It had been a night of fear for the Hebrew people, encamped on the immense beach, huddling together to keep warm and to allay personal fears. Behind them, in the distance, they could see the glow of the Egyptian campfires in the wadi and surrounding hills - and hear their taunting cries. Joshua had moved his army of scout-warriors - except for Chanoch and Binay, who he charged with attending Moses and Aaron - to protect the entrance to the beach, taking up defensive positions between the Hebrews and the Egyptians. Binay and Chadaric, as they left Lansel and her family, whispered for them to be brave, that Moses was very confident that their God would protect them.

As dawn lightened the eastern sky, Binay saw Moses and Aaron standing silently at the edge of the water. Moses turned to the group of tribal leaders and said, "This day will our Lord gain honor for freeing Bnai Israel - Pharaoh and the Egyptian chariot army will be seen no more." Then he turned to face the water, lifting his arms and staff to the heavens.

A strong East wind arose as if by magic. Binay, could see far out in the distance what appeared to be a small line in the water - as he watched, it grew rapidly until he could see what it was - the sea seemed to be splitting, water moving away from the center-line to both sides, which were becoming walls of roiling water. The parallel lines grew steadily larger, and Binay could see that a trough was being created at the center, as the waters were swept to either side, becoming the churning walls. As the phenomenon drew ever closer, Binay could see that the bottom of the trough was a sandy pathway. As he watched in amazement - this splitting of the sea, the water becoming the churning walls - drew ever closer, until it reached the feet of Moses, standing at the edge of the immense beach. Binay, near Moses, could see even at the edge, where beach became pathway, the water, although only a finger thickness in depth, was still being swept to the sides of the pathway - a tiny rill of water-wall on both sides.

It was an incredible sight. Everyone close, seeing it, seemed numb with amazement - then there were shouts of joy, and "Bless the Lord our God", could be heard from the tribal leaders and everyone nearby. The joyous exclamations became an explosion of sound as thousands of Israelites shouted their relief and delight at the miracle, and its portent for saving them.

"Go," cried Moses. "Enter, Bnai Israel, see what our Lord has done for us. Go and be saved!"

Binay surveyed the mass of Hebrews, but saw no-one move, then Moses pointed his staff at a short, burly, black-bearded man in his middle years: "Nachman, you - you are a leader, your faith is strong. Show these Israelites! Lead the way!"

With a shout, Nachman, holding a child in his arms, began pushing through the crowd, which opened up before him. His wife and a small daughter were behind him, trailing them, a young man and woman, pulling and pushing their wagon. Nachman went a stone's throw along the descending path, his family following. When his eyes were at the water level at the sides of the path-way - the water held back, seemingly, by the wind - he moved to a side of the path, staring at the wall of water, which churned but magically, did not flow over onto the sunken sand-path on which he and his family were standing. Binay, his heart pounding with excitement, then saw Nachman, his wife and his children, wave their arms and call out for the Israelites to join them. At first, only a few moved forward, then all, crowding against those at the edge of the pathway. Many, when the water was well over the level of their heads, looked wonderingly at the side walls of water, but continued to move resolutely along the path. With shouts of joy all the assembled mass of Hebrews now pressed forward to follow them.

Moses then ordered Chanoch to send Binay to tell Joshua what had happened - then he, Aaron, Chanoch and the tribal leaders, took their first steps onto the descending, now dry, pathway.

Binay pushed his way through the excited crowd of Hebrew families and wagons, shouting about the miracle of the walls of water being held back by God, which would give them a pathway across the sea. He stopped to embrace Lansel, retelling again the miracle he had witnessed.

Joshua could hardly believe what Binay told him; he had heard the shouts of the Israelites and was beginning to see forward movement in the packed crowd, pressing to escape from the beach where they felt trapped and vulnerable. Though excited, as a professional soldier and commander, Joshua now began planning how to best protect the Israelites for as long as they were vulnerable on the open beach - for a half-day, he estimated - that it would take for all of them to get to the seashore and begin moving down the pathway - then hopefully, to safely cross Yam Suf.

Binay saw that Joshua had divided his forces in two, sending half to help the Israelite families, the other half to remain as a barrier against the Egyptian army. The latter group was spread out to arms-length-distance apart, to cover as much of the broad width of the beach-front as possible, and kneeling in alert defensive positions. Then, when the group of scout-warriors traveling with the Hebrews had covered a bow-shot distance, they would turn, kneel in defensive readiness, holding such position while the first group would run up to and past them - in turn, to be protective of the tail-end Hebrew families. In this stop-and-run manner, Joshua's men were helping both lagging Hebrew families while defending everyone.

