Parting the red sea possible?

by yxl1 10 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  yxl1

  This landed in my inbox this morning. Some might find it interesting

  http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040202/redsea.html

  Study: Red Sea Parting Possible By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

  Red Sea Reefs from Space

  Feb. 2, 2004 — The parting of the Red Sea and the subsequent escape of thousands of Jewish slaves, which is described in the Bible's book of Exodus, can be explained by science, according to two Russian researchers.

  The study, published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is one of the first to examine the event using oceanography, weather patterns, and mathematical calculations.

  Naum Volzinger, senior researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of Oceanology, and colleague Alexei Androsov of Hamburg, determined that a reef runs from Egypt to the north side of the Red Sea. They believe the reef used to be much closer to the surface during Biblical times at approximately 1500 B.C.

  Depending on the weather and tidal movements, the reef could have been exposed for hours at a time, according to the new theory.

  "If the wind blew all night at a speed of 30 meters (about 98 1/2 feet) per second, then the reef would be dry," Volzinger told The Moscow Times. "It would take the Jews — there were 600,000 of them — four hours to cross the seven-kilometer (4.4 mile) reef that runs from one coast to another. Then, in half an hour, the waters would come back."

  The theory provides a scientific explanation for the story of the Red Sea parting, which is credited to Moses and Jehovah in the Bible.

  "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left." (Exodus 14:21-22).

  Discovery News contacted three Biblical scholars about the Russian study, and each expressed disappointment with the findings.

  Robert Coote, professor of Old Testament studies at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, said the language used to write the book of Exodus, Hebrew Yam Sup, can be interpreted in different ways. Coote indicated that the "Red Sea" might actually have been the Mediterranean, a Suez lagoon, the Gulf of Suez, or the Gulf of Aqaba.

  Aaron Brody, assistant professor of Bible and archaeology and director of the Bade Museum at the Pacific School of Religion, agreed with Coote and added, "There are no extra-biblical historic texts that pertain to the Exodus story, and short-term events like the one described in the Book of Exodus very rarely appear in the archaeological record, so we have no textual sources outside of the material in Genesis and no artifactual data to clarify this event."

  Along with Coote and Brody, Barbara Green, professor of Biblical studies at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, believes history and science provide important tools for studying the Bible, but that they should not be the only ones.

  "The Bible needs to be read with many lenses, among which are history and science, but there are many others as well," Green told Discovery News. "The error is to assume that all that is at stake is facticity — how many miles, how much speed. It is ludicrous on its own."
• 

  Yerusalyim

  The problem with this is that the Bible doesn't say the Red Sea, in the Hebrew, it's ...the Sea of Reeds which could mean any number of sea fed inland marshes. TLC or Discovery did a program that described how a volcano eruption in the Mediterranian at about the time Moses would have been heading out of Egypt could easily explain many of the Exodus phenomenom....including the temporary draining of these inland marshes.
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  Klaus Vollmer

  some months ago I read the book from howard blum : the treasure of the bible.

  There you will read that the israelites left egypt by entering sinai peninsula in the north and going downwards east of the gulf of suez.

  at the east point of the southern peak they were crossing the gulf of accaba, entering midian where moses onces dwellt at jethro.

  There is experience that there is an underwaterpath across the gulf at this point.

  i dont know the exact title in english of the book, i read it in German.

  research the title

  klaus
• 

  peacefulpete

  The problem is that these attempts to find a naturalistic causation for the miracle stories assumes a historical event occurred. Bible literalists love it because once people have accepted that such a thing is "possible" then they simply assert that their god can use his powers to control these natural causes, ans presto, a miracle has been "proven true".
  
  In reality the origin of these stories is found in literary and mythic sources. Crossing water is a literary device denoting new life and change. If you count the times the prophets or Israel crosses a river or sea or flood you'll see the pattern. In each case the story is introducing a new chapter. This is found in other cultures as well. Water symbolises birth/new life/fresh starts.
  
  There was no mass exodus from Egypt. The Israelites were people indiginous to Palestine. Their language culture and mythology all make this obvious. Modern archaeology confirms this. The Egyptian influence MAY have in part come from some immigration of exiled Egyptians (Hyksos) or may have simply been thru the hundreds of years of contact with Egypt rule of Palestine.
• 

  peacefulpete

  Additionally in this particular story the Baal vs.Timiat (chaos)motif is employed by OT writers. This may mean that embellishments were added to the story, influenced by the standard of all mythologies the defeat of chaos(sea) by the patron God. The creation story and flood stories are likewise specifically linked to this mythology.
• 

  City Fan

  Pete,

  I think your right that people confuse the effects of ancient natural disasters with proof for bible myths.

