Crossing of the Red Sea or Sea of Reeds ) is part of the biblical narrative of the Exodus , the escape of the
Israelites , led by Moses , from the pursuing
Egyptians in the Book of Exodus . Moses holds out his staff and the Red Sea is parted by God. The Israelites walk on the dry ground and cross the sea, followed by the Egyptian army. Once the Israelites have safely crossed Moses lifts his arms again, the sea closes, and the Egyptians are drowned.
Biblical narrative
God chooses Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the land of Canaan , which God has promised to them. The Egyptian
pharaoh , who previously said the opposite, agrees to let them go, and they travel from
Ramesses to Succoth and then to Etham on the edge of the desert, led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.God tells Moses to turn back and camp by the sea at Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea.
God causes the pharaoh to pursue the Israelites with chariots , and the pharaoh overtakes them at Pi-hahiroth. When the Israelites see the Egyptian army they are afraid, but the pillar of fire and the cloud separates the Israelites and the Egyptians. At God's command, Moses held his staff out over the water, and throughout the night a strong east wind divided the sea, and the Israelites walked through on dry land with a wall of water on either side. The Egyptians pursued them, but at daybreak God clogged their chariot-wheels and threw them into a panic, and with the return of the water, the pharaoh and his entire army are destroyed. When the Israelites saw the power of God, they put their faith in God and in Moses, and sang a song of praise to the Lord for the crossing of the sea and the destruction of their enemies. (This song, at Exodus 15 , is called the Song of the Sea ).
The narrative contains at least three and possibly four layers . In the first layer (the oldest), God blows the sea back with a strong east wind, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land; in the second, Moses stretches out his hand and the waters part in two walls; in the third, God clogs the chariot wheels of the Egyptians and they flee ; and in the fourth, the Song of the Sea, God casts the Egyptians into tehomot , the oceanic depths or mythical abyss .