Pharaoh’s army had the sea at Israel’s back when this name first appears. The LORD tells Moses where to camp: “before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon” (Exodus 14:2). It seems a strange place to pitch, with the water ahead and the horses and chariots coming, and Exodus 14:9 says Egypt “overtook them encamping by the sea.” The wilderness list later records the same stop (Numbers 33:7). Baal-zephon is only a landmark, but it marks the spot just before the sea parted. Read Exodus 14 from the start.
3 verses
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Baal of the north, an Egyptian town on the shores of the Gulf of Suez (Ex. 14:2; Num. 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-zapuna of the Egyptians was a place of worship.