Passage of the Red Sea

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Possible Exodus Routes. More information at: Stations list

The Passage of the Red Sea is the the account of the march of Moses and the Israelites on their escape out of Egypt and the alleged crossing of the Red Sea as described in The Biblical Exodus, chapters 13:17 to 15:12.

1 Narrative
2 Analysis: Hypothesis and narrative
3 Locating the crossing
4 Cause
5 Mistranslation
6 Notes
7 See Also
8 Reference
9 External links

[edit] Narrative

The narrative according to the Book of Exodus, chapters 13:17-15:12^[1]

Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, has finally agreed to allow the Israelite slaves to leave Egypt peacefully, after a series of "plagues" is visited upon the Egyptians by God, working through Moses and Aaron. God instructs Moses to lead them out, not "by way of the land of the Philistines", but by the Red Sea wilderness. Guided by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, they travel from Succoth to Etham, "on the edge of the wilderness," where they make their encampment.

But it is not God's intention that the Israelites should leave Egypt without hindrance: "I will become glorified through Pharaoh and his entire army ... and Egypt shall know that I am the LORD." God therefore has Moses turn the Israelites back again and camp "in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon." There they see the Egyptians and become frightened, but God commands Moses: "Raise your staff; stretch your hand over the sea and split it. The Children of Israel will come into the Sea on dry ground. I am even now strengthening the heart of Egypt, and they will come after them..." The angel of God and the pillar of cloud moves between the Israelites and the Egyptians, separating them, and "neither one approached the other all night long." God sends "a strong east wind all night," and next morning the Israelites enter the sea "on dry ground, and the water was like a wall to them on their right and on their left." The Egyptians follow, but God clogs the wheels of their chariots (or removes their chariot-wheels), and "Egypt said, 'I will flee from before Israel, for the LORD is fighting with Egypt on their behalf.'" Then God commands Moses to stretch out his rod again, and "The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh's entire army, who were coming after them in the Sea; not one of them remained." Chapter 14 concludes: "On that day, the LORD saved Israel from the hand of Egypt, and Israel saw Egypt dead upon the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD had used against Egypt, and the people feared the LORD; they had faith in the LORD and in His servant Moses."

Verses 1-18 of chapter 15 constitute the "Song of the Sea", described as the song of rejoicing sung by Moses and the people of Israel. Being poetic rather than descriptive it lacks a plot, but some key elements can be picked out: "The LORD... has become my salvation; ... The LORD is a man of war; ... Pharaoh's chariots and his army He cast into the sea; and his select officers are drowned in the Red Sea ... At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up, ... The peoples have heard, they tremble; ... Now are the chiefs of Edom confounded; the leaders of Moab, ... all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away ... they are as still as stone, till Your people, LORD, pass by, ... You will bring them in, and plant them on the mountain of Your heritage, ... The LORD will reign for ever and ever." Verses 20 and 21 begin a repetition of the song, this time from the mouth of Miriam, sister of Aaron, but it is cut short at the second line.

[edit] Analysis: Hypothesis and narrative

Location of the Red Sea

See Also: Documentary Hypothesis

The documentary hypothesis is a hypothesis that the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) are composed from documents from different sources, and that the various narratives it contains were composed many centuries after the events they describe. The hypothesis represents the consensus of current scholarly opinion - the Vatican estimates that 90% of academics in the field of biblical scholarship support it (though Kenneth Kitchen has more recently put forth a hypothesis more in favor of traditional authorship).

According to the narrative hypothesis, the verses from the story of the passage of the Red Sea originate as follows:

The narrative in E is the briefest and the least miraculous, although God is present: He leads the Israelites out of Egypt, not by "the way of the land of the Philistines," i.e. the Mediterannean coast, "which was near," but "through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." The Egyptians pursue the Israelites, who complain to Moses that he has led them to their deaths; but "the angel of God which would go before the camp of Israel moved, and went behind them," and removes the Egyptian chariot wheels (or clogs them), "and drove them on heavily." There is no actual mention of the crossing of the Red Sea, but E ends with Miriam, sister of Aaron, leading the women of Israel in the Song of the Sea.