  I don't think the eruption of Thera around 1640 BC is any proof at all for the Exodus story, but I can see how events caused by that disaster made their way into the Exodus account. As Yeru sais,the tsunami caused by the eruption would have headed towards Egypt and Gaza, and the tributaries of the Nile would have receeded before the wave hit land. Geological surveys have shown that the ash fan went south and east and would have covered Egypt (plague of darkness?). I also think the passage in Exodus 13 about the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night are a pretty good description of an erupting volcano.
• 

  Yerusalyim

  I'll go this far with you...if there was an exodus event, and I believe there was, it involved only several thousand, not a million, most Israelites were always in the "promised land"
• 

  Elsewhere

  I find the whole exodus idea suspect... I'm sure some of you have seen this before:

  Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 to 3 million people requires a lot of food.

  The people needed 2,000 tons -- four million pounds -- of food each day.

  To bring that much food each day, would require three freight trains each a mile long!

  In the desert they needed firewood to cook and keep warm. Each day this would take 4,000 tons -- eight million pounds -- of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long.

  Of course, they needed water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11 million gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars 1,800 miles long, just to bring water!

  And then another thing: They had to get across the Red Sea in one night. If they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through.

  So, there had to be an opening in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5,000 abreast to get over in one night.

  Each time they camped at the end of the day, they needed a campground two-thirds the size of the State of Rhode Island, about 750 square miles.

  They journeyed in the desert forty years.
• 

  Faraon

  Elsewhere,

  According to Joseph Wheless there were too many problems with the three million people's exodus. How do you adress your people so they hear you at once. He goes in quite a detail. It really makes you think how you could've believed all that junk. I have the books from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1564592251/metroplexathe-20/102-6634715-2214534

  but you can get them at the net. The chapters we are talking about are 4, the Wonders of Exodus

  http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/is_it_gods_word/chapter_04.html

  The following was taken from there:

  If the 241,420 such tents were set one against another, with
  no intervening space or separating streets, they would occupy
  9,656,800 square yards, or over 1995 acres of ground; a little more
  than three square miles. But the desert was vast, there was no need
  for such impossible crowding; ample room was available for seemly
  spacing of tents, for streets and areas, for the great central
  tabernacle and its court, and for the 22,000 Levites, not counted
  in the soldier-census, who must "pitch round about the tabernacle,"
  as well as space for the rounding up of the millions of cattle.
  There is also some good information Chapter 5 about the forty years in the wilderness.

  http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/is_it_gods_word/chapter_05.html

  Warning: This book may be a little hard for some of us to read because it was written in a sort of legalese and outdated language.

  The Infidel's site also carries another book from the same author that shows how early books were forged entitled, aptly enough, Forgery in Christianity.

  http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/forgery_in_christianity/index.shtml
• 

  Leolaia

  The mythological subtext of the exodus event is clear, and it is even alluded to directly in Isaiah 51:9-10: "Awake, as in the past, in times of generations long ago. Did you not split Rahab in two, and pierce the Dragon through? Did you not dry up the Sea, the waters of the great deep, to make the seabed a road for the redeemed to cross." This statement by Deutero-Isaiah refers to the old Canaanite myth of Baal's primeval battle against the seven-headed sea monster Yamm/Lotan (known in Israel as Rahab, Yam "Sea", or Leviathan) and his accomplise Judge Naharu "River". Baal (or Yahweh in the Israelite version) crushes the heads of the Dragon with his club and then splits the carcass in half with his sword (cf. the battle between Marduk and Tiamat in the Enuma Elish). Thus we also read:

  "That day, Yahweh will punish with his hard sword, massive and strong, Leviathan (lwytn, equivalent of lwtn or Lotan in the Canaanite version), massive and strong, Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, he will kill the sea dragon." (Isaiah 27:1)

  "You control the pride of the ocean, when its waves ride high, you calm them; you split Rahab in two like a carcass and scattered your enemies with your mighty arm." (Psalm 89:9-10)

  "By your power you split the Sea in two, and smashed the heads of monsters on the waters. You crushed Leviathan's heads, leaving him for wild animals to eat." (Psalm 74:13)

