The Crossing of the Red Sea #35

The crossing of the Red Sea is the climax of Israel’s escape from Egypt, described in Exodus 14 and celebrated in the song of Exodus 15. With Pharaoh’s army closing in and the sea ahead, God opens a path through the water, and Israel passes over on dry ground. The Egyptians who follow are drowned.

Biblical Account

God did not lead Israel by the coastal route through Philistine territory, but toward the wilderness by way of the “Red Sea,” guiding them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:17-22). He told Moses to make camp by the sea, near Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. Pharaoh, hearing that the people were trapped, changed his mind about letting them go, took six hundred chosen chariots, and pursued them (Exodus 14:1-9).

The Israelites saw the Egyptians coming and cried out in terror, and some said it would have been better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness (Exodus 14:10-12). Moses answered, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day… The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:13-14).

The angel of God and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of the camp to behind it, standing between Israel and Egypt (Exodus 14:19-20). Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind all night, making the sea dry land. The waters were divided, and the people went through with the water as a wall on their right hand and on their left (Exodus 14:21-22). The Egyptians followed, and God threw their army into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels (Exodus 14:23-25). At dawn Moses stretched out his hand again, the sea returned, and not one of the Egyptians survived (Exodus 14:26-28). Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore, “and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses” (Exodus 14:30-31). Moses, the Israelites, and Miriam with her tambourine then sang praise (Exodus 15:1-21).

Theological Significance

The crossing is the definitive rescue of the Old Testament, the event to which later writers return in the Psalms and the prophets when they speak of God’s saving power. It shows the meaning of the Passover in action: the people did nothing to save themselves, and Moses told them to be still. The New Testament reads the event as a pattern, with Paul describing Israel as “baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2) and Hebrews praising the faith by which the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land (Hebrews 11:29).

Historical and Archaeological Notes

The Hebrew phrase is yam suph, literally “sea of reeds,” and translators and scholars disagree over whether it refers to the Gulf of Suez, a northern lake or marsh, or the Gulf of Aqaba. The identification of the crossing site remains unsettled, and some interpreters emphasize the natural wind described in the text, while others stress the miraculous character the narrative gives it.