Dr. V notes that the Israelites left Egypt in the Exodus after the sun set on the 13th of the month, which made it the 14th of the month. The 13th happened to be a Friday.
One of *those* topics.
Posted on 01/14/2023 6:09:05 AM PST by SunkenCiv
MISCONCEPTION: Upon leaving Egypt, the Jews crossed the Yam Suf, which is translated as the Red Sea. This translation, however, is an error. Red Sea is a corruption of the correct Old English (OE) translation, Reed (Rede) Sea. (Rede is a legitimate spelling of reed in OE.)
FACT: The notion that the Yam Suf is the modern-day Red Sea predates any English translation of the Bible by well over a thousand years. In fact, it seems that until the late eighteenth century no one questioned the translation and identification of Yam Suf with the Red Sea...
The Septuagint (second to third century BCE) translated Yam Suf into Greek as Erythra Thalassa or Red Sea–that is, neither "end" nor "reed!" ... Josephus (Antiquities 2:15:3) identifies the Yam Suf as the Red Sea as well. This translation was carried over into the Latin when the fourth-century Latin Vulgate translated Yam Suf in Exodus 13:18 as Mare Rubrum, and in other places it translates Yam Suf as Mare Erythrae, both of which mean Red Sea...
In his commentary on the Bible, known as Tafsir, Rabbi Sa'adia Gaon (d. 942 CE), who lived in Egypt and Israel as well as in Baghdad, translated Yam Suf as Bahr al Qulzum, the Arabic name used for the Red Sea till this very day. Thus, it is clear that Jews at the time of the Geonim took it for granted that the Yam Suf in the Bible refers to the modern- day Red Sea...
Let's first look at the other places where Yam Suf is mentioned in the Bible and is translated as "Red Sea." In I Kings (9:26) it states that King Solomon based his navy on the Yam Suf near Eilat.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishaction.com ...
The rest of the Erythraean Sea keyword, sorted:
The HistoriesAs for Libya, we know it to be washed on all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to Asia. This discovery was first made by Necos, the Egyptian king, who on desisting from the canal which he had begun between the Nile and the Arabian gulf, sent to sea a number of ships manned by Phoenicians, with orders to make for the Pillars of Hercules, and return to Egypt through them, and by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians took their departure from Egypt by way of the Erythraean sea, and so sailed into the southern ocean. When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having reaped it, they again set sail; and thus it came to pass that two whole years went by, and it was not till the third year that they doubled the Pillars of Hercules, and made good their voyage home. On their return, they declared -- I for my part do not believe them, but perhaps others may -- that in sailing round Libya they had the sun upon their right hand. In this way was the extent of Libya first discovered.
by Herodotus
tr by George Rawlinson
Book IV -- Melpomene
'Civ notes:
- Libya was the Greek name for all of Africa
- Elsewhere in Herodotus he makes it clear that the Red Sea including the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, along with the Persian Gulf, were the Erythraean Sea, IOW, the term refers to the Indian Ocean and its 'fingers' into the continents
Dr. V notes that the Israelites left Egypt in the Exodus after the sun set on the 13th of the month, which made it the 14th of the month. The 13th happened to be a Friday.
One of *those* topics.
The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, chrono sort:
noun
tris·kai·deka·pho·bia ˌtri-ˌskī-ˌde-kə-ˈfō-bē-ə
: fear of the number 13
Wait... the Bible is in other languages besides English?
HERESY! Oh, sorry.
Yup. There's also Trisquitdeckaphobia, the fear of eating those crackers on a cruise ship buffet.
Interesting argument. I remember hearing it discussed years ago. Then someone pointed out, “All the better miracle that Pharoah’s army drowned in two inches of water.”
Passover is in the middle of the month (Nisan 14), which means that Moses waited until there was a full moon. Which would have made it much easier to travel at night.
“The notion that the Yam Suf is the modern-day Red Sea predates any English translation of the Bible by well over a thousand years. In fact, it seems that until the late eighteenth century no one questioned the translation and identification of Yam Suf with the Red Sea. 1”
But of course current Bible scholars like to make meanings of words current with modern culture so we have this idea that all those olden people didn't know what they were talking about.
LOL! That’s a good one!
the later version, the earlier name of the month was Datsan
which means that Moses waited until there was a full moon.
This assumes that Moses, and not the One who was going to perform the miraculous emancipation, chose the date.
He didn’t pick the time to go. :^)
;^)
LOL! Took me a minute...
That’s funny! And I’m going to remember it for the next time we study the Old Testament in Sunday School! I wonder how many people have even thought of that?
Thanks!
‘Face
;o]
“the earlier name of the month was Datsan”
Shows they waited far too long, earlier they could have just piled in their small pickups and driven out.
Yuppers. The red/reed equation never made any sense to me, because the original language wasn't English, and (as the Rabbi notes) the Greek and Latin versions both have it as Red Sea. :^)
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