Exodus 13:18

EXODUS—NOTE ON Exodus 13:18 toward the Red Sea. Here and in other accounts of the crossing of the sea, the water is referred to as Yam Sup (see also Exodus 15:4; Deuteronomy 11:4; Psalms 106:7, Psalms 106:9, Psalms 106:22). Some modern scholars interpret Yam Sup as “Sea of Reeds/Papyrus.” Because papyrus does not grow along the Red Sea/Gulf of Suez, some scholars have concluded that the Yam Sup is one of the marshy lakes in the area north of the Red Sea. They think the Israelites crossed a marshy area of a lake rather than a large body of water such as the Red Sea. Other scholars disagree, proposing that sup is related to a word that means “end.” So yam sup would refer to the sea at the end of the land of Egypt (that is, the Red Sea). Every certain reference to yam sup in the Bible refers to the Red Sea or its northern extensions in the Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez (e.g., 1 Kings 9:26; Jeremiah 49:21). This suggests that the name Yam Sup is best understood to denote the Red Sea/Gulf of Suez and, therefore, the Israelites crossed this major body of water when they fled Egypt.