Monday, February 6, 2012

Chariots in the red sea

I recently ran across a spate of items on the famous crossing of the Red Sea, when the Hebrews crossed on dry land, and "Pharaoh's army got drownded," so Mary don't you weep.
It seems that an amateur archaeologist claims to have found chariot wheels at the bottom of the Red Sea, which proves that the Biblical account is true.
Whoa there! Some comments:
1. First of all, there is no evidence that there is anything at the bottom of the sea at all. There are photos, of what could possibly be wheels, but no actual artifacts.
2. Even if there were chariot wheels found, what would that prove? It would prove that there were chariots at the bottom of the Red Sea. It does not follow that they were Pharaoh's, nor that they were chasing Israelites, nor that they were part of an army.
If we are to accept the Biblical account, I suspect we would need to find the following:
- Lots and lots of chariots. After all, it was an army that got drowned.
- Evidence that the chariots were Egyptian, Military, and period appropriate.
With evidence like this in hand, I might be inclined to accept that the account could be true.

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