J begins with the Israelites being led out of Egypt by God in a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. Pharaoh changes his mind about his decision to allow them to depart, and chases after them with his chariots. Moses tells the people not to be afraid, for God will aid them. The pillar of smoke then stands between the Israelites and the Egyptians all night, separating them, while God sends a wind to blow back the sea. In the morning "the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud," the waters returned, "and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore." The J narrative ends with Moses leading the Israelites in singing the Song of the Sea.

P has the most elaborate account, and the most active role for God. It is P that introduces the itinerary of Pi-hahiroth, Migdol and Baal-zephon, who tells the reader that it is part of God's plan to send Pharaoh after the Israelites in order to demonstrate His power, and who shows God commanding Moses to stretch out his rod and divide the waters, "a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left," so that the Egyptians are destroyed when Israelites cross over and the two walls collapse.

The Song of the Sea, which according to the hypothesis is the version the others are based upon, (together with lost oral traditions), is a song of triumph over the defeated enemy: "With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, The floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea." The Song concludes with rejoicing at the effect that God's destruction of the Egyptians will have on the Israelites' future enemies: "Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina, the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them."

[edit] Locating the crossing

(See also The Exodus)

The most precise information on the site of the crossing is provided by the Priestly source, at Exodus 14:2, where God says to Moses: "Speak to the Children of Israel, and have them turn back and encamp before Pi-Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon; you shall encamp opposite it, by the sea." All three names appear to be Hebrew rather than Egyptian. The meaning of "Pi-hahiroth" is unknown, although pi means "mouth" and ha is the definite article; "Migdol" and "Baal-zephon" mean "watchtower" and "Lord of the North" respectively. None of the three have been located, despite considerable effort.^[2]

In the absence of any identification of Pi-hahiroth, speculation has centred on the general rather than exact place where the crossing was made. The body of opinion is that it was on the Gulf of Suez near the present city of Suez.

There is a theory^{[citation needed]} that this incident did not happen in the Red Sea but the Israelites went along the enclosing spit of the Sabħat al Bardawīl (a large lagoon on the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula), trying to evade pursuers. If so, Baal-zephon would be a known tell beside a gap in that spit, and the sea recession and surge would be a rise and fall of a few feet caused by wind.

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[edit] Cause

The Bible itself puts forward four differing views on the mechanics of the Israelites' escape from Pharoah and his chariots, each giving a steadily more supernatural explanation. The Elohist source does not mention water at all, merely stating that the Israelites went via the Red Sea Wilderness, leaving open the possiblity that it was sand, rather than mud, that clogged the wheels of the Egyptian chariots. The Song of the Sea is unequivocal in describing how the Egyptians met their doom in the sea, in conjunction with a strong wind described as "the breath of Thy nostrils". The Yahwist gives a narrative structure to the image contained in the Song of the Sea, with a "a strong East wind" sent by God to blow back the waters, (although it's not clear from the narrative what body of water is involved, nor how large it is), which later return to drown the enemy. P has the most dramatic image of all, and the one which has captured the public imagination, with Moses, on God's instructions, stretching out his rod to divide the waters in two great walls which God holds open to allow the Israelites to pass, and then causes to collapse upon the Egyptians.

Notwithstanding this, there have been considerable and varied modern attempts to find a non-supernatural origin for the story. Some of the more popular include a tsunami produced by the explosion of a volcano on the island of Thera around 1550-1500BC or 1650-1600BC (the date is contentious), with the retreating waters allowing the Israelites to pass and then returning to drown the Egyptians, or a wind drying out a shallow lake somewhere near the head of the Red Sea, around the Reed Sea so that the Israelites could cross on foot but the Egyptian chariots could not follow.

[edit] Mistranslation

The most powerful objection to this story is not its implausibility, but rather the fact that the 'Red Sea' is not actually referred to in the Hebrew texts, which have been the source of all subsequent translations. The Hebrew refers to 'Yam suph', which means the Sea of Reeds or the Reed Sea, which was a significantly smaller, marshy body of swampwater to the north of the Red Sea.

The story describes a less traumatic event than is traditionally envisioned. If the Jewish people were chased through the Sea of Reeds, the Egyptians could have either lost track of them through the swamp or, as the second link below suggests, their chariots or horses could have been bogged down in the mud.