An illustration based on new research shows how wind could have moved and split waters from two ancient basins.
The parting of the waters described in the book of Exodus that enabled Moses and the Israelites to escape the pharaoh's army is possible, computer simulations run by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado at Boulder show.
To test the theory that the biblical account may have depicted actual events, the researchers studied maps of the region, archaeological records and satellite measurements to find a topographical feature where such an event might have been possible. They settled on an area south of the Mediterranean Sea where some oceanographers say a branch of the Nile River drained into what was called the Lake of Tanis, a coastal lagoon 3,000 years ago.
The computer model shows a 63 mph east wind blowing across the area and its 6-feet-deep waters for 12 hours. In the scenario, the wind pushed back the waters into both the lake and the channel of the river, exposing a mud flat 2 to 2.5 miles long and 3 miles wide for four hours. As the winds died down, the waters quickly flowed back in and in theory would have drowned anyone on the mud flat.
“The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus,” said Carl Drews of NCAR, the lead author of the study published in the online journal PLoS ONE. (Read the full study)
“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.”
YouTube: Parting the waters, Part 1: The physics of a land bridge
Parting the waters, Part 2: Carl Drews on wind setdown research
The biblical account of Exodus has Moses and his followers trapped by the pharaoh forces against a body of water, which has been translated to both the Red Sea and the Sea of Reeds. In the account, a strong wind comes up after night falls and parts the waters behind the Israelites. Moses leads them into the breach but when the pharaoh army pursues them at daybreak, the gap disappears and the army is lost.
Previous research has focused on areas of the Red Sea near the modern-day Suez Canal where the biblical miracle may have been possible. The NCAR/CU team said their research shows those scenarios unlikely. They ran a series of 14 computer simulations to pinpoint the area where the parting of the waters was most likely.
“People have always been fascinated by this Exodus story, wondering if it comes from historical facts,” Drews says. “What this study shows is that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws."
Drews conducted the Exodus research as part of a larger project on how winds can affect water depths.
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I was once devoutly atheist... Then I became a micro-biologist... Now I pray everyday... The workings of a cell are no accident
I have seen in my life time is the accuracy of the prophecies of the New Testament. So many postings from those that so easily deny the divine and claim their superiority to us small minded people of faith. The world is upside down and falling more with each passing year. I pity you for your blindness and hatred of those who CAN see the truth of the divine creator.
What a tremendous waste of resources... when people are going to rely on "faith" and believe what they believe no matter what science or 'pseudoscience' says. Meanwhile there's still people suffering and being forced to live in bondage on this planet. Seriously. I hope someday humanity will focus, be present, and get its priorities straight.
good idea cody! let's just forget about faith and religion.... heck, it's worked out so great for russia, cuba, china, and north korea
scince does not disprove god. it disproves the bibles god
So let me get this straight: A questionable study concludes that the water crossing could not have occured where the bible says it did, but theoretically could have occured someplace else. If, as has already been pointed out, you're willing to believe that an incredibly large group of men, woman, and children crossed a muddy seabed in a 60 mph wind. Is anyone really lacking the critical thinkinbg skills to see that this doesn't lift a finger to support the biblical story? No wonder we in the USA have lost our scientific leadership: We've become a nation of dimwits!
So silly is to seek for the literal meaning of symbolic teachings...
next researchers will be testing whether a tiny flying grandmother actually collects childrens teeth at night. Science is so important!
Proven? I dont think a damn thing was proven. Anything to oppose the Miracles of God, next, create Man, lol
Well, let us see what is said in the scripture about the crossing. I believe it said that Moses and the children of Israel went across on dry land. Mud two inches or two feet or marsh lands do not meet those words.
It almost certainly didn't happen as described anyway, so who cares if it is theoretically possible?
I think Moses and his buddies took the subway that wen through the tunnel under the Nile... This is interesting research if you think from a pure entertainament perspective, but its somewhat scaring to see that there are people that actually believe that some super-natural force did part the waters, can't see the difference betwen believing on this or believing that Santa Claus bring us presents every Christmas...
If I could only remember how I did that "parting" thing, but it was so long ago and I did so many things like that.
Stupid, pointless arguments aside (Whew! Give it a rest, Guys!) I have seen this phenomenon happen in the Indian River (Lagoon) in Brevard County, Florida. A good strong (20+ MPH) easterly wind for a day 'er so would push the water away from the eastern shore, so you could walk out onto the flats for literally hundreds of yards. Where this occured, when I was a kid, has changed now, as barrier islands topography is wont to do, but the possibility of this happening for Moses, or whoever for that matter, is entirely possible. Open your minds...
Problem is...we can open our minds so far that our brains fall out. Sometimes absence of evidence is just that...in other words, the event did not occur the way the text describes. But, to your point about the water and the Lake of Tanis...Pharaoh was not stupid...neither is there any indication in the Bible (the only place where this story occurs) that God made Pharaoh go into the path the Israelites were taking. So, why doesn't he just take his army around and easily meet them on the other side as they come out?
For Pharaoh to take his army into the water, he had to have no other option...thus, the body of water had to be much, much bigger than a lake. Many people, scientists and others, try to find physical evidence for this story. They somehow cannot take into consideration that it is a deity war, and fits beautifully in the genre of gods beating the crap out of other gods...and the tales may have physical experiences behind them, such as earthquakes, floods, eclipses, locust swarms, etc, but they only serve to provide the fodder for the elaboration in the story. They are things with which the population is familiar and they make the story meaningful to the original readers. We, however, go nuts trying to prove that what probably did not happen, actually could have.
As a result, we end up not thinking...we accept the limited data without thinking of the ramifications...and our brains fall out.
In all this, has nobody bothered to ask the following questions?
Is it reasonable to think that the wind would blow consistently at 63 miles an hour in one direction over the same area for 12 hours? The wind changes. Even in places on earth that are legendarily consistent, as the sun rises and sets, the wind changes directions and speeds.
What are the chances that a process like this would result in the waters coming together so quickly that an army would be drowned? Wouldn't they see it coming and just walk out again? How long a stretch of water, exactly, could have been parted under these conditions?
Does it matter if it's possible, if it's heinously unlikely?
And in the end, it leaves us in exactly the same situation as before. There's a God and It made some highly improbably stuff happen, or there's a God and It didn't, or there's no God. I, for one, can't tell and don't much care to argue between those possibilities, because the nature of a God is that Its existence cannot be proven or disproven.
I heard another theory about this my senior year of college from my zoo-geography professor. What if Moses' crossing actually took place on the Nile delta, and coincided with the Tidal Waves set off by the explosion of the huge volcano in the central Mediterranean Sea that left the Greek Island Santorini, or Thera, as it's remnant?
One of the difficulties with the Santorini eruption is that it occurred several centuries before the traditional dates of the exodus...supposedly under Ramses II (a dating that is not possible either). But, there is no suggestion in archaeological finds that the slavery took place at the time of the Santorini event, nor is there any biblical suggestion of it either.