Posted on 06/21/2003 10:52:07 AM PDT by UnklGene
MUCH ABOUT HISTORY Pharaoh's chariots found in Red Sea? 'Physical evidence' of ancient Exodus prompting new look at Old Testament
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: June 21, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." (Exodus 14:21)
One of the most famous stories of the Bible is God's parting of the Red Sea to save the Israelites from the Egyptian army and the subsequent drowning of soldiers and horses in hot pursuit.
But is there evidence that such an event did in fact happen – and if so, precisely where did it take place?
The issue is surfacing some 3,500 years after the event is said to have taken place with reports of Egyptian chariot wheels found in the Red Sea, photographs to document it and new books by scientists that could lead to a whole remapping of the Exodus route and a fresh look at ancient biblical accounts.
Wheel of fortune
Is this a chariot wheel that chased Moses? (CovenantKeepers.co.uk)
"I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel," Peter Elmer tells WorldNetDaily after two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. "It was covered in coral."
The 38-year-old forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, traveled to the region with his brother, Mark, after being inspired by videos of explorers Ron Wyatt and Jonathan Gray, who have documented artifacts that in at least one case authorities have confirmed to be a chariot wheel dating to the time of the Exodus.
"I believe I actually sat in an ancient chariot cab," Elmer said, referring to his time exploring a submerged item in what he describes as an underwater scrapyard. "Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian army."
But despite all of Elmer's excitement, others who have been to the same location are not so sure what is being viewed underwater are the remnants of the great chase and urge extreme caution regarding the unsubstantiated claims.
"All kinds of people are finding coral and calling it chariot parts," says Richard Rives, president of Wyatt Archaeological Research in Tennessee. "It's most likely coral covered with coral. ... Opportunists are combining false things with the true things that are found. These people are making it up as they go to be TV stars."
Rives was a longtime partner of Ron Wyatt, an anesthetist and amateur archaeologist who died of cancer in 1999. Before passing away, Wyatt devoted years searching for and documenting physical evidence for events mentioned in the Bible. In addition to chariot wheels, Wyatt claimed to have found Noah's Ark on the mountain next to Ararat in Turkey, the "true" Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia and the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments near the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
Submerged 'land bridge' (Wyatt Archaeological Research)
Among those who accompanied Wyatt on many of his excursions is his wife, Mary Nell. She's concerned about over-exuberance regarding new claims, but the Spring Hill, Tenn., woman tells WorldNetDaily she's "convinced" there are chariot parts located on a subsurface "land bridge" connecting Egypt to Saudi Arabia through the Gulf of Aqaba.
She cites Ron's discovery of a wheel hub that he brought to the surface in the late 1970s as proof.
The hub had the remains of eight spokes radiating outward and was examined by Nassif Mohammed Hassan, director of Antiquities in Cairo. Hassan declared it to be from the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, explaining the eight-spoked wheel was used only during that dynasty around 1400 B.C.
Curiously, no one can account for the precise whereabouts of that eight-spoked wheel today, though Hassan is on videotape stating his conclusion regarding authenticity.
When Mary Nell went diving with Ron, she says it was very easy to assume (wrongly) that every item on the flat bottom had historical significance.
"[At first] I thought everything was a chariot wheel!" Mrs. Wyatt exclaimed, noting how difficult it is for the untrained eye to distinguish an artifact from a piece of coral. "I'm just trying to be cautious about over-identifying too much. ... It is God's truth, and we can't hype it up. We can't add to it."
However, she notes a big problem for explorers and scientists is that the Egyptian government no longer allows items to be removed from the protected region. Thus, someone claiming to find an artifact will have a hard – if not impossible – time verifying its authenticity, a classic catch-22.
The watery grave
"And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them." (Exodus 14:28)
The Bible account makes it clear that once the Israelites had marched through the parted sea on dry ground, that the waters rushed back to completely engulf the doomed army of ancient Egypt.
With that in mind, many of the items being seen in the Gulf of Aqaba have been photographed by divers for comparison to the Exodus story.
(Wyatt Archaeological Research)
One of the most spectacular items is what appears to be a wheel with metal exposed. Mary Nell says the wheel is covered with a gold veneer, to which coral has difficulty attaching. She says the gold wheel is still there, wedged so tightly in the bottom that it feels like it's been cemented in.
Many other photographs show formations in a circular pattern with projections that could be spokes, but those items remain at the bottom and have not been authenticated.
