Red Sea When the Bible speaks of the Red Sea, it refers only to the northern part where the sea divides into two arms, between which lies the Sinai Peninsular. The western arm is the Gulf of Suez (Numbers 33:10) and the eastern arm the Gulf of Aqabah (Numbers 14:25; Numbers 21:4; 1 Kings 9:26; See also EZion-GEber).
The Red Sea through which the people of Israel passed during their miraculous escape from Egypt was literally the ‘Sea of Reeds’. This was a large shallow expanse of water north of the Gulf of Suez, somewhere near the line of the present-day Suez Canal (Exodus 13:18). God saved the Israelites by sending gale force winds that blew all night and dried up enough of the water to form a passage for his people to cross to the other side (Exodus 1:14-22).
Just before daybreak, when all the Israelites had crossed over, the Egyptians attempted to follow. by then the wind had dropped and the sea waters began to return to normal, bringing first confusion, then panic, and finally destruction to the Egyptian chariot force (Exodus 1:14-28; Exodus 15:4).