Parting of the Red Sea

[JB]

I just read an article saying that they found the remains of chariots, horses, and men in the Red Sea. Claiming they're from God parting the Red Sea for the Israelites to escape the Egyptians. The book of Exodus holds more information. But does anyone know anything about the reality of it? If you want to read the email I will send you it, just let me know.

[Nicolae Roddy]

I don't know which article you have read, but there are a number of problems with this. First, organic materials like men and horses would not have survived. Chariot parts might, but which millennium are they really from? They could be of Ptolemaic or Roman make. However, the biggest problem is that the Hebrew Bible doesn't say the Exodus route crossed the Red Sea; rather, it says Yam Suf, or "Sea of Reeds." The Red Sea tradition is based on the King James Version's rendering of the Septuagint (2nd C BCE) via the Latin Vulgate.

[JB]

Ok. I see what your saying, but what is the Sea of Reeds? Was it a real sea?

[Nicolae Roddy]

In Hebrew, the word yam is translated "sea," but was applied to any relatively large body of water. This ancient perspective also lies behind the so-called Sea of Galilee, which is really a freshwater lake roughly 12 miles long and 8 miles wide. The Yam Suf, or Sea of Reeds, may have been a small lake fed by a spring, or it may have been a large, shallow (salt water) inlet of the Red Sea. THere's no way of knowing; but scrutinizing it overly much it in the interest of historicizing it shifts the focus from the big picture: namely, the story of the Exodus is the foundational narrative of Israel as a people, therefore it is not limited to actual-factual history but transcends these mundane limitations to participate in ultimate reality--something far more real. The late Jewish intellectual Nahum Sarna said something to the effect that no people would like invent for itself such an inglorious beginning (i.e., in slavery), inless there was a kernal of truth at its core. But it seems clear that something else is going on in the narrative as we have it apart from mindane history.

[JB]

Oh. Alright. Yam is then a broad term for a big body of water like you said. That would make sense if it wasn't the chariots from the Bible they found. It could just have been scrap parts they threw in the to get rid of. I understand though how you said the bones would not have been preserved. Would the Chariot parts have to be studied in depth to find out if they were from the Exodus story or could they just be briefly looked at?

[Nicolae Roddy]

An expert in ancient warfare could tell, providing the remains were large enough to be structurally indicative, but again, the real issue is whether the Exodus story is a record of actual/factual history. For example, what about the massive population explosion of the first 7 verses in light of the fact that in antiquity such demographic growth was considered a God-given blessing? Then, when you get to the 600,000 men said to have escaped, well, add their families in and you've got about 2.5 million people leaving a country that could not have had a total poulation of 1.5 to 2.0 million people all together at that time (14th-13th C BCE). And what about the fact that the two Hebrew midwives are given names (Shiphrah and Puah), while the Pharaoh himself is not named--let alone the fact that they seem to be the only ones delivering those hundreds of thousands of babies. Finally, there is absolutely nothing in the material remains to indicate that cultural discontinuty that would necessarily result from having so many people displace the Canaanites in the genocidal manner recorded in the book of Joshua, All I am saying here is that something else seems to be going on other than the writing of actaul/factual history.

Spinoza once wrote that people seeing a coherent statement in writing tend to believe it at face value, while a critical understanding takes work to achieve (after all, learning is work). I am not saying here the Bible is not true; but that there are deeper, wider, and higher ways in which it may be true, far beyond our finite expectations of it.

[JB]

Yea, I suppose I should look at things deeper then just automaticaly believing it. It would be great if something like that was found though! I honestly don't know the facts about the numbers of the people or anything like that. I really don't know much about that kind of history at all unfortunately. That's one of the things I'm trying to learn. Sorry. I'll get there :). Hopefully.

[Nicolae Roddy]

No need to apologize. Learning is a life-long process and you seem to be farther along than I was at your age.

[JB]

Well thanks. That was very encouraging!