What Really Happened at the Red Sea?  
                              An Essay                      by G. H.. Ritz

   The study of ancient history is an arena of disagreement, especially with 
respect to the timing of events. In our examination of the Exodus we drew on 
what we believe to be the most reliable time reference concerning the reigns 
of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt: the chronology expressed in the book Egypt 
of the Pharaohs, by Sir Alan H. Gardiner. This arrangement was derived from 
the exhaustive, comparative accounts of Manetho, Africanus, Eusebius, the 
Turin Canon, and other kings' lists. It is on this basis that we prescribe 
the date of Exodus as 1490 BC.
   The wide variances of disagreement frustrate efforts to reconcile sets of 
historical events in such a way as to relate them in concurrent sequences of 
time. We have declared emphatically in other parts of our writings that there 
is an order and precision to the laws of nature, and that this order must be 
maintained in any analysis of historical events of any era. There is no magic 
in the mechanical Universe or in terrestrial demonstration; all is cause and 
effect.
   In the Book of Exodus we are told that [God], actually the Jehovah Yahweh, 
a Lord of the World, caused the Red Sea to part so that the Israelites could 
cross over on dry land. This feat was supposedly accomplished by generating a 
strong east wind, but this explanation is hardly credible, as is the whole 
idea a parting a great body of water in the fashion accepted by the Fundam-
entalist view. It just doesn't happen.
   But something did happen. There is just more to the story than a cursory 
reading or careless retelling contributes to understanding.
   First, we must accept that the Jehovah of Israel had to have had a very 
sophisticated military establishment to stand against the collective might of 
the Egyptian army. Given the technological superiority we attribute to these 
forces, as evidenced by their exploits during the period of plagues the Lord 
unleased upon Egypt, we would suggest that the Pharaoh's army was completely 
outclassed in every respect. We might draw the comparison as being as if the 
German army of World War Two faced a force of Medieval knights.
   Jehovah has an axe to grind with pharaoh, as Exodus [14:17-18] indicate. 
This "getting me honors upon pharaoh" seems to have the aspect of a personal 
vendetta, yet Jehovah is constrained from employing his vastly superior force 
against the Egyptians directly. We have noted this throughout the saga of Ex-
odus as described in the book, The Time of the End. Yet he had to defeat the 
Egyptians.
   We feel that the key to this puzzle is the one area of modern military 
science that separates a modern force from an archaic one: Intelligence. The 
Israelites benefited from the Lord's knowledge of conditions over a vast 
area; and there was also, it appears, a bit of deception involved too.
   The Israelites are led by the Lord in a pillar of a cloud by day, at night 
by a pillar of fire. If we credit the idea that the Lords of the World had a 
modern military establishment at their disposal, helicopters would account 
for this appearance quite easily. Again, we must remind the reader that we 
are seeking plausible explanations. While helicopters might seem to stretch 
the imagination, it is not the mention of the aircraft themselves that is so 
unusual - helicopters are a fact, east winds that can part an ocean are not. 
What makes the reference seem odd is the placement in time. Could there have 
been helicopters and other forms of aircraft in ancient times?
   Why not? There was the Ark of the Covenant which seems to have been an 
energy condenser of some sort; Ezekial had his wheels turning in the air; and 
the Lord's minions certainly made their way through Egypt killing the first-
born without delay. In any event there is mentioned a pillar of cloud during 
the day and of fire at night.
   Where did they leave from?
   Our candidate for the point of departure would be the Nome of Sept, east 
of Memphis and the Delta. There is a site on the Internet which suggests that 
this may have been Goshen, and that is entirely consistent with our conclu-
sion that the Israelites settled somewhere in the vicinity of Memphis. As to 
the route they followed, there is a curious statement in Exodus [13:17]: "And 
it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that [God] led them not 
through the way of the land of the Philistines (Lebanon, Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, 
etc.), although that was near; for [God] said, Lest peradventure the people 
repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt."
   What are we to make of this? Does the Lord Jehovah doubt the willingness 
of the people to undertake this adventure? Would they, at the first sign of 
trouble, return to Egypt, just like that? This is but another of the many 
holes in the argument that God led the people out of Egypt; it was a Lord of 
the World, and not a very stable individual as the chapter on Exodus in the 
book, The Time of the End, clearly demonstrates.
   Then we must attempt to estimate the length of time it took to move this 
huge population out of Egypt, and the interval between that time and when the 
Egyptians followed in pursuit. It had to be at least two weeks before Phara-
oh could have mustered his forces, and this seems justified by the text of 
Exodus [13:20-22]. The Lord led the people by day and night, suggesting that 
there were more than a single day or night passing at this point.
