Pi-hahiroth

In Bible versions:

Pi-hahiroth: NET NRSV NASB
Pi-Hahiroth: AVS TEV
Pi Hahiroth: NIV

an encampment

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the mouth; the pass of Hiroth

Google Maps: Pi-hahiroth (29° 56´, 32° 25´)

Hebrew

Strongs #06367: tryxh yp Pi ha-Chiyroth

Pi-hahiroth = "place where sedge grows"

1) the 3rd encampment of the Israelites after leaving Goshen in Egypt
and the last one before crossing the Red Sea

6367 Pi ha-Chiyroth pee hah-khee-roth'

from 6310 and the feminine plural of a noun (from the same
root as 2356), with the article interpolated; mouth of the
gorges; Pi-ha-Chiroth, a place in Egypt: -Pi-hahiroth. (In
Numbers 14:19 without Pi-.)
see HEBREW for 06310
see HEBREW for 02356

Pi-hahiroth [EBD]

place where the reeds grow (LXX. and Copt. read "farmstead"), the name of a place in Egypt where the children of Israel encamped (Ex. 14:2, 9), how long is uncertain. Some have identified it with Ajrud, a fortress between Etham and Suez. The condition of the Isthmus of Suez at the time of the Exodus is not exactly known, and hence this, with the other places mentioned as encampments of Israel in Egypt, cannot be definitely ascertained. The isthmus has been formed by the Nile deposits. This increase of deposit still goes on, and so rapidly that within the last fifty years the mouth of the Nile has advanced northward about four geographical miles. In the maps of Ptolemy (of the second and third centuries A.D.) the mouths of the Nile are forty miles further south than at present. (See EXODUS.)

Pi-hahiroth [NAVE]

PI-HAHIROTH, the place on the W. shore of the Red Sea where Pharaoh overtook the Israelites, Ex. 14:2, 9; Num. 33:7, 8.

PI-HAHIROTH [ISBE]

PI-HAHIROTH - pi-ha-hi'-roth (pi-ha-chiroth (Ex 14:2-9; Nu 33:7-8)):

1. Meaning of Name:

Nothing is known of the meaning of the name. Pi-Hahiroth Some attempts toward an Egyptian etymology for it have been made, but without much success. Since the meaning of the name is unknown and no description of the place or its use is given, it is impossible to determine anything concerning the character of Pi-Hahiroth, whether a city, a sanctuary, a fortress, or some natural feature of the landscape.

2. Location:

Neither Pi-Hahiroth nor any other place mentioned with it can be exactly located. A recent discovery of manuscripts in Egypt furnishes a mention of this place, but affords very little assistance in locating it, nothing comparable to the account in the Bible itself. If any one of the places mentioned in connection with the crossing of the Red Sea could be located approximately, all the others could, also, be similarly located by the description given in the account in Exodus. The route beyond the Sea has been made out with almost positive certainty. A journey along the way is so convincing that hardly anything can shake the conviction which it produces. This identification of the route of the exodus beyond the Sea requires the place of the crossing to be within 3 days' journey of Marah, which puts it somewhere near the modern Suez. It may be anywhere within 10 miles of that point. This approximately locates all the other places mentioned in connection with the crossing: Migdol must be Ras 'Ataqah, or some other high point in the mountains of the western deserts, where might be placed a watchtower. Pi-Hahiroth is between this point and the Sea and Baal-zephon near the opposite eastern shore. This puts Pi-Hahiroth at some point along the old shore line of the Sea within 10 miles of the site of modern Suez.

M. G. Kyle