Which Sea Did the Israelites Cross?

Just where was yam suf, the “sea of reeds” that the Israelites, according to the book of Exodus, miraculously crossed on dry land in their flight from Egypt while Pharaoh’s pursuing army drowned in it? Was it Lake Bardawil, a large saltwater lagoon near the Mediterranean at the northern tip of the Sinai Peninsula? Lake Balah, a once sweet-water lake, fed by the easternmost arm of the Nile, now obliterated by the Suez Canal? Lake Timsah to the south of it? The Gulf of Suez? The Gulf of Eilat? Numerous arguments—textual, geographical, archeological, and historical—have been marshaled for and against all of these possibilities and still others, to which must be added the contention that none of them is correct because the story of the Exodus is purely mythical. Read Full Article »