|
The Red Sea
is the narrow sea between Africa and Arabia. It extends 1300 miles
from the Indian Ocean on the south to the Sinai Peninsula where
it splits into two gulfs. The Gulf of Suez lies between the Sinai
Peninsula and Egypt while the Gulf of Aqabah
lies between the Sinai Peninsula and Arabia.
Israel's exodus
from Egypt involved the crossing of the yam suph, literally
the "Sea of Reeds." Papyrus reeds were common to the lakes
between the Gulf of Suez and the Nile Delta region. There is no consensus among scholars
as to where the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea (Ex. 13-15), but
it was likely across one of the lakes between the Gulf of Suez and
the Nile Delta that lie in the path of what is now the Suez Canal
connecting the Red and Mediterranean Seas.
|
