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 don't get it. If you're not inclined to believe it was a miraculous event, wouldn't you just be inclined to think it's a story that never actually happened? What am I missing? Why do some folks try to come up with scientific explanations for miracles reported in the Bible? Just seems to me if you believe the story, there's no reason to think it wasn't a miracle.
Did you hear the one about how the Sea of Galilee temporarily froze over enabling Jesus to "walk on water"?
How can you say its fiction.How does anybody REALLY know? its amazing that we as human beings exist. take life for what it is..anything is possible.
Meyer C Dhoates wrote:
"Why are there no Egyptian records of slaves having built pyramids?
Why don't you tell us who did build them.
300 years ago, believing that radio waves exists was also hard. Now its not such a miracle. We are in a generation where science proves the existance of G-d and the Torah.
http://www.evidencefortorah.comxa.com
Is there anything God could do to make you believe? Probably not. You have an excuse for everything!
God doesn't need us to prove or disprove him. He just is. We Christians need to be better examples of God's love. We have failed so many times, but that doesn't change who God is.
People seem to miss the main point that there WAS no "Exodus." There is no external historical or archeological evidence to support an exodus of Hebrews from Egypt c. 1200 BCE. Instead, ll of the archeological evidence points to a group of Semites always having lived in Canaan who developed "Judaism," and that the Torah was first written during the Babylonian exile (probably borrowing myths like the Flood from the Gilgamesh Epics. Biblical scholars– and even well-read devout Jews– understand this history, while most Jews, Christians, and Muslims are oblivious to the historical roots of their religion. It shouldn't take away from faith to read and understand history.
It was the Catholic Church that threatened Galileo because his findings pointed the other direction to many of what they say. They wanted to keep people in the dark, and much of the Church if not most still do. The Catholic Church is a joke plainly just to get money, and it worked.
Scientists should stop wasting their resources exploring the most ridiculous scam/fairy tale ever created- religion.
"god did it – Science had nothing to do with it"
Spoken like a good chrizz-jun conservative that was home schooled by jeezuz freaks.
What next from you bible bangin' delusional reality deniers, that the earth is only 6,000 years old and that carbon dating is an evil majic trick of the devil that he gave to scientists to prove there is no god?
I'm not a very religious person. But I don't understand how you can not believe in God? I find it hard not to based on science alone. What would be the probability that due to gravitational pull the Sun, Moon, and Earth would be at the exact distance they are to support life?
What is the probability that we have plants that produce oxygen, animals that consume it and produce CO2, and the plants take the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis to turn it back to oxygen?
I can probably write a laundry list of things that if they were different, life would not exist on Earth, and the probability of them being the way they are is unbelievably low.
Ask yourself this, if there is no "God", then everything must be due to random events, then take a box of sticks, shake it, and toss it to the ground. Once that jumbled mess of sticks randomly stacks up and builds a small house, tell yourself there is no God. Whatever God is, I don't know. But I just don't see how there can be no creator.
I'm not a very religious person. But I don't understand how you can not believe in God? I find it hard not to based on science alone. What would be the probability that due to gravitational pull the Sun, Moon, and Earth would be at the exact distance they are to support life?
What is the probability that we have plants that produce oxygen, animals that consume it and produce CO2, and the plants take the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis to turn it back to oxygen?
I can probably write a laundry list of things that if they were different, life would not exist on Earth, and the probability of them being the way they are is unbelievably low.
Ask yourself this, if there is no "God", then everything must be due to random events, then take a box of sticks, shake it, and toss it to the ground. Once that jumbled mess of sticks randomly stacks up and builds a small house, tell yourself there is no God. Whatever God is, I don't know. But I just don't see how there can be no creator.
It doesn't matter since it's FICTION!!!
Then God came to Moses' rescue. He was told to gather his followers and take them through the midst of the seas, on a path that would be specially carved for them by ALLAH.. Pharaoh and his men, fully armed, attempted to pursue them along the same path. As soon as Pharaoh and his men set foot on the path, however, it vanished, and they were drowned in the raging seas
One thing is for sure! there is no god for stupid peaple... check the dollar bills it says IN GOD WE TRUST It means the federal goverment does bealieve in GOD
Yeah...because it's printed on some money, that makes it true. And before 1957 the federal government didn't believe. And there's a Nigerian prince who will share his fortune with you if you wire him 500 dollars. That's printed somewhere too.