BIBLICAL "RED SEA" - ITS EXACT LOCATION

BIBLICAL "RED SEA" - ITS EXACT LOCATION

Prophet Isaiah helps us to locate the exact place of the biblical "Red Sea."

If the "Red Sea" we are talking about is the body of water where Moses led the Hebrews to traverse in, the Hebrew Scriptures mention 

"yam suph",

 literally means "Reeds' Sea." 

The name " Red Sea " - derived from the Greek Bible  " Erythra Thalassa " (literally "red sea") - is after the Septuagint scribes have translated the "yam suph" in 1Kings 9:26 based on the meaning of " Edom " ("Red"), as there was a lake in Edom called sea of "siph" (Suph). And by that lake, the sea of Gulf of Aqaba was also called "Eruthra Thalassa" (Edom sea, Red Sea).

" And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the 

yam suph [sea of reeds],

 in the land of Edom. " - 1Kings 9:26

This may mean that as early as 5th century BCE the sea near Edom was called 'Edom' ("Red"). And Herodotus of Halicarnassus adopted this when he reported that Phoenicians (Asherites of Israel) during the time of Inachus (Anak), bringing their cargo with Egyptian and Assyrian merchandise came to Agean sea, whose people was called "Hellas" (Elisha), sailed 

"from the sea which is called 

Red, 

and having settled in the country which they still occupy, at once began to make long voyages" (Histories book 1, chapter 1)

and Herodotus said that Syrians of Palestine (Israelites) ...

 " according to their own account, dwelt anciently upon the

 Erythraean [Red]

Sea, 

but crossing thence, fixed themselves on the seacoast of Syria, where they still inhabit. This part of Syria, and all the region extending from hence to Egypt, is known by the name of Palestine." (Herodotus, The Histories, 4.39.1-2)

The Hebrew word " edom " means "red." 

Having this name " Red " ('Edom') for the sea from Eziongeber down to Arabian Sea, the Septuagint translators translated all 

"yam suph" (reeds' sea)

in the Bible as "Erythra Thalassa" ('Red Sea')

even though they knew that not all mentioned

 'yam suph'

 in Hebrew Scriptures refers to "Edom (sea)." (Excepting in Judges 11:16, 1Kings 9:26, and Jeremiah 49:21 were "suph" is translated "siph," "eschales" ('extremity') and omitted, respectively. 

The "yam suph" being trodden by the Hebrews (Habiru/Hapiru) was the one in Rameses, near Pihahirot (Avaris) north of Etham (Pithom) and Succoth (Wadi Tumilat).

 " And they departed from 

Rameses

 on Abib 15; 

on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in 

Succoth.

 And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in

 Etham,

 which is in the edge of the wilderness. And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto

 Pihahiroth,

 which is before 

Baalzephon: 

and they pitched before Migdol. And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the

 midst of the 

yam [sea]

 into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. " - Numbers 33:3,5-8

That is, the Reeds' Sea where the Hebrews had traversed to escape was not the sea of Edom or Arabian Sea or Gulf but the one in Rameses near Pihahiroth (Avaris).

Avaris or Auaris is romanized  Greek transliteration of Egyptian

 " hw.t w'r.t " 

(Hu-waret),

 the capital of Hyksos in Egypt. According to Manetho these foreign leaders were the founder of Urushalim (Jerusalem) and the distant ancestors of the Jews.

A precinct in it was called

 " pr-hwt-hrt "

 ("Per-Hat-hirot ")

 or pronounced "Pi-Hahirot " by the Hebrews.

Avaris was 2 kilometers away south of Pi-Rameses. 

And Pi-Rameses is around 15 kilometers distant from "yam suph" (Reeds' Sea).

This only means that "yam suph" (Reeds' Sea) in question is near Avaris and Pi-Rameses.

Now, where exactly this "yam suph" (Reeds' Sea) is located?

Prophet Isaiah gives a clue how we can know if the yam suph is the yam suph in question or not.

Isaiah 11:15-16

" And the LORD shall utterly destroy the 

tongue of the Egyptian sea;

 and with his

 mighty wind 

shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make 

men go over dryshod. 

And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as 

it was to 

Israel

in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. "

 -  Isaiah 11:15-16

According to Isaiah the sea was called 

"tongue of the Egyptian sea" 

which dried up when a mighty wind (e.g. ruakh kadim/ khamsin) blowed upon it, and on which men could go over dryshod in the day of escape of Israel from Egypt. The exact location of this yam suph is now known

 "El Sied Pond."

What had caused this "yam suph" or "tongue of the Egyptian sea" to dry up, enabling Israel to pass in the midst of it?

" And Moses stretched out his hand over

the sea [Yam]; 

and YHWH caused the sea to go back by a 

strong 

ruakh kadim [east wind]

 all that dark time, and made the 

sea 

dry land, 

and the waters were divided. 

And the children of Israel went into the 

midst of the sea 

upon the dry ground: and the

 waters

 [and]

 a wall

 unto them on their right hand, and on their left. " - Exodus 14:21-22

This passage is telling us that on the right hand direction of Israel were waters and on their left hand was a wall, or it could also mean waters serves as "wall" against them to cross so that what they have to do is to walk straight in the midst of the dried up sea of the "tongue of the Egyptian sea." 

It is also describing that east wind is a "wind of YHWH" or an "act of God " - the legal term for natural event that caused the drying of the yam suph (reeds' sea) up. 

Hosea 13:15

" Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an 

east wind 

shall come, the 

wind of YHWH

 shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: . . . " - Hosea 13:15

On the report of prophet Ezekiel, ruakh kadim (east wind) could also cause  fire 🔥 suggesting that its hotness is enough to dry up watery places or objects.

Ezekiel 19:12

" But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the

 east wind

 dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the

 fire

 consumed them. " - Ezekiel 19:12 (KJV)

Later Hebrews (Judaeans) called it " south wind " based on how it was identified by the Egyptians, 

"rstwy" ("Resetyu" - "south winds").

"He caused an 

east wind

 to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the

 south wind. "

 - Psalms 78:26 (KJV)

It was called ruakh kadim (east wind) duirng the time of Jospeh and Moses because the area of "tongue of Egyptian sea" (Reeds' Sea) is called in ancient Egypt as "East."

Ruakh kadim has an appointed time to visit Egypt or even other Middle East countries, and that is in the season of Abib (Spring), usually Nisan or April-March-May. 

"In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind 

in the day 

of the east wind. " - Isaiah 27:8 (KJV)

And that time is called " day of calamity " in Jeremiah 18:17. 

Therefore, the incident during exodus was ascribed by Moses to "acts of God" versus Egyptians.