Crossing the Red Sea

Crossing the Red Sea

The Crossing of the Red Sea (Hebrew:
Kriat Yam Suph - Crossing of
the Sea of Reeds) is a passage in the Biblical
narrative of the escape of the Israelites, led
by Moses, from the pursuing Egyptians in
the Book of Exodus 13:17-14:29 [1]. This
story is also mentioned in the Qur'an in
Surah 26: Al-Shu'ara' (The Poets) in verses
60-67.[2]
According to the Exodus account, Moses
held out his staff and the Red Sea was
parted by God. The Israelites walked on dry
ground and crossed the sea, followed by the
Egyptian army. Moses again moved his staff
once the Israelites had crossed and the sea
closed again, drowning the whole of the Egyptian army.

"The Crossing of the Red Sea", Nicholas Poussin

Narrative
God chooses Moses to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into the land of Canaan, which God has
promised to them. The Egyptian pharaoh agrees to their departure, and they travel from Ramesses to Succoth and
then to Etham on the edge of the desert, led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. There God tells
Moses to turn back and camp by the sea at Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon.
God causes the pharaoh to pursue the Israelites with chariots, and he
overtakes them at Pi-hahiroth. When the Israelites see the Egyptian
army they are afraid, but the pillar of fire and the cloud separates the
Israelites and the Egyptians. At God's command Moses holds his staff
out over the water, and throughout the night a strong east wind divides
the sea,[3] and the Israelites pass through with a wall of water on either
side. The Egyptians pursue, but at daybreak God clogs their
chariot-wheels and throws them into a panic, and with the return of the
Crossing the Red Sea, a wall painting from the
water the pharaoh and his entire army are destroyed (see Psalm 136:15
[4]
1640s in Yaroslavl, Russia
). When the Israelites see the power of God they put their faith in
God and in Moses, and sing a song of praise to the Lord for the
crossing of the sea and the destruction of their enemies. (This song, at Exodus 15, is called the Song of the Sea).
The narrative contains at least three and possibly four layers. In the first layer (the oldest), God blows the sea back
with a strong east wind, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land; in the second, Moses stretches out his hand and
the waters part in two walls; in the third, God clogs the chariot wheels of the Egyptians and they flee (in this version
the Egyptians do not even enter the water); and in the fourth, the Song of the Sea, God casts the Egyptians into
tehomat, the mythical abyss.[5]

Crossing the Red Sea

Location of the crossing

See also: Yam Suph and Red Sea
The Israelites' first journey is from Ramesses to Succoth. Ramses is
generally identified with modern Qantir, the site of the 19th dynasty
capital Per-Ramses, and Succoth with Tell el-Maskhuta in Wadi
Tumilat, the biblical Land of Goshen.[6] From Sukkoth the Israelites
travel to Etham "on the edge of the desert," then turn back to
Pi-hahiroth, located between Migdol and the sea and directly opposite
Crossing the Red Sea, from Dura Europos
Baal Zephon. None of these have been identified with certainty. One
synagogue, 3rd century
theory with a wide following is that they refer collectively to the region
of Lake Timsah, a salt lake north of the Gulf of Suez, and the nearest
large body of water after Wadi Tumilat.[7] Lake Timsah was connected to Pithom in Gesem at various times by a
canal, and a late 1st millennium text refers to Migdol Baal Zephon as fort on the canal.[8]
The Hebrew term for the place of the crossing is "Yam Suph". Although this has traditionally been thought to refer
to the salt water inlet located between Africa and the Arabian peninsula, known in English as the Red Sea, this is a
mistranslation from the Greek Septuagint, and Hebrew suph never means "red" but rather "reeds".[9] (While it is not
relevant to the identification of the body of water, suph also puns on the Hebrew suphah ("storm") and soph ("end"),
referring to the events of the Exodus).
General scholarly opinion is that the Exodus story combines a number of traditions, one of them at the "Reed Sea"
(Lake Timsah, with the Egyptians defeated when the wheels of their chariots become clogged) and another at the far
deeper Red Sea, allowing the more dramatic telling of events.[10]
Reeds tolerant of salt water flourish in the shallow string of lakes extending from Suez north to the Mediterranean
Sea. Kenneth Kitchen and James Hoffmeier state that these reedy lakes and marshes along the isthmus of Suez are
acceptable locations for yam suf.[11][12] The ancient yam suf is not confined to the modern Red Sea. Hoffmeier
equates yam suf with the Egyptian term pa-tjufy (also written p3 twfy) from the Ramsside period, which refers to
lakes in the eastern Nile delta.[13] He also describes references to p3 twfy in the context of the Island of Amun,
thought to be modern Tell el-Balamun.[14] Tell el-Balamun was the most northerly city of Pharaonic Egypt, located
at (31.2586 North, 31.5714 East), about 29km southwest of Damietta.[15]