Another issue is the route of the Exodus, and which body of water the Israelites crossed. Many travel maps and Bibles indicate a crossing point in the Gulf of Suez, the western branch of the Red Sea. But those may have to be updated if the Aqaba location is confirmed as the true location for the miraculous event.
"The truth is, no one really knows where the crossing of the Red Sea took place," says Carl Rasmussen, a biblical geographer and professor of Old Testament at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn.
Rasmussen compiled the "Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible" and personally thinks the crossing took place somewhere along what is now the Suez Canal.
Yellow highlights possible spot of Mount Sinai east of Red Sea crossing in Gulf of Aqaba (Wyatt Archaeological Research)
Some scientists from Europe say the current maps are wrong, and the Wyatts are right – that the crossing began at the Nuweiba beachhead, went through the Gulf of Aqaba, and then into what is now Saudi Arabia where they claim the "true" Mount Sinai is located.
For years, scholars have speculated as to the location of the actual Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. At least 13 sites have actually been claimed on the Sinai peninsula as being the correct spot.
But Ron Wyatt believed it was in Arabia, even referenced as "mount Sinai in Arabia" by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:25.
So he and his sons made their way to "Jebel el Lawz," the mountain of the Law, which is known by the locals as "Jebel Musa" – Moses' mountain.
Unfortunately for the Wyatts, they were arrested and held in prison. His wife says someone had phoned embassy authorities for the Muslim country, claiming that Ron was spying for Israel. They were released after spending 78 days behind bars.
Rasmussen doesn't agree with the Arabian Mount Sinai theory.
"I believe the strongest candidate is Jebel Sin Bisher," he told WorldNetDaily. "The sites in Saudi Arabia have very, very weak scriptural backing, in spite of the hype."
Now, a new book by Cambridge University physicist Colin Humphreys titled "The Miracles of Exodus" supports not only the claim for an Aqaba crossing, but also the location of Mount Sinai in Arabia.
"If my book is correct, and I believe the evidence is very strong," says Humphreys, "then world maps will need to be redrawn to relocate Mount Sinai. History books, travel guides and biblical commentaries will need to be rewritten."
Throughout his work, Humphreys provides scientific explanations to corroborate the accounts of the Old Testament.
"'The waters piled up, the surging waters stood firm like a wall,' is a remarkable description of what the mathematics reveals to be the case for water pushed back by a very strong wind," he writes.
"What I have found is that the events of the Exodus are even more dramatic than is generally believed," Humphreys said. "The Exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt really is one of the greatest true stories ever told."
A Swedish scientist who believes the Red Sea was split says while Humphreys is correct about the Aqaba crossing, there are no natural, scientific explanations for the parting miracle described in Scripture.
Walls of water as depicted in 'The Ten Commandments' (Paramount Pictures)
"The wind did not separate the water," says Lennart Moller of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "No person could be in that wind and survive. ... If God has created all the Earth, it's no problem for Him to separate the water for a while."
Speaking to WorldNetDaily from the isle of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, Moller, the author of "The Exodus Case," says the key in finding the correct route of the Israelites is to understand that the Hebrew reference to "yum suph" does not mean "sea of reeds" as many scholars have claimed.
Moller says it refers specifically to the Gulf of Aqaba, and while he's not formally affiliated with the Wyatts, he agrees with them that a host of other evidence can be found on the Arabian side of the water, including remains of the golden calf, pillars, altars and the even the rock the Bible says Moses split to bring forth water for the Israelites.
Regarding the items found beneath the waters, Moller believes there are remnants not only of chariots and wheels, but also human and animal skeletons.
"There was a disaster [there] a long time ago," he said. "Whatever that is, it's open to interpretation."
He also notes that the downward and upward slope of the Aqaba crossing path actually falls within current U.S. standards for handicapped ramps.
And while Mary Nell Wyatt warns overstating the claims by divers and authors could do more harm than good, she does believe there's a reason why her husband was led to discover what Ron called "God's attention-getters."
"God preserved all these evidences," she said, "[otherwise] there would have been nothing left. ... God has been lost today. Even Christians still can't believe this all happened. ... We need to pray for the Lord to help us get people to see it."
Back in England, Peter Elmer says people have mockingly asked "Why should a forklift mechanic from Keynsham be able to go to the same place Moses was?"
He takes the criticism in stride, pointing out "Jesus used fishermen, tax collectors and publicans. Why not a forklift mechanic?"
See : Gregor Mendel.
