Red Sea
Red Sea is a location mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Negev in modern-day Israel. Known today as road between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. It appears across 4 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
This reference to the Red Sea designates the route running between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba through the Arabah valley, a passage associated with Israel's wilderness wanderings. After their extended encampment at Kadesh-barnea, God directed the Israelites to turn back toward the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea (Numbers 21:4; Deuteronomy 2:1). This detour through the harsh Negev terrain represented a consequence of Israel's faithlessness when the spies returned with a discouraging report about Canaan. The journey along this road was particularly arduous, and the people grew impatient, leading to the episode of the bronze serpent when God sent fiery serpents among the complaining Israelites (Numbers 21:4-9). Jesus later referenced this event as a type of His own crucifixion (John 3:14-15). The road to the Red Sea thus became a symbol of the difficult path that disobedience necessitates, a longer and harder route that Israel's lack of faith required them to travel before entering the Promised Land.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The road between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba traverses the Arabah, a long, arid rift valley forming part of the Great Rift system. Archaeological surveys have identified ancient routes through this corridor, including copper-smelting sites at Timna and Faynan that attest to sustained human activity from the Bronze Age onward. The terrain is characterized by extreme aridity, rocky wadis, and sparse vegetation, consistent with biblical descriptions of harsh wilderness conditions. Egyptian mining expeditions used this route to access copper and turquoise deposits in the southern Negev and Sinai. Modern Highway 90 in Israel roughly follows this ancient path, connecting Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba to the Dead Sea region.
Verse Appearances (4)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]