Defending the biblical account? I think not. Exodus describes a wall of water on each side, not a sandbar.
[[Exodus describes a wall of water on each side, not a sandbar.]]
Exactly- it was no aNkle deep water that a stiff wind could part- nor a ‘hump of land created from shifting sands’ it was the sea- with walls of water on either side- deep enough to drown the pursuing army-
22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. 25 And He took off[a] their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” 27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.
I’ve seen scholars debate the meaning of the terms in Exodus from ‘wall’ to ‘span’.
Clearly, there was water on both sides horizontally. Whether there was a vertical dimension or not I will defer to those that study the etymology of the HebreTo me it matters not.
What matters is a rare event at the precise time that Israel was put between two fatal options, that they chose to follow against their own frightened instinct and impulse, in favor of faith in God, whereas doubtless there were those screaming to return to Egypt, to beg the Egyptian Army not to kill them.