I think Exodus is one of the best stories to extract environmental conditions from. It is almost a survival manifesto.
Exodus 13 (New International Version)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=2&chapter=13&version=31
a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
Let us assume that the great flood of Noah, creation and Moses parting of the Red Sea or Reed Sea are one in the same. After a global flooding event what kind of conditions will a surviving population face? Starvation and lack of fresh clean drinking water. The bread this passage is describing is commonly reffered to as hardtack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtack
Pilot bread is a simple type of cracker or biscuit, made from flour, water, and salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it is and was used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages and military campaigns.[1] Historically known as hardtack (or hard tack), ship’s biscuit, sea biscuit, sea bread or pejoratively dog biscuit, the name derives from the British sailor slang for food, “tack”, and the crackers or biscuits have been called “tooth dullers”, “sheet iron” or “molar breakers”.[2]
Because it is so hard and dry, properly stored and transported hardtack will survive rough handling and endure extremes of temperature.
‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
Now here is a suggestion that this event has been experienced once before.
By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Following the great flood water would absorb the suns energy and decrease the ozone level in the upper ATM. This is because ozone is created by incoming and outgoing radiation and reflection. So the interpretation is YOU can travel during the day but only under the clouds and at night with fire.
The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
The interpretation here is that the other groups following the flood did not have the environmental information and they will perish on their own from a lack of survival knowledge. The word still indicates that they must wait for the conditions to change and not fight the environmental elements.
The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
I am assuming here that the Ring of Ice that caused the great flood would make half of the sky dark and the other half light. Similar to a Tsunami, the ocean waters first retracts into the sea in the form of a supper tide just prior to the first waves coming ashore. It is very common for people to run down to the ocean at this time to pick up fish, and within minutes be hit by a wall of water.
30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore…………….. When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen [d] went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them
The Egyptians ran into the sea to grab fish and got hit by a Tsunami.
When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah. [e] ) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
Following the great flood fresh drinking water would be hard to find.
25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
Possibly a filtration of water to remove the silt and salt.
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
Fresh drinking water found. Good to go.
I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
At this point what there is to eat is coconuts from the palm trees but it is important that they are rationed between the group. You will only need to eat enough to survive the environmental hardship.
14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
Now Exodus is just flat-out telling the reader that the Ring of Ice had fallen out of the sky.
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
Birds will find the fresh water.
9 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
No fire wood so the birds could not be smoked and preserve. The raw meat would be bad as soon as a fly landed on it.
34 As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
It is suggesting here not to tell that the hardtack was important to the diet and was required to survive the event. Continue to eat it in a tradition in case it is required again in the future so you will survive once again and everyone else will die. 2008 and still keeping their mouths shut
