What does the biblical parting of the Red Sea mean?

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What does The biblical parting of the Red Sea mean? I'm not interested in having an asinine conversation about whether it is scientifically possible or is it a miracle? I'm asking what it means metaphorically. Why did the human psyche deem it necessary to create a myth like this? Is it just a Mosaic expression of dualism? What was united as the ocean is now--in the myth --divided in two with the mind?

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Type: Question • Score: 9 • Views: 3,844 • Replies: 79

@coluber2001,

I doubt whether the composers of the OT had any philosophical or poetic prowess. Like most early theistic narrative I suggest this is nothing more than a picturesque expression of 'trust in the omnipotent being and all will be resolved''.

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@coluber2001,

I saw your response, fresco. i'm not sure how you deleted it, but one thing is clear -- you're the worst...an arrogant coward.

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@Razzleg,

Nice to know I'm not the only British guy you have a problem with, at least your xenophobia is consistent.

You're just pissed off because Fresco is a lot smarter than you.

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@coluber2001,

Some scholars have linked it to the Santorini eruption which would have been powerful enough to cause the waters of the Red Sea to recede temporarily.

Quote:

The Minoan eruption of Thera, also referred to as the Thera eruption or Santorini eruption, was a major catastrophic volcanic eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6 or 7 and a dense-rock equivalent (DRE) of 60 km3 (14 cu mi), Dated to the mid-second millennium BCE, the eruption was one of the largest volcanic events on Earth in recorded history. It devastated the island of Thera (now called Santorini), including the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri and communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands and the coast of Crete with a related earthquake or tsunami.

There are no clear ancient records of the eruption, which may have inspired certain Greek myths, caused turmoil in Egypt and be alluded to in a Chinese chronicle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption

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There's legitimate doubt as to whether the Jews were ever even captives in Egypt. As the mythic tale was developed there would have been a problem explaining how the fleeing tribes were able to reach the Arabian peninsula so, conveniently, we have a holy miracle. Deus ex machina!

It doesn't mean anything other than a way of showing Jehovah's concern for "his people".

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@hightor,

An obvious, but often neglected point . Its a fairly long evidenced fact that the ancient Egyptian societies were not slave dependent economies, so huge number so ethnic slave groups such as the "Habiru" were probably unknown in egyptian history.

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@farmerman,

Terry Jones, (of Monty Python fame) did a series on the Egyptians. At one point he read some of the worksheets of the pyramid labourers, one bloke took two days off to brew beer, hardly the actions of a slave.

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@Razzleg,

.....not me darling!....that deletion was from ekename!

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@coluber2001,

The real answer...

https://www.pdf-archive.com/2015/07/27/worlds-in-collision/

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@izzythepush,

Ryan and Pittman hve evidenced several tsunami "dump piles" that can be paralled to several tectonic events (NOt sure whether they lean on Santorini since much of their hypotheses are based on waters rushing into the Med during deglaciation. They did a fairly good job of detailing several Flood myths. Ive never heard about the Red Sea Parting.

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@izzythepush,

even the egyptians, bogged down with schedules to build pyramids , had decided on the proper order of things.
I lnow that qork "gangs" would wager on volume of cut stone delivered to a project site over some predetermined time.

All the buildings and construction was done pretty much WITHOUT blueprints or any kind of construction drawings

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@gungasnake,

I think you are camlok/JTT's father.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

An obvious, but often neglected point . Its a fairly long evidenced fact that the ancient Egyptian societies were not slave dependent economies, so huge number so ethnic slave groups such as the "Habiru" were probably unknown in egyptian history.

You are the only person I've known to ever use the word "Habiru." I have seen it as "hapiru." Supposedly, it morphed into "Hebrew," which meant "those that no one wants," since as sheep/goat herders in the desert, they had the habit of only showing up at a city gate (no sanctuary cities in those days) during a drought, requesting water for their herd. That could explain the ancient meaning of the word?

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@hightor,

hightor wrote:

There's legitimate doubt as to whether the Jews were ever even captives in Egypt. As the mythic tale was developed there would have been a problem explaining how the fleeing tribes were able to reach the Arabian peninsula so, conveniently, we have a holy miracle. Deus ex machina!

It doesn't mean anything other than a way of showing Jehovah's concern for "his people".

Sire, they were not Jews yet. They were Hebrews, sans Old Testament. Yes, it was just Jehovah's way of showing he wanted the Israelites to have an escape route from the pursuing Egyptians. If Jehovah really had a concern for them, he might have air evacuated them to Manhattan in the 20th century. You have no idea how it was to live with pagans back in the day.

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I was thinking more in terms of a symbolic meaning of The Parting of the Red Sea. Maybe I answered my own question. I referred to the Mosaic or literal interpretation, which everybody here seems to be holding onto. The Mosaic interpretation would be to divide the sea into two parts or opposites like the mind does in the process of thinking . But when you see that every idea has an interdependent opposite, then you have a different consciousness, the two sides of the parted Red Sea are brought together, that is, the opposites are resolved. This is contrary to the dualistic, Mosaic way of thinking where interdependent opposites have a separate existence and oppose each other. God vs the devil, good vs evil, up vs down, etc.

I'm trying to get past the literal interpretation. One could also ask the same question about the Virgin birth or the flood myth,
which almost seems to be ubiquitous in different traditions. There was no world flood literally, but the myth of a flood is common to so many traditions that it also begs interpretation .

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@coluber2001,

Where do you get this idea of a dualistic "Mosaic interpretation"?

The idea of "the devil" is a Christian concept.

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@InfraBlue,

sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

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Since nobody else has offered up any suggestions interpreting The Parting of the Red Sea, and it's a unique myth, I'll just go with my own for now. However, the world flood is another matter. This myth has appeared over and over again in other religious traditions. That is not to say that the World Flood happed; it didn't. But there is a common myth that begs interpretation. Any ideas?

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@coluber2001,

ancients, once collected in proto civilizations, mostly desired to be living near water,(resources, travel, protection etc)

MAny places with flood myths have been documented to actually sustain periodic disastrous flood events. Its an easy jump to be so "centric..." of ones own "Hood" that the invention of a flood myth has some bases in evidence. Sorta like SCylla and Charybdis.
Several good texts have been written about the evidence behind catastrophies associated with several civilizations.

Even in North America the several native nations have flood myths slightly different but all full of lessons for human beings to learn.
The real hot-bed of flood myths though is the area from the East Mediterranean, to the LEvant and to the Guptah area of India, SE Asia and on to Melanesia.
I dont think that e are yet able to red any legends from S America or S Africa . We just dont have a way to decode except for Subsahara and the Scarp Countries to the Niger.

All of em have one thing in common--waterside residences

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What does the biblical parting of the Red Sea mean?

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