Both Christian and Jewish people regard Moses’ parting the Red Sea as one of the most impressive miracles of God — or is it? New research points to a scientific basis for the religious myth.
The biblical tale so goes that Moses, a prophet of God, commanded the deepest waters of the Red Sea, to open a path for the Israelites to flee an oppressive Egyptian pharaoh — whose troops were soon swept away by incoming waves.
Achieving this, however, wouldn’t necessarily demand divine intervention, according to experts at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
They claim that winds blowing at the right speed and angle could feasibly have opened a channel, allowing people to pass on foot — and subsequently swallowing anyone on their heels once the winds gay way, with tsunami force.
Oceanographer Carl Drews told Daily Mail, “The crossing of the Red Sea is a supernatural phenomenon that incorporates a natural component — the miracle is in the timing.”
Computer models predict such a phenomenon would require winds of more than 60 miles per hour to hit the water at a very specific angle, blowing open a tunnel of water 3 miles wide.
“When a strong wind blows southward from the head of the Gulf for about one day, the water is pushed seawards, thus exposing the bottom that was previously underwater,” said Nathan Paldor, an ocean scientist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The tale of Moses parting the Red Sea is said to have taken place in the Gulf of Aqaba, which separates Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula from Saudi Arabia and the south of Jordan. This section of the Red Sea is one of its deepest with a maximum of 6,000 feet down.
However, geological research refutes these accounts as no amount of storm-force winds could help people across the treacherous Gulf of Aqaba.
The story also states that the winds which blew the sea apart had come from the east, while scientific calculations specify the wind would have to come from the southwest.
Instead, archaeologists have hypothesized alternative locations for an extreme weather event that could pave the way for Moses’ miracle.
Located between mainland Egypt and the peninsula, the Gulf of Suez is only up to 100 feet deep with a relatively flat floor, which strong tides in this section are known to expose.
Bruce Parker, former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, believes Moses used his knowledge of the tides to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
“Moses had lived in the nearby wilderness in his early years, and he knew where caravans crossed the Red Sea at low tide,” Park wrote for The Wall Street Journal in 2014. “He knew the night sky and the ancient methods of predicting the tide, based on where the moon was overhead and how full it was.”
However, the Suez theory can’t support the Book of Exodus’ claim that easterly winds blew to part the sea.
In a report published in PLOS One, Drews proposed instead the Nile Delta’s Lake of Tannis as the most plausible site for the biblical event, matching alternative translations of the Hebrew Bible referencing a sea of “reeds” — not “Red Sea” — which grow densely in those brakish waters.
“Ocean modeling, and a report from 1882, shows that strong winds over the eastern Nile delta will blow away two meters of water, exposing temporarily dry land,” the oceans researcher said, thanks to the lake’s unique structure that provides “hydraulic mechanism for the waters to divide.”
Despite his feasible scientific theory, Drews admitted that his faith has led him to believe the story is nevertheless miraculous. Said the devout Christian, “Personally, I am a Lutheran who has always understood that faith and science can and should be in harmony”
“It is fitting and proper for a scientist to study the natural components of this narrative.”
