The Passage of the Red Sea.

Manawatu Herald, 20 November 1894, Page 3

The Passage of the Red Sea.

General Tulloch delivered a lecture at Balaclava last September, of a very interesting character, and explained how some years ago as he was employed in reporting on the Suez Canal he witnessed an extraordinary occurrence which led him to make further researches. He said : — One day when so employed, between Port Said and Kantara, a gale of wind from the eastward set in and became so strong that I had to cease work. Next morning on going out I found that Lake Menzaleh, which is situated on the west side of the canal, had totally disappeared, the effect of the high wind on the shallow water having actually driven it away beyond the horizon, and the natives were walking about on the mud where the day before the fishing boats, now aground, had been floating. When noticing this extraordinary dynamical effect of wind on shallow water it suddenly flashed across my mind that I was witnessing a similar event to what had taken place three and four thousand years ago at the time of the passage of the so-called Bed Sea by the Israelites.

Haying sketched the position the Israelites occupied in the land of bondage, in the Land of Goschen, now known to have been the eastern part of the Delta, he suggests : —

Viewing matters as they were at the time of the Exodus, the situation would be as follows : — Pharaoh at Tanis, which is about 25 miles northwest of Eantara ; the head-quarters and assembling place of the Israelites at Rameses, some distance westwards of Ismalia. The main road out of Egypt by Kantara, with possibly a well-guarded bye route over the El Giser plateau. Being the season of low Nile (Passover) the cultivated country would be dry and passable everywhere. When Moses received permission to go, it was naturally expected he would take the usual road ; this, for the reasons given in Exodus chap, xiii., v. 17 and 18, he did not do, but turned down south as mentioned. Pharaoh was much astonished, and said, ' they are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. 1 A glance at the map will show that in turning south the Israelites were apparently marching towards the waterless desert of Gebel Geneffa, on the west shore of the Red Sea, from which there was no exit ; but, instead of continuing due south, they made, as already stated, a halt at Pihahiroth (chap, xiv., v. 2). This sudden countermarch probably alarmed the Egyptians, who then possibly feared some scheme of the Israelites, which would cause further trouble. A large force of mounted men was at once sent to follow, with doubtless instructions to attack and delay the Israelites if necessary till enough infantry arrived to overpower them. This force arrived and camped near the fugitives just as they got to the sea shore, (chap, xiv., v. 9.) During the night an easterly gale commenced, and with the slightest northing in tbe wind the shallows referred to would naturally be free from water by the morning. Tin's was so. The Israelites evidently all pushed over at daybreak, and the Egyptians seeing them escaping sent their mounted men (chariots) forward to stop them. On coming to the wet mud they at once # dragged heavily ' and eopjld not get ©«, &ut

by tllis tinie the Israelites would be adrdsSj riritf the easterly gale; stopping the water would at once flow oaoft again and drown all those out on the mud. From chap, xv., v. 10, the wind apparently went round to the west as soon as the Israelites were over. Thiß would cause the water to return to its original place With great rapidity;