“Nephi Testified to Laman and Lemuel of the Red Sea”

Monte S. Nyman

There are four other references in the Book of Mormon testifying that Moses divided the Red Sea. In responding to his brother’s objection to returning to the house of Laban to obtain the plates of brass, Nephi argued:

1 And it came to pass that I spake unto my brethren, saying: Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?
2 Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea. [1 Nephi 4:1–2]

King Limhi testified to his people that God “caused that [Israel] should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground” (Mosiah 7:19). Alma told his son Helaman that “ [God] has swallowed up the Egyptians in the Red Sea” (Alma 36:28); and Nephi, son of Helaman, asks his brethren: “have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up?” (Helaman 8:11). The Doctrine and Covenants adds this witness:

2 Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. [D&C 8:2–3]

In writing to the Corinthians, Paul testified: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1–2). Writing to the Hebrews, he used the miracle as an example of faith: “By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned” (Hebrews 11:29).

The thinking of many Bible scholars is that it was the Reed Sea, not the Red Sea, and the natural movement of the tide going out when the Israelites crossed, and the tide coming back in that drowned the Egyptians. As we have just read, the Book of Mormon refutes this theory.

Israel Was Fed Manna in the Wilderness

14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.
17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. [Exodus 16:14–17]

Book of Mormon Commentary: I Nephi Wrote This Record

References