Why does G-d lead our ancestors in a more difficult path- longer, less direct- filled with obstacles and challenges-
We could have avoided the Sea of Reeds, and Pharaohs chariots- when Moses saw the burning bush on Mt. Sinai- he didn't talk about an insurmountable body of water to pass through-
They would have returned to their old habits- Mitzrayim- the narrow constraints that they lived in- the box they saw life through- the slavery of Egypt- which they accepted as their burden- but G-d had to literally take them out of the box to think out of the box- for a new perspective- for freedom and liberty- for choice and free will- for more options- and brighter future-
The shortest path was paved with defeat- the tribe of Ephraim was beaten down by the Philistines- unsuccessful in their attempts to pass- so perhaps they needed to try a new path- a crooked and winding way
Sometimes the harder way of doing something turns out to be the better way- Talmud- There is a long way which is short or a short way which is long." When something comes to us too easily instead of being hard earned, we don't always appreciate it.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Worship of the Heart: Essays on Jewish Prayer. Ed, Shalom Carmy.
Avodah she-ba-lev [worship of the heart] asserts itself in the great experience of Divine presence, the awareness of God, of His proximity and closeness to us. In services of the heart, the finite being encounters his infinite, invisible God, stands before Him and addresses himself to Him. The praying soul is sensitive to the unseen Presence responsive to its word. Tefillah is considered a dialogue, a conversation a colloquy between God and man…
The intellect, the will, the emotional life of the praying person, are occupied, enthralled and dominated by the encounter with God. The whole self stands before, converses with and feels Him. All faculties in the human mobilize their total energy to carry out the greatest of all functions – the revelation of man to God. All faculties enter into, grasp and appreciate this great experience of establishing oneself in the presence of God, of conversing face to face with Him (kata theon)…(95-96)