Our Ancient Future Story
Our Ancient Future Story
Echoes of the Seas Parting: Israel's Narrow Escape from Egypt
Embark with us on a journey back in time as we explore the gripping saga of Moses, the Israelites, and their daring escape from Egyptian captivity. Feel the sand beneath your feet and the rush of the parting Red Sea in an episode that promises to immerse you in one of history's most awe-inspiring narratives. With the precision of a historian and the vivid storytelling of a master narrator, we piece together the strategic escape route chosen by God, the leadership of Moses, and the ultimate downfall of the Egyptian pursuers. It's a tale that not only demonstrates the might of Yahweh but also forges an unbreakable bond of trust between the Divine and His people.
As we probe deeper, we grapple with the historical and geographical conundrums that have puzzled scholars for centuries. Could the crossing of the Sea of Reeds have been a product of natural disasters, as some suggest, or was it a moment of pure divine intervention? We dissect the implications of these events on the rulers of Egypt, the power struggles that ensued, and how this epoch-defining episode sculpted the nation's destiny. Join me and our esteemed guests as we navigate through this ancient narrative, revealing how these timeless stories continue to shape our understanding of faith, power, and the human spirit.
Welcome to our Ancient Future Story, navigating Scripture Through the Eyes of Family, where I share with you biblical stories like a family member would share a story around the dinner table. As children of God, we are a part of God's family and his family story has a lot of history. Each week we will take one story and talk about it the cultural, historical, geographical and sociological impacts. We will be looking at the story from the perspective of our ancestors, through the lens and ancient times, in hopes of learning more about our family. This is our Ancient Futures Story. Welcome back to our Ancient Futures Story. I'm Vic and I am so excited to share with you the continuation of Moses' story. When we left off last time, they were celebrating the Passover as they were leaving Egypt, but today we will see that there was a problem. They were leaving Egypt, but there was a giant sea in front of them. Today we are going to see Yahweh's final act of pulling his people out of Egypt. So, if you're ready, grab a cup of coffee or something to drink and let's get ready to dive into the crossing of the Red Sea. Our story today opens with some background info. When Pharaoh had let the people of Israel go, god did not lead them by the way of the Philistines, lest they see war and immediately return to the slavery in Egypt. So instead he took them by the Red Sea. The people of Israel had plundered the Egyptians, so they are armed for war. And Moses got the bones of Joseph and took them with him, just as his fathers had promised to not leave Joseph's bones in Egypt. And they moved from Sikathim, camped in Etham, on the edge of the wilderness, and Yahweh went before them by day in the pillar of cloud and by night in the pillar of fire. And Yahweh said to Moses Tell the people to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hah-hi-roth, between Migdal and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon. And you are to camp by the sea, Because Pharaoh will say the Israelites are wandering in the land and the wilderness has confused them. But I, yahweh, will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue you and I will get the glory of Pharaoh and all his hosts, and all the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh. So Israel did just as the Lord had said. And when Pharaoh heard that the Israelites had fled, his heart changed and his servants asked what have we done? They were the majority of our workforce. So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and took his army and he pursued the people of Israel. The Egyptians pursued with all their chariots, horses and armed soldiers. They outnumbered the Hebrews. They camped at Pi-hah-hi-roth in front of Baal-zephon.
Speaker 1:As Pharaoh's army got closer, all of Israel looked up with fear and they cried out to the Lord. But they started yelling at Moses and blaming him for this predicament. They said were there not enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us into the wilderness to die? Didn't we tell you to leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians, because at least we wouldn't die in the wilderness? But Moses told the people fear not and stand firm, for Yahweh will fight for you on this day, for the Egyptians you see before you. You will never see again, because Yahweh fights for you. Only be silent.
Speaker 1:Yahweh then said to Moses why are you crying out? Go forward, lift your hands over the sea and divide it, and the people of Israel may go through it on dry ground. Okay, pause. Can we just take a minute and appreciate the nonchalantness of God here? Just go forward, don't worry about the massive army behind you or the massive sea in front of you. Just trust me and move forward? And can we also take a minute to appreciate that God dried the ground? He didn't have to. He could have left it a mushy, marshy mess, but instead he dried the ground to make it easy to walk across. Back to our story. Then God said I will harden the hearts of Pharaoh and his men and I will get the glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen, and all the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.
Speaker 1:Then the pillar of cloud that had been leading the Israelites moved from in front of them to behind them and stood between them and the Egyptians, and neither side approached the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and Yahweh drove back the sea by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry, land, the waters divided and the people of Israel walked across on dry ground in the midst of the waters, being walled on both sides. Seeing this, the Egyptians pursued the Israelites in the midst of the sea. All Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen pursued Israel and in the morning light, the pillar of cloud looked down on the Egyptians and threw them into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said to one another let's flee from Israel, for Yahweh fights for them, against us. Then the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, their chariots and their horsemen. So Moses stretched his hands out over the sea and the waves came crashing down back to their normal course when the morning appeared. As the waters returned to normal, all of Pharaoh's hosts, chariots and horsemen had pursued Israel were swallowed up by the sea. Not one of them remained, but the people of Israel crossed the sea on dry ground. Thus Yahweh saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the great power of Yahweh against the Egyptians, so that the people feared Yahweh and believed him and his servant Moses. And that is where our story ends for today, yahweh fully rescuing his people from slavery. They never have to fear again that the Egyptians would pursue them into the wilderness or the land that God would show them, because Yahweh fought for them. He displayed his power to Israel and to Egypt and showed the nations that he is the supreme God.
