The story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt parallels another one involving Cyrus the Great allowing Israelite slaves to leave Babylon. In the Cyrus tale, the desert would have been much larger, from Iraq to Israel directly west. If they were to leave from Egypt they would surely follow the Nile up to the Mediterranean and not wander around in a tiny desert for 40 years. Although that also makes me think that perhaps the "wandering in a desert" is a metaphor for exploring one's empty/barren mind in search of substance/God. They are fugitives, cast out. I see that also with "wandering the Land of Nod" where again we get a story of exile (God exiled Cain to here) and the word Nod is like being asleep (nodding off), unconscious. Fugue state (the origin of the word fugitive) means suddenly leaving ones home with the inability to recall one's past. Amnesia. Forgetting who we are. This happened to Cain when he killed his brother Abel.
The story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt parallels another one involving Cyrus the Great allowing Israelite slaves to leave Babylon. In the Cyrus tale, the desert would have been much larger, from Iraq to Israel directly west. If they were to leave from Egypt they would surely follow the Nile up to the Mediterranean and not wander around in a tiny desert for 40 years. Although that also makes me think that perhaps the "wandering in a desert" is a metaphor for exploring one's empty/barren mind in search of substance/God. They are fugitives, cast out. I see that also with "wandering the Land of Nod" where again we get a story of exile (God exiled Cain to here) and the word Nod is like being asleep (nodding off), unconscious. Fugue state (the origin of the word fugitive) means suddenly leaving ones home with the inability to recall one's past. Amnesia. Forgetting who we are. This happened to Cain when he killed his brother Abel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Nod