It took me a long time to get back to where my family was – there weren’t many landmarks to work from and there were panicking people everywhere.

The wind was blowing harder and harder from the east, and by that time men sent by Moses were spreading through the people, telling them to move forward towards the beach because we were going to walk through the sea on dry ground!  There were also conflicting rumours flying through the crowd, some suggesting that people were walking across the top of the water and others saying that the leaders had disappeared into the water and no-one knew what had happened to them.  Others talked about tunnels opening up in the water, while still others reported that things were happening just as Moses had said they would.  It all sounded very contradictory, and about as likely as the idea that Pharaoh had followed us so that he could wish us a happy journey!

As I thought about the whole unlikely plan, I knew that I didn’t want to walk on water, or in dripping tunnels through the water.  Imagine having to worry about whether my wife and children had started to sink in the dark or whether the tunnel might have collapsed somewhere in front of or behind us.  No, if I had to somehow walk across the Red Sea, I wanted the water to open up and make a wall for us on either side, a canyon opened through the water – but, of course, nobody could do that!

But I was still worried about the Egyptians. What if they found us because of the light that came from that pillar of cloud or smoke?  Conversely, how could we see where to go in the dark of the desert night?

It seemed to me that keeping away from the Egyptians was the first thing to concentrate on, so I was eager to obey when finally we were told that it was our turn to move forward towards the beach.

I don’t know how the Egyptians failed to find us all through that long night, but I wonder if the wind helped to keep us safe.  After all, I wouldn’t want to search in the darkness while a strong wind hurled sand in my face, if I knew that all I had to do was wait until morning and then I would be easily able to find the crowd I was looking for, trapped against the sea.

But I was glad to get moving, despite having no idea where the people who were in front of us had gone – maybe they had walked into the water and drowned, or maybe everyone had miraculously learned how to swim.  Certainly Moses has managed some amazing things in the last few months, I have to admit that.

Slowly we made our way down to the beach, and then, at last, the faint light from that pillar showed what was happening: the water had opened up.  It was like looking along a canyon where the walls were made of water.  And down into the canyon were marching all the people of Israel, our entire nation.  There were people of all ages, young and old, many leading or driving sheep and goats or cattle.  As I peered further into the gloom, I could see just how far in front the line of people stretched – down, down, down, far below the level of the water.  It was an incredible sight: completely unbelievable.  I could even see some carts down there, pulled by slow-moving oxen.   My life over the last few months has been full of strange experiences, but this was the strangest of them all.  It was just light enough to see, but still dark enough to make it all seem as if it might be a dream.  A dimly visible column of people stretched far ahead of us into the middle of the Red Sea, with walls of water towering above them on either side, but none of it touching any of them.

We joined the masses of people pouring down into the canyon like dust through a funnel.  As we hurried across the beach, we had to squash up together a bit, but, even so, the column entering that impossible chasm must have been about 1,000 people wide.  Once across the beach, we followed the contours of the sea-bottom down below the water level.  I’m quite tall, and it was strange to look over the heads of the crowd towards the dark walls of water and see them gradually growing higher and higher as the “road” sank lower and lower.

You may think me peculiar, but as the wall of water on our left grew taller and taller, I was tempted to fight my way over to it and touch it!  What did it feel like?  Was it hard like ice, or what?  Regrettably, a feeling of responsibility kept me near my family, so I never got the chance to find out, but I did see some goats walking next to it and it was as if they were walking beside a wall on one of the streets in Goshen.  They seemed to be able to push against it without it giving way at all, and certainly without it springing a leak!  On the other hand, I also saw many parents very carefully keeping their children away from the walls.  I think I can understand why – who would want to be the one whose child broke the spell and drowned everyone?  But for myself, I found that I was beginning to have a bit of faith in Moses, and maybe even in Yahweh.  I have tried in this narrative to describe how I really felt at the time, and by this time in the night I was, for the first time in my life, genuinely starting to feel some confidence in a power that I could not see or touch.  I still couldn’t understand why this power – let’s call it “Yahweh”, since that’s what Moses uses – would want  to look after us at all, but he genuinely seems to want to do  so.  And given that he seems to be consistently able to do the sorts of things we need, it didn’t seem to me worthwhile getting worried about things any more.  That’s faith, I suppose.  My grandfather used to talk to me about faith and trust, but I could never really accept any of it, until now!  Now I really see it working.  And now that I see it, I feel able to extend it to a confidence that is not based on anything other than a confidence that Yahweh will be consistent, and that he isn’t capable of making the sorts of silly little mistakes that might leave us all drowning because a little child poked his finger into a wall of water!  It just wouldn’t make sense.

The waning moon had risen by that time and we hurried on in the gloom, glad that we could see as much as we could, but wishing there was more light and less of a howling gale blowing in our faces.  The walls of water towered over us by that time and most the people near us were moving as quickly as they could.  When people spoke, there was fear in their voices, but mostly people were silent and their faces were grim.  Strangely enough, I felt differently.  I was gradually noticing more and more things that were utterly amazing about this midnight march along the bottom of the sea.

I saw old people who would normally have to pick their way carefully over such a rough surface, but they were walking easily, moving like much younger people.  I saw many young children walking without tiring, and many others being carried effortlessly by parents or friends.  My own children were walking without complaining, and that is unusual – they get their skill in it from me.

We walked all night and the wonder of walking on the dry sea bottom began to pall for many, but we finally arrived at the other side as the dawn began to lighten the sky above.  The beach was crammed full of people – it didn’t seem to have occurred to anyone that they needed to clear the area to make space for the thousands of people who were still climbing up out of the dry depths.

Moses had sent men through the crowds to tell people to keep moving away from the beach, but it all took time, and so moving the entire multitude out of the water canyon that Yahweh’s hand had made took longer than it should have.

I stopped right where the water’s edge had been only the previous night, pushed unavailingly by the crowds behind us, as the beach was too packed with people for us to move onto.  Turning around, I could see the surging column still making its way up the canyon towards me, while in the far distance the beach on the other side of the sea lay empty.  As I watched, I suddenly noticed that the cloud that I had dismissed as a merely coincidental phenomenon was rapidly approaching the opposite beach, and soon was moving out over the water towards us until it caught up with the stragglers of our nation.  Then it slowed down and moved at their speed.

It was a scene of exquisite beauty filled with contradictions and unheard-of circumstances.  The warning glow of a coming sunrise was spreading its fingers across the sky and lighting up an impossible canyon with walls of solid water.  Throngs of people were hurrying across the dry sea-bottom, where people should never be.  And the cloud that had followed us from Egypt was hovering over the canyon, seeming to urge the walkers on as it glowed from within with an ethereal light.

It took my breath away and made me marvel at the power of Yahweh with all the inexpressible joy of my newfound faith.

Then came the sight that once more filled me with dread.  Men began to appear on the opposite shore, scurrying about like ants, and within moments it was obvious that this was the Egyptian army I had been so afraid of last night.  Soon I could see horsemen and chariots, as well as the cream of Pharaoh’s fighting men, gathered on the beach.

It was all very well to have an open path through the sea that allowed us to escape, but if we could travel through it, so could the Egyptians!