Exploring the Red Sea

One of the historical scholarly debates around Exodus 14 is what body of water was actually crossed by Moses and the Israelites. This is primarily due to the fact that the Egyptian rendering of the phrase “red sea” contains a word often translated as “papyrus” or “reed.” In other words, some have suggested that the crossing of the Red Sea was not a supernatural miracle, but rather a tromping through a low-lying, knee-deep salty marsh of reeds.

However, this suggestion does not fit with other linguistic, literary, and archaeological explanations that support the supernatural dividing of the Red Sea recorded in Exodus 14. First, the term translated “reed/papyrus” in Egyptian is similar to a Hebrew word meaning “end.” So, the Hebrew translation of the phrase “red sea” would be rendered as the “end of the sea,” referring to a northernmost area of the Red Sea itself, rather than just a marshy lake beyond it.

Second, references from other biblical books to the Red Sea (e.g. 1 Kings 9:26) always refer to the actual Red Sea, not marshy extensions of it. Third, archaeological excavations have revealed the strong likelihood that the shoreline of the Red Sea in ancient times would have extended farther north than it does now. So, there may be areas today that are marshy lakes but were previously part of the Red Sea itself.

The Bible records the crossing of the Red Sea as a supernatural miracle worked by the Lord himself, and there is plenty of support to demonstrate the reliability of this. As those who look to the Bible as God’s authoritative words, part of growing in our faith is being able to understand and explain parts of the Bible that some may call into question.