This is one of the more famous events in the Bible, but it's also like one of those "Can you spot the errors?" cartoons.
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3
We still don't know in what physical manner God is speaking to Moses, but in any case, God seems to be mighty confused. These are not the actual names of any places in Egypt. Migdol means a tower in Hebrew, so conceivably it's a reference to some tower or other. Pi Hahiroth is not the name of a place either. Some people have speculated about how it might refer to some geographic feature based on it similarity to Egyptian or Hebrew words. We do know where Baal Zephon, is however. It's a mountain associated with the Canaanite storm God Baal, and it is located on what is today the border between Syria and Turkey near the Mediterranean. It's maybe 700 miles away from the nearest point on the west bank of the Red Sea and, of course, on the opposite side. It's also 300 miles or so north of Canaan. WTF?
Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.
Again, God makes Pharaoh pursue the Israelites in order to give himself an opportunity to demonstrate his power.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
No.
ALL THE HORSES IN EGYPT ARE DEAD. They were all killed in the sixth plague, then they were killed again in the hailstorm, then their first born were killed, then there first born were killed again. All of them are dead at least twice, and some of them are dead four times. Also, too, the specified location is on the coast of the Mediterranean sea 700 miles from where this is purportedly happening.
10 As
Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the
Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t
we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’?
It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in
the desert!”
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
Again, sometimes God just does the miracle himself, sometimes he needs Moses and/or Aaron to use a staff or wave their hands or whatever. This seems to be the latter case.
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25
Note that God has a physical location. He needs a vantage point from which to watch all this. The abstract, non-corporeal and ubiquitous entity that is our modern picture of God has yet to emerge. This really is an old guy in the sky.
He jammed
the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And
the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
Not clear why the NIV uses "jammed" instead of removed. They give us a footnote saying that this is not the correct translation but they don't explain themselves.
26 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters
may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The
water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army
of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
Note that these guys are soldiers who were ordered to pursue the Israelites. They didn't have a choice. God murdered them all in order to prove his power. None of this was necessary at all. They could have gone to Canaan by crossing the Sinai and never gone near the Red Sea or needed to ford even a creek.
29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
7 comments:
How does a strong east wind divide the Red Sea into two walls of water, one on the Israelites' left and one on their right? To my way of thinking, a strong east wind would blow all the water to the west. No walls (plural) of water.
??
Well yes but the whole thing is completely ridiculous to begin with so what's a detail here or there?
Yes ... plus which, I don't support any story that features Charlton Heston. Asshole. I know he's dead and can no longer defend himself, or needs to ... but still.
Yeah the wingnuts worshipped him. They thought he was actually holy.
Of course he didn't look anything like a Middle Easterner in 2,500 BC. An important point to note about the movie is that the Israelites are all played by Caucasian actors. (So are most, though not all, of the Egyptians, although they're made up to look exotic. Yul Brynner, who played Pharaoh, was actually Russian.)
Ah, yes, Yuliy Borisovich Briner. Bless him! According to Wikipedia:
A few days after his death, the recorded anti-cigarette public service announcement was shown on all the major US television networks and in many other countries. In it, he expressed his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial after discovering how sick he was, and that his death was imminent. He then looked directly into the camera for 30 seconds and said, "Now that I'm gone, I tell you: Don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that."
We're obviously off topic here but yeah. I was a nicotine fiend until about age 23, when I finally managed to quit and never looked back. But a couple of my college classmates have already died from nicotine addiction, and my father's stroke and long dementia are also likely result of tobacco, among many other victims close to me.
People marketed tobacco for money. They are evil. Beyond the possibility of words to express.
Yes, off topic and yes,they're still marketing to women and other demographics in Asia and elsewhere. Reaping great profits.
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