Following the Science of the Bible: The Parting of the Red Sea

In early January, I committed to reading the Bible every day. Each Saturday, I will be sharing my thoughts and ideas and some of what I’ve learned from reading Scripture. If you enjoy these posts, please check back every Saturday! I will continue to discuss marketing, business and web3 during the week. Thanks for reading!

When I started reading the Bible daily, one of the thoughts in the back of my mind was “What is the scientific evidence for what is written in the Bible?” I would read and consider how a skeptic would react to the Bible, and they would likely dismiss it without some sort of scientific confirmation of the claims presented.

One of the thing that struck me early on was the number of times prophets accurately predicted the coming of Jesus as the Messiah. I knew it was mentioned in the Old Testament, but assumed it was only mentioned once or twice.  It turns out that several prophets predicted that Jesus would come, all hundreds of years before He was born!

I started reading Exodus, which is the 2nd book of the Old Testament, and it tells the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, back to the Promised Land. Part of that journey includes the crossing of the Red Sea, one of the most famous stories of the Bible.  Moses led the Israelites, likely two million of them, to the Red Sea, then Moses parted the Red Sea, so the Israelites could cross (on dry ground), then when the Israelites were safely across, the Red Sea collapsed and closed in to drown the Egyptians who were chasing them.

As I was reading this, I was suddenly moved to stop, and research to see if there is any scientific evidence for the parting of the Red Sea and the crossing by the Israelites.  It turns out, there is!

First, we have to decide what path Moses and the Israelites took to leave Egypt and cross the Red Sea.  Keeping in mind that was estimated to be a group of two million.  The only place in the region that is thought to permit a group of that size is a large beach area in Nuweiba, Egypt, at the Gulf of Aqaba. This is the location where it is believed that the Red Sea parting and crossing took place.

Here’s where it gets interesting: The modern name for the beach is Nuweiba, but its full name in ancient times was Nuwayba’ al Muzayyinah.  The translation for Nuwayba’ al Muzayyonah is “Waters of Moses Opening”!

In the late 70s, archaeologist Ron Wyatt did an expedition in this region, trying to find the Red Sea crossing point. His research also led him to believe that the point at which Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea was at the beach in Nuweiba. According to the Bible, the Egyptians chased Moses and the Israelites to the beach with thousands of soldiers, horses and chariots. So Wyatt was looking for remains of the soldiers, horses and chariots.

It turns out, he found all three at the crossing point! He found human bones as well as the bones of horses. And the biggest discovery of all, he found chariot wheels with a particular hub and spoke design that was used at the period when Moses is said to have parted the Red Sea.  Additionally, a separate expedition by another archaeologist later confirmed that there were also chariot wheels at the bottom of the crossing in Saudi Arabia, across from the beach at Nuweiba.

This website, Evidence For the Bible, has a treasure trove of information on the Red Sea parting and crossing.  Also, here’s a video from their site which goes into much greater detail of the expeditions into the sites. including some of the video that Ron Wyatt shot on the sea floor during his first expedition to the site.

Isn’t this fascinating? Please watch the video as it also contains a very interesting theory on the true location of Mount Sinai, which is the mountain where God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses.