MOSES & Exodus part 3

Science & Archaeology Confirm the Biblical account of Exodus. Red Sea, not 'sea of reeds.' This latter view is based on the argument that the Hebrew yam-suph′ (translated "Red Sea") literally means "sea of rushes, or, reeds, bulrushes," and that therefore the Israelites crossed, not the arm of the Red Sea known as the Gulf of Suez, but a sea of reeds, a swampy place such as the Bitter Lakes region. In so holding, however, they do not agree with the translators of the ancient Greek Septuagint, who translated yam-suph′ with the Greek name e·ry·thra′ tha′las·sa, meaning, literally, "Red Sea." But, far more important, both Luke, who was the writer of Acts (quoting Stephen), and the apostle Paul used this same Greek name when relating the events of the Exodus.—Ac 7:36; Heb 11:29; Furthermore, there would have been no great wonder if a mere marsh had been crossed, and the Egyptians could not have been "swallowed up" in the Red Sea as "the surging waters proceeded to cover them" so that they went down "into the depths like a stone." (Heb 11:29; Ex 15:5) Not only was this stupendous miracle referred to later on by Moses and Joshua but the apostle Paul said that the Israelites got baptized into Moses by means of the cloud and the sea. That indicated that they were completely surrounded by water, the sea being on both sides and the cloud above and behind them. (1Co 10:1, 2) This would indicate, too, that the body of water was much deeper than anything that could be waded in. Had it not been for the cloud, the Egyptians would have easily overtaken and slaughtered many. (Ex 15:9) When the Israelites had gone into the sea and the cloud behind them had moved ahead to reveal this fact to the Egyptians, they pursued. Here, again, is emphasized the necessity of considerable breadth and length of dry seabed, for Pharaoh's military force was great. Bent on destruction and recapture of their former slaves, the entire force went well into the seabed. Then, during the morning watch, which ran from about 2:00 to 6:00 a.m., Yahweh looked out from the cloud and began to throw the camp of the Egyptians into confusion, taking the wheels off their chariots.—Ex 14:24, 25. The Israelites, by the approaching of morning, got safely across on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. Then Moses was commanded to stretch his hand out so that the waters would come back over the Egyptians. At this "the sea began to come back to its normal condition," and the Egyptians fled from encountering it. This also would indicate that the waters had opened up widely, for a narrow channel would have immediately overwhelmed them. The Egyptians fled from the enclosing walls of water toward the western bank, but the waters kept converging until their depth completely covered all the war chariots and the cavalrymen belonging to Pharaoh's military forces; not so much as one of them was let remain. It is obvious that such an overwhelming inundation would be impossible in a marsh. Moreover, in a shallow marsh dead bodies would not wash up on the shore, as actually took place, so that "Israel got to see the Egyptians dead on the seashore."—Ex 14:22-31; Waters "congealed." According to the Bible description, the surging waters were congealed to let Israel pass through. (Ex 15:8) This word "congealed" is used in the American Standard Version, the King James Version, and translations by J. N. Darby, I. Leeser, R. Knox, and J. Rotherham. As defined in Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1981), congeal means "to change from a fluid to a solid state by or as if by cold . . . : freeze . . . : to make (a liquid) viscid or of a consistency like jelly: curdle, coagulate." The Hebrew word here translated "congealed" is used in Job 10:10 with regard to curdling milk. Therefore, it does not of necessity mean that the walls of water were frozen solid, but that the consistency of the congealed substance may have been like gelatin or curds. Nothing visible was holding back the waters of the Red Sea on each side of the Israelites, hence the water had the appearance of being congealed, stiffened, curdled, or thickened so that it could remain standing like a wall on each side and not collapse in an inundation upon the Israelites, to their destruction. This was how they looked to Moses when a strong E wind divided the waters and dried up the basin so that it was not miry, nor frozen, but was easily traversable by the multitude. The pathway opened in the sea was wide enough that the Israelites could all cross to the eastern banks by morning. Then the congealed waters began to be released and to move in from either side, surging and overwhelming the Egyptians as Israel stood on the eastern bank contemplating Yahweh's deliverance of an entire nation from a world power. They realized the literal fulfillment of Moses' words: "The Egyptians whom you do see today you will not see again, no, never again."—Ex 14:13.