Speaker 1:If you grew up in church, you have probably heard this story many, many times. It's basically the staple VBS story. And even if you didn't grow up in church. You probably have heard this story before. As I have said in previous episodes, this is the testimony of every single Jewish person to this day. Every year they remember how Yahweh rescued them out of Egypt. And I think there are a few things we should discuss to help shape the context of the story for us.
Speaker 1:The first location Our story takes place in Egypt, around 1446 BC. If we take the early date, or 1275 BC if we take the late date. We are still dealing with the reign of Thutmose III in 1446 BC or Ramses II in 1275 BC. But when Israel is released from Pharaoh, god leads the Hebrews away from the territory of the Philistines and towards the wilderness. So who are the Philistines? The Philistines are also known as the Sea People in history. They have boats and were master archers. They could shoot their bow and arrows from their ships, which was a great advantage when facing soldiers with weapons for hand-in-hand combat. So instead of leading the people of Israel directly up through the Philistine territory though it would have been shorter, they would have certainly faced war, and Yahweh did not want this ragtag group of people to get freaked out and go running back to slavery. So instead he led them away from the Philistines toward the wilderness. Now, at the beginning of this part of the story, we see Israel wandering around back and forth, still in Egypt. They haven't crossed the plain yet to be out of Egypt's control.
Speaker 1:I think we are quick to judge the Israelites for not believing Yahweh, but for a second, can we put ourselves in their shoes? Here is Moses, who is claiming to hear from God. We have seen all the wonders throughout the plagues, we have packed up all of our stuff and we are now following a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, but we are just walking in circles. We don't know why we started in one direction and then turned back and went the other way. Only Moses is hearing what God is saying. We are just following the cloud and the fire. I can absolutely believe people are rumbling with doubt.
Speaker 1:The next thing I want to talk about is the numbers. We have discussed numbers before about how many people were actually leaving Egypt versus how many people were around at this time and, as we've discussed before, our Bibles say that it was about 600,000 men plus women and children, which would have been roughly 2 million people. However, if you remember what I said about numbers in the Bible. Sometimes our English Bible doesn't always have the best interpretation of it, and it's all because of this Hebrew word, eliph, which can be translated as a thousand, but it can also be translated as clan or family, and if we translate this verse as 600 clans of men plus women and children, we get a number much closer to 6,000 than 2 million. I, as I've said before, still tend to lean toward this idea of 6,000, because there is no archaeological evidence of 2 million people leaving Egypt at any point in history, but there is some evidence of a few thousand leaving.
Speaker 1:However, the size of the Egyptian army was massive in comparison Roughly 20,000 men, 16,000 on foot soldiers and 4,000 chariots. So let's assume for now that Israel does indeed have about 6,000 men on foot and they are seeing 20,000 men coming at them, with 4,000 of them on chariots and horses. That is massive and terrifying, especially when you look up and see an army behind you that size and a sea in front of you. Nevertheless, they come to the sea. The Hebrew here is yamsuf, which our Bibles translate as the Red Sea, but it is more literally translated as the Sea of Reeds. In recent years this has caused some debate, because scholars are now saying it wasn't the Red Sea but rather the Reed Sea, which brings up several questions like where is this Reed Sea? Did the Israelites walk anywhere near this? And where the sea is supposedly located? And all of these are valid questions. I will give you both sides and let you decide where the Israelites actually crossed.
Speaker 1:Let's start with the Red Sea. The Red Sea is located between Africa and Saudi Arabia. It is roughly 1,200 miles long and at its widest point is 221 miles wide, and its deepest point is just under 10,000 feet. This is a massive sea and even assuming the Israelites would have crossed it the shortest width from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea is still about 30 miles across and roughly 300 feet deep. So God would have had to move trillions of gallons of water in a single night. And not only would God have to move trillions of gallons of water in a single night, and not only would God have to move the water, but the people of Israel would have had to cross 30 miles across in a single night, which sounds near impossible when you think about the fact that the standard for traveling in a single day was 20 miles. Is it possible. Yes, god can move mountains. He can move trillions of gallons of water. However, the Reed Sea has brought up a good argument for a more plausible explanation.
Speaker 1:Now, the Reed Sea, on the other hand, is believed to be Lake Manzola, which is in northeastern Egypt, in the Nile Delta. This lake borders the Mediterranean Sea and is only 30 miles long and about 18 miles wide, and at its deepest point is about 6 feet. This is drastically smaller in scale and, as its name suggests, is full of reeds. But what is interesting about Lake Manzala is it has been reported on more than one occasion that when an east wind blows through throughout the night, the water will disappear, leaving the muddy marshy ground. But when the wind stops, the water will return to its normal place. This would have been seen as an act of God. It's unlikely that anyone in Egypt would have ever seen water be removed before, and even if they had, they definitely would not have seen the dry ground afterward. Remember, any natural anomaly was easily explained by the gods. This event would have been no different, which is why some of the Egyptians were scared and wanted to run, because they believed Yahweh was truly fighting for Israel. In any case, the important thing is that it happened that the water split and Israel walked across on dry ground and the Egyptians chasing after them were eliminated, but I think it is interesting how the waters came back on top of the Egyptians Around.
