Instead of going the way of the Philistines, they went through “the way of the wilderness of the Red sea”.
Exod 13:18 (KJV)
18 But God led the people about, [through] the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.
The Hebrew for Red sea is “yam suph”.
In the Exodus narrative, Hebrew: יַם-סוּף, romanized: Yam-Sūp̄, lit. ’Reed Sea’) is the body of water which the Israelites crossed following their exodus from Egypt. The same phrase appears in over 20 other places in the Hebrew Bible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam_Suph
“Suph” means reed, rush, water plant, flag, weed.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon … v/wlc/0-1/
“Yam” means sea.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon … v/wlc/0-1/
In the Bible, yam suph can refer to the Gulf of Suez or the Gulf of Akaba.
name applied only to arms of Red Sea:a. to Gulf of Suez
Exodus 10:19; Joshua 2:10 (both J), Exodus 13:18; Exodus 15:4, 22; Exodus 23:31 (all E), Deuteronomy 11:4; Joshua 4:23 (D), Numbers 33:10, 11 (P), elsewhere late Nehemiah 9:9; Psalm 106:7; Psalm 106:9; Psalm 106:22; Psalm 136:13; Psalm 136:15.b. sometimes to Gulf of Akaba
1 Kings 9:26, and דֶּרֶךְ יַםסֿוּף Numbers 21:4 (E), probably also Numbers 14:25 (E), Deuteronomy 1:40; Deuteronomy 2:1; perhaps Judges 11:16; Jeremiah 49:21; possibly read מִיַּםסֿוּף for מוֺל ס׳ Deuteronomy 1:1 (see below).
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon … v/wlc/0-1/
So, the Israelites must have travelled through the Gulf of Suez/Gulf of Akaba region.
Panoramic image from space of the Sinai Peninsula, flanked by the Gulf of Suez (left) and the Gulf of Aqaba (right)
https://armstronginstitute.org/339-wher … take-place
https://debatingchristianity.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1080025#p1080025