- “Conspiracy theories: their place in religious thought—Vaccines.”
Conspiracy theories- their place in religious thought—Vaccines
2. Did the Israelites according to Exodus 15 cross the Red Sea or the Reed Sea (Sea of Reeds)?
3. Questioning the historicity of the Exodus
https://abelsitali.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Questioning-the-historicity-of-the-Exodus.pdf
The original Hebrew text Yam Suph means “Sea of Reeds ” not Red Sea. (Ex.15:4, 22, Dt 11: 4, Jo 2:10, 4: 23 , 24: 6, Neh 9: 9, Ps 106 :7, 9, 33).
Yum Suph has been rendered “Red Sea” in almost all translations. Options, maybe Red Sea became known as such because the name is from Edomites. In Hebrew, it means red.
Edomites were enemies of the Israelites. Maybe Israelites decided not to call it as Reed Sea , but Red Sea. Again, the sea was also known as the Gulf of Suez, presently known as the Red Sea.
The Hebrew Bible first translated to LXX, Greek translation. There could be a technical translation and the New Testament continued to refer to Red Sea.
In conclusion, whatever the origin of the term, it was not the name of the body of water the Bible says the Israelites crossed in the exodus.
@ Newton, regarding the origin of Red Sea in place of the original Reed Sea, please glean some insights from the article: New Evidence from Egypt on the Location of the Exodus Sea Crossing: Part I
My understanding is that,Yam Suph is “Sea of Reeds”, (suph by itself means ‘reed’, e.g. in Exodus 2:3). As this was pointed out as early as the 11th century, by Rashi. This may refer to a large lake close to the Red Sea, which has since dried up due to the Suez Canal. To me this explains the confusion as why the red sea would be mistaken for the sea of reeds which is now dried up.
@ Derick, the question is why the Hebrew Bible, from which the translations derived does not refer to the Red Sea but the Reed Sea, (sea of Reeds)?
The bible does not explicitly mention the Red Sea as the sea that Moses and the children of Israel crossed. However, the Red Sea is explicitly mentioned in Exodus 15:22 by Mirrian in her song of praise to the Lord. The sea of reeds does not seem to be mentioned anywhere in the bible at least from the five different translations that I have examined, ” KJV, NKJV, NLT, ESV, and AMP. Unless there is somewhere in scholarly manuscripts where the sea of reeds is mentioned as the sea that was crossed other than on wikipedia.
@ Derick, the original Hebrew Bible from which the translations derive have the designation “Yam Suph”, that is Yam for sea and Suph for reeds, thus Sea of Reeds or Reed Sea. So the question is under what circumstances did the “mistranslation” arise? Glean some ideas from the article in the link and make your determination.
They crossed the Red Sea which is also known as the sea of reeds. The Red Sea is best known for its connection to the story of the Exodus, as the sea which the Israelites crossed dry shod after the waters had been miraculously divided. See Ex 13:18, 14:21-31; 15: 4. It is not known though the exact spot they crossed.
@Ackim, What exactly does the Bible and other extra biblical sources say? Can we get insights from the article in the link I attached? Sure, the actual spot at which they crossed the sea in question is another related topic which you might want to discuss. Let’s keep the conversation going.
Did the Israelites according to Exodus 15 cross the Red Sea or the Reed Sea (Sea of Reeds)?
See the article entitled: New Evidence from Egypt on the Location of the Exodus Sea Crossing: Part I
Please leave a comment
It is inspiring to see your contribution to our understanding of Gods work
Hello my man and former roomie, thanks for coming on board and your comment. keep visiting my webpage and engage me on any topic of interest.
@ Imasiku, thanks for your comments. You are right on point. Those who argue in favour of the proposition that Israelite faith was monotheistic from its very inception have not been able to substantiate the claim. Often, their arguments have found solace in orthodox faith which is not supported by biblical and extra biblical evidence. The more we ask the hard questions surrounding these topics, the more it will challenge us to do further research.
An interesting study indeed. I totally agree with your point of view that the undivided understanding of God as one God and no other among the children of Israel was gradual as they went through ups and downs in their history. They discovered as exiles that help could only come from the one true God Jehovah and no other.