The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of Exodus looks at how natural phenomena shaped the stories of the biblical Exodus, the Sojourn in the Wilderness, and the Israelite conquest of Canaan. Author Barbara J. Sivertsen demonstrates that the Exodus was in fact two separate exoduses connected with two volcanic eruptions. Over time, Israelite oral tradition combined these events into the Exodus narrative known today.