But when the 10th plague struck, all Egypt was in an uproar and pharaoh let Israel go.

The Bible tells us that the Israelites under Moses left their domestic quarters in a hurry.

"And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn ... And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians ... And he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people ... And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste ... " Exodus 12:29-33

The window of opportunity was short for not long after they had left Pharaoh changed his mind, called up his army and chased after them. But Israel had an advantage for God led them by a pillar of clouds in day time, acting like an air conditioner so to speak and a pillar of fire at night so they would loose no time but get to a point where their deliverance would occur. (Ex. 13:21)

Israel marched night and day until they reached the other side of Sinai on the seventh day. The Bible states that no one among the people was allowed to eat leavened bread. Only unleavened bread was allowed. This way their physical well being would not be hampered by possible stomach cramps. Their march was to be without a break and its length was measured by the limitation for how long their unleavened, baked bread would be edible. Exodus 12:15-20.

Therefore, Israel traversing the Sinai Peninsula occured within those seven days. They did not have to drive oxen pulling waggons, or find sources of water and food during those few days. Their sustenance they carried with them and the pillar of clouds protected them from the excessive heat during the day.

The Route of the Exodus

Leaving Egypt [025] from the Nile delta region the Israelites headed first south (Ex. 13:17-18), as shown on the map, along the shore of the modern Suez canal and then east into the desert of the Sinai peninsula to Etham at the edge of the desert (on the Arabian side) without ever stopping. [030] At some point in Wadi Watir (which leads toward Nuweiba Beach[032]), God told Moses:

"Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea..." Exodus 14:2

The `turn' must have been made close to where the thinner yellow line turns north, as if to walk around the Gulf of Aqaba to Mount Sinai, but God stopped Moses and led them down that eastern Wadi toward what is called today `Nuweiba Beach', a place which must have been familiar to Moses. The walk around the Gulf would have taken much longer, but God never had that direction in mind. Already when Moses worked for Jethro, God had planned that Moses would lead his people to Mount Horeb/ Jebel al Lawz /Agar in Arabia and that the sea would part to accomplish that.

Where is Mount Sinai? Here is the biblical record:

"... Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwellt in the land of Midian ..." Exodus 2:15

We may understand `... the backside of the desert' as looking from the Nile region toward the east. The desert then would refer to the Sinai Peninsula and not the western Sahara. The backside of the Sinai would then be the eastern most region up against the Gulf of Aqaba (probably on the Arabian side) and perhaps the continued rift valley up toward the Dead Sea..

"... When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." Exodus 3:12

In the days of the apostle Paul, people still knew where Midian was located [36].

"For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia ..." Galatians 4:25

"God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near ... but ... led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea ... turn and encamp before Pi-ha-hi-roth between Migdal and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it ye shall encamp by the sea. ... For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in." Ex. 13:18-20; 14:2-3

"... wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?" Exodus 14:11

The words `out of Egypt' indicate that Israel would leave the very ground of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula which belonged to Egypt, and be in another country.

As the satellite map shows, the mountainous terrain of the Sinai in this region allows only a narrow path toward what is known today as `Nuweiba', a sandy beach enclosed on all sides by sheer rocks. Today there is a road hugging the rocky coast going south, in ancient times it did not exist. The Sinai peninsula was Egypt in Old Kingdom times. Numerous army lookout posts doted the mountain tops and we can assume that the Egyptians had developed a system of mirror or smoke signals from mountain top station to mountain top station to pass on information to headquarters back near today's Cairo and along the length of the road, so Pharaoh knew exactly where the Israelites were. Turning back, the Israelites saw the approaching chariots of Pharaoh. Views are on file what the mountain road looks like from the vantage point of the beach.

"... the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh ... and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-ha-hi-roth, before Baal-zephon ... And the pillar of clouds came between the camp of Israel: and it was a cloud and darkness to them ..."Ex. 14:9,20

Josephus presents the Exodus account this way:

"Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them, and by their multitude they drove them into a narrow place ... They also seized on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting them up between inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was on each side a ridge of mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight." [040]

The account of Josephus seems to fit the approaches to Nuweiba Beach and its rocky condition better than any other locality. The only escape route left was through the sea.

