Biblical parting of the Red Sea 'could have happened'

A new computer modelling study suggests a powerful wind could have divided the waters just as depicted in the Book of Exodus.

The likely location of the ''miracle'' was not the Red Sea as such, but a nearby spot in the Nile Delta region.

In the biblical account, Moses and the fleeing Israelites are trapped between the Pharaoh's advancing chariots and a body of water identified from translations as either the Red Sea or Sea of Reeds.

Thanks to divine intervention, a mighty east wind blows all night, splitting the waters to leave a passage of dry land with walls of water on both sides.

The Israelites make their escape, but when the Pharaoh's army tries to pursue them the waters come crashing back and drown the soldiers.

Scientists in the US studying ancient maps of the Nile Delta region pinpointed where the crossing may have occurred, just south of the Mediterranean Sea

Here, according to some experts, an ancient branch of the Nile flowed into a coastal lagoon then known as the Lake of Tanis.

Analysis of archaeological records, satellite measurements and maps allowed the researchers to estimate the water flow and depth at the site 3,000 years ago.

An ocean computer model was then used to simulate the impact of a strong overnight wind on the six-foot-deep waters.

The scientists found that an east wind of 63 mph blowing for 12 hours would have driven the shallow waters back, both into the lake and the river channel.

For a period of four hours, this would have created a land bridge about two miles long and three miles wide.

The waters really would have been parted, with barriers of water raised on both sides of the newly exposed mud flats.

As soon as the winds dropped, the waters would have rushed back, much like a tidal bore. Anyone stranded on the mud flats would have been at risk of drowning, said the scientists, whose findings are reported today in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE. ...

via Biblical parting of the Red Sea 'could have happened' - Telegraph.

So it is more like, Moses was there when a river near the Red Sea was parted by a long strong wind and used it to his advantage.  Then the game of telephone in telling the story resulted in "Moses parted the Red Sea." Sounds possible. It would be so interesting to have a time machine. I'd  bet we are wrong about so many things.