Legacy
The theme of Moses at the crossing of the Red Sea was taken up by the sycophants of Constantine and applied to the
battle of the Milvian Bridge (312). The theme enjoyed a vogue during the fourth century on carved sarcophagi: at
least twenty-nine have survived in full or in fragments.[16] Eusebius of Caesarea cast Maxentius. drowned in the
Tiber, in the role of Pharaoh, both in his Ecclesiastical History and in his eulogistic Life of Constantine.[17]

References
[1] http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Exodus+ 13%3A17-14%3A29& version=ESV
[2] Quran - 26:60-67 (http:/ / budoom. com/ quran/ index. php?surahno=26& q=& pagesize=8& rowindex=59)
[3] Computer simulation of how a strong east wind could have parted the waters (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ news/
science-environment-11383620), BBC, 21 September 2010.
[4] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ bibleversefinder/ ?book=Psalm& verse=136:15& src=31
[5] Alberto Soggin, "An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah", SCM Press, 1999, pp.136-7
[6] John Van Seters, "The Geography of the Exodus," in Silberman, Neil Ash (editor), The Land That I Will Show You: Essays in History and
Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Honor of J. Maxwell Miller (Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) p.270, ISBN 978-1850756507 (http:/ /
books. google. com. au/ books?id=YzQe_4Waz34C& printsec=frontcover& dq=The+ Land+ That+ I+ Will+ Show+ You:+ Essays+ in+
History+ and+ Archaeology+ of+ the+ Ancient+ Near+ East& source=bl& ots=Jjp2Y0h3Sz& sig=jauEX7cJJ8_AIVgGe9KfjDjYQzg&
hl=en& ei=IQbxS-OzIpCTkAXp59HWBg& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1& ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q&

Crossing the Red Sea

f=false)
[7] John Van Seters, "The Geography of the Exodus," in Silberman, Neil Ash (editor), The Land That I Will Show You: Essays in History and
Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Honor of J. Maxwell Miller (Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) P. 273, ISBN 978-1850756507 (http:/ /
books. google. com. au/ books?id=YzQe_4Waz34C& printsec=frontcover& dq=The+ Land+ That+ I+ Will+ Show+ You:+ Essays+ in+
History+ and+ Archaeology+ of+ the+ Ancient+ Near+ East& source=bl& ots=Jjp2Y0h3Sz& sig=jauEX7cJJ8_AIVgGe9KfjDjYQzg&
hl=en& ei=IQbxS-OzIpCTkAXp59HWBg& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1& ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q&
f=false)
[8] Russell E. Gmirkin, "Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch" (T&T Clark
International, 2006), pp.230-231 (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=9_7lSWFMCX4C& printsec=frontcover& dq=Russell+ E. +
Gmirkin,+ "Berossus+ and+ Genesis& source=bl& ots=YWUFd-j3F4& sig=uQO2hRuRO0sR4WBfGDlaZqZqhIY& hl=en&
ei=4IbwS4DVLZaXkQWNkvjoBg& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=2& ved=0CBgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage& q& f=false)
[9] Kenneth Kitchen, "On the Reliability of the Old Testament" (Eerdman's, 2003), pp.261-263
[10] Russell E. Gmirkin, "Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch" (T&T Clark
International, 2006), pp.230-231 (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=9_7lSWFMCX4C& printsec=frontcover& dq=Russell+ E. +
Gmirkin,+ "Berossus+ and+ Genesis& source=bl& ots=YWUFd-j3F4& sig=uQO2hRuRO0sR4WBfGDlaZqZqhIY& hl=en&
ei=4IbwS4DVLZaXkQWNkvjoBg& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=2& ved=0CBgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage& q& f=false)
[11] Kenneth Kitchen (2003), On the Reliability of the Old Testament, pp. 261-263.
[12] James Hoffmeier (2005), Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition, pp. 81-85.
[13] James Hoffmeier (2008) The Archaeology of the Bible, p. 54
[14] James Hoffmeier (2005), Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition, p. 86.
[15] AJ Spencer (2009), Excavations at Tell el-Balamun 2003-2008, British Museum.
[16] Paul Stephenson, Constantine, Roman Emperor, Christian victor, 2010:209f.
[17] Eusebius, HE ix.9, Vita Constantini i.38.
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Pi-hahiroth

The Exodus
Stations list

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External links

ABZU (http://www.etana.org/abzu/)
ARCHNet Near East Resources List (http://archnet.asu.edu/regions/neareast/general.php)
Fitzwilliam Museum Egyptology Resources (http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/er/index.html)
Theban Mapping Project (http://www.kv5.com/)
A collection of articles on the splitting of the Red Sea from a Jewish viewpoint (http://www.chabad.org/k1352)
Media related to Crossing of Red Sea at Wikimedia Commons

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