Lands of the Old Testament: Maps

From Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran, into Canaan, down to Egypt in a famine, and back, the journey of faith God called Abram to make (Genesis 11–25).

Out of Egypt, across the sea, to Mount Sinai and the Law, then forty years to the edge of the promised land. The crossing point is debated; this map follows the Gulf-of-Aqaba route.

Which route did the Exodus take? The Gulf of Aqaba and the traditional view

Both views read the same events: out of Egypt at the Passover, a journey to the sea, the crossing on dry ground, the Law at Sinai, forty years in the wilderness, and at last the plains of Moab. They disagree on the geography: which sea was crossed, and where Mount Sinai stood. Much of it turns on what Scripture means by “the Red Sea” (Hebrew Yam Suph).

The traditional Sinai-peninsula route is the majority view and has the longer history. The Gulf-of-Aqaba / Arabian-Sinai view is a serious minority case, built largely from the text. This map draws the Aqaba route; here are both, side by side.

The question	Traditional: Sinai Peninsula	Gulf of Aqaba: Sinai in Arabia
“The Red Sea” (Yam Suph)	a marshy “Sea of Reeds” near the Gulf of Suez or the Bitter Lakes	the Gulf of Aqaba, which Scripture itself calls the Red Sea: Ezion-geber lay “on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom” (1 Kings 9:26)
Where Mount Sinai stood	in the Sinai Peninsula (by tradition, Jebel Musa)	in Arabia (Jebel al-Lawz): Paul writes “Mount Sinai in Arabia” (Galatians 4:25); Moses met God at the mountain while in Midian
The march before the sea	a shorter route to a nearby crossing	“around by the way of the wilderness” (Exodus 13:18), traveling day and night (13:21), a long march, not a 20-mile step to the Gulf of Suez
The water they crossed	shallow reeds or marsh	“the waters of the great deep… the depths of the sea” (Isaiah 51:10), the water “a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Exodus 14:22)

Where the Aqaba view is strong: Scripture plainly calls the Gulf of Aqaba “the Red Sea” (1 Kings 9:26); a long wilderness march by day and night (Exodus 13:18, 21) fits crossing the peninsula far better than a short walk to Suez; and the “great deep” with walls of water (Isaiah 51:10; Exodus 14:22) reads like deep water, not a shallow marsh.

Where the traditional view is strong: Yam Suph can be rendered “Sea of Reeds,” which suits a reedy body near Suez; “Arabia” in Paul's day reached into the Sinai Peninsula, so Galatians 4:25 need not mean Saudi Arabia; the “great deep” can be poetic language; and it remains the view of most scholars, many of them evangelical.

A word on the much-publicized “coral-encrusted chariot wheels” on the Aqaba seabed: those claims are contested and are not accepted even by many who hold the Aqaba view, so this case rests on the text, not on them. What Scripture makes certain is not where but that they crossed: on dry ground, the sea walled up on either side, by the hand of God (Exodus 14).

Israel crosses the Jordan and takes the land in three thrusts: a central campaign in red (Jericho, Ai, Gibeon), a southern campaign in blue (down to Hebron and Debir), and a northern campaign in green (Hazor); then the land is divided among the tribes at Shiloh (Joshua 1–21).

After Solomon the kingdom split: Israel in the north (capital Samaria) and Judah in the south (capital Jerusalem), among the surrounding nations (1 Kings 12 onward).

Judah carried to Babylon and, seventy years later, the remnant's return to rebuild Jerusalem (red, with the dashed return). The northern kingdom had earlier been swept to Assyria (blue). 2 Kings 17, 25; Ezra.