I think Thera (1628BC) is to recent to be Atlantis. My sense is that it was near the end of the Ice Age and more likely to be in the 7,000-15,000 years ago range. We have only one mention of Atlantis from Plato via Timeous from Solon. The more ancient an incident the less information/evidence.
And no surprise -- the mountains of Ararat are way up there not that far from the Southeastern shores of the Black Sea -- and quite a trek from the rest of the action that happened in the Bible. Almost all the action in the Old Testament happens in what is today Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, or Iraq. Except for -- TA DA -- Noah's Ark and the flood which is way up north of the rest of the action. Interesting, yes?
Think about this. During the Ice Age the Persian Gulf was completely dry and the Red Sea was land locked and at some point the 'dam' holding the Arabian sea out had to have broken. The earthquakes and tsunamis created by the eruption of Thera could have broken the 'dam' and reflooded the Red Sea?
Okay thanks. I have the book Noah's Flood by Ryan and Pittman.
I thought you may have had another date.
Ah, so your major issue with the Flood is that you think you know the mind of God?
Look, the God of the Bible has always given humans work to do for various purposes. In Noah's case, there were several distinct reasons for God to tell him to build the Ark instead of simply teleporting him and the other survivors forward in time:
1) To actually go through with such an absurd thing as building a titanic ship (pun intended) would require a leap of faith on Noah's part, and God is constantly seeking to give us the opportunity to test and prove our faith--for our benefit, not His.
2) The building of the ark stood as a warning of God's impending judgment for the 120 years of its construction. There was no one who died in the Flood who could say that they hadn't heard of the ark and the warning, or that they failed to repent out of ignorance.
3) The ark serves as a prophetic model of Jesus Christ. The name implies a sarcophagus. There was only one door to temporal salvation just as there is only one door to spiritual salvation, and only God can choose when to close it. Those in Christ will be protected from the end-time wrath of God, just as Noah and the seven others were protected from the Flood. And it is no accident that Christ was raised from the dead on the anniversery of the ark's landing on Mt. Ararat.
4) Since God told Noah to cover the ark with pitch on both the inside and the out, I believe that sometime in the near future, before the Second Coming, the ark will be irrefutably found and unveiled to the whole world to serve once again as a warning of God's judgment. (Just MHO, of course.)
God does things in strange ways. Instead of reflexively objecting that there is an "easier" way for Him to do something, why don't you try looking for the reasons that He did what the Bible says He did?
Yup, real interesting especially, if you consider the refugees from this flood. Ryan & Pittman speculate that these refugees spread farming and the Indo-European language across all of Europe and beyond...I've even tried to connect the 4,000 year old Caucasian mummies found in China to these refugees, who spoke the extinct Indo-European language, Tocharian A & B. (Victor Myer, The Tarim Mummies)
To be fair, Radix, I don't think the main objection is that God couldn't design an old-seeming universe, but that he wouldn't, at least not one that would show some sign of its true age. To create a universe with an illusion of age and no way to pierce the illusion seems a lot like an act of deceit, does it not? For example, we sometimes see the light of a star going nova or supernova more than 10,000 light-years away; if the universe was simply created with an appearance of age, then that star never existed, let alone exploded!
This winds up being the cosmological equivalent of claiming that dinosaur bones were planted by the Devil to deceive us or by God to test us, but that such creatures never walked. One could just as easily claim that the entire universe was created five minutes ago with an appearance of age to the same effect.
That's why most Young Earth Creationists today spend time studying theories to show how the universe came to appear to be old despite being young. Speed-of-light decay (or CDK) is among the most popular of these (and I believe that a couple of Austrailian scientists proved at least some CDK in the universe a year or so ago, unless their experiments have since been falsified), but I personally rather prefer Russel Humphrey's alternative theory of the universe's evolution expressed in Starlight and Time.
To sum up: Saying God simply made the universe appear old, made it look like stars were being formed and were dying millions of light-years away (and millions of years ago) without positing a reasonable mechanic that caused the apparent age that we can test is saying that God purposefully deceived us. We only do ourselves damage by arguing this.
Personally, I take the I.D. approach and grant the evolutionist five hundred million years for life to form and evolve to its current diversity (though theologicially, I prefer a younger earth for simplicity's sake, I don't require it for Biblical inerrancy's sake). It still doesn't work, which is why so many scientists are either starting to make room for I.D. in their dogma or are positing ideas along the lines of panspermia, the theory that live evolved elsewhere before coming here (which is ludicrous and hardly to be preferred over the theory that God did it on purely scientific grounds, but there you have it).
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