Then the Red Sea was Parted
a commentary on Exodus 14
Thank you, Lord, for this day. May it be used for your glory!
Good morning everyone! Happy New Year and welcome to the first Biblit of 2022!
We don’t lollygag around here. We are going to jump right back into Exodus 14. If you remember last time, the Israelites were just freed from slavery and are now being led by God through the desert. God leads them in the form of a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night! God will never leave nor forsake His people.
Today, we are going to see where God is leading Israel. They are still fleeing Egypt, a land they’ve lived in for the past 400 years. Where are they to go now? Especially with an angry Pharaoh chasing them down.
Without further ado, let’s jump into this commentary on Exodus 14.
Context
The first part of this passage is the Lord describing to Moses what is about to happen. He tells Israel to move camps to a more strategic location. Well, more strategic for God. See, God wants them to move to a location where Pharaoh will see them and think they are confused and vulnerable.
The Lord tells them that once Pharaoh assumes Israel is an easy target, he will rally the troops and pursue Israel for one final conquest. God has other plans and says that when Pharaoh attacks, the glory of God will be revealed.
As the Lord said, Pharaoh did that exact thing.
He saw the Israelites wandering around, rallied his most elite troops, and the chariots (historians say were introduced by the Hyksos, if you remember them), and with an army of a few thousand or so, they took off after Israel.
When Israel saw the army coming for them, any amount of faith they had completely disappeared. The Egyptians had cornered them to the point that on one side was a massive body of water and the other was a massive army. They were goners for sure.
They started grumbling and complaining to the Lord, asking why He had taken them out of Egypt just to die. They went as far as to say that they’d rather still be slaves in Egypt! A theme that will come back over and over for the Israelites.
Moses speaks the Lord’s words to Israel and comforts them. He tells them to fear not, to stand firm, and watch as the Lord saves them.
We then see a 1-1 convo between the Lord and Moses where the Lord chastises Moses for the Israelites’ grumblings. It’s a brief chastisement and then God moves on.
He then tells Moses to lift up his staff. The same staff that a few days prior was used to deliver God’s judgment and wrath upon Egypt. Now it was to be used for salvation.
God makes a wall of fire to divide and protect the Israelites from the Egyptians. Moses lifts his staff and a great and powerful wind blows in and begins to divide the waters of the Red Sea! It takes all night for the waters to separate and the land to dry up.
Meanwhile the Egyptians are just waiting, trapped behind this fire wall. It reminds me of the final battle between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I. When they are all fighting and there are these weird laser walls that appear and divide the good guys and the bad guys. Nobody can fight, they just have to wait for the wall to go down. It was a pretty epic scene in the movie, and I imagine this real-world scene was even more so!
Random nerd moment. Moving on back to the Bible now.
During the morning watch (around 2am - 6am, the typical time for an ambush), the Lord removes the flames and Israel takes off across the dry ground.
They walk in between these insane massive walls of water; the way the scripture describes it, it is like the size of huge city walls. I am imagining the Great Wall of China, but water. On both sides. Or imagine the Niagra Falls surrounding you on both sides as you walk. Crazy!
Egypt also decides to pursue them. Bad move.
The Lord threw Egypt into a panic and started to clog their wheels so they drove slow. Not looking good, Egypt.
It was at this crucial moment when Egypt is driving slower, they are scared, and they are surrounded by massive walls of water, that they realize they might be outmatched. They begin to fear and try to retreat.
It was too late, though.
Moses lifted his hand over the sea once Israel was safely across and the waters pound down on Egypt, and the Lord’s victory and salvation were achieved.
Israel saw God’s great power of salvation and believed.
Interpretation
Alright, there are a few things that really stand out to me in this passage that I want to break down.
God is Glorified
The first point is that God Himself tells Moses in the very beginning that He will be glorified. Right at the get-go, God says that Pharaoh will continue to pursue them, that God will end it once and for all, and that He will be glorified.
God is glorified through His judgment over Pharaoh, but He is simultaneously glorified through saving His people. In the same swift movement of raising and lowering the massive sea walls, He reveals His glory for all to see. Both in judgement over Egypt and salvation for Israel.
