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Exodus 14

Pharaoh pursues Israel to the sea. Moses says, 'Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.' He stretches out his hand, a strong east wind drives the sea back all night, Israel crosses on dry ground, and the waters return over Pharaoh's chariots.

Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.

What happens in this chapter

God tells Moses to turn back and camp by the sea at Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon, so that Pharaoh will think Israel is lost in the land. Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues them with six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, and overtakes them by the sea. The people panic, but Moses tells them to stand still and see the LORD's salvation; the angel of God and the pillar move behind Israel, darkness to one camp and light to the other. Moses stretches out his hand, a strong east wind blows all night, the sea becomes dry land and Israel walks through with the water a wall on either side. At the morning watch the chariot wheels come off and the chariots drag, and as morning appears the sea returns over the Egyptians.

What the lab shows, and where to look

This is the centre of the Exodus lab. The stop Through the sea runs over a night and a dawn: camped by the sea with the pillar between the camps, The east wind, Walls of water, The morning watch and The sea returns. The 3D shore is no particular place, the width and height of the walls are artistic, and no drowning is shown. For where it happened, open the map and switch between the three route theories: the Bitter Lakes or the head of the Gulf of Suez, a northern lake such as Ballah, and the Gulf of Aqaba at Nuweiba. The verse page for Exodus 14:21 sets the wind and the wonder side by side.

Questions people ask

Where did the Israelites cross the Red Sea?

No one knows, and the places Exodus names, Pi-hahiroth, Migdol and Baal Zephon, have not been located for certain. The classic view puts the crossing at the Bitter Lakes or the head of the Gulf of Suez, which fits a march east from the Wadi Tumilat and the camps of Numbers 33 down the west of Sinai. Others, such as James Hoffmeier, prefer a reedy northern lake like Ballah, close to Rameses; a third view puts it at Nuweiba on the Gulf of Aqaba, over 300 km from the delta, with Sinai in Arabia. The lab shows all three on the map and rates the first two plausible, the Aqaba route speculative.

Plausible

Could a wind have parted the sea?

The text itself names the means: the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night (14:21). A steady wind over shallow water can push it back and bare the bottom for some hours, so a natural mechanism is plausible. But the walls of water on either side and the exact timing are told as God's act, and the song in chapter 15 makes the same point; the verse page lays out both readings.

Plausible

How many chariots chased Israel?

Six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, each with officers (14:7). Egyptian chariots of the New Kingdom were light, two-wheeled and drawn by a pair of horses, carrying a driver and a fighter, which is how the lab draws them at the morning watch.

Strongly supported

See it in the Labs

Places

Theory: a northern lakeTheory: the Bitter Lakes or the Gulf of Suez

Also in this chapter

The ExodusCrosses the sea on dry groundThe crossing of the seaThe pillar of cloud and fireyāšaʿ יָשַׁע

How sure can we be?

  • Textually stated

    A strong east wind blew all night, the waters were divided, and Israel went through on dry ground with the water a wall on their right and on their left.

    Exodus 14:21–22, echoed in Exodus 15:8 ('the floods stood upright as an heap').

  • Textually stated

    The crossing took the night; at the morning watch the chariots foundered, and the sea returned as morning appeared.

    Exodus 14:20–27. The morning watch was the last watch of the night, before dawn.

  • Strongly supported

    Egyptian chariots of the New Kingdom were light, two-wheeled, drawn by a pair of horses and carried a driver and a fighter.

    Known from surviving chariots (Tutankhamun's) and temple reliefs. Exodus 14:7 and 15:4 speak of chosen chariots and captains.

  • Plausible

    A strong wind blowing all night can push back shallow water and bare the bottom for some hours.

    Oceanographic models (Nof and Paldor 1992 for the Gulf of Suez; Drews and Han 2010 for a lagoon of the eastern delta) show that such 'wind setdown' is physically possible. They show a possible means, not what happened, and the text presents the event as the L…

  • Plausible

    God divided the sea by means of the strong east wind the text names.

    Exodus 14:21 names the wind and says it blew all night; studies of wind setdown show that strong winds can push shallow water back.

  • Plausible

    The crossing is told as a wonder beyond any natural explanation.

    The text speaks of walls of water on the right and left (14:22) and the song of waters standing as a heap (15:8); the account stresses that the LORD fought for Israel.

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King James Version (KJV) Chinese Union Version, 1919 (Wikisource)