The Traditional Site

There is a traditional route of the Exodus which has the children of Israel wading in shallow water through an area north of the Gulf of Suez while the tide was out. This area cannot be the crossing site as it does not match the Biblical account. A shallow area of water could not drown all of the Egyptian army. Also, they were to have left Egypt proper, before encountering the Red Sea crossing. After crossing the Red Sea, the Bible says they encountered the mountain of God or Mount Sinai which is in Midian. Midian is not in the area we call today the Sinai Peninsula. It is instead in Saudi Arabia and can be found on most maps as such. The traditional Mt. Sinai was "found" by Constantine's "psychic" mother who in the fourth century went around the Holy Land pointing out various sites as the "authentic" Biblical sites, such as the birthplace of Christ, the church of the Holy sepulcher (which was a pagan temple during her time), etc. There is no archaeological evidence of the forty year exodus having taken place in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Majority of Archaeologists

The majority of archaeologists today do not have enough faith in the Bible as the accurate word of God. The majority of archaeologists do not even believe in the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, according to Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review magazine. They are skeptical of the Biblical account, perhaps because of a lack of archaeological evidence in the Sinai Peninsula and a lack of faith. We cannot look to these men to tell us where or if the exodus took place.

The Red Sea Crossing Site Found by Ron Wyatt

Archaeologist Ron Wyatt followed the Biblical account in determining that the children of Israel lived in the Nile delta area or the land of Rameses, and first encamped at the northern end of the Gulf of Suez or Succoth at the beginning of the Exodus. This was the first point where they went into the camping mode. Then they traveled through the wilderness of the Red Sea, or what we call today the Sinai Peninsula, and encountered the Gulf of Aqaba. (I Kings 9:26 calls this the Red Sea.)

The Wilderness has Them Entangled

When traveling through "the wilderness of the Red Sea" Ex.13:18, escaping Pharaoh's army, God told Moses to turn south, so they headed through a wadi or canyon area that is called the Wadi Watir. The Bible in Ex. 14:3 says, "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in."

Above, the Wadi Watir winding its way to the Red Sea Crossing site, had the children of Israel thinking Moses had made a wrong decision to bring them this way.

The Beach Where the Crossing Took Place

When arriving at the beach, the children of Israel felt trapped, as they could not turn back, nor head north because at the northern end of the beach was the Egyptian fortress Pihahiroth which is still standing today, along with more mountains obstructing their escape. To the south and the north, the mountains came down to the sea, as mentioned by Josephus, "For there was [on each side] a [ridge of] mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight" Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. 2, 15-3. You can see the mountains at the beach today. The people were about to turn on Moses because he had led them to an area where they were trapped and would surely die.

View toward the south showing the beach from which the children of Israel crossed through the Red Sea. A=Area where waters were pushed back by a strong east wind. B=Mountains obstructing their flight. C=Location of column. D=Wadi Watir that was their route to the beach.

Ron looked on a map for a beach area large enough for 2-3 million people to encamp on the gulf and saw only one candidate: Nuweiba Egypt. The beach at Nuweiba is extremely large and can accommodate millions of people. Today you will find hotels there and a village.

The Granite Column of Solomon

In 1978, Ron Wyatt and his two sons traveled to the beach at Nuweiba, to dive in the waters of the gulf to search for chariot parts or anything they could find that would identify this site as the genuine location. There at the beach Ron found a 17' tall red granite, Phoenician style column fallen into the edge of the water. Mr. Wyatt showed the column to the Israeli army who were occupying the area at that time, and they promptly set it in concrete. Later he found a matching column on the other side of the gulf in Saudi Arabia with the Hebrew words for Egypt, death, water, pharaoh, Yahweh, and Solomon, and concluded King Solomon had these columns erected 400 years after the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea on dry land. Solomon's sea port was at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba at Elath (I Kings 9:26) and he was very familiar with the Red Sea crossing site, as it was in his neighborhood. The Bible even mentions this column! Isaiah 19:19, "In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border." You can visit the beach today and see the column in person, as did this tour group led by Mr. Wyatt.

Gradual Contour of Seabed

God caused a strong east wind to blow the waters back so the people could walk ten miles through the Red Sea to safety. The crossing path is about a half mile wide and is on a gradual slope down to the bottom of the Red Sea and then up to the Saudi beach. On either side of this path are the depths of the Red Sea, the Elat Deep and the Aragonese Deep, each 3000 and 5000 feet deep respectively.

Chariot Wheels Found in the Sea

Above, chariot wheels fixed to axels standing at attention on the seabed.

Above, left, reconstruction of a photo taken of a gilded chariot wheel that remains on the sea floor. It was found by Ron Wyatt using a molecular frequency generator which was set to search for gold. The Bible said all the chariots of Egypt and 600 choice chariots, or gold veneered models, were in the army pursuing God's people. It is speculated there were 20,000 chariots destroyed that day. Right, is a drawing of a four spoke chariot found in an Egyptian tomb from the same time period. Four and six spoke wheels are found here in the gulf, and were only used at the same time during the 18th dynasty or 1400 BC when the exodus took place. There are numerous chariot wheels, plus human and horse bones at the crossing site.

 

View of the beach at Nuweiba on the Egyptian side, with the break in the mountains where the wadi empties onto the beach. Hotels are seen in the foreground.

Mt. Sinai Must be in Saudi Arabia

Above, round chariot wheel found off the Gulf of Aqaba coast of Saudi Arabia, opposite of Nuweiba, Egypt.

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Midi = "Go Down Moses"