RED SEA
As a modern geographical designation “Red Sea” refers to the body of water separating northeastern Africa from the Arabian Peninsula and including the two arms known as the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqabah. The Red Sea measures some 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) in length, has a maximum width of about 220 miles (354 kilometers) and an average depth of approximately 2,000 feet (610 meters). It is part of the great geological fault known as the Rift Valley. Due to a fast rate of evaporation the waters of this sea are quite salty. Strong winds, rapid changes in wind direction and the presence of large reefs make it hazardous to navigate the Red Sea. Along the eastern coast there are high mountain ranges, whereas rocky tablelands and low hills occupy the western coast.
There is good reason for understanding the original-language expressions rendered “Red Sea” to apply to the Red Sea in general or to either one of its northern arms. (Ex. 10:19; 13:18; Num. 33:10, 11; Judg. 11:16; Acts 7:36) It was the waters of the Red Sea that Jehovah miraculously divided to let the Israelites pass through on dry land, but drowned Pharaoh and his military forces who came in pursuit. (Ex. 14:21–15:22; Deut. 11:4; Josh. 2:10; 4:23; 24:6; Neh. 9:9; Ps. 106:7, 9, 22; 136:13, 15) The Biblical passages relating this incident use the Hebrew expression yam (“sea”) or yam suph (“sea of rushes or reeds, bulrushes”). On the basis of the literal meaning of yam suph, certain scholars have argued that the Israelites crossed a mere swampy place, such as the Bitter Lake region, and not the Red Sea (principally the western arm, the Gulf of Suez, where others believe the crossing likely occurred). However, it should be noted that the waters were sufficient to cover Pharaoh’s military forces. (Ex. 14:28, 29) This would have been impossible in a mere swamp. Also, Acts 7:36 and Hebrews 11:29 rule out a mere swampy place, for these texts mention the same incident and use the Greek expression e·ry·thraʹ thaʹlas·sa, meaning “Red Sea.” (See EXODUS, pages 546, 547.) The historian Herodotus (fifth century B.C.E.) used the same Greek expression to refer, not to a swamp or an insignificant body of water, but to “the Indian Ocean, in which the Red Sea” is located.—A Greek-English Lexicon, by H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, Vol. I, p. 693; see PIHAHIROTH.
It is not known why the Red Sea was designated yam suph by the Hebrews. Since the Hebrew term suph can also designate seaweeds (Jonah 2:5), there is a possibility that the Red Sea got its name from such plants. Notes the Cyclopaedia (Vol. VIII, p. 961) by M’Clintock and Strong: “The [suph] of the [yam], it seems quite certain, is a sea-weed resembling wool. Such sea-weed is thrown up abundantly on the shores of the Red Sea.”
In a pronouncement of doom for Edom, the outcry resulting from Edom’s calamity is described as being heard at the Red Sea. (Jer. 49:21) This is understandable, since Edomite territory in its southern extremity bordered on the Red Sea (1 Ki. 9:26), that is, the sea’s northeastern arm, the Gulf of Aqabah. Israel’s boundary also extended to this point.—Ex. 23:31; see AQABAH, GULF OF, for other references to the Red Sea.