But here's the catch: he thinks they’re just popping out for a quick three-day religious retreat in the wilderness to offer sacrifices. A short vacation, essentially. He even sends some officers along to make sure they come back when they're supposed to! According to the Legends of the Jews, this grand departure happened on a Thursday.
Fast forward to Sunday. Pharaoh's watchers are scratching their heads. Instead of packing up their prayer shawls and heading back, the Israelites are setting up camp like they're planning a long-term stay. The officers are like, "Hey, what gives? Pharaoh said three days!"
A bit of a confrontation ensues. The Israelites, emboldened by their newfound freedom, insist that Pharaoh dismissed them for good. But the officers aren’t buying it. "Like it or not," they declare, "you have to obey the powers that be!" To this, the Israelites respond... well, not very nicely. Let's just say some officers ended up severely injured, and the rest hightailed it back to Egypt to report the Israelite "contumacy" – their stubborn resistance to authority – to a very unhappy Pharaoh.
Now, Moses, ever the strategist, didn't want their departure to look like a panicked escape. So, he gives the signal: "Turn back to Pi-hahiroth!"
Can you imagine the reaction? Panic! According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, the less faithful among them are tearing their hair and clothes in despair. But Moses reassures them, telling them that, by the word of God, they are free and no longer slaves. Think of it: a leader, trying to reassure his people that even retreat can be part of a larger plan.
So, they head back to Pi-hahiroth, a place with two very distinctive rectangular rocks that form an opening. And within this opening? The great sanctuary of Baal-zephon, an Egyptian idol. The Legends of the Jews describes these rocks as shaped like human figures, a man and a woman, and not carved by human hands, but by the Creator Himself.
Now, this place had a history. It was once called Pithom, but later renamed Hahiroth because of the idols erected there. Here's where it gets really interesting: God, in His infinite wisdom, had left Baal-zephon untouched when he smote the other Egyptian idols. Why? According to the Legends of the Jews, God wanted the Egyptians to think that Baal-zephon was super powerful and was preventing the Israelites from leaving.
To further solidify this illusion, God sends wild beasts to block the road to the wilderness. The Egyptians, naturally, assume that their idol, Baal-zephon, is responsible for the sudden appearance of these ferocious creatures.
Think about the layers here. A misinterpreted permission, a defiant people, a strategic retreat, and a divine deception all swirling together. What does it tell us about perception, about faith, and about the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world around us? And doesn't it make you wonder, what "Baal-zephons" are still standing in our lives today, shaping our perceptions of reality?