Question: What about the chariot wheels, in particular the eight spoked wheels, doesn't that proof that the Exodus took place during 18th dynasty times and the revised chronology must be in error?

Answer: Of course we know that the 18th Dynasty used such chariots. Historians can trace the use of chariots back into the Hyksos period. Does that mean that the 12th Dynasty could build pyramids but not make wheels? Are we to assume, all they could do was drag goods or use camels, which are also not represented in 12th dynasty art? That sounds nonsensical, doesn't it. We believe in this case the absence of direct evidence is not proof they didn't exist before the Hyksos/ Amalekite period. The further back in time one goes, the less perishable goods are found. Once well working models have been designed, they could be used for hundreds of years that way. The 4, 6 and 8 spokes in chariot wheels could have been produced during all this time. Why, should they use 3, 5, or 7 spokes in earlier times? No, such odd spoked wheels would be quite a bit harder to produce.

Another possibility is that, the Gulf of Aqaba at the crossing site was apparently explored to some extent down to 200 feet depth. That is quite close to shore. The deeper region, let's say about half way across, what may be found there? What does the Bible say?

"And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily ... And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again ... and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh ... there remained not so much as one of them. ... and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore." Exodus 14:22-30

Nuweiba Beach experienced no doubt quite a bit of erosion and saw in succeeding centuries many Egyptian vessels transporting all kinds of merchandise to where ever there was a market. We know Solomon purchased horses and chariots from Egypt. They could reach Ezion Geber quite easily from there. Can we assume that perhaps over centuries a few vessels loaded with wheels sank just offshore? If so, that could also account for 18th dynasty wheels at the site. In another scenario, worn out wheels could have just been thrown in the water too. What we suggest is, that the sampling and more exact dating may, as yet, not be enough to come to a conclusion.

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The locations mentioned after the point were the Israelites crossed the parted Gulf of Aqaba are from here on out all located in today's Saudi Arabia. Their next major stop was at Mount Sinai, today's blackened, as if scorched, top of `Jebel el Lawz' [050] which exhibits many rock formations and archaeological features which could allow for its identity as Mt. Sinai.

In our modern days, visitors to Nuweiba Beach noticed this ancient pillar attributed to King Solomon with later writing on it in Hebrew, Greek and Syrian in memory of the great miracle of the crossing of the sea. Once the locals realized that people could read the memorial writing, they removed the pillar and today it is no longer present.

The Geological Features at Nuweiba Beach

As this depth chart shows, the submarine `landbridge' is today about 800 feet, ca. ½ mile deep. That doesn't mean it was that deep in the days of Moses. Since the distance to the Saudi side is ca. 7 miles, that would make the incline just a little less than 9 degrees over a distance of 3.5 miles, assuming that the deepest part was in the middle between Sinai and Arabia and the angle smooth. However it appears that the deepest point is closer to the Arabian side. If the majority of Pharaoh's army drowned closer to the Arabian side, and depending how wide the `landbridge' was, many remains, in time, would probably have been swept into the very deep channels of Aqaba, especially if tectonic action caused any underwater landslides on the `landbridge'. But such factors depend also on the geological features of the `landbridge' none of which are known to us at this time.

The Hyksos - Amalekites

After the Exodus the Hyksos/Amalekites set themselves up in Egypt as the ruling class after they had overran the country and started a period of destructions and constructions in a land whose army and pharaoh had died in an effort to force the fleeing Israelites back to their slave duties in Egypt. It was a time of much confusion and lack of records of any kind (except scarabs) in Egypt itself. While we shall not present the evidence in this particular paper since that is presented elsewhere on this website, we just wanted to point out that the evidence from secular sources is meager indeed and probably always will remain so, but our revision of the illustrious 18th Dynasty and its contemporaries throughout the region is a forceful testimony to the fact that modern historians have put up a false historical background to the entire regional history. The biblical account of the Exodus is an absolutely trustworthy account whose memory was being repeated over and over again to the people. It lacks the fanciful, often ludicrous conventions of real legendary stories and makes a mockery of today's historians who have this myopia of accepting the Hebrew scriptures known to us as the Bible. Once an erroneous chronology has started to assign periods to its artifacts and is being used as a measuring tool for the ancient past, it becomes an institutionalized systematic, erroneous historical account propagating itself despite their best efforts to be accurate.

