Synopsis
Some 3500 years ago, a sea miraculously parted in an event called the Exodus, but its location has been uncertain for millennia. Its identity has now been deciphered, and can be stated in one sentence. The real enigma is why its identity remained shrouded in mystery for so long. The explanation is deserving of a book! Yam Suph, the Hebrew name for the sea that parted, has traditionally been called the Red Sea and placed at the Gulf of Suez near Egypt. More recently, many scholars have defined it as the Reed Sea and assigned it to various inland Egyptian estuaries. However, such locations do not harmonize with the biblical data that clearly identify Yam Suph as the modern Gulf of Aqaba. The confusion began over 2,000 years ago with the Greek Septuagint Bible, which equated the Hebrew Yam Suph with the Greek concept of the Red Sea. The Greeks were unaware of the Gulf of Aqaba, which caused the Gulf of Suez to became the default site for Yam Suph. The geographical ignorance of the Gulf of Aqaba persisted until the 19th century, allowing the Red Sea tradition to dominate without challenge. The various Reed Sea theories, which are now favored over the Red Sea tradition, mainly hinge on the linguistic theory that the Hebrew word suph referred to vegetation. But, these supposed botanical meanings are readily discredited by basic linguistic analyses of the Hebrew vocabulary related to suph. A Gulf of Aqaba location for Yam Suph invalidates all of the theories that have placed the Exodus sea crossing near Egypt. More importantly, it mandates that Mount Sinai must be sought further east, in the region of ancient Midian in northwest Arabia, not within the Sinai Peninsula as previously thought. Having meticulously identified the Sea of the Exodus as the Gulf of Aqaba, this work then provides a detailed geographical overview of the likely route used by the Hebrews to reach this sea. In the process, enigmatic biblical places like Migdol, Etham, Pihahiroth and Shur are defined and explained. A must-have, fact-filled reference for any student of Near Eastern or biblical history. 352 pages and 180 maps, charts and illustrations.
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About the Author
The zigzag path leading to this project began in Appleton, WI, where I was born to a civil engineer and a high school teacher. As far back as I can remember, I have been inquisitive and adventuresome. I still recall the intrigue I felt at age four, listening to a shortwave BBC broadcast about the Dead Sea scroll discoveries. In grade school I lived in a Mississippi River town steeped in French and Indian history, and became enamored with archaeology. My family later moved to Omaha, NE, where I attended high school and eventually earned a DDS degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While in Nebraska, one memorable pastime was tracing parts of the Lewis and Clark expedition along the Missouri River. I served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force prior to completing an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residency at the University of Oklahoma. Being drawn to the ocean and warm weather, I eventually moved to Vero Beach, FL, where I operated a private practice for fifteen years. In the 1990s I relocated to San Antonio, TX. At that time, the craft brewing industry was becoming popular and the opportunity arose to study Old World brewing with an English Brewmaster. I subsequently built and operated a small, award-winning microbrewery. In 1996, I visited Israel for the first time. The trip catalyzed my interest in the ancient history and geography of the Near East. Over the next several years, I traveled in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan as time permitted, and studied Hebrew, which has been important for analyzing biblical geography nuances. I soon realized that the route of the Exodus was far from settled, and I was challenged by its enigmas. But exploration of the region was a daunting task, hampered by cost, physical and political barriers, and the lack of good topographical mapping. I knew that any geographical analysis would be greatly aided by the availability of digital terrain modeling and high resolution satellite imagery. At that time, tools like Google Earth® were not available, or even on the immediate horizon. In my quest to gain digital cartography skills, I enrolled in graduate level geography studies at Texas State University-San Marcos. Although it was not my original intent, I earned a PhD in Environmental Geography in 2006. In the course of my research, I was also able to visit the ancient region of Midian in Saudi Arabia and explore the site popularly touted as Mount Sinai. My hope is to convey the geographical insights I have gained about the Exodus in a thorough and thought-provoking manner in order to advance the understanding of this truly remarkable event. Glen A. Fritz San Antonio, Texas January 2016
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The Lost Sea of the Exodus: A Modern Geographical Analysis
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Condition: very_good. Book is in very good condition. Clean with little to no signs of wear or markings highlights. Seller Inventory # LFM.8ITH