Exode

Exodus revisited / Did a tsunami part the Red Sea? By Ofri Ilani http://www.haaretz.com/ "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. 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."