Red Sea or Reed Sea?

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Exodus 14:21,22

I was going through Hebrew Encylopedia found this information

Scholars have known for some time that the Hebrew "Yam Suf" should be rendered more precisely "the Sea of Reeds" or "Reed Sea" not Red Sea. If you read ancient authors you will soon realizes that the body of water being referred to is not necessarily the one which currently bears the name "Red Sea." It seems to be applied to the entire maritime area between Africa, Arabia and south Asia, extending at times as far as the Indian Ocean. Some sources make a clear distinction between the more expansive Red Sea and the smaller Reed Sea.

My question is, was it Red Sea or Reed Sea? Your replies will be of great help.

In Christ

What difference does it make, whether it was Red Sea or Reed Sea or Blue Sea or Yellow Sea. The thing is that God performed this miracle and parted the Sea for the Israelites to go through it. To me it makes no difference as I have always marvelled at this wonderful miracle.

In Christ

Yes it is true that it is the awesome miracle and God's power and authority over everything that counts and not what the scholars say about the Red Sea or Reed Sea. Thank you Thirsty for your faith-inspiring reply.

In Christ

I am no scholar but I do not listen to theories that puts doubt in our hearts. If the Bible says it was the Red Sea, then it was the Red Sea. I totally agree here that it does not matter and the thing that matters is the great and awesome power of God that divided the Red Sea in two parts for Israelites to walk through it. The most amazing part is that not only God divided the sea but also made the ground to dry up so that they could walk through the sea. We serve and awesome God, who has power and authority over everything. Hallelujah!

God bless

It is quite interesting and I did not know that people call it Red Sea or Reed Sea. Surely I will look it up in my Encyclopedia. This is a thought provoking question.

God bless

Thank you all for showing faith in the Bible and God's works that He showed the Egyptians. The problem is when we make assumptions using our logic. If we look at the Red Sea, it is 150 miles wide and then we think how was it possible that Israelites travelled such a distance? We limit God to our imaginations and abilities, whereas, God says:

I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:27)

Now another problem is apologetics, if you cannot find an answer then why not twist the Biblical verse and use it. I believe there is answer to every question given in the BIble.

First of all, reeds do not grow in sea, reeds grow in fresh water. Secondly, the aplogetics scholars tried to find a smaller way in the north of Red Sea that was marshy in nature and was easy to cross because it is only knee deep.

These scholars prefer the translation "Reed Sea," noting that lakes north of the Red Sea are abundant with reeds. They usually designate one of these shallow bodies of water as the site of the Israelite crossing but say that the Egyptians, with their heavy chariots, got bogged down and somehow drowned.

Now if we use this false theory, then where is the God's miracle because God reminded Jews by saying, that He was the one who parted the Red Sea. And how come the Jews did not die in knee deep water and the whole Egyptian army pursuing Jews died?

An interesting point to notice is the verse in Numbers 33, which mentions the stops the Israelites made in the wilderness of the Sinai. After crossing "the sea," they camped in Marah, then Elim. And "they moved from Elim and camped by the Red Sea [yam suph]" (verse 10). How could they have crossed a "sea of reeds" and, after many days of travel, still camped by that same "sea of reeds"? No body of water in the region except the Red Sea would have been enough for the Israelites to have traveled so long and still be close to its coast. Other references that support the Red Sea are Numbers 21:4 and Jeremiah 49:21.

However, one author of several works on biblical history offers this perspective: "The crossing of Israel . . . cannot be explained as a wading through a swamp. It required a mighty act of God, an act so significant both in scope and meaning that forever after in Israel's history it was the paradigm against which all of his redemptive and saving work was measured" (Eugene Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1987, p. 66).

Personally speaking I do not believe that Yam Suph is Sea of Reeds. There is no Sea of Reeds anywhere in the world. It was Red Sea as Bible says and it was Power and Authority of God that parted the Red Sea and made 600,000 plus Israelites to walk through it and it was command of God that made Red Sea come back together and drown the pursuing Egyptians.

God bless you