Walking in the Midst of the Sea

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

"But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left." (Exodus 14:29)

Liberal theologians, always seeking naturalistic explanations for biblical miracles, have attempted to explain this Red Sea crossing as a shallow fording of what they call the "Reed Sea" at the extreme northern end of the Red Sea. The biblical description, however, is clearly of a mighty miracle—not merely of a wind driving the shallow waters seaward. Instead, it describes a great path opened up through deep waters, supernaturally restrained as a wall on both sides of the wide freeway, deep enough to drown all the hosts of Pharaoh when the waters later collapsed.

The crossing was, of course, over a narrow northern arm of the Red Sea, enabling the Israelites to cross into the wilderness of Shur (Exodus 15:22), but it was nevertheless a great miracle. Such a miracle required nothing less than the creative power of God, creating some unknown force or energy powerful enough to hold the deep waters as stationary walls against the force of gravity which was straining mightily to bring them down.

Later generations always looked back on this event as the great proof of God's divine call of Israel. The "song of Moses," composed after the deliverance, noted that "the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea" (Exodus 15:8).

Fifteen centuries later, the apostle Paul recalled the mighty miracle in these words: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; . . . Now all these things . . . are written for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:1, 11). HMM