12:37 Rameses to Succoth. See note 1:11. Succoth cannot be precisely located but must have been in the eastern Delta, possibly at Tell El Maskhutah in the Wadi Tumilat. The coastal routes to Canaan (13:17) were shorter but well-guarded.

six hundred thousand men on foot. Males of military age (v. 41 note; cf. Num. 11:21; 26:51). This number has been thought too large, but four centuries could well produce such numbers (1:7). As is often suggested, the Hebrew word for “thousand” could also be taken as meaning “family” or some subsection of a tribe.