He would enter into covenant relationship with them as a nation, there He would impart to them His holy law, and there the sanctuary services were to be instituted. The children of Israel were not ready to understand or appreciate the need of these things, and for this reason God does not mention them at this time.

The comparative isolation of the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula was admirably adapted to the accomplishment of the purpose for which God led His people to the vicinity of Mt. Horeb. This rugged and barren peninsula is surrounded on two sides by arms of the Red Sea and on the third by the great desert of Paran. Not only would the people receive instruction He wished to impart to them, but the privations of their long and wearisome journey through the mountainous desert would provide situations in which they would have an opportunity to learn to trust Him. This was the very training they needed in preparation for the difficult task of the conquest of Canaan.

 More accurately, “toward,” or “in the way to” (see Eze. 8:5; 21:2; etc., where the same Hebrew word, derek, is translated “toward”). Here, as in Ex. 13:17, Moses does not refer to their ultimate destination but rather to the route they followed immediately upon leaving Egypt. They were not to go “toward” Philistia, but rather “toward” or “in the direction of” the Red Sea. The Hebrew is reflected more accurately thus: “by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea” (RSV). The wilderness to which Moses made reference lay between Egypt and the Red Sea.

 That is, instead of permitting the Israelites to proceed by the most direct route God led them by a more circuitous one. God had earlier informed Moses that the people of Israel were to assemble at Mt. Horeb after their departure from Egypt (ch. 3:12). He therefore knew in advance the route they were to follow, the very route, no doubt, he had recently traveled from Midian to Egypt. Accordingly, the people turned southward from Succoth (PP 282), and reached the edge of the wilderness at Etham (v. 20). It was only after they had gone beyond Etham and entered the wilderness itself that the pillar of cloud appeared to guide them (v. 21).