   There is another of those irritating little contradictions in this account 
that bears mention. In Exodus [13:17] it is clearly stated that the people 
left Egypt, "when Pharaoh had let the people go." But in Exodus [14:5] we 
find that "it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled." Didn't he 
know that already? This also suggests a delay of probably two weeks or more 
in order that Pharaoh could round up the forces and supplies necessary for an 
extended foray into the desert.
   In these ancient times the Red Sea was separated from the Mediterranean 
Sea by an isthmus about 150 kilometers wide, or ninetey-four miles. Therefore 
it would not have been necessary for the Israelites to cross the Red Sea in 
order to reach Sinai. Also, following a southeasterly direction, away from 
the land of the Philistines along the coast, would have taken them to what is 
believed to be the actual Mt. Sinai of the later experience.
   At this point, gathering the points made up to this point together, we are 
looking at an unfolding drama. A large population is leaving Egypt proceeding 
in a southeasterly direction, led by a Lord of the World who possesses a very 
sophisticated (though probably small) military establishment, who are some 
ten days to two weeks ahead of the pursuing hosts of Egypt. And when these 
two contingents meet - something happens!
   While we believe that the Lord commanding Moses to stretch his rod across 
the Red Sea and causing it to part is an embellishment, an added dash of my-
sticism to bedazzle the gullible - Pharaoh Tuthmoses II's army was caught up 
in a major inundation and was destroyed. Truly, in the aftermath, as related 
in Exodus [14:30]: "and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore." If 
the waters had truly been parted and then closed in on the Egyptians, then 
how is it they wound up dead on the shore?
   Now to the disagreements in scholarly opinions, concerning the placement 
of events in time which we spoke of in the opening paragraphs. There is one 
event that could possible explain the fate of the Egyptian army in the vicin-
ity of the Red Sea: the eruption of the volcanic island Thera in the Aegean 
Sea. The problem is determining just when this event actually took place.
   Here is where the disagreement lies. The majority of traditional archaeol-
ogists place the event between 1500 - 1450BC, tantalizingly close to the year 
we say Exodus took place: 1490BC. In fact and error of ten years over so long 
a period of time is well within statistical probability. The rub is that 
there is another date for the eruption of Thera, based on Carbon-14 dating, 
that places the disaster sometime around 1630BC. This opinion is a minority 
view but we present it here in the interest of full disclosure. We would deal 
with all the facts, not only those which seem to support a particular point 
of view. While Carbon-14 dating is quite accurate it lacks the precision this 
exercise calls for. The best radiocarbon result known is [+/-]44 years, but this 
would also depend upon the accuracy of the initial reading. There have been 
instances where corrections had to have been made to radiocarbon findings.
   The interest in Thera surrounds the question of Atlantis, which legend 
theorists have suggested that the destruction of the island may be the source.
Oddly enough the Atlantis legend originated in Egypt when the Greek 
statesman, Solon, visited Sais and learned of it from the priests there. The 
best known and most often quoted account of Atlantis is that of Plato; based 
on the information found therein the greatest consensus of opinion places the 
destruction of Thera well within the time frame we allot to Exodus. If our 
conjecture is reasonably accurate then it could well have been the eruption 
of Thera that destroyed the host of Egypt.
   Given our hypothesis that the Lords of the World arrived in this system 
some four million years ago, and that they were in possession of great tech-
nology, then they certainly would have been familiar with geological events; 
among these seismic episodes such as Thera. Bringing the matter into the 
present context, it could have been that the entire fable about the parting 
of the Red Sea originated out of an opportune event that the Jehovah used to 
destroy the Egyptian army.
   The eruption of Thera caused mighty tsunamis which destroyed towns in the 
eastern Mediterranean, the general area under discussion. These waves could 
have been 500 feet high according to some estimates - they were big. If the 
eruption of Thera coincided with the Exodus, then the huge tidal waves gen-
erated would have taken no more than three hours to cover the seven-hundred 
miles that separate Thera from the Red Sea. And it would also serve to ex-
plain another curious part of the Exodus account, a reference that brings to 
mind the exploits of Jasper Maskelyne.
   Maskelyne was a British magician who greatly aided the Allied cause dur-
ing World War Two by using magic to create illusions of phantom armies using 
dummy equipment to fool the Germans. And he succeeded marvelously. There are 
two illusions that were perhaps the greatest ever devised by anyone; one in 
which Maskelyne made the Suez Canal disappear, and the other when he moved 
the port of Tobruk a mile up the coast of North Africa.
   To hide the Suez Canal Maskelyne set up a line of powerful searchlights 
pointing straight up. To these he attached metal rings with mirrors mounted 
on them; these were motorized and when in operation the rotating mirrors set 
up a kaleidoscope of dazzling light that blinded and completely disoriented 
any pilots who tried to approach the area.
