Study: Red Sea parting was possible

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???

I'm not sure what the Documentary Hypothesis has to do with the meaning of Yam Suph. Lexical studies in my experience depend not on authorship but on usage. But I may be slow today. So, are you suggesting that the meaning of Yam Suph is determined by who wrote or edited Exodus?

I'm not here arguing the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch ,although I consider that likely. I said nothing about that. So, I'm sorry, I don't see your point, Mark.

Events in the life of Moses, including this crossing of Yam Suph, are seemingly affirmed in the New Testament, eg : 1 Cor 10 ; John 6 ; Heb 11. In fact, Moses is mentioned in the NT nearly 100 times.

Since I believe the originals of Scripture to be inerrant , I accept the historicity, though unsure of some details, of the topic of this thread. But I'm not interested in providing a defense for my faith as , at the doctoral level, I'm still struggling to grasp a part of my own belief system.

Right now, as per my dissertation, defining God crossing into humanity is infinitely more important to me than defending Israel crossing the sea.

 

Bill Grover writes:

> So, are you suggesting that the meaning of Yam Suph is
> determined by who wrote or edited Exodus?

No, "yam suph" would mean "sea of reeds" no matter who wrote it.

I was suggesting that the author of Exodus 15:4 might have located the Israelites' crossing at Suez (where the reeds are), while the author of Exodus 14:21 located it somewhere else (where the shoal water is).

But now that I've looked up Exodus 14:21-22:

it plainly reads like a miracle, and not like shoal water ("an area made shallow by a sandbank or sandbar"). So I retract my suggestion.

 

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I see. Well, as said I'm a little dull today, Mark. I'm doing my bibliography for the typist, and it really puts me to sleep.

As I recall, in the Ten Commandments, the wall of the sea on either side was much taller than Charlton Heston's head. So truly that was a miracle

 

Well, I admit that when I read the verse "The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left", the movie did come to mind.

I don't see how shoal water could create anything in the shape of a wall (whether higher or lower than Charlton Heston's head). But your response led me to ponder further: perhaps the word "wall" was used to suggest the protective or defensive aspects of a wall, rather than the shape. Was that your thought?

 

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I confess it was not my thought. It's a neat idea, but I wonder from what those walls, then, would be defense ? The hordes of Pharoah seem a likely referent, but , then I'd think the wall would follow behind God's Chosen People, not on each side. Still, the story continues that the walls did eliminate the threat of the Egyptians. Or do the walls restrain the sea?

As a poor Gentile Christian's perspective, who sometimes feels that he has borrowed ,without leave, these interesting stories for his own use, I see that Paul in 1 Cor 10, who sees Christ at work in Exodus, metaphorically connects this and other chronologically near, and equally miraculous, events to Christ 's spiritual blessings on His other New Covenant , Chosen People.

I know this board is not a proper place for one to express personal religion in syrupy , spiritual syllabuses, but I'm so grateful for the personal conviction that the God who rescued Israel ,then, is interested in me too today. Sure, I may be wrong , and may be imagining it all, but boy does it seem to me that I see ,at times, the parting of my own Yam Suph.

Sorry Mark to respond to you in this way. It isn't fair! I'm just an emotional old man sometimes. Sorry.

 

Better not tell my Jewish friends. They seem to be under the impression that they live in the America's and are of the tribe of Israel.


Tony (the Mormon)