The Parting of the Waters

And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

-- Exodus 14: 15-17 (KJV)

If "parting of the waters" calls to mind Moses waving his rod and dividing a vast sea into two huge walls of water, forget it. What is called the "Red Sea" in Exodus is almost certainly not what we call the Red Sea today, but rather a much humbler body of water.

Parting the Red Sea would indeed be a feat, since it is 150 miles wide on average (not to mention 1,450 miles long). It is highly unlikely, though not completely out of the question, that this is the sea the Lord has in mind; none of the probable Exodus routes takes the Israelites anywhere near it at this stage of their journey. The Hebrew term yam suph, which is used for the Red Sea and its two gulfs, literally means "Sea of Reeds," and so probably refers here to a freshwater marsh on the border between Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. Such a lake, while no pushover to cross at high water, might easily be "parted" for passage by a good drought, or even, as the Bible suggests, by a "strong east wind" (verse 21).

So while one needn't deny God's hand in parting the waters, he might have been able to do it by natural means. In any case, the rest of the story does suggest that what happened at yam suph was extraordinary at least in its timing. Though the lake was passable by the Israelites, who crossed on foot, it foiled the Egyptians, sent in pursuit by the hard-hearted Pharaoh. The wheels of their chariots got stuck in the muddy marsh-bed, and thereupon the waters returned to drown the whole lot of them, along with their horses.

That's the last the Israelites heard of Egypt, and their miraculous delivery had the side effect of striking the fear of God (and Moses) into them -- at least for a while. The whole episode, among others, suggests that in Moses' time Yahweh was thought of primarily as a warrior-god, personally involved in his worshipper's battles. Though in later books the Lord is often given the credit for Israel's military victories and defeats, he is less and less directly involved. By the time Israel and Judah are established as states, Yahweh is principally a god of law -- a role he first assumes by issuing Moses the Ten Commandments.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!