   The Luftwaffe was forced to operate at night owing to the air superiority 
of the Allies. German bomber made regular missions over Tobruk which was a 
vital port in support of the British operations in North Africa. Maskelyne 
was asked to develop some means of protecting the port against this bombing. 
The magician pondered the problem for some time before coming up with the 
solution. Move it.
   From an aircraft flying over the port city at night Maskelyne took photo-
graphs of the entire area, including the bay. About a mile up the coast he 
found a barren patch of desert scrub on the shore of a bay that somewhat re-
sembled Tobruk's anchorage. He then set up lights on the ground following the 
patterns in the night photographs he took. When done and the lights turned on 
the area looked like the original. Thereafter the city of Tubruk was blacked 
out and the decoy area lighted. At first the German pilots noted that their 
visual aspect of the site did not agree with the compass position they were 
using up till then, but they discounted the compass and bombed what they saw. 
Night after night they bombed the barren site, breaking countless light bulbs 
which had to be replaced each following day. To add to the illusion Maskelyne 
had fake damage scattered around Tobruk, mostly painted canvas, and barrels 
filled with oily rags that were set afire causing great clouds of black smoke 
to billow up from the "target" and convincing German reconnaissance pilots 
flying over the city to assess the damage that heavy damage had indeed been 
done.
   The connection between the foregoing account and Exodus appears in verse 
nineteen of Exodus 14: "And the angel of [God], which went before the camp of 
Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from 
before their faces, and stood behind them."
   Exodus [14:20]: "And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the 
camp of Israel; and it was a cloud of darkness to them, but it gave light by 
night to these: so that the one came not near the other."
   The suggestion is clear: there was some deception being worked on the 
Egyptians that seems to have blinded and confused them in some way. When they 
tried to advance the next morning, the Lord "troubled the host of the Egypti-
ans." The next verse (25) tells us that the Lord took off the wheels of the 
Egyptians' chariots that "they drave them heavily."
   Making some allowance for the language and translation, we can be reason-
ably sure that the Lord did something to interfere with the Egyptians's mob-
ility in the field. Actually removing the wheels of the chariots (how would 
that be done?) would not make them drive heavily - without wheels they would 
not drive at all! But if we consider the methods by which wheeled vehicles 
could be compromised, several come to mind. Could the "cloud" have concealed 
a watering of the land that mud would bog the chariots down? Was debris 
scattered about in the manner of modern tank traps? Who knows? But the 
passage strongly suggests that there was some interference with the progress 
of the Egyptians in the morning-after pursuit of Israel. It also seems that 
their vision was still being impaired by the smoke on the following morning, 
as verse 24 tells us that the Lord observed the Egyptians through the pillar 
of smoke.
   Consider the possibility that the Lord knew of the eruption of Thera 700 
miles away, and of the approaching tsunami, and contrived to delay the Egy-
ptians in the rift along which the Suez Canal was eventually dug. The people 
would have been on higher ground presumably, the elevation being 9,000 feet 
throughout the entire region. The Egyptians, not knowing of the approaching 
tidal wave, which some estimates have placed as being half the height of the 
Empire State building, would have been drowned in torrents when it struck. The 
wave would have made landfall some 70 miles to the north, somewhat diminish-
ing its force, but washing through the trough in which the Egyptians were 
being held it should have still had sufficient force to destroy the host.
   Speculation? Certainly. But it provides an explanation for the Exodus ac-
count that does not rely on magic, voodoo, or witchcraft of any sort. It may 
truly have been a fortuitous circumstance: the eruption of Thera coinciding 
with the drama unfolding in the desert and the Jehovah of Israel capitaliz-
ing on it. It is possible that the Lords had sufficient knowledge of volcanos
to accurately forecast the eruption of the volcano and the earthquake that 
triggered it, and set their plans accordingly. The point is that at the right time
a massive inundation of water destroyed the Egyptian hosts and saved the
 Israelites. Lacking this coincidence (if that's what it was) the LOrd would 
have to have come up with some other means of defeating the Egyptians, 
and the Bible account would just have read differently.

   This article is not intended to represent actual history. There were no 
correspondents on hand to record the event, so we will probably never know 
exactly what happened that day. We simply offer a plausible, scientific, and 
understandable explanation of what could have happened there. Did Thera ex-
plode at the time of Exodus? No one can say precisely, but the commentators 
on Atlantis, the disappearance of which is thought to be connected to the er-
uption, all agree that it was sometime between 1500 and 1450BC. The pottery 
evidence is largely conclusive on the matter while the mass spectrometry of 
the Carbon-14 dating method produces varying results according to the percep-
tion of the person taking the reading. A small error of interpolation could 
throw the accuracy off by 200 hundred years.