Speaker 1:This time there was an underwater volcanic eruption off the coast of the Greek Islands, known as Santorini Volcanic Eruption. This eruption caused multiple tsunamis that made their way across the Mediterranean and would have easily taken out an entire army. In fact, king Thutmose III's tomb has hieroglyphs of Egyptians drowning. I find this interesting because typically, a pharaoh would never immortalize a colossal failure like losing his entire army in the sea, which does lean me toward the idea that Yahweh used natural disasters to bring his people out of Egypt for good. Pharaoh would be way more likely to ascribe to the story of how the gods brought a massive storm that caused many Egyptians to drown than to boast about of how the gods brought a massive storm that caused many Egyptians to drown than to boast about their failure to keep the Israelites slaves.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're like me, you may have been wondering how could these events really have happened if Pharaoh lived past these events? Wasn't Pharaoh leading the army into the sea, pursuing the Israelites? Well, the answer is no. Should they have been? Probably yes, but in both cases Pharaoh had a good excuse not to be with his troops and when the waters collapsed, aside from our scriptures, which don't actually say that Pharaoh was among the Egyptians who died in the sea, we note that Thutmose III did not go back out to war after Queen Hatshepsut died. Even though he was a mighty warrior in his youth, he was not among the troops when the sea came back over them. Ramses II, on the other hand, also was not with his troops, but for a much different reason. Ramses II had arthritis in his hip and also, in recent studies have found, he likely also had cancer, so he was physically unable to chase the Israelites. In either case, it is almost worse for Pharaoh that they did not die in the sea with their armies, because now they had to face the people of Egypt alone. Remember, egypt is in total ruin. Every household has someone dead Now the entire army has drowned. Ruin. Every household has someone dead. Now the entire army has drowned.
Speaker 1:How is Pharaoh going to take back control and convince all of his people that he is still God incarnate and reestablish Egypt's greatness? As we have said before, egypt never fully recovers from this devastation that Yahweh brings on them. Yes, dynasties continue, but Egypt never regains its superpower status again. So how does this point to Yahweh? Each time we get together, we talk about this story and how it points to Yahweh. In today's story, yahweh's power is put on full display. Pharaoh's last-ditch effort was to send his army after the Israelites, but Yahweh still gets the glory, not just for parting the seas, but for rescuing his people from even the thought that the Egyptians could one day come after them again. And because of this grandiose display, israel, egypt and the entire known world hears about the power of Yahweh, and it sends fear throughout all the nations. And Yahweh gains this respect and honor as the supreme God that he is.
Speaker 1:So as we end our time together, I want to spend some time reading the scripture, from where our story comes from today Exodus 13 and 14. I hope that as we read this together in light of everything we have learned, this story will be illuminated for you. Let's read when Pharaoh let the people go, god did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said least. The people change their minds and when they see war, they will return to Egypt. But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea, and the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt to equip for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones with you from here. And they moved from Saccothen and Canton Etham, on the edge of the wilderness, and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and led them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and by night, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, but did not depart from before the people. Then the Lord said to Moses Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pihahiroth, between Migdal and the sea, in front of Baal-Zephon. You shall encamp, facing it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say to the people of Israel they are wandering in the land, the wilderness has shut them in and I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them and I will get the glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so.
Speaker 1:When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants were changed toward the people and they said what is this? We have done that. We have let Israel go from serving us. So he made ready his chariots and took his armies with him. He took six hundred chosen chariots and all other chariots of Egypt with officers over them, and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel. While the people of Israel were going out, the Egyptians pursued them all, pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them in camps by the sea, by Pi-hi-roth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Speaker 1:When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes and beheld the Egyptians were marching after them and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to bring us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than die in the wilderness.
Speaker 1:And Moses said to the people Fear not, stand firm. See the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today. You shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you shall never see again the Lord will fight for you and you will only be silent.
Speaker 1:The Lord said to Moses why do you cry out to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so they shall go in after them. And I will get the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them. And I will get the glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, his chariots and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen, then the angel of the Lord who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel, and there was a cloud in the darkness and it lit up the night, without one coming near the other all night.
Speaker 1:Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind All night. It made the sea dry land and the waters were divided and the people of israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being on wall on their right hand and on their left. The egyptians pursued and went in after them, into the midst of the sea, all pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen, and in the morning watched the lord in. And then the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand over the sea and the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared and the Egyptians fled into it and the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them, on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power of the Lord used against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to today's episode of our Ancient Future Story. I hope that you really enjoyed it. This episode was written and produced by me. Vic Harmon Music is Embarking on an Adventure by Evan MacDonald. Please support the show by subscribing and rating us, and if you would like to know more or grow deeper, check out our website at ourancientfuturestorycom. See you next time. Bye.
