Two U.S. researchers used computer simulations to recreate what might have happened some 3 thousand years ago.

The book of Exodus gives account on how the Jewish people had to cross the Red Sea to flee from the Egyptians who’d been enslaving them for generations. As recorded in Exodus 14: 21-31, the waters parted, allowing thousands of people to go across safely, closing up again on their pursuers.

The Scriptures don’t give us an exact location of the crossing, which complicates it a bit for the fact that several of the location’s names have changed over the centuries. But this week, U.S. researchers reported not only that they’ve discovered the exact spot where Moses, under God’s command, opened the Red Sea and offered an explanation of the natural phenomena that caused the waters to part.

With a virtual model simulating the land and weather conditions, plus the depth of water and other topographical settings, Carl Drews and Weiqing Han, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado in Boulder reproduced the phenomena that would have pushed back the waterway exposing a land bridge, just like in the biblical episode. At no time during their demonstration, did the scientists claim whether they believed or not that this event was indeed a miracle. They just wanted to show what may have happened and under what conditions, in addition to being able to pinpoint a more approximate location.

Doubts still linger, but many aren’t necessarily related to the divine intervention. “Texts may have been wrongly translated. Many scholars argue that what was translated as Red Sea should have been rendered as the Sea of Reeds,” says archaeologist Rodrigo Silva, founder of the Archaeological Museum Paul Bork in Engenheiro Coelho (Sao Paulo, Brazil); the only one in Latin America. Therefore, the Sea of Reeds wouldn’t be referring to a sea, exactly, but a nearby region. In addition, the Red Sea is a gulf of the Indian Ocean, which is linked today to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal; its name refers to that portion of water as well as the surrounding region. Regardless, the phenomenon of the parting of the waters is clearly described in the Bible as a dry part of seabed that appeared because of a strong eastern wind, giving the Jews a safe passage and allowing them to escape their Egyptian pursuers, who were killed once the water closed up again.

Even though some scientists refute the idea of a miracle, would they know how to explain the Jews being right there at the exact moment the waters parted, exactly when they needed to be?

Wind Setdown

Drews and Hans focused precisely on the wind action, in a phenomenon known as “wind setdown”, which has happened in the Nile delta region in the 19th century.

The two scientists had their work published in the respected online journal, PLoS ONE, the Public Library of Science (PLoS), an organization that aims to spread science in a democratic way. “People have always been fascinated by this Exodus story, wondering if it comes from historical facts,” said Carl Drews. “What this study shows is that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws,” he adds. Drews also confirms another biblical description: “When the wind stopped, the waters would come rushing back. Anyone still on the mud flats would be at risk of drowning” – referring to the end of the crossing, when the pursuing Egyptians drowned.

With the help of oceanographer, Weiqing Han, Drews analyzed the region and came to a place east of the Nile Delta, Tell Kedu, an archaeological site north of the Suez Canal on the Mediterranean coast. With a satellite, they were able to monitor the area. The pair made a computer simulation of that area; reconstructing the location to make it look like it did about 3,000 years ago during the biblical era. They filled the model with water and simulated the wind setdown.

The scientists’ calculated that a wind of 63 miles an hour would have been able to push back the waters for about four hours; enough for the safe passage of Moses and his people.

Biblical witness

Throughout his work, Rodrigo Silva, has obtained several evidences of biblical accounts, which have been properly cataloged and exhibited in international museums. If these archeological findings prove something; how it happened is a whole different story. “When someone finds these ‘scientific proofs’ that are linked to Biblical passages, many people begin thinking that ‘the miracle is no longer a miracle’, just because nature had a part in it,” says the archaeologist. “Of course nature had something to do with it, but it was under God’s command. And when God manifests Himself, He leaves a particular ‘signature’. It’s just like the time when the court magicians turned their rods into snakes before the Pharaoh and Moses also transformed his rod into a snake, only to have his eat the others; demonstrating superiority .

According to Rodrigo – who puts it in a very simple way that’s easily understood by everyone – it’s ridiculous to try to legitimize God’s actions with science. “The miracle happened and we know it happened because we have the Bible as a witness. How it happened is mere speculation. It becomes an endless, bottomless pit.” The Biblical recording of the event is enough for him to believe that it happened. That’s a totally respectable opinion coming from a man of science.

By Marcelo Cypriano
drafting from the Universal Ark

Video simulation by Drews and Han: