Beyond the supposed miracle of Gods help, is there an another explanation to the parting of the Red Sea strory?
Venus coming too close to Earth after it emerges from Jupiter?
I read somewhere that the Red Sea Parting and the Column of Smoke by Day, Column of Fire by Night thing were all part of the same phenomena: an erupting volcano (no, I don’t know which one.)
The eruption caused an upheaval on the sea floor, causing a tidal wave. As the wave grew, the sea retreated into the crest, creating a landbridge on the seafloor, which the Israelites crossed. When the Egyptians pursued, the tidal wave crashed through and drowned them all…after the Israelites were safely on the other side of course.
Charles Pellegrino, an eclectic scientist whose disciplines include space science, geology and archeology, has written an interesting theory in his book RETURN TO SODOM AND GOMORRAH. He postulates that the origins of the Red Sea story may have been related to the explosion of the Theran volcano in 1628 BCE. This explosion caused a tsunami to strike a marshy flood plain (known as the “Sea of Reeds” in ancient times. The Sea referred to in Exodus is called “Yam Sup” or “Sea of Reeds,” NOT “Red Sea”) located in the Nile delta. This was also an area where the reigning Pharaoh (Thutmosis III) had placed many of his sentries. This is where it gets interesting. Pellegrino says that tsunamis striking a shoreline can be precipitated by an initial RETREATING of the waters:
“It’s first breath is seen a sudden retreat of the water, plunging over a matter of minutes deeper than any tide can ebb. Thutmosis III’s north shore sentries could not have known what was happening to them…mud dunes that had lain under thirty feet of water were suddenly climbing into open air…fish thrashed…On a tidal plain such as the Sea of reeds, the Mediterranean would have drained a half mile out, making hissing and sucking noises as it went…driven by curiosity and wonder, at least some of the sentries must have followed the retreating coastline…when the sea returned-faster than any charioteer could hope to flee- it was forty feet above the high-tide mark…”
Pellegrino speculates that eyewitness memories of the event of “Egyptian soldiers crushed by waters that first retreated and then ‘stood straight like a wall’” came to be shaped and interpreted as divine retribution against the Pharaoh, and later grew to include a direct confrontation between the Israelites and the Egyptians.
Whether or not this event actually was a historical source for the Exodus story, there is no question that the tsunami itself (and the preceeding “retreating of the waters”) DID take place. The geology tells us so.
I’m amazed by this insistance at searching for a rationnal extraordinary (volcano erupting, tidal wave, gale…) to this event, when the most obvious explanation is that it’s only a legend and it never happened at all.
And anyway, if such an incredibly unlikely thing like a volcanic eruption or whatever else had actually happened, had actually have the consequence of parting the waters just in time for the Hebrews to cross safely,given the incredibly low likehood of such an event, it couldn’t be anything else than a miracle. So, if there was a god ready to make some miracle to allow Moses to cross the Red Sea, why not just parting the waters rather than using some complicated scheme like having a tidal wawe/eruption/whatever causing the same result.
In other words, if it happened, it’s pointless to search for a natural explanation. But it never happened, of course.
He didn’t. Any other myths you’d like demystified?
Very carefully.
It is still possible that an extraordinary geological event could have been interpreted through a religious lens, then shaped and telescoped over a period of centuries into the story now present in Exodus.
The Theran explosion is not a theory. It happened. The tsunami in the Nile delta happened. The Hebrews vs. Egyptians is the mythical part.
I’m not very familiar with the historical or biblical stories. How crucial was the timing? Is it certain that the Hebrews had to depart instantly or had the Hebrews been seeking to escape for some time?
I raise the point because the following scenario avoids some of the less likely aspect of the tale: the Hebrews are seeking to escape. The Theran explosion causes chaos, particularly in terms of the damage to Egypt’s defences across the Sea of Reeds. The Hebrews take advantage of the confusion and escape. A lucky break, but hardly so lucky as to be miraculous, particularly if the Hebrews have been looking for a way out for months or years.
Subsequently, the standard human trait for exaggeration, reifying of heroes and attributing lucky escapes to gods. The parting of the waters and the washing away of the Egyptians are attributed to the intervention of a god and a hero, and the timing of the story is changed such that an act of not-unlikely opportunism becomes a just-in-time rescue in the best Hollywood tradition.
All the Israelites went and flushed all the Porta-Johns at the same time.
D’uh!
Princhester, the timing was crucial. According to the biblical account, Pharoah had finally let all the Israelites leave Egypt in his grief over the death of his eldest son, a casualty of the tenth and final plague sent by God.
After the Isrealites had left, Pharoah had a change of heart and sent his army after them. The Israelites found themselves trapped between the “Red Sea” (as **Diogenes the Cynic
** indicates, that translation is dubious) and the Egyptian sent to bring them back. The pillar of fire appeared between the Israelites and the Egyptian army and held them back temporarily, while God used Moses to part the sea and allow the Israelites to cross. Once they were across, the pillar of fire left and the army tried to follow through the dried up sea – but once they were half way across, the waters crashed down on them and they were drowned.
So, according to the text, its not like the Israelites were standing around waiting for their chance to escape.
There is no historical story. The only informations about Moses, the Hebrews fleeing Egyptia, the plagues etc…you’ll find in the bible. There are exactly zero information about these events coming from history or archeology. Until proven otherwise, it’s purely a myth.
He threatened it with his assault rifle.
[sub](little NRA humour, there)[/sub]
It was only an illusion. Moses was the David Copperfield of his day.
I think I read somewhere that it wasn’t actually the Red Sea - it was the Dead Sea, or a lake or something - that used to get marshy and wadeable-across at certain times of year.
The “volcano erupting” theory is based on the explosion/eruption of Santorini (Thera), a massive event that, by all accounts, rivaled the event at Krakatoa in the 19th century. It spread dust and ash over an enormous distance, and some have blamed the downfall of Minoan civilization on it. I think the claim about its association with Moses and the Red Sea is due to an overenthusiastic suggestion that the Santorini event could explain the Plagues of Egypt and other events in Exodus (pillar of smoke = dust cloud, parting of sea = tsunami). It’s kinda hard to see how these events, which would have to be almost simultaneous, could fit into the chronology of Exodus.
As for the “misrtranslation” theory, it’s my understanding that “Red Sea” could also be translasted “Sea of Reeds”, and that the parting might refer to a much more local event (as others have noted above).
I went to a parochial school, and one of the nuns who taught me had little use for Cecil B. deMille-style miracles. She held that the Pharaoh’s army simply got bogged down in the mud, and maybe overtaken by the incoming tide.
Not IMHO. Of course, God can use natural events to fulfill His purposes but I believe it happened just as the Bible says. God through Moses parted the sea. I don’t believe it’s a “myth” or “legend” or that it never happened.
IMHO the book of Moses is jumbling together of old Hebrew legends , foreign legends, a grain of truth and heavy editing, in an attempt to create an older origin to the monotheistic religion.
I don’t think the parting falls into the ‘grain of truth’ bit.
I think some peple are misunderstanding what I’m saying about the Theran volcano theory. All I’m saying is that the Nile delta tsunami could have become associated in legend with some dimly remembered migration of Hebrews out of Egypt and incorporated into tribal mythology. I do not believe that there was a “Moses,” or “ten plagues” or that Exodus represents anything like a meaningful history. But is it so impossible for an extraordinary geological event to be perceived as “miraculous” by an ancient people, or for that story to become a heavily mythologized part of tribal lore?