Many theories and/or scenarios have been forged trying to explain `Elohim', `Yahweh' and the God (or as some have it gods) of Israel. We believe one can look at these views perhaps in 2 ways:

a) the Old Testament books portray a biased account of God which has some aspects of Canaanite origin,
b) the real God was a more complex Godhead arrangement and people misconstrued and worshipped their own biased imaginations - not following the blueprint so to speak God had intended for them. According to this view the purer religion is the one God wanted advanced not that religion which followed sinful paths. But people soon misunderstood. It is a mistake to measure Israel's intended purer faith by pagan, corrupted concepts of God and gods. Above it all is the Creator God, Yahweh, who is to be worshipped by faith alone not bound to figures of stone, wood or metal. Among all the information: biblical as well as historical, we are to try and discern the pure God and how he worked for men and women throughout the ages. Is it like seeing the roses among all the thorns or is it like, starting with a corrupt mind, only thistles and brambles can be seen? The problem is with our mind, our thinking, our sinfulness.
Red line: Israel's route out of Egypt to the Arabian Sinai. After the demise of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, Israel could migrate at a slower pace. Leaving the Arabian side of the shore of the Red Sea, Israel arrived at Marah, then came to Elim, the Wilderness of Sin and from there to Rephidim, where they fought against the Amalekites, just before they got to Mt. Sinai. We understand that the valley of the battle between Amalek and Israel was located some 30 miles distance from Jebel el Lawz for Israel moved around this region for a length of time before the event of the proclamation of the Law of God from the mount.. These distances from one location to the other may have been shorter and not in a direct, straight line to Mt. Sinai - after all, this was Moses backyard for 40 years as a shepherd.
Yellow line: Hyksos-Amalekites probably fleeing or migrating out of the region of Mecca from the after effects of the disasters of the Ten Plagues in Egypt (which probably affected a larger region) and having heard of the conditions in Egypt decided to invade and take over the country. To do so, they had to march toward the tip of Aqaba and from there to Egypt [70]. God led Israel a shorter route through the Red Sea of Aqaba toward the Arabian Mt. Horeb/Sinai, where they had an encounter with the fleeing Amalekite/Hyksos on their way to around the Gulf of Aqaba to Egypt. It was Josephus who had information which led him to think that the Hyksos were from Arabia: "... the first syllable Hyc, according to the sacred dialect denotes a king, as is Sos, a Shepherd ... and of these is compounded Hycsos: but some say that these people were Arabians." [Josephus, Against Apion, Book I, Sec. 14.]

While a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night watched over Israel on their sojourn, they received their supply of water from a rock near their camp. When they left the camp, the water dried up and the rock which followed them flowed with water in their next camp, this is the message we find: "... I want you to remember this: our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea ... all drank .... from the spiritual rock that was following them. ..." 1.Cor. 10:1-4. But one time, as they pitched their camp, no water flowed anywhere. We read: "As the community had no water, they held a council against Moses and Aaron." Numbers 20:2. After 40 years (Deut. 1:3) in the desert with all those who rebelled after the return of the spies having died, Israel was to go up through Ar and the (Dead Sea?) coast of Moab, to the west of the Ammonites up to the River Arnon (Deut. 2:24) toward Jericho. - Israel had arrived at the border of the Promised Land. There was no need for the miraculous water to which they had so matter of fact gotten used to. But they complained.

Therefore, Israel had no lack of water and food when they faithfully followed the guidance of the Lord. Manna, a divine gift, was their daily food for those 40 years. Like they did not have to carry goat skins filled with water, they did not have to carry bags of food when traveling. Their time was that at the end of the 12th Dynasty in Egypt. The Amalekites just about settling themselves in the acropolises at the Nile after disengaging themselves from fighting Israel at Jebel al Lawz and walking in a sweeping bow toward the Mediterranean region of the River of Egypt and from there West toward the Nile Delta region.

