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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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PI-HAHIROTH

Stopping place of the Israelites on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land (Ex 14:2). It was here that the pursuing Egyptians overtook them (v 9), which led to the deliverance at the Red Sea. Israel never forgot how the Lord had saved them. The precise location of Pi-hahiroth is uncertain, as with Baal-zephon and Migdol, also mentioned as being in the same vicinity. After the Israelites had departed from Egypt, they camped first at Succoth in Goshen and then at Etham (Nm 33:6). After Pi-hahiroth, they journeyed three days to Marah and Elim, thought to be on the east shore of the Gulf of Suez, en route to Sinai. It seems that Pi-hahiroth was on the northeast border of Egypt, possibly on the west shore of the Bitter Lakes. Israel did not travel by the expected route of the Way of the Philistines, but southeast by the desert route (cf. 13:17-18), eventually linking up with the old Egyptian road to the copper and turquoise mines of Sinai.

See also Wilderness Wanderings.