Walking in the Midst of the Sea

“But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”  Exodus 14:29

Liberal theologians, always seeking naturalistic explanations for biblical miracles, have attempted to explain this Red Sea crossing as a shallow fording of what they call the “Reed Sea,” at the extreme northern end of the Red Sea. The biblical description, however, is clearly of a mighty miracle - not merely of a wind driving the shallow waters seaward. Instead, it describes a great path opened up through deep waters, supernaturally restrained as a wall on both sides of the wide freeway, deep enough to drown all the hosts of Pharaoh when the waters later collapsed.
   
The crossing was, of course, over a narrow norther arm of the Red Sea, enabling the Israelites to cross into the wilderness of Shur (Ex. 15:22), but it was nevertheless a great miracle. Such a miracle required nothing less than the creative power of God, creating some unknown force, or energy, powerful enough to hold the deep waters as stationary walls against the force of gravity which was straining mightily to bring them down.

Later generations always looked back on this event as the great proof of God’s divine call of Israel. The “song of Moses,” composed after the deliverance, noted that “At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, The flowing waters stood up like a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea” (Ex. 15:8).

Fifteen centuries later, the apostle Paul recalled the mighty miracle in these words: “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea....Now these things happened...and they were written for our instruction...” (1 Cor. 10:1, 11).