RED SEA. 



out aJmitting the miraculous part of the hillory, have 

 had recourfe to a variety of conjeftures ; both as to the 

 place and the manner in which this pafl'age was effeftcd. As 

 to the place of tlie padage, tliere has been a difference of 

 opinion even among thofe who have not hefitated to acknow- 

 ledge that it was miraculous. Till of late years it has been 

 generally believed, that the pad'age of the Ilraelites was at 

 Baideah, or Bedea, which, according to Niebiihr, is about 

 fix German miles from Suez, and where the fea, fays Bruce, 

 is fomething lefs than four leagues broad, by 50 feet deep. 

 In fupport of tliis hypothefis. Dr. Shaw has traced the march 

 of the Ifraelites to then- third encampment before Pihahhi- 

 roth. Whilll they were removing from the edge of the wil- 

 dernefs of Etham towards this ftation, they had left the open 

 country and were marching through a narrow pafs, betwixt 

 the mountains of Gewoubee and Attackah. In thefe cir- 

 cumflances the Egyptians might well imagine, that they 

 could have no poflible way of efcape, as the mountains of 

 Gewoubee would obftruft their progrefs towards the foutli, 

 and thofe of Attackah would impede their advancing towards 

 the land of the Philiftines : the Red fea lay before them to 

 the call ; whilft Pharaoh clofed up the valley behind them, 

 with his chariots and horfemen. This valley terminate-s at 

 the fea, in a fmall bay, made by the eaftern extremities of 

 the mountains above-mentioned ; and is called " Tiah Beni 

 Ifrael," i. e. the road of the Ifraelites, from a tradition dill 

 exifting among the Arabs of their having palled through it ; 

 and it is alfo called " Baideah," from the nciw and unheard- 

 of miracle that was wrought near it, by dividing the Red fea, 

 and dellroying in it, Pharaoh, his chariots and his horfemen. 

 The encampment of the Ifraelites, according to Dr. Shaw, 

 was at this bay, before Pihahhiroth, betwixt Migdol and 

 the fea, over-againll Baal-tzephon, Exod. xiv. z. Baal- 

 tzephon, as this learned geographer fuggells, might have 

 relation to the northern fituation of the place itfelf, or to 

 fome watch-tower, or idol-temple that was erefted upon it ; 

 or it may be .taken for the extremity of the mountains of 

 Suez, or Attackah, the molt confpicuous of thefe deferts, 

 as it overlooks a great part of the Lower Thebais, as well as 

 the wildernefs that reaches towards, or rather which makes 

 part of, the land of the Philiftines. Migdol might lie to 

 the fouth, as Baal-tzephon did to the north of Pihahhiroth. 

 The marches of the Ifraelites, from the edge of the wilder- 

 nefs, being towards the fea, /'. e. towards the S.E., their en- 

 campment betwixt Migdol and the fea, or before Migdol, 

 could not well have any other fituation. Pihahhiroth, or 

 the mouth of Hhiroth, or a narrow gullet or defile, may 

 denote the mouth, or the moft advanced part of this valley 

 towards the E., or towards the Red fea. But as the 

 Ifraelites were delivered at this place from their captivity 

 and fear of the Egyptians (Exod. xiv. 13.) we may lup- 

 pofe that Hhiroth denotes the place where they gained 

 their liberty, horar and hhiroth being words of the like import 

 in the Chaldee. It may be further urged in favour of this 

 explication, and alfo of the tradition Hill preferved, of the 

 Ifraelites having palTed through this valley, that the eaftern 

 extremity of the mountain, fuppofed to be Baal-tzephon, is 

 called, even to this day, by the inhabitants of thefe deferts, 

 *' Jibbel Attakah," or the mountain of deliverance ; which 

 appellation, together with thofe of Baideah and Tiah Beni 

 Ifrael, could never have been given or impofed upon thefe 

 inhabitants at firtt, or preferved by them afterwards, with- 

 out lome faithful tradition, that fuch places had been once 

 the aftual fcene of thefe remarkable tranfaftions. The fea 

 likewife of Kolzum, i. e. deftruftion, as the correfpondent 

 part of the Red fea is called in the Arabian geography, is a 

 further confirmation of this tradition. Moreover, the 



Ichthyophagi, who lived in this very neighbourhood, are 

 reported by Diodorus Siculus (1. iii.) to have preferved the 

 like traditionary account from their forefathers, of this mi- 

 raculous divifion of the Red fta. There are likewife other 

 circumftances that tend to prove, that the Ifraelites took 

 their departure from this valley, in their padage through the 

 Red fea ; for an account of which we refer to Shaw's Travels, 

 ch. v. 



