Crossing the Red Sea

1. Crossing the Red Sea

2. Where Was The Biblical “Red” Sea? “Instead, he [God] rerouted them toward the Red Sea…”Ex 13:18a • Most experts believe the biblical Red Sea is really the Sea of Reeds. • Original Hebrew text tells us the Israelites crossed the Yam Suph. Yam is the Hebrew word for “sea,” although it can also mean a large lake or river. Suph means “reeds” or “marshes”. • For example, when Moses, as a baby, was placed in a basket amongst the reeds on the banks of the Nile, suph is the word used in the Hebrew text for the reeds in Ex 2:3,5. Therefore, yam suph literally means a sea, lake or river of reeds.

3. What The Presence of Reeds Tells Us • Reeds grow only in freshwater rivers and lakes. • Some reeds are able to grow in slightly salty water, but cannot grow in salty water like sea water. • Yam Suph cannot refer to a salty sea, like the Red Sea, because no reeds can grow there. • Yam Suph must refer to an inland freshwater reedy lake in which reeds do grow.

4. If Not The Red Sea, Then Where? Experts Theorize the crossing may have occurred in an area known as the “Bitter Lakes” region. Dry Riverbed runs from the Arabah through Aila and down to the Gulf of Aqaba Mountains sent freshwater down toward the Gulf of Aqaba creating a freshwater marshy land with clay soil, providing ideal conditions for reeds to grow. Bitter Lakes: Lake Menzaleh Lake Sirbonis Lake Timsah Lake Ballah

5. Septuagint Translation: Mistake or Mystery? Oldest complete translation of the Hebrew bible that exists today is the Septuagint dating back to the 3rd Century B.C.E. Piece of the Oldest Septuagint Translation. Jewish scholars in Egypt translated the Hebrew yam suph not into the Greek for “Sea of Reeds” but rather eruthra thalassa, which is Greek for “Red Sea.” They did this to express their belief in where the crossing took place. As we have shown, it may be that it was both the Red Sea and the Sea of Reeds.