Movie Offers New Explanation For Parting Of The Red Sea

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A recently released movie, "Exodus: Gods and Kings" includes "the most famous of all biblical miracles: the parting of the Red Sea."

This version, different from Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 classic "The Ten Commandments" where Moses parted the sea in two huge walls of water, offers a more realistic explanation.

Bruce Parker, author and former chief scientist of the National Ocean Service, explains that in certain places in the world, the tide has been known to leave the sea bottom dry for hours and then come back with a force.

Moses lived in a nearby wilderness for several years and knew where caravans crossed the Red Sea at low tide. Parker suggests that planning the escape of the Israelites, with a full moon making the tide lower would help, and when the water returned, high water would submerge Pharaoh's chariots.

Read more in The Wall Street Journal, about what might have been the most consequential tide prediction in history.