This lesson does not deal with any deep doctrines of the Scriptures nor does it touch on personal and family conduct. I want to turn our attention to what seems to be a major discrepancy between the Old and New Testament. A discrepancy that centers upon the geography of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula.
If you were to ask a person or even a child, who has a modest knowledge of the Bible, what is the name of the body of water that the Israelites were able to miraculously cross as they escaped from Egypt and its bondage...99% would quickly and confidently say it is the Red Sea!
But what would you say if I told you that you will never truly find one verse in the Old Testament that states that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea? It is perfectly true. The Hebrew Old Testament does not ever mention the Red Sea.
But, one will say – 'Wait! The Old Testament does say that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. Just turn to:
Exodus 15:1-4, 19-22, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone....For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.”
Joshua 4:21-24, “And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.”
Psalms 106:7-11, “Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.”
So, with these selected texts that refer to the Israelites' escape through the Red Sea, how can I say that the Old Testament never refers to the Red Sea?
Well, I said the Hebrew Old Testament. The KJV translators and many translators who have come after them totally botched – horribly mistranslated – the Hebrew manuscripts. In every instance in the Old Testament where we read of the Red Sea (26 times), it should have been translated – 'The Reed Sea' or 'Sea of Reeds'. The Hebrew words are Yam Suph – the word Suph means 'reeds' and not even close to meaning 'red'.
The KJ translators knew the Hebrew language. How could they make such a horrible, blantant error in translation?
The truth is that the KJ translators knew that the Hebrew meant 'the Reed Sea' or 'Sea of Reeds' but they chose to ignore that fact. Why? Because they chose to render the name of that Sea as it is found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament rather than the original Hebrew translation. The Greek translation of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint.
Septuagint, in Latin means 'of the seventy' referring to the legend that 70 Jewish scholars were assembled by Egyptian Pharoah Ptolemy Philadelphus to translate the Hebrew Old Testament to Greek, which had become – more or less – the universal language. At the time, about 260 BC, there was a very large Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt and it very much welcomed the new translation because they were loosing their knowledge of pure Hebrew.
The translators of the Septuagint chose to change the name of the body of water from the Reed Sea to the Red Sea. I will talk about the reason for that change in a few minutes. The question arises – should we trust more the original Hebrew Old Testament or the Greek translation of Old Testament? Which one is more accurate?
Interestingly, when Jesus, the Apostles, and early Jewish Christians quoted passages from the Old Testament they quoted not from the original Hebrew but from the Septuagint. There are two passages in the New Testament where the body of water is named:
Acts 7:36, “He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.”
Hebrews 11:29, “By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.”
In these passages, Stephen and Paul call the body of water the Red Sea. They follow the Septuagint. More importantly, we know that both Stephen and Paul were inspired by the Holy Spirit. In other words, God told them to call it the Red Sea rather than the Reed Sea!
But the question still remains – why does the Hebrew Old Testament [which was inspired] call it the Reed Sea and the Greek Old Testament and New Testament call it the Red Sea.
The answer is actually quite simple if you know a little about ancient Greek geography. Remember that the Septuagint was written in Grecian Egypt. The Greeks, as far back as the 5th Century BC, referred to all water bodies east and south of Egypt as the Red Sea. It encompassed all of what we call today the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aquaba, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and even the Indian Ocean.
However, the specific part of the Grecian Red Sea where the Israelites crossed from Egypt to the wilderness of Sinai was called the Reed Sea or Sea of Reeds.
Modern day analogy - One person will say that to cross-over directly from Connecticut to Long Island, you would have to cross Long Island Sound. Another person says to cross-over dirctly from Connecticut to Long Island, you would have to cross-over the Atlantic Ocean. Who is right? Both!! The specific part of the Atlantic Ocean where you cross-over from Connecticut to Long Island is specifically called Long Island Sound.
Thus, there isn't any real discrepancy or contradiction between the Hebrew and the Greek Old Testaments and with the Greek New Testament. It is only geographic perspectives from two different cultures.
