| The Crossing of the Sea
With the countless recitations of the story
of the "crossing of the sea" many details have been lost and others added, but
its significance has remained obvious to the spiritual descendants of the Israelites --
Yahweh, with "a mighty hand" delivered Israel from slavery to freedom.
The Israelites are permitted to cross the sea on dry land, but the
Egyptians are swallowed up and drowned in the returning water -- and thus did the
Israelites escape the clutches of the Egyptian army.
In this panel, the sea is barely visible on the left, but has clearly
retreated from its usual place, since no vegetation can be seen except at the feet of
Moses, who apparently stands at the normal high water mark of the sea. The Egyptian army
marches along the shore rendered by the artist as harmless stick-like figures (very small figures to the left
of Moses staff). Moses, Yahwehs emissary, stands protectively between the
Israelites, safely tucked away somewhere on this side of him, and the object of their
fear.
In the panel above Moses' head we see the river Jordan, the scene of another miraculous crossing
told in the book of Joshua.
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