From: Exodus 12: 37-42
The Sons of Israel Leave Egypt
[37] And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six
hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. [38] A mixed
multitude also went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and
herds. [39] And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had
brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out
of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any
provisions.
[40] The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and
thirty years. [41] And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that
very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. [42] It
was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt;
so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people
of Israel throughout their generations.
Commentary:
12:37-42. Here we are given concrete details about the departure from Egypt.
They headed towards Succoth, a city which modern excavations locate some 15
kms (nine miles) south-east of Rameses, in the Nile delta. It seems to make
sense that they should have avoided trade routes, which would have been
quieter but busier and patrolled by Egyptian armies--the coast road to the
country of the Philistines (cf. 13:17), the road through the southern
desert, which led to Beer-sheba, or the trading route linking Egypt and
Arabia. Even in this little thing one can see God's special providence at
work: he has no need of beaten tracks to show his people where to go.
The figure of 600,000 is an idealize one (cf. Num 1:46; 26:51), for it would
imply a total population of three million people, women and children
included. Maybe for the hagiographer's contemporaries this figure had a
significance which escapes us today; or perhaps it is just a way of
indicating that there were very many people--part of the epic style of the
account, to highlight the power of God.
The figure of 430 years for the time the sons of Israel had been in Egypt
(v. 40) is slightly different from the 404 years which appears more often in
the Bible (cf, Gen 15:13; Acts 7:6; Gal 3:16-17). In the Pentateuch numbers
often have a more symbolic than chronological meaning (cf. the note on Gen
5:1-32). The 400 years would mean that the chosen people lived in Egypt for
ten generations (forty years per generation: cf. the note on Ex 7:9), that
is, a complete period of the history of Israel.
"Night of watching" (v. 42): if the darkness causes any misgiving, God will
transform it into a time of salvation. Because God looks out for them, the
Israelites will also commemorate the night of their deliverance by keeping
watch. Christian liturgy celebrates the Lords' resurrection with a solemn
vigil, commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites, the redemption of
Christians, and Christ's victory over death--three stages in God's
intervention to save souls; as the Church sings: "This is the night when
first you saved our fathers: you freed the people of Israel from their
slavery. [...] This is the night when Christians everywhere (are) washed
clean of sin and freed from all defilement. [...] This is the night when
Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave"
("Roman Missal", Exultet).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.