Something to ponder: This account of Israel leaving the land of their servitude represents a logical sequence which explains satisfactorily how the Arabians/ Hyksos/ Amalekites could meet Israel at Mt. Sinai [90]. If Mt. Sinai was the traditional Mt. Sinai of the Egyptian penisula, why would they have gone there and risk a battle with Israel for relatively meager winnings? At the same time this scenario explains how Mecca and Medina became holy places. We conclude then that Velikovsky was correct in considering the territory of Mecca and Medina to have been a `Kadeshbarnea' where some of the Israelites might have spent some time while the rest of Israel settled further north for 40 years. Since the Amalekites had evacuated Mecca, perhaps on hearing about the state of affairs in Egypt and intending to take over the weakened country, it was probably relatively safe to explore the area. It was Donald Redford who pointed out that the Hyksos, our Amalekites, had no prior cultural roots in Egypt since they destroyed those constructions which probably offended them. [100] We conclude that there was more than one location bearing that name of `Kadeshbarnea'.

In conclusion we would like to remind our readers that from ca. the time after the Exodus to the time of Saul and David, references to contemporary Egypt are not found in scripture. A check in a concordance shows that all references to Egypt in the books of Joshua, Judges and 1.Samuel are geographical references or look back on what the Egyptians did to Israel before or during the Exodus itself. This represents the biblical time span between ca. 1445 to 1023 BC, the latter year being the time when King Saul helped the Egyptians to vanquish the Amalekites.

Conversely, while there is no clue to economical contact with Egypt during this long time span, there are multiple references to Amalek or the Amalekites, of course not situating them to have governed Egypt but coming from that direction (Avaris) and repeatedly attacking locations in Palestine. Starting with Deuteronomy 25:17, where Moses reminds Israel to remember what the Amalekites did to them, there are about seven references in the book of Judges to Amalek or the Amalekites and some seventeen references to the same people in the Book of 1.Samuel. These texts talk about current affairs at the time.

The above may show that Egypt, during this time, was not governed by an economically and industrially thriving succession of Egyptian kings as we also point out Here!

God led His people, whom He calls "the church in the wilderness . . ." (Acts 7:38) out of Egypt. The beginning essence of what happened at Sinai is well put by this verse,

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." Exodus 24:12.

But what happened really? Moses was up on the mountain for a long time. The Lord gave him some other instructions (explanations of these commands), and he was there 40 days and nights. Then we read,

"And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp." Exodus 32:15-17.

If you will read the preceding verses and the 9th chapter of Deuteronomy along with this, you will find that while Moses was gone during those 40 days, people had entirely turned around, gone back on their promises, and fallen into idolatry. The Book of Exodus tells us that when God spoke the commandments, the people heard His voice and promised to keep them forever. Then God called Moses up into the mountain to give him a written copy which was to be the standard of all their life, but while he was gone, the people went back on their public promise with a public apostasy. And Aaron made a big collection of jewelry, not for foreign mission - he did not collect it to be used in the service of the true God who stood up on the mount right before them - but the women brought in their earrings and metal looking glasses (mirrors), and they were melted down and made into an image of the Egyptian sacred bull, an Apis like bull, called here a calf. And they began to worship that heathen idol which they had known in Egypt, and they danced around it with the lascivious dances of pagan worship. While Moses was coming down from the mount with the holy law of God in his hands, the people were breaking the very first commandment of the law which they had heard God speak to them just over a month before - "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." They were breaking the second commandment also - "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." They broke all these commandments right there. They were bowing down to an idol and breaking them all. It was a nation publicly defying God with those flagrant sins.

What happened? Let us go back to Exodus 32. When Moses and Joshua came down from the mount, Joshua heard what sounded to him like the noise of war in the camp. But to Moses it sounded not like the noise of some who had achieved (mastered) something, or of crying for being overcome. It sounded to him like singing. . . . The people were singing pagan songs while worshipping the golden calf.

From all that gold they had managed to make a small golden calf. And Moses took it, burned it in the fire and ground it to powder, and spread it over some water and made the people of Israel drink the water, Ex. 32:19,20.

What did he do? How can you grind up gold into powder? The old gold miners out here in California could do that too. They made gold dust. Gold always goes to the bottom in water. But there is a way to make an emulsion of gold and water. You burn the gold just right until it is melted. Then you agitate it violently, grind it into fine powder and mix it with water; and many times it will make an emulsion. Someone in the United States did that one time, and the emulsion looked exactly like blood. Possibly that is what they drank.

