God created the universe and placed the deepest mysteries of its workings far beyond human comprehension.
Thus, when scientists propose that a naturally occurring phenomenon could explain something characterized as a miracle in the Bible, we may — without denigrating or even dismissing those scientists’ claims — nonetheless rightly attribute the event in question to God’s will.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail, computer modeling now shows that “a combination of wild weather and fortunate geology can explain every detail of the biblical account” of Moses’ parting of the Red Sea.
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” (Exodus 14:21)
Indeed, sustained 62 mile per hour winds for a period of several hours could have parted the Red Sea. And those winds from the east would have created a three-mile-wide passage through the water.
Moreover, if the Israelites fleeing Egypt crossed at the Gulf of Suez, then the relatively shallow waters and flat surface below would have aided in the crossing.
Finally, when the winds diminished, the water would have rushed back in and overwhelmed the pursuing Egyptians.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.’” (Exodus 14:26)
On the whole, the Daily Mail’s story certainly makes for interesting reading.
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Furthermore, it describes a discovery that hardly qualifies as the only encounter between science and the Bible.
For instance, theologian Tom Meyer, author of the 2023 book “Archaeology and the Bible: 50 Fascinating Facts That Bring The Bible to Life,” has described a veritable “tsunami of evidence” that “overwhelmingly points to the reliability in the accuracy of Scripture.”
In other words, archaeological evidence supports the existence of people and events mentioned in the Bible.
Of course, the real question lurking in the Daily Mail’s story involves divine intervention.
The skeptic, even if compelled to acknowledge the Bible’s historicity, will gladly latch onto that question. After all, if timely winds and “fortunate geology” could have explained the Israelites’ escape, then what role did God play?
Here we run headlong into the very core of Christian theology.
In his satirical masterpiece, The Screwtape Letters, legendary Christian author C.S. Lewis addressed the question of miracles from the perspective of Screwtape, a literary demon who always referred to God as “the Enemy.”
Screwtape described “men’s prayers today” as “one of the innumerable coordinates with which the Enemy harmonizes the weather of tomorrow.”
That wonderful phrase — “harmonizes the weather of tomorrow” — does two things. It provides a conceptual link between prayer and the Red Sea parting. And it reminds us of something in God’s nature that science can never explain.
In short, God exists outside of time. He has no past, present, or future. Thus, what human beings reckon as a moment in time constitutes part of God’s continuous act of creation.
The sheer scope of the known universe reinforces this mystery of time. After all, when we gaze at the night sky, we see the universe not as it now exists. Instead, we see it as it existed when the light left those stars, in some cases billions of years ago.
One suspects, in fact, that God has built this mystery of time into creation for a reason. Whatever that reason, it ought to inspire humility, even in scientists, who have an important job to do but who also, no matter how hard they try, will never succeed in unraveling mysteries that God does not allow them to unravel.
If timely winds aided Moses in facilitating the Israelites’ escape, then those winds — like all else in the natural world — came from God.
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