Moses, Part 3 – Exodus

“The Crossing of the Red Sea” by Nicolas Poussin (1634), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (Accession No. 1843-4), Source/Photographer http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Nicolas-Poussin/The-Crossing-Of-The-Red-Sea,-C.1634.html (PD)

This week we conclude our examination of the archaeological evidence for Moses.

Yam Suf

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.  So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Ex. 14: 21-22).

Yam Suf (also spelled Yam Suph) refers to the body of water the Israelites crossed during the Exodus [1]. 

But Yam Suf (generally translated as the “Sea of Reeds”) is used in the Bible to refer to two different locations:  the Gulf of Aqaba a/k/a the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez [2].  Some scholars, also, suggest it may refer to the El-Ballah lake region between the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean forming a defensive barrier on the eastern frontier of Egypt [3]. 

Controversy, therefore, remains as to where the Exodus crossing actually took place.

The existence of a sandbar perpendicular to shore or a raised plateau on the sea floor which the wind could have temporarily revealed has been put forward as one explanation for how the miracle may have taken place [4].  Wind setdown is a natural phenomenon in which strong, persistent winds blowing offshore cause a temporary drop in water levels, exposing submerged areas [5]. 

Again, however, the timing would have had to be precise to allow the Israelites to pass, yet drown the Egyptian troops following them.

Mount Sinai

The Bible does not give the exact location of Mount Sinai which most biblical scholars agree was another name for Mount Horeb.  There are several candidates. 

Of these, Jabal Musa (translated from the Arabic as the “Mountain of Moses”) on the Sinai Peninsula is a leading contender based on oral tradition [6].  Located at its base is the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine founded in 527 AD [7]. 

There is evidence of encampment in what is thought to be the area of Rephidim in Saudi Arabia where the Israelites camped on their way to Mount Sinai, as the Bible says [8][9][10].  Rephidim is where Moses first struck the rock and water gushed forth.

Golden Calf

The Bible tells us that the Israelites worshiped a golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments.  This may strike us as unusual today.  However, there was a bull cult in ancient Egypt.  The most prominent example of this was the Apis bull. 

The livestock god Apis was considered the son of the cow goddess Hathor.  A bull dedicated to him was not only revered, but later believed by Egyptians to be the personification of the god Ptah [11].  Idols made in the image of Apis and the Apis bull can be found in the British Museum and Vatican Museums [12][13].

Manna

The Bible tells us that God provided the Israelites quail and “bread from heaven” to sustain them during the Exodus (Ex. 16: 4)[18].  White in color and tasting like wafers made with honey, this manna appeared every morning with the dew (Ex. 16: 13-15, 31).

There is no scientific consensus as to what manna might have been, if not a miraculous substance.  Nostoc (an algae known to carpet the Sinai desert), lecanora esculenta (a lichen found in arid regions), taranjabin (a sweet resin on the camel thorn plant), haloxylon salicornicum (a shrub common in the Mideast), honeydew (an insect secretion), and trehala (a beetle cocoon) have all been proposed [19][20].

Whatever the means, one could argue the very fact the Israelites were sustained through 40 years of wandering was, itself, miraculous.

Promised Land

Excavation by David Ben-Shlomo and Ralph Hawkins at Khirbet El-Mastarah on the West Bank has uncovered pottery dating to the mid-Bronze Age, the time of Moses [14].  This is consistent with a nomadic people coming into and settling the land of Canaan around that time, just as the Bible says.

Tomb of Moses

According to the Bible, Moses died in the land of Moab (now Jordan), and was buried by God near Beth-peor in an unknown location (Deut. 34: 5-6). 

Nonetheless, there are two contenders for the tomb of Moses.  The first of these is Mount Nebo in Jordan, a site over which a Christian church was built during the Byzantine Era [15].  The second is Nabi Musa, an Islamic site on the West Bank [16].

Jebel Harun (translated as “Aaron’s Mountain”) at Petra in Jordan has been considered the biblical Mount Hor at least as long as the time of the historian Josephus.  Here the tomb of Moses’ brother is located, according to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition [17].

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[1]  Wikipedia, “Crossing the Red Sea”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Red_Sea.

[2]  Jewish Action, “What’s the Truth about…the Translation of Yam Suf?” by Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky,  https://jewishaction.com/religion/shabbat-holidays/passover/what1/.

[3]  Associates for Biblical Research, The Shiloh Excavations, “Top Ten Discoveries Related to Moses and the Exodus” by Bryan Windle, 7/29/22, https://biblearchaeology.org/research/chronological-categories/exodus-era/4919-top-ten-discoveries-related-to-moses-and-the-exod.

[4]  The Guardian, “A miracle!  Science claims it has figured out how sea was parted for Israelites” by Suzanne Goldenberg, 9/21/10, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/21/moses-red-sea-exodus.

[5]  National Institutes of Science, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, “Dynamics of Wind Setdown at Suez and the Eastern Nile Delta” by Carl Drews and Weiqing Han, 8/30/10, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2932978/#:~:text=Wind%20setdown%20is%20the%20drop,as%20described%20in%20Exodus%2014.

[6]  Wikipedia, “Mount Sinai”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Sinai.

[7]  Encyclopedia Britannica, “St. Catherine’s Monastery”, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Catherines-Monastery.

[8]  Wikipedia, “Rephidim”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rephidim.

[9]  Doubting Thomas Research Foundation, “The Split Rock and Battlefield at Rephidim”,  https://doubtingthomasresearch.com/split-rock-battlefield-rephidim/.

[10]  Living Passages, “  https://livingpassages.com/rephidim-split-rock-horeb-saudi-arabia/#:~:text=Although%20scholars%20are%20(ahem)%20divided,what%20they%20were%20asking%20for .

[11]  World History Encyclopedia, “Apis”, https://www.worldhistory.org/Apis/.

[12]  British Museum, “Bronze figure of Apis bull”, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA37448

[13]  Vatican Museums, “Statua di Osiris-Apis”, https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-gregoriano-egizio/sala-iii–ricostruzione-del-serapeo-del-canopo-di-villa-adriana/statua-di-osiri-apis.html.

[14]  Wikipedia, “Khirbet El-Mastarah”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khirbet_el-Mastarah.

[15]  Wikipedia, “Mount Nebo”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nebo.

[16]  Wikipedia, “Nabi Musa”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabi_Musa.

[17]  Wikipedia, “Tomb of Aaron (Jordan)”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Aaron_(Jordan).

[18]  Wikipedia, “Manna”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna.

[19]  Atlas Obscura, “The Very Real Search for the Bible’s Mythical Manna” by Erica Eisen, 3/18/19, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/is-manna-real.

[20]  Moment Magazine, “Manna Is Real and Not So Heavenly” by Vered Guttman, 1/28/19, https://momentmag.com/manna-is-real-and-not-so-heavenly/.

Parts 1 and 2 in this series were posted 6/8/25 and 6/15/25, respectively

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