Troubled Waters

I will look up your Wiki reference this weekend, sooner if I get rained out tomorrow and/or Thursday. I'm interested in what they have to say about the subject.

According to the Bible, Jesus did indeed say to turn the other cheek, but that's not what we were arguing about. As I remember it, you disputed my assertion that Christianity was the only religion to say "Love your enemies". Then I backed off and said the only two other religions that I was sure didn't say it were Judaism and Islam. Then you seemed to be doubting that any religion said it, or that most people in ancient times even knew they had enemies. I could look up the quote for you, but you won't give it any credibility because it's in the Bible. Anyway, I didn't say that I believe it myself, just that Jesus said it and that Christians are supposed to believe it.

Meanwhile, back at the Red Sea: The classic image we have of the Red Sea parting, with a tall vertical wall of water on either side of a narrow corridor of dry land, is not exactly the way the Bible describes it. It's been awhile, and I can look it up later to be sure, but I seem to remember that it says that God sent an east wind to push the water out of the way, or words to that effect. This sounds to me like the phenomenon seen on the great Lakes from time to time known as a "seiche". Don't feel bad if you've never heard of it, our spell check program hasn't either, but I just looked it up in my dictionary to confirm the spelling. It says that it only happens on landlocked bodies of water, which the Red Sea isn't, but the Red Sea is long and narrow like Lake Michigan which, technically isn't landlocked either. The tsunamis that happen in the Pacific produce a similar effect, except they do it backwards, first the water comes in, and then it goes out. Tsunamis used to be called "tidal waves" but we now know they are caused by undersea earthquakes. A seiche is kind of a tidal effect too, but it's not really tidal the way that tides caused by the moon are tidal.

A seiche is caused by wind and/or barometric pressure differentials. The water sloshes over to one end of the lake, causing the water level to recede on the opposite shore. At some point gravity overcomes the seiche, and the water sloshes back to the opposite shore, often causing the water level to rise rapidly and dramatically beyond it's original depth. I remember reading about it in Chicago newspapers when I was a kid, but I don't remember if it was a current or historical event. I'm sure it has happened more than once in Chicago because the article said that, if it ever happens when you are on the beach, you should not run out after the receding water, indeed, you should move inland as quickly as possible because, when the water comes back, it could wash you clean across the Outer Drive. Seiches are more common on Lake Erie because it's the shallowest of the Great Lakes, which makes the rise and fall of the water level more noticeable. I saw an outdoor show on TV once, it may have been our old friend Fred Trost. They were supposed to go fishing or duck hunting on Lake Erie, but they couldn't launch their boat because there was no water. Lake levels had been low for some time and, when a stiff offshore wind kicked up, it blew the water clean out of sight.

Okay, here's an alternate scenario: The Hebrews wouldn't have needed to cross the Red Sea at all, they could have walked around it because the Suez Canal hadn't been built yet. This doesn't explain the origin of the story in question, but it's just one more theory.

For yet another scenario that might account for the Red Sea story, we have to fast forward 40 years (which might be an allegorical number) to the Jordan River, which is a real place. For some of its length, the Jordan flows through a narrow high walled canyon. Every once in a while, a rock slide blocks off the channel for several hours, until the pressure builds to the point that the blockage blows out and a flash flood roars off downstream. Legend has it that, when the Israelites crossed the Jordan to invade Canaan, they didn't even get their feet wet because the channel was bone dry. They all got across just in time to see the water return with a vengeance, confirming their suspicion that God had something to do with it. I can imagine some old patriarch turning to a bunch of wide eyed kids who had just witnessed the event and saying, "And that, dear children, is how we got across the Red Sea so long ago." It may not have been a true story, but it was a damn good story nevertheless.