Crossing the Red Sea

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Crossing the Red Sea is the Biblical account of the crossing of the Red Sea by Moses and the Israelites in their flight from the pursuing Egyptian army and is a part of the Exodus narrative on their journey out of Egypt, found in the Book of Exodus, chapters 13:17 to 15:21.

According to the Book of Exodus, God parts the Red Sea for the safe passage of the Israelites, after which the pursuing Egyptians army is drowned when the waters return. At the end of these events, the Israelites sing the Song of the Sea to celebrate their deliverance.

Contents

[edit] Location of the crossing

The black line traces the traditional Exodus route. Other possible Exodus routes are given in blue and green. More information at Stations list
See also: Yam Suph, Red Sea, and Reed Sea

In Exodus 14:2, God says to Moses:

Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal Zephon. You shall encamp opposite it by the sea.[1]

In Exodus 13:15, and throughout the Exodus narrative, the term "Yam Suph" is used for the place where the crossing took place. This phrase has traditionally been understood to refer to the salt water inlet located between Africa and the Arabian peninsula, known in English as the Red Sea. More recently, it has been proposed that yam suph is better translated as Sea of Reeds[citation needed] or Sea of Seaweed,[citation needed] and that it in fact refers to another crossing location.

It has also been suggested that suph may be related to the Hebrew suphah ("storm") or soph ("end"), referring to the events of the Exodus:

The crossing of the sea signaled the end of the sojourn in Egypt and it certainly was the end of the Egyptian army that pursued the fleeing Hebrews (Exodus 14:23-29; 15:4-5). After this event at yam suph, perhaps the verb soph, meaning "destroy" and "come to an end," originated (cf. Amos 3:15; Jer 8:13; Isa 66:17; Psa 73:19). Another possible development of this root is the word suphah, meaning "storm-wind"...The meanings "end" and "storm-wind" would have constituted nice puns on the event that took place at the yam suph.[2]

1 Kings 9:26 identifies "yam suph" with the Red Sea (at Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba).

Previous Station:
Pi-hahiroth		 The Exodus
Stations list		 Next Station:
Marah

[edit] The Documentary Hypothesis

"Crossing of the Red Sea", Toros Roslin (a medieval Armenian illumination).

The documentary hypothesis, which, in its various permutations, represents the consensus of modern biblical scholarship on the authorship of the Torah, is a hypothesis that 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.

According to the influential version of the hypothesis formulated by Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), there were four main sources, and these sources and the approximate dates of their composition were:

  • the J, or Jahwist, source; written c. 950 BCE in the southern kingdom of Judah. (The name Yahweh begins with a J in Wellhausen's native German.)
  • the E, or Elohist, source; written c. 850 BCE in the northern kingdom of Israel.
  • the D, or Deuteronomist, source; written c. 621 BCE in Jerusalem during a period of religious reform.
  • the P, or Priestly, source; written c. 450 BCE by Aaronid priests.


The narrative in Exodus 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."

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.

[edit] Other theories

See also: Thera eruption and its association with the Exodus

Geologist Barbara J. Sivertsen proposes that there is a link between the eruption of Santorini of ca. 1628 BC and the Exodus from Egypt in the Bible.[3]

A 2006 documentary film by Simcha Jacobovici, The Exodus Decoded, suggests that the Santorini Island volcanic eruption (c. 1623 BC, +/-25) caused all the biblical plagues described against Egypt, re-dating the eruption to c. 1500 BC. Rather than crossing the Red Sea, Jacobovici argued a marshy area in northern Egypt known as the "Reed Sea" would have been alternately drained and flooded by tsunamis caused by the caldera collapse, and could have been crossed during the Exodus. Jacobovici's assertions in The Exodus Decoded have been extensively criticized by scientists and religious scholars.[4][5]

[edit] The Song of the Sea

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 Philistia, 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] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Exodus 14:2, World English Bible
  2. ^ James K. Hoffmeier, Ancient Israel in Sinai, The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition. Oxford & New York. Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 0-515546-7, p. 214
  3. ^ Sivertsen, Barbara J (2009). The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of the Exodus. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691137704. 
  4. ^ "Debunking "The Exodus Decoded"". Sep 20, 2006. http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/09/Debunking-The-Exodus-Decoded.aspx. Retrieved 8 August 2009. 
  5. ^ "The Exodus Decoded: An Extended Review". Tuesday 19 Dec 2006. http://www.heardworld.com/higgaion/?p=459. Retrieved 8 August 2009. 

[edit] Further reading

  • William H. Stiebing Jr., Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture (Longman, 2003)
  • Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vols. I - III, trans. by Miriam Lichtheim (1973-1980)
  • John Wilson, The Culture of Ancient Egypt (Chicago)
  • Cyrus Gordon, The Ancient Near East (Norton)
  • Henri Frankfort, The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (Chicago)
  • Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, 4 vols., ed. Jack Sasson.
  • Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, 5 vols.
  • The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, 3 vols., ed. Donald B. Redford.
  • Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert.
  • Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6 vols.
  • Encyclopaedia Judaica, 16 vols. plus yearbooks
  • International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [alias "ISBE"], fully rev. ed., 4 vols., ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley.
  • Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols. + Supplement.
  • Hallo, William W., ed. The Context of Scripture, 2 vols. thus far of 3 projected.
  • Pritchard, James B., ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. (first published 1969) or the combination of Pritchard, James B., ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 2nd ed., corr. and enl. (1955) and Pritchard, James B., ed. The Ancient Near East: Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to the Old Testament. (1969)
  • Macmillan Bible Atlas, 3rd ed.
  • Oxford Bible Atlas, 3rd ed.
  • Religious and Theological Abstracts (limited free search[1])

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Red_Sea"
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