Leaving Egypt

(17) And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines that was near; for God said: 'Lest the people regret when they see war, and they return to Egypt.’ (18) But God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

For it was close and easy to return along the same path to Egypt..

If they would see a war, for example the war referenced by "And the Amalekites and Canaanites descended.." If they had gone in a straight route they would have retreated. And once God sent them on a circuitous route they said "Let us appoint a head and return to Egypt," if they had gone straight how much more so!

(1) ויהי בשלח פרעה את העם, when G’d intended to bring them to the land of Canaan, but did not want to lead them through the land of the Philistines because it was the closest route, כי קרוב הוא, and G’d feared that when faced with the need to conduct battles in the land of Canaan they would appoint an alternate leader in order to return to Egypt...

Therefore we find ויסב את העם דרך המדבר, that G’d made the Israelites take a much longer route, as had the Israelites traveled a straight path from their point of departure the whole journey would not have required more than 11 days. (Deuteronomy 1,2)

The correct [understanding] is that it is saying "Hashem led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines" which is "close" and [it would be] good to lead them on that path, "because Hashem said, 'Lest the people regret when they see war, and they return to Egypt.'"

(2) And the reason for war was that they would pass through to path of the land of the Philistines and the Philistines would not let them pass in peace, and then they would return to Egypt, but on the path of the wilderness, they would not see war until they were in their land; in the land of Sicon and Og, kings of the Emorites that was given to them, and they would be far from Egypt at that time.

It has been taught: R. Judah stated: He who has not seen the double colonnade of Alexandria in Egypt has never seen the glory of Israel. It was said that. it was like a huge basilica, one colonnade within the other, and it sometimes held twice the number of people that went forth from Egypt. There were in it seventy-one chairs of gold, corresponding to the seventy-one members of the Great Sanhedrin, not one of them containing less than twenty-one talents of gold. And a wooden platform was in the middle on which the attendant of the Synagogue stood with a scarf in his hand. When the time came to answer Amen, he waved his scarf and all the congregation would respond “Amen.” They did not sit all mixed up, but goldsmiths sat separately, silversmiths separately, blacksmiths separately, metalworkers separately and weavers separately, so that when a poor man entered the place he would recognize the members of his craft and he would turn there, and receive a livelihood for himself and for the members of his family. Abaye stated: Alexander of Macedonia slew them all. Why were they so punished? Because they transgressed this verse: “You shall not return and come back on this way” (Deuteronomy 17:16) and they did return.

And if God hadn't taken our fathers out of Egypt, we, our children, and our grandchilden would still be beholden to Pharaoh in Egypt