  A late vestige of this myth can also be found in Revelation 12:7-9. We can also note that there are lots of Baal allusions throughout the exodus story: the theophany of thunder and lightning at the holy mountain, the golden calf (typical Baalist iconography), the toponym Baal-Zephon (a well known epithet of Baal, likely referring to a local shrine in the Delta; the worship of Baal among Semitic residents of the Delta during Hyksos and the New Kingdom is well attested archaeologically), the Destroyer sent to bring the tenth plague (probably Resheph, a close partner of Baal in his battle against Yamm), etc. The Israelite crossing of the Reed Sea and the Jordan River can thus be understood allegorically as an instance of Baal/Yahweh battling Yamm and then Judge Naharu. So does this mean that the exodus never happened? It would be fair to say that sea motif shows influence from mythology, as Deutero-Isaiah makes clear. To some extent, then, the exodus story historicizes an older myth. It would be a mistake to blindly look for a natural cause for an event whose description derives from myth instead of history.

  But there is still the possibility that an event of a different nature occurred and that its memory served as a locus for historicizing mythological traditions. The exodus tradition is discussed in the OT at different times and in different ways and curiously, allusions to the conflict myth recede the farther back in time we go. The very explicit tradition in Isaiah 51:9-10, for instance, is post-exilic. The Priestly (P) version of the Reed Sea event is also post-exilic and it gives a description that is very consistent with the conflict myth: "Moses stretched out his hand over the Sea. And the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the Sea on dry ground. The waters formed a wall on their right and on their left" (Exodus 14:21a, 21c-22). This version, like Deutero-Isaiah, explicitly expresses the motif of separation -- the splitting of the carcass in two. The much older Yahwist version (J), on the other hand, lacks such a clear reference: "Yahweh drove the Sea back with a strong east wind and turned the Sea into dry land" (Exodus 14:21b). The myth is still there but it is more covert. In the Baal Epic, Baal's club was said to "drive Yamm, drive Yamm from his throne," and the winds were among his weapons as Baal was the god of storm and rain. There is no mention of a splitting of Yamm, but the image of Yamm in flight corresponds to the frequent description of Yamm/Lotan as the "fleeing serpent". The oldest version of the exodus tradition is the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 (dating possibly before the tenth century B.C.), and here the conflict myth conception is least obvious: "A blast from your nostrils and the waters piled high; the waves stood upright like a dyke.... Your wind blew, and the sea closed over them, they sank like lead in the terrible waters." In the two later versions, Yahweh acts upon the Sea -- either dividing it in half or driving it away in order to create dry land. This was done in order to create a passage for the Israelites to cross. But in the Song of the Sea, Yahweh simply uses the Sea as his tool against the Egyptians and he does the opposite of splitting it -- he increases the waters and piled them high until they flooded and drowned the enemy. No mention is made of the Israelites crossing through the Sea and no mention of the creation of dry land (which symbolizes the defeat of Yamm); instead Yahweh and the Sea work together to inundate the land. There is possibly still a conflict myth in there, but its use is of a very different nature.

  The best defense I've read for the historicity of the exodus traditions is in the book Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition by James K. Hoffmeier (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). The Israelites were indeed Canaanites and natives of Palestine, but Hoffmeier clearly points out that during the era of Egyptian hegemony during the New Kingdom, thousands of Canaanite POWs were retained as forced labor in Lower Egypt, captured from military campaigns in the Levant or given as tribute, and they were employed (among other things) in building projects as described in Exodus. The details in Exodus 5 relating to the management of labor and quotas is especially accurate when compared with documents from the Nineteenth Dynasty. There were probably many small exoduses of escaped prisoners throughout the three centuries of the New Kingdom, eclipsed as well by the massive Hyksos expulsion at the outset of the Eighteenth Dynasty. As the descendents of these Hyksos refugees, escaped laborers, and Canaanites in general (oppressed by three centuries of Egyptian hegemony) came together to forge a new political identity, their disparite ancestral traditions also combined together into a single national narrative that stressed (1) their unity as a people, (2) their deliverance by the national patron deity, and (3) their triumph over their former oppressors. The miracle at the Sea combines all three of these themes. The tradition could have originated among the former Hyksos as a device to subvert the shame of their expulsion into a victory -- the armies pursuing us succeeded in removing us from our lands, but they got their punishment in the end. The story could have then existed for centuries in Canaan before the peoples formed a new nation. Or a less likely possibility is that one such exodus event may have indeed involved a deliverance involving the sea in some way, but later developed into the familiar exodus legend through influence from the Baal epic. It is impossible to say, but I do not doubt that the traditions in Exodus do preserve some actual memories of life in Egypt during the New Kingdom.