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I have been researching the regional impact of several historic volcanic/earthquake cycles. One phenomenon that I have observed is that volcanoes can be active in several places at roughly the same time. The pillar of fire by night and smoke by day could have been in volcanic areas to the east of the Red Sea area. The land could have been uplifted by magma inflation under the surface of the land. In recent years this has happened in Japan with a volcano, I think named Usu. This could have caused the parting of the sea.

I think it is pretty likely the Thera/Santorini was around 1625 BC. There apparently was a start to the vulcanism there about 20 years earlier which caused the people to move before the final cataclysm. I think this period corresponds with the disturbances of the Hyksos period, and the general climate disturbance of the volcano could have driven conquering people into Egypt, perhaps from the middle east.

There was another major Mediterranean eruption at Etna, which is listed as 1500 BC +- 50 years. I think that this may have been part of a cycle of vulcanism which was part of the Exodus story. Check the dates in the Bible from the time of Abraham, who lived around 1900 BC, to the construction of the Temple at Jerusalem by David in the 900 BC period. Each of these dates is in the 400 range, I don't have a Bible here, so cannot be more precise. I highly doubt that it was during the Ramases period, as this was in the 1200 BC period and is too close to the construction of the Temple. Incidently, I think we are in a current major earthquake/vulanism cycle, with the great tsunami in Indonesia, the Pakistan earthquake, and other related phenomena.

Nuts. Sorry, Don't think you'll find any volcanic flow under the red sea at the crossing site marked by Solomon. Many problems with your grasp for a "natural" explanation (ei trying to write God out of the picture in favor of something that could be mistaken for "God"). The first and most obvious is that you can't walk on fresh magma flows.. takes quite a while before a person can walk on the unstable surface crust. Tell us, where in the story of the Exodus is the mention of the countless people lost during the crossing due to falling through unstable crust and burning to death? Hmm, guess they missed that part with all the generalizations.. But they do manage to mention the earth opening up and swallowing people at Sainai.. curious, huh. Much later; but, they don't mind mentioning that. Must have been a simple quake, right? (snickering). Delude yourself if you will. Apparently, since these folks recorded what happened and you don't like it, they need "interpreting". It would seem to me they just need to be listened to. But then you'd not sleep at night knowing there is a God out there who dispenses Justice mixed with mercy. The mercy you'd probably not mind.. it's that "justice" thing that gets most of you upset.

I think it is pretty likely the Thera/Santorini was around 1625 BC. There apparently was a start to the vulcanism there about 20 years earlier which caused the people to move before the final cataclysm. I think this period corresponds with the disturbances of the Hyksos period, and the general climate disturbance of the volcano could have driven conquering people into Egypt, perhaps from the middle east.

The only eruption on Calliste (another ancient name for the island) attested in ancient sources was circa 200 BC. The supposedly largest-ever-in-historical-times eruption is a 20th century invention.