Patterns of Evidence: Crossing the – Lesson 1

Video: Beginning til 25:35 Exodus 7:14-16 – Why did the want to leave ?

Locate: Tanis and Avaris – Israelite Cities Thebes – Capital of Egypt

Miracles “Archaeology cannot prove or disprove a .”

What constitutes a miracle?

Two Approaches Egpytian Approach

Hebrew Approach

Yam Suph Pa Tufy

Septuagint Exodus 13:17 -14:31 17 When let the people go, did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. 19 took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” 20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best , along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen[a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of ’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward[c] it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

Traditional Exodus Route

Identify the possible location sites Patterns of Evidence: – Lesson 2

Video: From 25:35 til 45:45

Stages of 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Departure Point

Question of Large Numbers ‘eleph ‘alluph

Problems with 2 Million

Problems with 200,000

Patterns of Evidence: Crossing the Red Sea – Lesson 3

Video: From 45:45 til 1:17:30

Direction Planned destination:

Possible Roads

Desert Egyptian View

Hebrew View

David Roth – Traditional View Succoth Etham Yam Suph

Marah

Desert Life Wadi

Rate of Walking

Moses’ Background Patterns of Evidence: Crossing the Red Sea – Lesson 4

Video: From 1:17:30 til 1:44:50

Desert – Rate of Travel

Exodus 15:22-23 Exodus 16:1 Exodus 19:1-2

Egyptian View Hebrew View Camp 1 Succoth Day 1 Day 1 Camp 2 Etham Camp 3 Yam Suph Camp 4 Day 6 Day 17 Camp 5 Elim Camp 6 Desert of Sin Day 45 Day 45 Camp 7 Mt Sinai Day 60 Day 60

Detour to a Dead End Pi-Hahiroth Migdol Yam Suph Baal-Zephon

Migdol

Option 1: Lake Ballah Pi-Hahiroth Migdol Yam Suph Baal-Zephon

Problems with Lake Ballah Option

Patterns of Evidence: Crossing the Red Sea – Lesson 5

Video: From 3:20 til 31:33

Miracles Naturalistic Miracles

Spectacular Miracles

Naturalistic Miracles Mt. Sinai

Pillar of Cloud/Fire

Spectacular Miracles Angel/Presence of God

Exodus 3:2 – “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.” Exodus 14:19 – “Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.” Exodus 23:20 – “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.”

Detour to a Dead End • Pi-Hahiroth → Mouth of the Canal/Gorge • Migdol → Tower/Fortress • Yam Suph → Red Sea/Sea of Reeds • Baal-Zephon → Lord of the North

Option 4: Northern Tip of Aqaba

•

• Near Timna

Problems with Option 4

Patterns of Evidence: Crossing the Red Sea – Lesson 6

Video: From 31:33 til 56:45

Detour to a Dead End • Pi-Hahiroth → Mouth of the Canal/Gorge • Migdol → Tower/Fortress • Yam Suph → Red Sea/Sea of Reeds • Baal-Zephon → Lord of the North

Josephus – Antiquities Book 2: 3-4 “Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them, and by their multitude they drove them into a narrow place: for the number that pursued after them was six hundred chariots, with fifty thousand horse-men, and two hundred thousand foot-men; all armed. They also seized on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly: shutting them up between inaccessible precipices, and the sea; for there was [on each side] a [ridge of] mountains, that terminated at the sea; which were impassable, by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight. Wherefore they there pressed upon the Hebrews with their army; where the [ridges of] the mountains were closed with the sea: which army they placed at the chops of the mountains: that so they might deprive them of any passage into the plain. “When the Hebrews therefore were neither able to bear up, being thus, as it were, besieged, because they wanted provisions; nor saw any possible way of escaping; and if they should have thought of fighting, they had no weapons; they expected an universal destruction, unless they delivered themselves up voluntarily to the Egyptians. So they laid the blame on Moses, and forgot all the signs that had been wrought by God for the recovery of their freedom: and this so far, that their incredulity prompted them to throw stones at the Prophet, while he encouraged them, and promised them deliverance; and they resolved that they would deliver themselves up to the Egyptians. So there was sorrow and lamentation among the women and children, who had nothing but destruction before their eyes, while they were encompassed with mountains, the sea, and their enemies, and discerned no way of flying from them.”

Option 5: Nuweiba Beach

Non-archaeological Evidence

Problems with Option 5

Option 6: Strait of Tiran

Problems with Option 6

Detour to a Dead End Egyptian View

Hebrew view Patterns of Evidence: Crossing the Red Sea – Lesson 7

Video: From 56:45 til 1:27:00

Deep Sea Exodus 14:21-22 – “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.” Exodus 15:5,8 - “The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone…By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood up like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.”

Why mention the wind?

Did wind create dry land or muddy land?

Ekman Spiral When surface water molecules move by the force of the wind, they, in turn, drag deeper layers of water molecules below them. Each layer of water molecules is moved by friction from the shallower layer, and each deeper layer moves more slowly than the layer above it, until the movement ceases at a depth of about 100 meters (330 feet).

Option 1: Lake Ballah

Water Depth: Wind Duration: Water Returned: Problems:

Option 2: Lake Tanis

Water Depth: Wind Duration: Water Returned: Problems:

Option 4: Northern Tip of Aqaba (Timnah)

Deep Sea Patterns of Evidence: Crossing the Red Sea – Lesson 8

Video: From 1:27 til 2:07

Option 5: Neweiba Beach

Distance Across: Water Depth: Slope:

Viability:

Problems:

Option 6: Straits of Tiran

Distance Across: Water Depth: Slope:

Viability:

Problems:

If science can’t prove or replicate, what do we consider reliable? Eyewitness accounts

After 3500 years, what would archaeological remains look like under the sea?

Which crossing site do you think is the most likely?