The wide curtain of cloud which had befogged the end of the wadi, meanwhile, had begun traveling forward onto the beach, in step with Joshua's men. In this manner both Israelites and the curtain of clouds were advancing in staccato fashion across the huge sandy beach and toward the water's edge. At mid-day they had made considerable progress, and Joshua sent Binay to report back to Moses.

Binay sped along at a long-stride lope, which covered ground quickly, When passing Lansel's family he was happy to see that they had now entered upon the pathway. He noted the increasing angle of the descending slope which made the first part easy to traverse, but would bode difficulty for the final ascending portion. He sped on, passing nervous but jubilant Hebrews. He experienced the queer feeling in the pit of his stomach of seeing the walls of water rising high above his head on both sides of the path-way.

After awhile, the path had become flat, then it began climbing, and now everyone was required to push and pull the wagons. Binay helped a few struggling families, but pressed on. Finally, he could see the opposite shore, a narrow strip of beach, then Moses, taller than everyone else, close to the shore-line. Finally he fell in behind Moses, the shore only a stone's throw away. Binay waited respectfully, until Moses had gained the beach and had turned to face him.

Moses was silent as Binay made his report of the positions of Joshua's forces, the Egyptians, and the last of the Israelites as of an hour or so earlier. Moses asked if he was tired and wanted someone else to report back to Joshua, but Binay shook his head - he was too excited to do anything else but return. He only needed a refreshing drink of water and a short rest.

The return was difficult as Binay was interweaving his way, against the flow of Israelite families, wagons and cattle. When he finally did reach the beginning of the pathway and the gigantic beach, the sun was passing over the horizon, dusk would soon fall - he was happy to see that almost all the Israelites were now on the pathway. He met Joshua at the beach edge and told him the status.

Joshua nodded, "Good work Binay. you can now rest for awhile. My forces will be here shortly, and together we will begin the crossing."

Gratefully, Binay sank down onto the still-warm sand. As he looked far across the expanse of the beach seeking the Egyptians, he saw that the front edge of the fog curtain had now moved onto the beach - though still very far away, he could make out small figures of horses and chariots through the mist at the edge of the wadi. The cloud cover was serving its purpose well. All the Israelites would be halfway across the sea and safety by the time the first Egyptian chariots would reach the edge of the beach and the start of the pathway.

More tired than he had thought, Binay had fallen into a light sleep when Joshua wakened him - a partial moon was now arising, and the scout-warriors were leaving the beach-front and stepping onto the pathway. Binay, now refreshed although his muscles were still tired, jumped up and joined Joshua and his men. They began an easy athlete's trot, taking advantage of the downward slope, the pathway being readily visible in the moonlight. However, the dim light prevented seeing whether the Egyptians had now

gained the beach; but even if so, they were still too far away to be heard. Confident now, Joshua's army progressed steadily but silently.

Soon they reached the almost halfway point, where the pathway became level, then where it began to rise - the trailing scout began shouting that he could hear sounds of the Egyptians in the distance - that they had probably reached the pathway. The Hebrews quickened their pace, knowing that the Egyptians pursuing in their horse-drawn chariots were much faster.

There was enough moonlight for the determined Hebrews to press on. Faint sounds of a trumpet and shouts of the Egyptians were now heard by all. His heart pounding, Binay grimly forced his tired muscles not to slow down. The pathway was now at a significant upward slope. Finally they could see and hear Moses and Aaron and the Israelites on the shore, urging them onward. Grimly they held their pace. Now they could hear the sounds of chariots and the snorting of horses and Egyptian voices coming ever closer. The shore line, visible now as pre-dawn light streaked the sky, was only a bowshot away, the first Egyptian chariot not much further behind the last Hebrew. An outstretched arm finally grabbed Joshua then Binay, pulling them onto the strip of sandy shore. Finally the last of Joshua's men reached shore - and an arrow from the first chariot struck him in the leg.

Moses, his brow furled, stood at the shoreline staring at the onrushing chariot. He held up his staff, pointing it over the pathway and then to the walls of water. Binay held his breath, the Israelites quieted, hypnotized by fear. Then there was a rush of sound - an unfamiliar sound, as of muffled thunder - and Binay saw that the nearby walls of water had begun to collapse.

The first Egyptian chariot was a stone's throw away when the rush of tumbling water from the falling walls swept up his chariot and horse, overturning them, the charioteer and horse floundering in the turbulent water, about two-man's-height depth. Finally, Binay saw the chariot, then the Egyptian, wearing heavy armor, sink below the surface.

Dumb-founded, Binay watched the lines of collapsing walls of water, now speeding swiftly backwards along the pathway; then finally, the sea - as far as he could see in the dawn's first light - was becoming normal, smooth and calm, with soft undulating surface waves.

A hundred thousand voices filled the air with shouts of joy.