This hypothefis, however, fays Geddes, (Crit. Remarks 

 on Exod. xiv.) has been fairly given up by our beft modern 

 critics; and the " Sinus Heroopolitanus," or gulph of Suez, 

 pitched upon as the fcene of adtion. The idea was firft fug. 

 gelled by Le Clerc, and fince adopted and defended by 

 Michaelis, Niebuhr, and almoft all the German commen- 

 tators. But Mr. Bryant ftill contends for Bedea (Baideah), 

 and calls the arguments of Niebuhr " prejudice and mifcon- 

 ception." Dr. Geddes, whofe fentiments concerning Mofcs 

 and his whole hiftory are fingular, denies that there was any- 

 thing mirncubus in the event ; and ftrenuouflv maintains, 

 that Suez or its vicinity was the place of paftage ; fiir here, 

 he fays, at this day, are ftiallows fordable at low water, and 

 which might, in former times, have been frequently dry. 

 We all know what changes happen in the bed of feas as well 

 as that of rivers, efpecially where that bed is fand, which is 

 the cafe with that of the gulph of Suez. The occurrence 

 is thus defcribed by Dr. Geddes. When Mofes faw that 

 the Egyptians had found out that the Ifraelites meant not to 

 return, and were about to purfue him with a force which he 

 could not refift, he wifely took the only courfe that was 

 moft likely to afford him an efcape. Acquainted, as he mull 

 have been, during his long ftay in Midian, with the nature 

 of the Red fea, and its ebbs and flows, he deemed it better 

 to take his chance of paffing over fome fliallow which he 

 knew to be fordable at low water, than to cxpofe himfelf to 

 be overtaken in a defert, where no ftratagem could fave him. 

 If he'got the rtart of the Egyptians but for a fingle day, he 

 would have time to watch the tide, and begin his march as 

 foon as the paffage was fordable ; and in the fpace of a few 

 hours might be fafe on the other fide. The width of the 

 fea at Suez is at prefent, according to Niebuhr's meafure- 

 ment, 757 double paces, or 3450 feet. It is common for the 

 Arabs to pafs on foot over this paffage, although not always 

 without danger, as the fea fometimes flows back unex- 

 peftedly. At Suez, according to Niebuhr, it is low water, 

 at the full of the moon, at half paft fix ; but as the paffage 

 of the Ifraelites muft have happened fome days after the 

 full of the moon, the ebb and flow muft have been con- 

 fiderably later, and the former muft have occurred in the 

 night-time, during which the Ifraelites are faid to have 

 palled. Michaelis was of opinion, that, as a ftrong wind is 

 laid to have accompanied this event, it might have caufed a 

 double ebb, as it fometiaies does on the coaft of Holland 

 and North Germany ; but Niebuhr thinks that no fuch thing 

 is likely to happen in tne Red fea. Be this as it will, the 

 wind might certainly have prolonged the ebb ; and, if it 

 happened at the time of the paffage, might well be con- 

 fidered as a providential interference, and readily conftrued 

 into a miracle. Jofephus, in recording this tranfa£lion, puts 

 a formal fpeech into the mouth of Mofes to his terrified and 

 difcontented people, and a prayer to God before he ftrikes 

 the fea with his rod ; yet he tells us that all this he has re- 

 lated as he found it in the facred books. But he feems not 

 fure, whether to confider it as a miracle or a natural effeft. 

 " Let no one," fays he, " wonder at this account of a way 

 of fafety being opened to thofe old-world innocent folks, 

 even through the fea, whether by the will of God or natu- 

 rally ; fince, of later days, the Pamphylian fea opened a 



way 



