Exodus 14:1-4

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah. And they did so."

All of the place names, not merely here, but in Exodus 14:9 as well, are impossible of any certain identification as to exactly where they were. "These cannot be surely identified."[8] Nevertheless, the strategy is clear enough. God deliberately ordered Moses to signal confusion and uncertainty to Pharaoh by changing directions and taking up a very vulnerable position "by the sea." That this was merely some kind of a marshy swamp is ridiculous! The judgment of Pharaoh as to the vulnerability of Israel proves this. From the human viewpoint, it did appear that Israel was trapped, hemmed in by mountains on either side and a formidable arm of the Gulf of Suez in front of them, and Pharaoh would promptly supply the rest of the trap himself (so he thought) by moving in to their rear with a well-equipped army!

"And I will get me honor upon Pharaoh ..." God was not through with this evil man, but in one more judgment would meet out to him the punishment that he deserved. He had thrown infant children in the waters. Very well, God would cast him and his army into the sea! He had promised again and again to let the people go, but he never had any determined intention of doing so. This time he will indeed let the people go!