Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-17
DID MOsEs GROSS THE Red SEA

A convention Of historians and orien-
tai scholars has recently been held in Lon
don, which has attracted very wide atten-
ton. The addresses of Sir Henry Raw
liIson and Max Muller were bold
and iconclastic, and defiant of many
cherished opinions. But the paper
read by Brugsch Bey, a distinguished
scholar Of Egypt, on the question Of the
site at which the Israelites crossed from
Egypt into the Promised Land, was of I'M
usual interest. Monumental inscriptions
had been collected, geology studied, names
compared, and maps prepared to authenti-
cate the history reeIted. The following is
brief resume Of the positions arrived at:
have chosen for my theme (said
Brugsch Bey) the exodus Of the Hebrews
from Ramses to their arrival at Elm. AL
sayants who have previously occupied
themselves with the reconstruction of this
route have taken as the basis of their re-
searches the geography of Egypt during the
time of the Lower Empire, comparing il
with that Of our days. So many sayants,
so many different opinions concerning
this route. But all, with the exeep-
tiOn of two, agree that the Jews went
through the Red Sea My own researches
are founded on the geographical indica-
tons EgyytianmOnuments, contemporary
with the time Of the exodus. | was able
to reconstruct the map Of Egypt Of this
epoch, with its fOrty-two provinces, with its
chief towns, and with very great number
Of very curious details of the topography
and also Of its divine rites. From this 1
have arrived at the following conclusions,
which consider unguestionable:
!. That the town Of RamSes '1difIers in
no way from the town of ZOan," which is
spoken of in the Bible as the place where
Moses performed his miracles before the
Pharaoh of his time. This is the same
town which the Greeks called Tanes, and
which was the chief town of the district
Tanitis.
=. That the town Of PithOm, likewise
mentioned in the Bible, was the chief
town of the adjoining districts called by the
Greeks the district of Sethroite~. The
Semitic name Of this same town, cited in
the papyri Of the British museum, was
SukO or SukOth, which corresponds exactly
with the second station at which the He
brews camped after their exodus from
Ramses.
3. The third station, called in the Bible
Ethan, bears the name of Hetham in the
Egyptian texts; the name means ''the forti-
fed" This fort was situated westward
from the place Of el-Kantarh ii. E., the
bridge Of to-day on the confines of the
desert. After having arrived at Ethan, the
Hebrews turned to the north, and arrived
then at a. Migdol, which was the fourth
station. The name is completely Egyp-
tian, and means the fortress of MagdOlon,
of the Greek and Roman authors, situate
at Tel-e-SemOnt of our day. Setting
out from MigdOl, the Hebrews camped
between MigdOl and the sea Il. e., the
Mediterranean before the entrance of Hi
roth (Pihahirotb), in face of Baal Zephon
The Hiroth, an Egyptian term, denotes
those fearful abysseS situated between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Lake Sir
bonis. The place of Baal Zephon, in
Egyptian Baali ZapOuna, is the name Of
sanctuary situated at the Casian Mount.
As Pharaoh and his army pursued
the Hebrews on this isthmus be-
tween the sea and the lake of SirbOnis, to
which the inscriptions give, as to all lakes,
even to the Red Sea, the name of Sea of
Alge (jam Suph), there befel the Egyptians
at those places the same fate which, in the
course of history, befel single travellers as
well as whole arInies-they were swallow
ed by the abySSes OF the sea OF Algal or
Weeds. Once arrived at Mount kasias,
where was the Eastern frontier of ancient
Egypt, and where the sway Of
the Philistines" begins, the He
brews traversed, in a Southern direc-
tiOn, the desert TO Marah, ''where the water
was bitter" These are the Bitter-water
lakes of our day. The sixth station, Elm,
is called in Egypt s'Alim" ii. e., the town
of "fishes" to the north Of the Red Sea-.
All these indications exactly correspond i'm
Hebrew and Egyptian. No savant can
separate them from one another, nor alter
the site now fixed once for all.