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Last update - 04:57 08/04/2009
Exodus revisited / Did a tsunami part the Red Sea?
By Ofri Ilani
Tags: egypt, Israel news 

Since Egyptian hieroglyphics were first deciphered, enormous numbers of ancient Egyptian writings have been translated into modern languages, contributing to a better understanding of the history of the land of the pharaohs. But in none of these texts has there been any mention of the dramatic events that appear in the biblical Book of Exodus. For this reason scientists have been hard-pressed to point to solid historical evidence for the story of the Exodus, linking the biblical description to events mentioned in other historical sources. This does not mean the scientists have stopped trying.

A new book, "The Parting of the Sea," published by Princeton University Press, suggests an explanation for the Exodus story that is based on volcanic eruptions that occurred 3,600 years ago. The author, geologist Barbara J. Sivertsen, of the University of Chicago, maintains the biblical description blends two separate events into a single story.

Sivertsen argues that the "supernatural" events that occur in the biblical description can be explained by phenomena that follow volcanic eruptions.
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In a telephone interview from Chicago the author said the first exodus from Egypt occurred after a 1628 years BCE, the same year an enormous volcanic eruption nearly destroyed the island of Santorini in the Aegean. The effects of the eruption reached Egypt, causing dramatic, climatic phenomena. The eruption "raised an acidic ash cloud," said Sivertsen, making things "dark and there was thunder."

Sivertsen said she became frustrated in reading the description of the Exodus "because I realized these were clearly volcanic events. But I found no serious scientific explanation of this kind."

The plague of blood she explains as the growth of red weeds that multiplied as a result of the volcanic ash. Then came the frogs.

"If you were a frog, you would come out, too, in such circumstances," she said.

The only plague that is not related to the volcanic eruption is that of the death of the firstborn. She suggests it was the result of massive food poisoning, which did not affect the Hebrews, because they kept to a different diet.

As for the parting of the Red Sea, Sivertsen says that was part of a different story, which occurred close to 1450 BCE, well after the Hebrews had reached the Promised Land.

Sivertsen says that at that time another eruption in the Aegean, of the island of Yali, caused a series of tsunamis that parted the sea and drowned the pursuing Egyptian army. As for those escaping, they were a group of Hebrew prisoners.

Over time, oral tradition combined these events into the Exodus narrative known today.

"I agree you can not know for sure what really happened. But I'm convinced my hypothesis explains the events much better than others," she says.

