4. At Eds Atdkah. — This place has been preferred as that of the crossing by the great majority of writers and travellers, including Pococke, Joly, Monconys, Shaw, Ovington, Sicard, Bruce, Arundale, Raumer, Kitto, Olin, Wilson, Durbin, Bartlett, Porter, Bonar, Murphy, etc. It seems to us to meet the demands of the Biblical ac- count more perfectly than any other. This cape is sit- uated about six miles, in a direct line, south of Suez, opposite the southern end of Jebel Atakah. It is a tongue running out more than a mile into the water beyond the average shore-line, and continued nearly a mile farther by a shoal, over which the water at ordi- nary low tide is not more than fourteen feet deep. Beyond this again stretch- es, for nearly a mile and a half in the same direction, a lower shoal, cov- ered nowhere by more than twenty- nine feet of water at low tide. Oppo- site this point there reaches out, for about two miles from the eastern shore, a sim- ilar shoal, only thir- ty feet under water at its deepest place. The entire width of the sea at this point is about five miles, while the space where it is not over fifteen feet deep is but three and a half miles, and the chan- nel, itself not over fifty feet deep, is less than three quarters of a mile wide. The sea immediately above and below this spot, in the channel, is about seventy feet deep. Here, then, is a place where a strong and contin- ued east wind, of the preternatural char- acter implied in the sacred narrative, might open a pas- sage suitable for the occasion, and leave a mass of water fit- ly comparable to a "wall on either hand." Moreover, the Israelites would,
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in that case, emerge on the shore near Ayi'm Musa (Wells of Moses), the very name of which, in addi- tion to other local traditions, represents the scene of the event
A close examination of the text itself confirms this view of the transaction. It Bays i Exod. xiv, 21), "Je- hovah caused the sea to go (Tibial made it walk") by a strong east wind all night, . . . and the waters were divided i ""J?"', were split)." Similar is the language in ver. 16: "Divide it (the sea), and the children of Israel shall go . . . through the midst of the sea." The statement thai the wind blew "all night" gives no just countenance to the inference that the Israelites did nol begin the passage till near morning, and therefore could have gone but a very short distance in all, or, at least, when the. wind lulled and the miracle ceased. For aught that appears, they may have already walked many miles, or even have continued their march some time the next forenoon if necessary in order to cross. True, the text says (ver. 27), "The sea returned at the turning of the morning (~££ ^'"S5, "f daybreak; comp. Judg. xix, 25, 26) to its usual bed (":r"lN*5. to Us perennial flow)" but it does not necessarily follow from i hi- that the Israelitish host had at that time all reached the opposite shore. Indeed, rather the contra- ry is intimated by the statement, given subsequently to this, that "the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea" (Exod. xiv, 29), as if thej con- tinued their march some time after the overthrow of the Egyptians in their rear. Nor is it certain from ver. 2Q thai both camps remained quiet all the night, although such might be the inference at firsl Bight. The tme state of the case appears to have been aboul this: the Egyptians overtook the Israelites about night- fall, jusl as they were about to encamp (fi^ft, in the act of pitching tin ir l< nts, <>r preparing to do so) near the shore "t the Bea (ver. 9), and marched down directly upon them (ver. 10). In their dismay at the prospecl of instant destruction, Moses ordered them to press for- ward immediately (ver. L5, r-S"\ mul they shall pull up stakes, that is. break up their preparations for camp). While they were doing this I hi' wind Sprang up. which
did not lull till daylight As they were marching to the beach the guardian pillar took its position in their rear (ver. 19), and so followed them all night as a light to their steps (ver. 20). W hen they had reached the middle ol the sea (ver. 21), and the Egyptians were not far behind them (ver. 22), the morning began to dawn i \ er. 2 1 i, and to pn\ em i he enemy from o\ ertak- ing the fugitives the march of the Egyptians was mi- raculously retarded, so that they, in their panic, were about to retreal (ver. 25). This they would hardly have thought of doing had they been nearly across.. >r bad it been but a little way to the opposite shore: in- deed, every reference to their destruction shows that they were ye! in the middle of the sea. So, too, was Moses apparently at this juncture, when, at his extend-
ed rod. the water behind the host — who had gained somewhat by the delay of the enemy— began to fall, and the Egyptians actually turned to flee, but were overtaken in the heart of the sea (ver. 27 t. while the Israelites continued their march through the channel, still open in front of them (ver. 29), till they reached the shore, which the following waves soon strewed with the corpses of the foe (ver. 30). From this recital of in- cidents in the exact order of the text, it appears that the march really lasted some part of the night, and we consequently require a considerable width of water for its occurrence.