"... Exodus 15:21: In Mesopotamia and Mari, defendants in difficult legal cases might be thrown into a river. Survivors were acquitted and the drowned posthumously convicted. In the Northwest Semitic region proper, evidence for the waters' judicial role might be found in the Ugaritic deity 'Judge River'. Combining Marqah and McCarter, one could then argue that the Suph Sea crossing was a symbolic ordeal, which Israel passed and Egypt failed. I would have reservations about such an approach, however. McCarter considers it immaterial whether the river ordeal was a living Israelite institution. But even if the image is a literary fossil, we must posit a Northwest Semitic river ordeal in some period, and, for the moment, we lack any relevant evidence beyond the divine title 'Judge River,' which could also be interpreted 'Chieftain River.' Some of McCarter's biblical examples use legal terminology in a highly suggestive manner. But until we find evidence of the ordeal from Israel or Canaan, the hypothesis remains speculative. (Should future discoveries corroborate McCarier's argument, we should be alert to puns between 'overflow' and 'judge') A somewhat related approach views the passage through the Sea, not as an ordeal, but as a cleansing. This is more believable. Throughout the Bible, water purifies physically and spiritually (e.g., Genesis 6:11-12; Exodus 29:4; 2 Kings 5; Micah 7:19; Psalm 26:6) ..."