For the rationalists amongst us, the History Channel is running an hour-long show citing evidence of the biblical account of the Exodus story. It is a quite thoughtful show. In a nutshell, the evidence of the biblical account is supported by ancient Egyptian writings, including the "parting" of the Red Sea. The program supplies very reasonable scientific explanations for the ten plagues Egypt suffered under, prior to Moses and the Israelites escaping from Egypt. In a nutshell, a large earthquake caused the miracles. For example, the Bible records the Nile river turning red (to blood). This same phenomenon took place as recently as 1986 when a large lake also turned to "blood red" from an earth quake that caused the release of certain gasses from beneath the earth's surface into the lake, causing the lake to turn red and killing off all marine life in the lake. The parting of the Red Sea was caused by this same earthquake, causing land areas to rise in a certain portion of the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to cross the sea, followed by a large tsunami that drowned the Egyptians chasing the Israelites. The drowning of the Egyptians at the Red Sea is evidenced by ancient Egyptian writings.

All of the miracles (plagues of frogs, locusts, deaths of the first-born, etc.) are all provided scientific explanations, mostly centered on a large earthquake. The show is worth a watch.

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It wouldn't surprise me if there was some truth to the events. The Jews were big on writing their history. Of course just because it happened doesn't mean God did it for the Hebrews. More likely it happened and the Hebrews lucked out and found an escape. But that much we can never know.
Since it took them several generations to write it down, of course it became more dramatic.

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Sounds interesting. The only part that defies logical description is the parting of the Red Sea. I can see an earthquake causing the water to temporarily recede; I'd be curious how they explain the water *remaining* receded long enough for the Hebrews to get across. As I understand it there were quite a few Hebrews, including women, children and old men, plus wagons and oxen and the like; they wouldn't have moved very fast. And the sea is what, 10 miles across or something at the suspected crossing sites? Not to mention the Red Sea is very deep and very narrow, meaning a hard time simply descending to the sea floor on one side and then ascending on the other. It would have taken several hours, minimum, to get across.

A more likely explanation, it seems to me, if you take all this at face value: Both the Hebrews and Egyptians had boats. The crossing began before the earthquake. The water didn't recede all the way, and the Hebrews simply got across before the tsunami hit, catching the pursuing Egyptian ships.

There's also the timing. You'd have to have multiple different earthquakes, because the plagues and the crossing covered a couple of weeks, didn't they?

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Man up.

By the time they wrote it down it did. But keep in mind they had several generations of the phone game before writing it down, as well as imaginations colored by religion.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

It seems to me that even if the water 'parted', the bottom would be all gooey and sticky with deep mud and slippery rocks and weeds.

Sorta difficult for a group of people trying to evade capture to race across -
I'm just sayin.....

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O'TEDDY BIN-SWIMIN

The show depicts the portion of the Red Sea where Moses and the Israelites would have crossed. It's an old brackish lake that died a hundred or so years ago. The way it's depicted in the show, it wasn't that miraculous of a crossing. Again, the interesting portion for me was the Egyptian evidence discovered supporting the biblical account. There is also evidence from ancient Greece, where some of the Israelites did not cross over into the Promised Land, but rather, caught a ship bound for Greece. This correlates very closely to the biblical account (outside people leaving) where as the Israelites were preparing to cross over into the Promised Land, they first sent scouts out to determine what the land was like. The scouts returned with stories of great armies and enemies that occupied the land, causing much distress amongst the Israelites. Joshua eventually rallied the Israelites to cross over into the Promised Land.

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill

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"Oh bury me, then rise ye up,And break your heavy chains, water with the tyrants' blood, The freedom you have gained." Тарáс Григóрович ШевчéнкоT.Shevchenko- Poet of Ukraine

I'm just glad we get to drink 4 glasses of wine (a few more for good measure). The bible probably isn't the best source for historically accurate accounts, but many of the stories do have some historical basis. Seems like an interesting program. Will definitely try to catch it.

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Yeah I saw this show a while back(least by what Barney describes its the same show)

The Exodus Decoded

It explains things and backs them up with realistic and very likely evidence.

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http://members.cox.net/neddy/bobhope_kerfuffles.wmv
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnfflRNpwKA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QYIP7o2-A