There is a lot of misinformation surrounding the biblical Exodus. It ranges from spurious accounts of Mount Sinai being located in Saudi Arabia all the way to a complete dismissal as Hebrew mythology. In the Biblical narrative we have an enduring tradition that forms the basis for the majority of the world’s monotheistic religion. It deserves more respect than a dismissive waving of the postmodern hand or the wild irresponsible claims by untrained glory hounds. It may seem an incredible tale. Indeed the Bible records that the Israelites supernaturally received water from a rock and daily manna from the sky. Incredible as this is, protesting a lack of pottery is to not respect what the text says. This is, after all, an account of God’s work, not a secular history. However, we do have evidence. We should perceive the account to have historic and linguistic verisimilitude. Through archeological, historical, etymological and geographic research one can by logical induction discern that the Biblical text reflects historical veracity not legendary fabrication.
The Exodus account and wilderness journey is foundational to the truth claims of Judaism and Christianity. For the believer, it is not merely the inerrancy doctrine at stake; it is the character and deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus boldly proclaimed “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died” (John 6:49). Clearly, Jesus affirmed the exodus account as true history. This creates a challenge for the Christian researcher because there is probably no other Biblical narrative more frequently undermined other than the Genesis creation account. Even amongst sincere believers there are conflicting theories being offered. Some are shamefully staged, while others are misguided. I contend that the Exodus account was a real event occurring in 1446 BC, that it can be inferred circumstantially in Egyptian records, and that the most plausible biblically consistent route is across the y’m su’p (reed sea) and down the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula into the mid-southern Sinai to the holy mountain and back up the Eastern side of the Sinai toward Kadesh-barnea and the Promised Land.
Please look to the top bar on this website and you will find a drop down menu Exodus Research with each section of my research. You may be surprised along the way but our journey through the desert will be a fruitful one. The evidence for the Exodus is not the typical pottery shards and bones yet it is compelling nonetheless.
About Cris Putnam
About 5 years I saw a documentary that showed researchers actually finding traces of Egyptian chariots and their wheels in the shallowest part of the Red Sea (perhaps 50-100 feet deep or so); coral had grown on chariot wheels, with no natural reefs in sight for the coral to grow. There was apparently enough evidence to pin down the dynasty to the one in which Moses lived, because of the design of the wheels: the spokes were positioned 90 degrees from each other. I don’t know how valid this point is, but it seemed interesting to me. This was supposed to have provided evidence for the Red Sea crossing, and its location, with Egyptians in hot pursuit.
What seemed to be the Reed Sea, if we’re talking about the same thing, was far north of the crossing point, according to the documentary, just south of the Sinai Peninsula. This place was apparently shallow enough for walking through without disturbing or divding the waters, however it wasn’t deep enough for the chariots to be so quickly caught and smashed, drowning their drivers in the process. On top of that, no evidence of chariots was found there. So the crossing had to have taken place in a deeper site than that. In spite of the fact that this research was privately funded and not the result of historical twisting, denial and perversion by The History Channel and other networks with the same anti-Biblical agenda, I’m still surprised it was allowed to be broad-
cast uncensored. I’m writing because I’d like further verification on what I watched if possible, and also on what you wrote concerning McDowell’s comment, (were you arguing against it or confirming it?) and where you placed the Reed Sea, and where you think the crossing was. Also, please be specific about the historical and aarchaeological research done on it.
Any well researched websites? I’m over here in the Philippines, where there is a glaring lack of reading material about Biblical events.
Thank you
Norman Kellogg
Hi Norman, I suspect that was the documentary by Ron Wyatt and if so, its a proven hoax. The alleged chariot wheel disappeared and was never subjected to scientific analysis. Please refer to my footnotes and bibliography as I carefully documented my sources.
I used reliable Christian archeologists like this article here from the Associates for Biblical Research. They have a wealth of good information.
My comment about Josh McDowell, all due respect, was that he was wrong in this case. It was the reed sea but his remark was inaccurate because the water was deep enough to harbor boats. He implied that a reedy marsh wasn’t deep enough. Please refer to this article here.
There is good evidence for the Exodus as my research shows, it is largely textual in the form of toponyms. I hope this helps, thanks for stopping by!
I saw those videos by Ron Wyatt when I was a teenager, and I was very excited about them at the time…
But when you learn more about the “discoveries” Ron supposedly made later in his life, it just gets weirder and weirder…
Supposedly, he found the Ark of the Covenant in a cave directly under the site of Galgatha, and scraped up some of Jesus’s blood from the cave walls, and met angels in there, took some video footage of the ark, and then left the video tape inside the cave…
Of course, no one else besides Ron was ever able to find this room with the Ark or see what he supposedly saw..
He claims to have found Noah’s Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, the Chariot Wheels from the Exodus, and even Jesus’ DNA. Yes that’s right he claims he found Jesus’ blood and had it tested… He’s a nutjob or opportunist or both.
Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with
the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to find
out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the
blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.