Moses had the tables of stone with the words of God written on them, the divine law. But what really caused the breaking of the Law of God on this day?

Moses and Joshua saw them dancing around the golden calf. Lets read something,

"And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image." Deuteronomy 9:12.

And the Lord said to Moses, "Let Me smite them, let Me blot out their name." Deuteronomy 9:14. But Moses prayed for them. He pleaded, "Lord, remember Thy name among the nations." And the mount burned with fire (God was still present), displaying of the wrath of God. Moses then, in shameful anger for his people, cast the broken law and break the tablets on the rocks below. He tells Israel then of his fasting for a long time before God for their sins. He was remorseful, thinking may be he didn't pastor them right. But the anger of the Lord was then turned away from Israel because Moses had interceded for God's chosen people, like Jesus does. So Moses was a picture of what Jesus would do when He came.

So what was it then that really broke the law? Was it Moses throwing them publicly onto the rocks?

What really broke the Tables of the Law of God were the sins of the people. Had Israel not sinned, this would not have happened.

But the Law of God was only written on tables of stone. The people had not written God's law into their hearts. They had not yet learned to really love the Lord - even though he led them out from slavery - hard labour. They were still children in comprehension what it means to be redeemed from affliction and sin. They suffered for their mistake because they were not ignorant of the real presence of God, an event none of us has ever seen. It was a gospel to them, or should have been. They could have spent the 40 days memorizing God's law and thus writing it into their hearts. The men to their wives and the wives to their children. The Decalogue was to be the basis of the eternal covenant, Hebr. 8:10. Instead they thought back on Egypt. They could have sought and prayed, `God, show us more of Thy grace and goodness.' They had no wants. Not really. Did they really want to live in those crowded workers villages of Egypt again? Was that better than in a tent? Hey, all campers. You rather live in a dark mud house or in a tent?

Yes, sin was right at the door step of their hearts. - I once read of a lady who was worried about her spiritual condition; she couldn't understand how God could forgive her sins. An old pastor told her to read Isaiah 53. He told her, when she came to the 5th verse to substitute the first person singular pronoun for the plural form, and then, when she got through reading the chapter, to see if she could understand then how God could forgive her sins. "But He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities: the chastisement of my peace was upon Him ..." Then she stopped, and a wonderful light came into her eyes as she read, "... and with His stripes I am healed."

That is it! When Jesus died of a broken heart, it was the sins of the world that killed Him. Is that not true? Does the Bible not say that in 1.John 2:2 that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world? Yes, it does.

Our sins, those of each one of us, which broke the heart of God.

And Jesus died that death from which there is no resurrection so that we don't have to die that death.

After Moses broke the tables of the law on which God Himself had written His law, Moses picked up the broken pieces, measured them and made new tables and God's finger wrote on them once more His eternal law, Deuteronomy 10:1-5.

Each one of us needs to come to the Rock, Jesus, to have our hearts broken at His feet and see what great salvation He gives us. Redemption from certain death. The death that hangs over all who choose not to want to be part of God's kingdom. But God says, `Why do you want to die?'

There is no reason for choosing that option. There is nothing this world can give that transcends what God has in store for those who really love Him.