God Saves Israel Despite their Doubts
At the first sight of trouble, Israel wants to run back to Egypt. They want to run back to the things they know. God saved them from slavery, but the second it gets hard, they would prefer slavery over hardship and the unknown.
Despite these doubts, God still saves them! He still shows them love and mercy. How marvelous a picture. God saved them once from bondage, and when they choose that same bondage over God, He still shows them mercy.
Despite these doubts, what is God’s answer to Israel?
“Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.” (Exodus 14:13-14 CSB).
Do nothing. That was God’s answer. Do nothing and watch as God does all the work and see your salvation revealed.
Israel has a Mediator
I got stuck on verse 15:
“The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp.” (Exodus 14:15 CSB).
The reason I got stuck is that it was Israel that complained to God. Not Moses.
At least, that’s what’s recorded. Could Moses have complained separately? He could have and he’s definitely not above that. However, it’s not recorded here. It made me wonder why.
One commentary I read had a really good point that I support. We already know that Moses was the mediator between God and Israel. God would tell Moses things and Moses would relay messages to Israel and so forth.
Verse 15 shows another example and responsibility of the mediator. Israel was at fault, but God looked to their mediator instead; He looked to Moses to take responsibility for Israel’s lack of faith.
That’s a lot of pressure on the imperfect Moses, but so much grace for all of Israel.
Foreshadowing Baptism
After the insane display of a fire-wall to protect Israel, God commands them to do something really cool.
Go, walk through the entire Red Sea. The text explicitly says “wall” of water, which implies a pretty massive amount of water.
Does Israel need to hold the water up?
No. They simply have to walk and have faith that God will hold the waters up.
Paul later describes this in 1 Corinthians 10 as Israel’s baptism into Moses. The Israelite’s baptism here in Exodus is a clear picture of what is happening spiritually in baptism today. They walked from death and bondage through the waters and into a new life.
They had to walk and hold their faith. Some of the Israelites might have been terrified as they walked. But God doesn’t save them based on the quality of their faith, but on the presence of faith alone.
Application
Alright, let’s take some of these points and apply them to our own lives. The more I read Exodus the more I think God did all of this just to give us a clear image of our own spirits. So let’s dive in!
We are Saved Despite our Doubts
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Just as Israel was saved from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, we have been saved from the bondage of slavery to sin. That is what Jesus did on the cross and resurrection. He saved us from bondage.
But just as the Israelites continue to fall short, we do too.
I know, it stinks. I wish we lived perfect lives right now; I wish I could just never sin again. But we still live in a broken world and we have a tendency to fall back into sin. We, like the Israelites, can become blinded and foolishly believe a life of sin is “better.”
That is why we must be on guard and put sin to death each and every day.
However, if we aren’t careful, this can lead us into a works-based faith too. On one hand, we must always be on guard and fight sin, and on the other hand, we must stand firm and trust that God is the one with the power to vanquish sin, not us.
Confused yet?
I’ll add a third piece to the puzzle. I believe that as we live out our days on earth, we will continuously be bombarded by new and old idols. Netflix, money, attention, you name it. There will be temptations around.
What is the cure?
It’s the Sunday school answer: Jesus, our mediator.
Jesus is Our Mediator
Just as Moses took on the responsibility of Israel’s mistakes in front of God, so Jesus took on our sin once and for all!
We must be on guard and fight against temptation and sin, but we must also realize it is not our power that saves us. It is Jesus’s, and all that’s required of us is faith.
Jesus puts it this way and it is so assuring:
“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24 CSB).
The beauty in this is the word: anyone. No one is excluded.
There is no reason to hold onto the guilt and shame of a past decision. That is gone, expunged, eradicated, and forgiven.
Think about Paul for a second. If you don’t remember, Paul at one point went by the name Saul and was a vile person.
He persecuted and murdered Christians. All because they refused to get on his page. He was a prideful murderer.
Yet, later after hearing the words of Jesus and committing in faith to Christ, he confidently preached the words:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 CSB).
Hold onto the saving grace of Jesus Christ!