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      1.   Exodus 05:33  |  Yaron Amitai 08/04/09
      2.   Old News 05:33  |  Matt 08/04/09
      3.   Legends 05:50  |  BazMann 08/04/09
      4.   exodus revisited 06:08  |  abe 08/04/09
      5.   Timing 06:57  |  Robert Stewart 08/04/09
      6.   Fact!!! 07:00  |  Shua K 08/04/09
      7.   Laughable 07:04  |  Gordon 08/04/09
      8.   Anything to deny the hand of G-d 07:55  |  Michael 08/04/09
      9.   The real explanation 07:55  |  Colin Wright 08/04/09
      10.   All the more miraculous! 08:02  |  cyclist 08/04/09
      11.   Yes Virginia there was an exodus 08:12  |  Gregor 08/04/09
      12.   Sure, Colin the sea parts every day 09:19  |  Michael 08/04/09
      13.   Perhaps Israel needed faith then, maybe WE needed a miracle! 11:23  |  Harvey 08/04/09
      14.   # 10 All the more miraculous! 11:33  |  Sharona 08/04/09
      15.   Religion 13:18  |  Scott G 08/04/09
      16.   Islam Prevents the Archeology of Sinai and the Red Sea 13:35  |  John Mark 08/04/09
      17.   The beautiful thing, 13:37  |  Akiva P 08/04/09
      18.   Been in my book for years; Dating 14:09  |  Paqid Yirmeyahu 08/04/09
      19.   Red Sea..revisited. 14:26  |  Stephen. 08/04/09
      20.   There is Red Sea only in the Christian Bible, it is Sea of Reeds, 15:13  |  JMK 08/04/09
      21.   #8 - Michael 18:31  |  Daniel 08/04/09
      22.   Science? What a joke! 18:35  |  devin 08/04/09
      23.   #14 Religion Scott G. 18:41  |  Lou Medel 08/04/09
      24.   #10 - Cyclist - Red Sea 18:49  |  Daniel 08/04/09
      25.   It`s hardly surprising that 19:06  |  Stephen 08/04/09
      26.   Napoleon described parting o the Red Sea 20:04  |  Dean Blake 08/04/09
      27.   Dean Blake, you`re right! 21:01  |  petra 08/04/09
      28.   cyclist AMEN! Miracle is Israel`s middle name. 21:02  |  petra 08/04/09
      29.   Stephan, not so. 21:07  |  petra 08/04/09
      30.   JMK Prove it. 21:09  |  petra 08/04/09
      31.   Old News 00:27  |  Scrolls 09/04/09
      32.   A waste of time 00:53  |  BDS 09/04/09
      33.   29: Petra - If Hollywood made a film about it... 00:55  |  Stephen 09/04/09
      34.   So were the volcanos wondering in the desert until... 01:19  |  Joe 09/04/09
      35.   Devin on science 02:26  |  KR 09/04/09
      36.   Do you guys really believe these religous stories? 04:57  |  kia 09/04/09
      37.   The Exodus that never was! 05:57  |  Robert 09/04/09
      38.   To Gregor #11: Ipuwer Papyrus rather relates to Joseph 09:19  |  Paul 09/04/09
      39.   The God Squad are in denial 10:10  |  SJ 09/04/09
      40.   Cameron did make a documentary 11:10  |  Roo 09/04/09
      41.   Paul #38 11:16  |  Roo 09/04/09
      42.   or vice versa paul 11:32  |  kal a mare 09/04/09
      43.   tsunami parts sea and the kipper asp 12:22  |  ally gory 09/04/09
      44.   above 12:39  |  moishe 09/04/09
      45.   Gregor #11/ Paul #38 Ipuwer Papyrus 12:51  |  Roo 09/04/09
      46.   The dates given don`t tally with Biblical account. 12:53  |  Roo 09/04/09
      47.   Something about probabilities 17:41  |  Peter 09/04/09
      48.   Hand of G-d #8 18:17  |  Jehovah 09/04/09
      49.   What about... 18:33  |  Frank 09/04/09
      50.   Please Read `The Bible Unearthed` 18:45  |  Binyamin 09/04/09
      51.   More junk science 20:21  |  Webster 09/04/09
      52.   Binyamin 20:27  |  Netanel 09/04/09
      53.   JESUSALEN 20:31  |  JESUSALEN 09/04/09
      54.   Webster, what you don`t know is . . . 21:49  |  Zev Davis 09/04/09
      55.   Netanel 23:26  |  Roo 09/04/09
      56.   JESUSALEN 01:30  |  JESUSALEN 10/04/09
      57.   JESUSALEN 01:41  |  JESUSALEN 10/04/09
      58.   histor cagnnel documentary 02:42  |  rt 10/04/09
      59.   Genocide 04:14  |  KR 10/04/09
      60.   binyamin, @49 04:47  |  vladimir 10/04/09
      61.   Supernatural or Supranatural Miracles 06:40  |  Jack 10/04/09
      62.   Hey, Laughable 07:14  |  David 10/04/09
      63.   Babylon 07:18  |  Rab 10/04/09
      64.   Good Lord... heal their ignorance 09:45  |  David 10/04/09
      65.   actually, vladimir 11:19  |  michael 10/04/09
      66.   No. of tools at hand 11:21  |  farook 10/04/09
      67.   45 Biblical Dating BCE 17th century NOT (!!!) later 11:33  |  Anon 10/04/09
      68.   58 BCE 17th Century dating does NOT concur with Finkelstein 11:36  |  Anon 10/04/09
      69.   Fertile imagination 13:19  |  Dr D 10/04/09
      70.   rt -- I saw the documentary 14:54  |  Roo 10/04/09
      71.   Anon biblical dating. 16:10  |  Roo 10/04/09
      72.   how she knows about a different diet? 16:52  |  Miki 10/04/09
      73.   Man`s Arrogance 17:13  |  Terry Bergman 10/04/09
      74.   Terry Bergman--Man`s arrogance 19:42  |  Carole 10/04/09
      75.   exodus revisited 21:27  |  edgar 10/04/09
      76.   sad 22:37  |  Mattityahu 10/04/09
      77.   Question 22:57  |  KR 10/04/09
      78.   this was in a documentary several years ago 23:25  |  Ottobono 10/04/09
      79.   Exodus 09:35  |  Miguel Simerman 11/04/09
      80.   Terry & Carole on arrogance 12:14  |  Roo 11/04/09
      81.   Maybe it didn`t happen at all??? 13:02  |  Goy 11/04/09
      82.   Parting of the Sea 16:01  |  Carl Mathis 11/04/09
      83.   No God 16:22  |  Ziv 11/04/09
      84.   Scientists 16:42  |  Yoel 11/04/09
      85.   Velikovsky anyone? 17:36  |  RK 11/04/09
      86.   The Fool 17:41  |  Peter 11/04/09
      87.   Maybe it did happen? 18:05  |  Woody 11/04/09
      88.   ZIV 18:16  |  Mattityahu 11/04/09
      89.   Carl Mathis and talking donkeys 18:40  |  Roo 11/04/09
      90.   The disbeleiving backtalkers are . . . 21:19  |  Zev Davis 11/04/09
      91.   To OFRI 21:40  |  Safi 11/04/09
      92.   Zev Davis 23:05  |  Roo 11/04/09
      93.   A good jock 23:17  |  Angel Luis Encinas 11/04/09
      94.   Nonsence! The Tenach is not history, it`s theological! 02:39  |  Tom Lobo Meyer 12/04/09
      95.   RE: Islam Prevents the Archeology of Sinai and the Red Sea 03:04  |  Amr 12/04/09
      96.   VELIKOVSKY 03:25  |  DAVE 12/04/09
      97.   #86 Peter 09:05  |  Canadian Dude 12/04/09
      98.   nueiba depth of the sea 09:09  |  Don Gore 12/04/09
      99.   to JMKDoes your Dollar bill say in God we trust? 09:12  |  Don Gore 12/04/09
      100.   You do not understand Sunamis To Offri Ilani 09:23  |  Don Gore 12/04/09
      101.   To Devin 09:29  |  Don Gore 12/04/09
      102.   Dear Kia watch that Achmadinajad doesn`t hear 09:33  |  Yakub Hlal 12/04/09
      103.   To Robert 09:36  |  Don Gore 12/04/09
      104.   Is God a fairytale? Einstein and newton and Bohr 10:14  |  Don Gore 12/04/09
      105.   Moishe ahundred years ago I agreed with you 10:26  |  Mordecai 12/04/09
      106.   Zev Davis 13:38  |  Roo 12/04/09
      107.   The Laws of Nature 16:41  |  MIKE 12/04/09
      108.   Don Gore Einstein`s god 02:41  |  Roo 13/04/09
      109.   Don Gore, In God we trust was added in the 1950`s 14:30  |  JMK 13/04/09
      110.   david 19:19  |  A.M. 14/04/09
      111.   The Red Sea 21:13  |  Maureen 15/04/09
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