Non-believers typically dismiss the miracles described in the Bible as fiction or metaphor. But according to research , at least one of those supposed impossibilities—the parting of the Red Sea to make way for Moses and the fleeing Israelites—perhaps could have happened.
Software engineer and lead study author Carl Drews described himself to the Washington Post as "one of many Christians who accept the scientific theory of evolution. The Red Sea work—originally undertaken as his master's thesis—was reviewed and published in a scientific journal and is supported by his current employer, the prestigious National Center for Atmospheric Research.
New computer simulations have shown how the parting of the Red Sea, as described in the Bible, could have been a phenomenon caused by strong winds. The account in the Book of Exodus describes how the waters of the sea parted, allowing the Israelites to flee their Egyptian pursuers. Simulations by US scientists show how the movement of wind could have opened up a land bridge at one location. This would have enabled people to walk across exposed mud flats to safety.
The results are published in the open-access journal Plos One. The researchers show that a strong east wind, blowing overnight, could have pushed water back at a bend where an ancient river is believed to have merged with a coastal lagoon. With the water pushed back into both waterways, a land bridge would have opened at the bend, enabling people to walk across exposed mud flats to safety.
As soon as the wind died down, the waters would have rushed back in. But that does not fit with the account in the Bible of a gradual parting of the seas overnight under a strong east wind. Other theories include a wind setdown with powerful winds lowering water levels in one area.
A Russian study suggested that hurricane strength winds from the northwest could have exposed a small reef near the modern-day Suez canal which would have given the Israelites their crossing. But the Israelites would have been blown away by the gale force winds, Drews noted. And the book of Exodus mentioned an east wind. His work, published in the online journal PLoS ONE , is part of a larger research project on the effects of wind on water depths, and the influence of Pacific typhoons on storm surges.
A miracle! Science claims it has figured out how sea was parted for Israelites.
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