[010] Comment: While work in brick is mentioned in particular that does not rule out that the Israelites also worked in rock and stone as may be indicated by the phrase "... in all manner of service ..." The latest opinions based on electron microscope studies of pyramid material from three sources is interpreted as a type of concrete for at least some of the stone material found in the great pyramids. [M.W. Barsoum, A. Ganguly, G. Hug (2006) "Microstructural Evidence of Reconstituted Limestone Blocks in the Great Pyramids of Egypt", Journal of the American Ceramic Society 89(12), 3788–3796.]
[012] Some see in the Bedouin figures of the tomb of Khnum-Hotep at Beni Hassan a representative group of the Israelites. That may be so only in a very general way in that desert travelers had characteristic appearances probably over many centuries. See J. Hoffmeier, Out of Egypt in BAR, Jan, 2007, p. 30-41.
[015] How the faint echoes of the names of the 12 tribes of Israel left their mark in Egypt can best be seen by names such as Abu Roash/Reuben, Zayet el Aryan/Zebulon, Saqqara/Issachar, Dashur/Dan-Gad-Asher and Lisht/Naphthali, Exodus 1:7.
[020] Samuel Sharpe, `The Early History of Egypt', London, 1836, p. 13.
[025] During their lengthy stay in Egypt, from ca. the 30th birthday of Joseph to the 80th year of Moses, the Israelites left pottery signs of their presence in the land of their sojourn. For more on this click Here!
[030] Israel traveled day and night until to the place of the parting of the sea, "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night." Ex. 13:21. For more see with appropriate caution `http://www.wyattmuseum.com/red-sea-crossing.htm'.
[032] For a full page satelite color image of the Sinai peninsula showing also quite well Nuweiba Beach see BAR (`Biblical Archaeology Review'), July/August 1984, p. 56.
Other archaeologists take a view which they consider to be more cautious in the eyes of their peers, and look for the `Sea of Reeds' in the eastern Delta region where anciently swamps and canals were located. To us this view seems to ignore the description of wilderness found in the Book of Exodus. The path toward Gaza, the region where the Philistines lived, does not match the description found in the Bible. Moses was told to not travel through that area. In addition let us remember that Mt. Horeb/Sinai was were Moses hid from Pharaoh for 40 years. It fits hardly the northern desert fringe of the Sinai from the Nile Delta's region of Avaris to Gaza. We believe the Exodus was a much bolder undertaking of a people needing to get completely out of reach of Egypt's might and we believe that the land bridge at Nuweiba makes that location almost without question the true spot for the parting of the water.
Furthermore, we believe that Paul knew what he was talking about when he spoke of Mt. Sinai in Arabia. It is the same Arabia for Moses', Paul's and our time. Any Arab occupation or even presence in that land would have been rather sporadic and of inconsequential short duration.
Another beach, the Merkhah Bay south of Abu Zeneimeh' (Zenima), is shown and referenced in W.F. Albright, `Exploring in Sinai with the University of California African Expedition' in BASOR, Feb 1948, p. 5-(10)-20. This beach is located on the Sinai side of the Gulf of Suez a few miles north of where the Wadi Feiran leaves the coast.
We believe the PBS movie, `Walking the Bible', knows only the traditional account of the route of the Exodus.
See also Alberto Siliotti, Guide to the Exploration of the Sinai, White Star Publishers, 2001; This book presents numerous photos of the Sinai's famous and beautiful sites, with too much on Gebel Musa, the traditional Mt. Sinai, and not enough on Nuweiba Beach, the site of the parting of the sea as presented here, no doubt because to consider Nuweiba as the point where the sea parted is quite new due to the apparent circumstance that no one, or not many, knew about the underwater land bridge.
[036] We believe that Mount Sinia in Arabia was in Saudi Arabia on the basis that during Old and Middle Kingdom (12th dynasty) times the Sinai Peninsula was prospected for its resources by the Egyptians. It was mostly their backyard. It was their source of turquoise, copper and many other minerals. In Sinai, the Israelites would probably not have been able to live in peace from Egyptian raids for 40 years, especially if one espouses the conventional scenario of this time belonging to the 18th Dynasty. These considerations, therefore, are strong reasons to realize that the Hyksos/ Amalekites began to rule over much of Egypt soon after their war with Israel in the region of Mt. Jebel al Lawz/ Sinai in Arabia.
[040] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. II, ch. XV, Sec. 3.
[050] We are informed that the Arabic word `lawz' means almonds, the `Mountain of Almonds'. We are not supposing that the `Mountain of the Law' is a translation of `Jebel el Lawz' but rather taken from Moses account. This `Almond' mountain may also help to understand the `rod of Aaron' that budded.
[070] Hence their Semitic origin according to scholarly views. See Nina Jidejian, Tyre through the Ages, Beirut, 1969, p. 14, referencing T. Save-Soderbergh, `The Hyksos Rule in Egypt' in JEA, XXXVII, 1951, p. 53-71.
[090] Obviously the Amalekites must have come from a highly populated area. For them to get to the traditional Mt. Sinai they would have had to wonder through the desolate, dry Sinai, just to do what? Find and fight Israel?
[100] Donald Redford, `Egypt, Canaan and Israel in Ancient Times', Princeton, 1992, p. 102. (Emphasis ours)