Notes on “Biblical Mysteries Explained”
Last night I watched the premiere of “Biblical Mysteries Explained” on the Discovery Channel. It was very interesting to say the least. I particularly liked episode 1 which tries to provide scientific explanations for the events that occurred during the Exodus. I liked the explanation for the burning bush, the 10 plagues, the pillar of fire and cloud (smoke) and the most probably location of Mount Sinai. I especially liked how they explained the 10 plagues in particular. The cascade of cause and effects that they used to explain the sequence of plagues makes very good sense. I am not going to spoil it here. The other events’ explanations really make sense if you think about it.
One particular event did not have a very convincing explanation for me. This was the explanation for the parting of the Red Sea. One of the scientists tried to explain it by blowing wind atop a body of water. Under the water there would be a submerged land bridge. The theory is that if you have a strong enough wind, it would push the water just enough to reveal the bridge, thereby “parting” the Red Sea. The theory pretty much matches the description found in the Bible (Exodus 14:21). The problem with the theory is that in their experiments they needed sustained winds with speeds of up to 100 mph. The main question I have with this theory is, would it really be possible for all these people to walk with a 100 mph crosswind without getting themselves blown away? What about the children and the animals? It’s a shame that they went as far as testing the theory using airboats but they did not try to see if it would be possible to walk without getting blown off your feet.
Another thing that bothers me is that the proposed location of the crossing. They place the event at the waters near Aqaba, instead of near Suez:
If we look at the biblical text:
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
The Israelites would be coming from the west side of the water and they would be walking against 100mph winds. And this is what it looks like when you walk against 90mph winds:
It would very well be possible that it would not be that difficult walking against the wind if they were walking in a single column. The could have put in stronger, larger people ahead who would take much of the brunt of the wind. The children and the elderly would follow at the end of the column. It would have been a very, very slow and difficult walk across though. Not to mention Pharaoh’s entire army bearing down behind them in chariots. I think I find the “Reed Sea” explanation from another show much more plausible.
Note: Based on the map above, you might think that they should not have even bothered crossing the waters near Aqaba since modern-day Israel is only a few kilometers away from where they were. They needed to cross the waters because Moses was taking them to Mount Sinai as God had instructed. [SPOILER] The scientists in the show place Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia instead of it’s current and traditional location.