Where God Parted the Red Sea, Part 4
Yam Suph
The Hebrew words for "Red Sea" are "Yam Suph." Some people reason
that since "Yam Suph" may mean something like "Sea of Reeds," and since
reeds only grow in fresh water, then the "Yam Suph" that the Israelites
crossed was not the Red Sea, but an ancient, shallow, marshy body of fresh
water north of the Gulf of Suez. According to the Bible, however,
suph can grow in salt water, and Yam Suph is the Red Sea.
Seaweed
The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me;
Weeds
were wrapped around my head. (Jonah 2:5 NKJ)
The word "weeds" above is the Hebrew word "suph." In the above context,
"suph" means "seaweed." The passage is from the book of Jonah.
It is from the prayer that Jonah prayed while inside the belly of a salt-water
fish. Jonah had boarded a ship at Joppa (Yafo) enroute to a place
called Tarshish. Joppa is an ancient port on the Mediterranean Sea
near modern Tel Aviv. Jonah was thrown overboard into the Mediterranean
Sea, which is salt water, and suph wrapped around his head. Suph,
therefore, can be seaweed, which grows in salt water.
Soph
There is a remote possibility that the Jewish Masoretes incorrectly
placed the vowel points on "Yam Suph," and that the correct pronunciation
is "Yam Soph." Both "suph" and "soph" are spelled the same.
The difference in pronunciation is due to the location of a masoretic vowel
point that was added to the Biblical text around 1,000 years ago.
Previously, the vowel sound had been carried through oral tradition.
The word "soph" means "end" or "conclusion." It is found in the following
passages (its English translation is in bold print):
…no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to
the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 KJV)
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and
keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes
12:13 KJV)
If by chance the Masoretes misplaced the vowel points, then "Yam Suph"
would be "Yam Soph", which means "End Sea." This would make sense,
since both the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba are the ends of a sea.
Yam Suph Is the Red Sea
King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near
Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. (1
Kings 9:26 NKJ)
According to the above passage, the Israelite city of Elath (Eilat) is
on the shore of Yam Suph (translated above as "Red Sea"). We know
that Eilat is on the Red Sea, therefore Yam Suph is the Red Sea.
Ezion Geber, by the way, is near modern-day Aqaba, Jordan.
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