Etham (Hebrew: אֵתָם‎)(Means "solid, enduring" in Hebrew.) was the second place, after Succoth, at which the Israelites stopped during the Exodus. According to the Torah, Etham was on the edge of the wilderness (i.e. the edge of civilization or the edge of cultivated land) and marked the start of their Wilderness journey along a route which avoided entering the land of the Philistines, 'lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt'. It has been suggested that Etham is another name for Khetam (fortress), located on the great wall of Egypt, which extended from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez.