WHERE IS THE RED SEA?
In discussing the thesis that the Exodus took place in Yemen and
Saudi Arabia and not from Egypt to Canaan, the most frequent question and
objection is the location of the "Red Sea" and how it was possible to get from
there to Yemen.
We must first be clear about the term Red Sea which in the
original Hebrew is written Yam Suf and because of the problem of ever finding
any evidence for an Exodus in Sinai has been variously translated as "Red Sea"
or "Reed Sea".
It might be useful to quote from the Encyclopaedia Judaica as to
what the latest thinking on the problem is.
"RED SEA (Heb. PBs My, yam suf; lit. "Sea of Reeds"). The
Hebrew term yam suf denotes, in some biblical references and in most later
sources, the sea known as the Red Sea (as in Gr. EruqrF qalassa; Lat. Sinus
Arabicus, Mare Rubrum; Ar. Bahr or al-Bahr al-Ahmar). The Red Sea is a long
narrow strip of water separating the Arabian Peninsula from the northeastern
corner of Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia) and forming the northwestern arm of
the Indian Ocean to which it is connected by the Bab al-Mandib Straits (whose
narrowest point is 21 mi. (33 km.) wide). In the northern part of the Red Sea
are the Gulf of Elath (Aqaba) and the Gulf of Suez which enclose the Sinai
Peninsula. With the opening of the Suez Canal, the Red Sea was connected with
the Mediterranean. Its total area is 176,061.6 sq. mi. (456,000 sq. km.) and its
length about 1,240 mi. (2,000 km., excluding the gulfs in the north). For most
of its length it is 124–155 mi. (200–250 km.) wide and about 223 mi. (360 km.)
at its widest point, near Massawa. Its mean depth measures approximately 1,640
ft. (500 m.); about 70% of its area is more than 656 ft. (200 m.) deep and its
maximum depth, 7,741 ft. (2,360 m.), is northeast of Port Sudan. The Red Sea is
the warmest and most saline of all open seas. The temperature of the surface
water reaches 30°-33°-C (86°-91°-F) in July–September (near the shores it rises
to 36°-C (97°-F) and drops to 23°-27°-C (73°-81°-F) in December-February. The
average salinity near the surface is 40–41% which increases to 43% on the
northern side, in the gulfs of Elath and Suez. Because of the wasteland nature
of the area, the shores of the Red Sea are sparsely settled. Its port sites are
few and for the most part small; the principal ones are Joba, Suez, Port Sudan,
In the Bible the Red Sea, apart from its problematical appearance in the route
of the Exodus (see below), is clearly identified in the description of the
borders of the land promised to Israel (Ex. 23:31) and in other passages
describing the maritime activities of Solomon (I Kings 9:26) and later kings. In
antiquity the two gulfs at its northern tip served as important navigation
routes. The Gulf of Clysma (Suez) was used by the rulers of Egypt as the
shortest route to the Mediterranean above the Isthmus of Suez. It was connected
via the Bitter Lakes with the Nile and the Mediterranean by a canal which
already existed in the days of Necoh and which was repaired by Darius I, the
Ptolemies, and the Romans. The Gulf of Elath was a vital outlet to the south for
the kings of Israel and Judah and their Phoenician allies. David acquired access
to the sea and this was maintained by his successors until the division of the
kingdom; it was later regained by Jehoshaphat and Uzziah. Still later the
Nabateans used it for their maritime trade and overland transport to Petra and
Gaza. In the Hellenistic period the discovery of the monsoon wind systems
revived direct trade with India via the Red Sea; this trade continued throughout
the Roman period. During the Byzantine period the Red Sea was the only trade
route to the East open to the empire, which explains the tenacity with which the
Byzantines fought for its control against the Jewish kings of Himyar. From the
seventh century onward the Arabs dominated the Red Sea, except for a brief
period during which Elath was held by the crusaders. The discovery of the sea
route to India and Turkish domination put an end to international trade on the
Red Sea; it was revived with the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869.
The Red Sea and the Problem of the Exodus
Tradition has identified the sea which engulfed Pharaoh's army with the Red Sea
ever since the Septuagint translation of the Bible in the third century B.C.E.
This identification was adopted by Josephus and the Christian pilgrims and is
still accepted by some scholars. They place the crossing of the Red Sea in the
vicinity of Suez and point out the high tides in the Red Sea (up to 6 1/2ft.),
but they fail to explain how an east wind could have driven the waters back at
this point (Ex. 14:21). Most of the scholars who accept the southern route of
the Exodus maintain that the Red Sea was crossed at the Great Bitter Lake, but
here too an east wind could lower the water level by only a few inches at the
utmost. This theory, furthermore, is unable to account for the places
Pi-Hahiroth, Migdol, and Baal-Zephon which the Israelites passed. The majority
opinion today identifies the Red Sea of the Exodus with one of the lagoons on
the shores of the Mediterranean. Some locate it at Bahr Manzala (Gardiner,
Loewenstamm) or the Sirbonic Lake (Jarvis, Mazar, Noth) and identify Pi-Hahiroth
with Tell al-Khayr, Migdol with Pelusium, and Baal-Zephon with the sanctuary of
Zeus Cassius on the isthmus dividing the lake from the sea, the former being
occasionally inundated by waves from the latter when an east wind is blowing
(cf. also Exodus).
[Moshe Brawer/Michael Avi-Yonah]"
You can see how even this article has problems about the theory of "The
Exodus" and for good reason. The evidence as presently presented is inconclusive
at best and for the minimalists, non-existent.
Let us see how our thesis solves the problem.
As they state quite clearly, the Arabic equivalent of Yam (Sea) is Bahr.
So if we could find a Bahr Suf in Yemen or Saudi Arabia, would that give
pause to the critics?
We quote from The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation of Yemen
"The Empty Quarter. This includes the Yemeni desert, which is
penetrated by wild undergrowth especially along its ends with the highlands.
As we move further into the Empty Quarter, plants and water become rare and
moving sand dunes take over. The Empty Quarter had had different names
over history from being called Al Bahr Al Rajraj (moving sea), Al Bahr Al Safi
(smooth sea), the Yemeni greater desert and AL Ahqaf desert."
This wonderful photograph with kind
permission of the great Photojournalist Tor Eigeland.
Yes, my friends there is a Yam Suf in Arabia and
occasionally there is a flash flood when the wadis of Asir empty their
waters into it.
The vast desert of the Empty
Quarter just begins to the right.
Michael S. Sanders
on location (back next week)
Thursday, April 23, 2009