The Way God Leads

In Exodus 13:17 Torah says that God did not lead the Israelites by the land of the Philistines, a much shorter route. Hebrew texts literally says, ki karov hu “though it was closer.” Instead, God led the Israelites through the wilderness path, passing through the sea of reeds, a much longer way to the land of Canaan. There was a more direct path, but that shorter way was not the road Hashem wanted them to take. Why?

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