The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-10-23
MISCELLANY.
Did Moses Cross the Red Sea!

A convention OF hlstOTlail9 anu ~
al scholars has recently been held III
London which attracted very wide at
tention. The addresses of Sir Henry .
RawIinson and Max Muller were bold .
and iconcIastic, and defiant Of many I
cherished opinions. But the paper read
bv Brugsch Bey, distinguished scholar
of Egypt, on the question Of the site at
which the Israelites crossed from Egypt
into the Promised Land, was Of unusual
interest. Monumental inscriptions had
been collected, geology studied, notes
compared, and maps prepared to authen-
ticate the history recited. The following
is a brief resume of the positions arrived
at:
I have chosen for my theme (sald
Brugsch Bey) the exodus ofthe Hebrews
from Ramses to their arrival at Elm.
All savants who have previously occu-
pied themselves with the reconstruction
of this route have taken as the basis OF
their researches the geography OF Egypt
during the time of the Dover Empire,
comparing it with that of our days. 30
many savants, so many different opinions
concerning this route; but all, with the
exception of two, agree that the Jews
went through the Red Sea. My own re-
searches are founded on the geographical
indications of Egyptian monuments,
contemporary with the time of the exo-
dus. / was able to reconstruct the Egypt
of this epoch, with its forty-two provin-
ces, with its chief towns, and with very
great number of very curious details OF
the topography and also of its divine
rites. From this l have arrived at the
following conclusions, which l consider
unquestionable:
l. That the town of Ramser differs
in no way from the town of Zoan," which
is spoken of in the Bible as the place
where Moses performed his miracles be-
fore the Pharoah Of his time. This is
the same town which the Greeks called
Tanes, and which was the chief town OF
the district Tanitis.
2. 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 Sethroites.
The Semitic name of this same town,
called in the papyri of the British muse
um, was Sul1o, or Sukoth, which cores
ponds exactly with the second station at
which the Hebrews camped after their
exodus from Ramses.
8. The third station, called in the Bi-
BILE Ethan, bears the name of Hethanl
in the Egyptian texts; the name means
''the fortified" This fort was situated
westward from the place el-Kantarck t.
c. the BRIDGE of to-day on the confines Of
the desert. After having arrived at
Ethan the Hebrews, turned to the North
and arrived there at (4) Migdol, which
was the fourth station. The name i.
completely Egyptian, and means the for
.tress of Magdolon of the Greek and Ro
man authors, situated at Tel-e-Semou
of our day. Setting out from Migdol
the Hebrews camped between Migdo
and the sea Il. e. the Mediterranean, be
fore the entrance ofthe Hiroth (Phihahi
roth, in the face of Baal Zephon. The
Hiroth, an Egyptian term, denotes those
fearful ahysses situated between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Lake Sirbon
is. The place of Baal ZephoD, in Egyp
tain Baali Zapouna, is the name of {
- h. NJ
As Pharaoh and his army pursued the
Hebrews on this isthmus, between the
sen and the Lake of Sirbonis, to which
the inscriptions give, as to all lakes, ev
en- to the Red Sea, the name of Sea o
Algae Cam Suph), there befel the Egyp
tians at those places the same fate which
in the course of history, befel single
travellers as we'll as whole armies-they
were swallowed by the abysses of the Sc;
of AIgal or Weeds. Once arrived a
Mount ssKasias, where was. the eastern
frontier of ancient Egypt and where tht
''way of the Philistines" begins, the He
brews traversed, in a southern direction
the desertto Marah, "where the waite
was bitter" These are the Bitter -wate
lakes of our day. The sixth station
Elm, is called in Egypt "A-lim," q. c.
the town of "fshes," to the north of thu
Red Sea. All these indications exactly
correspond in Hebrew and in Egyptian
No savant can separate them from on,
another, nor alter the site now fxe,
once for all.