john-r-bennett-the-origin-of-freemasonry-and-knights-templar

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARthe banks of the canal, touching the principalHebrew towns, and gathering their population asthey went. The route tl%en lay through the WadiTumilot (Valley), which extended to the Gulf ofSuez, where they arrived, a few miles south of thepresent city of that name. Here the fugitives werehemmed in by the forces of Pharaoh, which hadbeen sent after the retreating host. At this pointin the gulf there is a shallow, stretching from shoreto shore, almost fordable at low tide. "Mosesstretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lordcaused the sea to go back by a strong east wind allthat night, and made the sea dry land, and thewaters were divided." Over this the hosts of theHebrews, numbering, it is said, 603,000 men of soldierage, or more than 2,000,000 in all, crossed tothe other side in safety, which the Egyptians inpursuit essaying to do were drowned, for the watersreturned to their place, while the Pharaoh's horsemenand chariots, with wheels clogged in the mire,were panic-stricken and overwhelmed.The Israelites had no sooner escaped from theEgyptians than they were attacked at Rephidim*by the Amalekites,* whom they are said to havesignally defeated (Ex. xvii.). The Amalekiteswere a nomadic and warlike people, of whoseancestors there is no record, but, at the time ofthe Exodus, they occupied the wilderness betweenEgypt and Palestine. They lived generally inmigrating parties, in caves or in tents, like the BedaweenArabs of the present day. After the defeatof the Amalekites, Moses led the people to MountSinai,* in Arabia, which is situated in that countryknown as the Sinaitic peninsula that lies between25