Baal-Zephon

From Bible Encyclopedia

bā-al-zē´fon (בּעל צפון, ba‛al cephōn, "Baal of the north"; Βεελσεπφῶν, Beelsepphō̇n; Exodus 14:2, Exodus 14:9; Numbers 33:7):

An Egyptian town on the shores of the Gulf of Suez (Exodus 14:2; Numbers 33:7), over against which the children of Israel encamped before they crossed the Red Sea. It is probably to be identified with the modern Jebel Deraj or Kulalah, on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez. Baal-capuna of the Egyptians was a place of worship.

The name means “Lord of the North,” and the place was opposite the Hebrew camp, which was between Migdol and the sea. It may have been the shrine of a Semitic deity, but the position is unknown (see Exodus). Goodwin (see Brugsch, Hist. Egt., II, 363) found the name Baali-Zapuna as that of a god mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus in the British Museum.