Moses parting the Red Sea with his staff Image may be copyright
Where There Seems To Be No Way
Pharaoh was pursuing Moses and the Israelites with six hundred of his finest chariots and hundreds of other chariots and soldiers. Confronting Moses was the sea at Pi Hahiroth overlooking the Gulf of Aqaba and Baal Zephon island with its temple to the sea god. They were between a rock and a hard place - either be mown down by the Egyptians or face drowning in the attempt to cross.
Exodus 14:1-4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this................
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (vv 10-13)
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (v14)
It was a test of their faith in the God who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.
The Crossing Place
In recent years there has been much interest in the geological and archaeological aspects of the Bible account of the crossing of the Red Sea. Of particlar interest are the geology and meteorological aspects of the crossing place, which is situated at a spot where there is a raised shelf jutting out across the Gulf where the Bible says they crossed (see below)
Image may be copyright
The angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (vv 19-22)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
When the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (vv 26-31) (emphasis added)