Wind could have parted Red Sea for Moses: U.S. report
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Moses might not have parted the Red Sea, but a strong east wind that blew through the night could have pushed the waters back in the way described in biblical writings and the Koran, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
Computer simulations, part of a larger study on how winds affect water, show wind could push water back at a point where a river bent to merge with a coastal lagoon, the team at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado at Boulder said.
(Image: Israel’s Escape from Egypt on a 1907 Bible card)
“The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus,” Carl Drews of NCAR, who led the study, said in a statement. “The parting of the waters can be understood through fluid dynamics. The wind moves the water in a way that’s in accordance with physical laws, creating a safe passage with water on two sides and then abruptly allowing the water to rush back in.”
Religious texts differ a little in the tale, but all describe Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt ahead of a pharaoh’s armies around 3,000 years ago. The Red Sea parts to let Moses and his followers pass safely, then crashes back onto the pursuers, drowning them.
Click here for a video and explanation of the study or read another detailed explanation here.
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OF COURSE, HOW STUPID TO THINK THAT MILLIONS OF HEBREWS LADEN WITH THEIR BELONGINGS PLUS LIVESTOCK AND GRAIN JUST HAPPENED TO BE AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME AND THAT THIS “WIND” BLEW AN EXACT PATH ACROSS THE SEA FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER, LEAVING THE GROUND TOTALLY DRY,AND THAT AS SOON AS ALL THE HEBREWS CROSSED THE WIND JUST DIED AND THE CHASING EGYPTIANS DROWNED.?????
IT WASN’T MOSES THAT PARTED THE WAVES, IT WAS GOD USING MOSES AND HIS STAFF AS INSTRUMENTS OF GOD’S POWER.
The wind did not “part” the Red Sea. What actually happened was the volcano at Thira (Santorini) exploding. The massive seismic event caused by this explosion pushed the Red Sea down the gulf rather than actually parting it. The sea “retreated” as it it often does during earthquakes and came back later with a vengence destroying Pharoahs army.
The ongoing eruption at Thira prior to the cataclysmic explosion would also explain many of the ‘plagues’ which occured in Egypt prior to the Red Sea incident..
Further support can be found in the Bible stating that the Hebrews followed a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, possibly evidence of the connection with this huge eruption.
Or here’s a thought: the entire story is mythological and not meant to be taken literally. We might as well wonder how big was the lion killed by Herakles or what kind of wood the Trojan horse was made out of.
People waste valuable time trying to figure out causes for events that did not actually take place. There is no evidence whatsoever for the ancestors of the Jewish people being in captivity in Egypt, nor any evidence for a 40-year sojourn in the Sinai desert, nor for the conquest of Canaan. Read the stories for their literary merit, not as actual history.
There is a ton of archaeological evidence to support the Biblical stories that continue to be discovered in the regions where the historical events of the BIble occurred. See the link below for just a sampling of some of the evidence.
http://www.facingthechallenge.org/arch2. php