Exodus of Moses

This itinerary describes the overland route of Moses from Cairo, Egypt to Jerusalem, Israel by foot.

This article is an itinerary.

Understand
See also: Ancient Egypt

Exodus is the second book of the Jewish Torah and states that the descendants of Jews who fled a drought in Canaan to find good pasture land in Egypt were enslaved, then liberated after God inflicted ten plagues on the Egyptians and sustained the Jews through 40 years in the Sinai desert on their way to conquering Canaan. The liberation from slavery in Egypt and the Exodus to the "promised land" of Israel are central to Jewish religion and identity and celebrated every year during the 8-day Passover (Hebrew: Pesach) holiday — and to a lesser extent, every other holiday. However, historians and archaeologists have found no strong evidence that there was ever a large-scale enslavement of Jews in Egypt, nor a large-scale exodus of Jews from Egypt to Canaan, which would seem to contradict the Biblical account since the ancient Egyptians were known to be meticulous record keepers and almost certainly would have recorded such a significant event. Regardless, it is in the Book of Exodus that one God is defined as the God of the Jews, and therefore, it is that book that marks the time when the Jewish people stopped being indiscriminately polytheistic and started regarding YHWH as their (only) god and later the only god.

The Exodus contains the founding myth of the Hebrew people, and the Ten Commandments. Also, it is commemorated in the Jewish Pesach (Passover) feast, which gave the context of the death of Jesus and the Christian Easter. As the second book of the Old Testament, the Exodus is an essential story in Christianity, featured in countless works of European art, and used as an allegory for later migration routes, such as the Crusades, the colonization of the Old West, the Underground Railroad, and the foundation of modern Israel.

The Exodus has shaped the world's image of ancient Egypt, and the source of some misconceptions, such as the idea that Hebrew slaves built the Pyramids of Giza or other great monuments. While much of Egypt's population was made up by slaves, they were not typically commissioned to build monuments, and the Pyramids of Giza were already a thousand years old during the reign of Ramesses.

Visas

Almost all countries in this region prefer visas to be paid for in US dollars, and accept other currencies at unfavourable rates if at all.

Egypt: Visas are available to almost all Westerners on arrival for USD $15. This is true even if you arrive by ferry at Aswan, though in this case getting the visa on arrival may cause some delays. Some embassies (e.g. Khartoum) issue advance Egyptian visas in around 24 hours, while others (e.g. Addis Ababa) take weeks for some nationalities.

Route

Recommended stops/detours:

Stay safe

As of 2014, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and US State Department advise against travel to parts of Sinai. Terrorism is an ongoing risk in most of the region.

The political situation in Egypt remains unpredictable but has been peaceful since the early 2011 revolution.

In general, only Israel has potable tap water.

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