The South Eastern Nuweiba Route and Evidence for the Red Sea Crossing

This South Eastern Nuweiba Route would appear to provide conclusive evidence for a very significant case for the most likely route for the Exodus. You will note that I have added Nuweiba to this 5th Exodus Route to distinguish it from the 6th one. I have told you already “there are several experts who claim this is a futile exercise because ‘any attempt to map the Exodus route is doomed to failure’, especially where the locations of the places following Sinai are concerned.” Many of these experts are highly skeptical of attempting to map specific locations especially after Mt Sinai, but under this suggested route there are a number of people who are loathe to attempt any locations after the crossing between Pi-Hahiroth and Baal Zephon.

Archaeological Investigations at Nuweiba

The location of the crossing at Nuweiba is surrounded with controversy because it is strongly linked to Ron Wyatt who first flew in a small plane over the area in 1986 and found the likely site of Wadi Watir and the broad plain of Nuweiba. Lennart Möller is the author of the book The Exodus Case. Möller and his team dived in the area to attempt to locate the evidence as had Wyatt and his team on numerous occasions. The main difference between the two was Möller adopted a sound scientific approach to the search.

If the crossing really did take place at Nuweiba there ought to be a wealth of evidence for it. There were after all 600 of Pharaoh’s chariots which crossed at the crossing point. Each of them had a frame and wheels and as David Rohl has suggested, each was bristling with weapons. The sea bed must be littered with evidence. David Rohl issued a challenge for the divers and searchers – “Bring me up one chariot wheel from the sea [from this location] and I will be convinced.” No one has done it yet.

Scientific Calculations of the Sea Parting

A senior researcher at St. Petersburg Institute of Oceanography, Naum Volzinger and his colleague Alexi Androsov state that partitioning of the Red Sea is scientifically possible and the miracle could have happened. This conclusion is based on a number of mathematical calculations with regards to wind speed. The Russian duo calculated that if the night was gusty and the wind speed sustained an average of 67 miles per hour, then the sea bed can get exposed. Mr. Volzinger noted that this incident happened 3,500 years ago and the Red Sea was much shallower then. When a strong wind with 67 miles per hour is sustained, the sea can part and people can walk on the sea bed. There were 600,000 Jews and it would take four hours to cross the sea at the nearest point in the Red Sea which is seven kilometers. Once the wind dies, Volzinger stated that it would take half an hour for the waters to come back.

Comparing Geographic Theories

The debate about where the Red Sea crossing took place has become a hot topic. The standard wisdom was that it took place at the northern end of the Gulf of Suez, heading into the Sinai Peninsula, with a Mount Sinai at the bottom end of the peninsula. But over the last several decades, there has been significant debate surrounding two other options: a “Bitter Lakes” option (crossing one of the shallow inland lakes much further north of the Gulf of Suez); or notably a Gulf of Aqaba crossing, on the far side of the Sinai Peninsula—leading into what is today Saudi Arabia.

At the core of this debate—indeed, an impetus for certain researchers to consider a more distant Gulf of Aqaba crossing—is the identification of Mount Sinai. The long-standing traditional identification of Mount Sinai has been Jabal Musa, “Moses Mountain,” located in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula. A Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula means that the sea crossing must have taken place to the west —i.e. the Gulf of Suez.

Summary of Key Exodus Research Data

Crossing Site: Nuweiba (PI-Hahiroth) to Saraf al-Bal (Baal Zephon).
Chariot Evidence: 600 chariots with frames, wheels, and weapons.
Wind Requirements: Sustained speed of 67 miles per hour.
Crossing Logistics: 600,000 people crossing 7 kilometers in 4 hours.
Mt. Sinai Candidates: Jabal Musa (Sinai Peninsula) vs. Gebel al-Lawz (Saudi Arabia).
Key Proponents: Lennart Möller and Ron Wyatt.