noon
The commander of the garrison had learned that Moses desired to lead his people into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to their God , and had asked for a reinforcement . But he knew nothing more ; for until the morning when the desert wind blew , no Hebrew had disclosed the plans of his kindred . But the more sorely the heat of the day oppressed them , the greater became the dread of the faint-hearted of the pilgrimage through the hot , dusty , waterless desert . The terrible day had given them a foretaste of what was impending and when , toward noon , the dust grew thicker , the air more and more oppressive , a Hebrew trader , from whom the Egyptian soldiers purchased goods , stole into the store-house to ask the commander to prevent his people from rushing to their doom . Even among the leaders the voices of malcontents had grown loud . Asarja and Michael , with their sons , who grudged the power of Moses and Aaron , had even gone from one to another to try to persuade them , ere departing , to summon the elders again and charge then to enter into fresh negotiations with the Egyptians . While these malcontents were successfully gathering adherents , and the traitor had sought the commander of the Egyptian garrison , two more messengers arrived with tidings that the fugitives would arrive in Succoth between midnight and morning .