Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 01:18 PM 12/17/2004, you wrote:

> The text is clear that Jews crossed the sea, while the chariots got stuck. 
> Before building of Aswan dam, there were plenty of swamps close to the Red 
> Sea. With little wind, water became shallow. So it was mud.
>
> Vadim Cherny

The chariots got stuck, we will no doubt be told, because it was a miracle 
that what was dry ground for the israelites became mud for the 
egyptians.  Even though, of course, the egyptians were right on the heels 
of the israelites.  The various and sundry "naturalistic" explanations, as 
I have called them, all falter on the simple logic of the text- which 
again, cannot be "proven".  Either you have to accept that the text is 
recording straightforward history- and that a divine miracle- or you have 
to wriggle around hoping that there is some analogous explanation.  Or, you 
can accept the story as "theological historiography" - that is the option I 
think most useful.

Best

Jim


++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies
Quartz Hill School of Theology

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