Introduction - Judgement and Salvation
I hope you will now be quite used to the fact that in this first part of the book of Exodus a constant theme of judgement and salvation is evident, and the Exodus through the Reed Sea itself is no exception. Salvation always works in the context of judgement because God is a God who judges but also saves. Thinking back to the Flood that destroyed the human world of sin, it was Noah’s sons who went on to father the whole human race and repopulate the earth. Remember that the Egyptians are descended from Ham, the son who was cursed, and the Israelites are descended from Shem, the line of blessing.
God makes distinctions and divides people. God is sovereign.
The Crossing of the Sea Remember that in these historical accounts we are being taught spiritual truth. You might find it helpful to try to think in terms of Passover being the point of conversion and the Exodus as teaching us about the Christian life.
Tactics 13:17-14:9
Let's look at the tactics God uses in bringing the Israelites to the Red Sea and see if we can ascertain what he is trying to achieve.
| Tactic | Reason |
| 13: 17 - God ensures they avoid the Philistine country which was not necessarily filled with Philistines at this time but clearly a place where military intervention was inevitable. | 13:17 - God does not want them to be unduly demoralised and disheartened |
| 13:19 - Joseph’s bones / mummy are taken in accordance with his will in Genesis. | It reminds the Israelites that all this is occurring in accordance with God’s promises in history and helps them focus their trust in God's promises. |
| 13:21-22 – The provision of a column of cloud and a column of fire (pre-echoes perhaps of the two great pillars in Solomon’s temple?) | To guide them and provide light. To provide a visible proof that God is God with them. Such a visible manifestation of God's presence is called a theophany, rather like the burning bush of chapter 3. In 3:12 God said to Moses, ‘I will be with you.’ |
| 14: 2 – He tells them to turn back, effectively towards the Egyptians. If you have an army following you this is not a bright idea. The Israelites end up being caught between sea, army and mountain – they are in a trap. | 14:3 – To encourage Pharaoh to attack with the idea that he can win. The Israelites are caught in a hopeless military position. |
| 14:4 & 8 - God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. | To ensure that there is a final showdown between Egypt and Israel and to tie up a few loose ends that we will return to in a moment. |
| 14:13:18 – the Israelites are armed for battle. This is odd. They are not taken to battle in Philistine country and they don’t even end up battling the Egyptians. | 14:4 – God must have the glory. He will do the fighting. So there is a mystery here. Think about this for a while and we will come back to it in a little while because it’s important. |
God’s Glory and Our Fear (14:10—15)
The Israelites suddenly lose their nerve as they realise their predicament, trapped between the sea and the Egyptian army. It is a case of 'out of the frying pan and into the fire'. Their panic is caused primarily because the stop looking at the presence of God in the column of cloud and look instead at their worldly enemies (verse 10). With imminent battle so near, their service to the Egyptians looks preferable to inevitable and ignoble death that seems to be the lot of those who serve God (verse 12).
They say, to err is human, and to blame it on a computer is more so. But to blame mishap on an uncaring God is even closer to the mark...
Lord, you said, "put your faith in Jesus Christ and I will rule with him, I will live forever." Yet my fate seems to be just the same as it was before. In fact, my problems seem to have multiplied and my situation become more critically dangerous. I have been weakened.
Have you ever felt like that? Christian life is not triumphalistic, we still die, being known as a Christian is costly to our reputation, and the obligation of obedience to God’s morality means that we are compromised and lose out where others can gain (for example: losing promotion at work because we’re too principled, losing friends because of our witness, being under the threat of dismissal from a course or from a job because of Christian principle).
As I write I am caught in this way by having been unemplyed for 10 months. I started a Prayer group in a Godless company and Satan ensured I was ‘let go’ at the next redundancy round. I am caught between a world that is quite happy to let my family slide into oblivion, a God who seems to have allowed an impossible situation to have arisen, and a future that seems utterly bleak because I can’t even get an interview.
In verse 15, even Moses seems to lose his nerve, probably because God is not acting in quite the way that Moses expects. He has comendably witnessed and preached to the people in a doctrinally sound way in verses 13-14 but his own heart quakes and he brings his personal misgivings to God. God graciously responds by giving details of his plan to Moses which frankly seem ridiculously incredible.
Be Overcomers – Place Confidence in God alone
There are answers to learn from this passage for Christians who find themselves caught up in circumstances that look quite hopeless. As God has brought the Israelites into a position where human strength can achieve nothing, so he alone is the one who can act. When he does so then they can be reassured about God's power in leading them. I suggest that God allows 'impossible' situations in the lives of Christians these days too for similar reasons - to test and to reassure us, and to glorify himself. Returning to my own unemployment, so it seesm to me that only the intervention of a God acting in miracle can resolve my predicament successfully.
There are principles in our passage that we need to learn to face these difficulties with confidence in God.
· Stand firm (verse 13), be still (verse 14)
· The Lord will bring deliverance (verse 13), the Lord will fight for you (verse 14)
· Biblical principles of patient steadfastness (be a Caleb) and 'overcoming'.
Picking up that last word, 'overcoming', the book of Revelation talks in many places about overcoming. Indeed, Jesus tells us to be overcomers if we wish to enter his sternal rest. In that book we discover that is means the following:
· Not attacking our enemies – our job is not to defeat Satan because we cannot do so – but to stand resolute in the face of Satan. This involves keeping our faith and trust in Jesus and his word, and patiently proclaiming God’s word in a plain way.
· Whilst we are participants in the gospel work, we are only ‘jars of clay’ as Paul puts it and we must recognise that it is God who does the real work. We must not get in the way of that, must not lose heart, and must trust God to do what he has promised.
· Billy Graham is an excellent example of Christian resoluteness in the field of evangelism that is often costly to the Christian. Whatever he says it begins literally, or implied, "God says..." He knows that we are heralds of God and not God himself. We bring God's message, not our own. Our task is to say, "God says..." which permits the power of the gospel do its work, not our cleverness.
Can I ask where is your confidence? In what you can do, or in what God can and will do? Are you fearful of a situation you find yourself in? Be confident in God and look to him for your deliverance, never taking your eyes off him and fearing the 'hostile armies' of the world.
“Move On” (verses 15-18)
God tells the Israelites to 'move on' in verse 15. Notice that the cloud has moved behind them, blocking their move back to the world of Egypt. "What? And drown in the sea?" they reply. In chapter 1 Pharaoh’s intention was to drown all male Hebrew children in the Nile and now it looks as though God is going to do Pharaoh’s work for him.
Moving on with God is the only way to go however impossible it seems. Abraham had a similar impossible problem with an instruction given by God about his son Isaac. He reasoned through the problem for himself in a way that kept his faith intact? The writer to the Hebrews in Heb. 11:19, says, "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead." So he obeyed God. These Israelites are being invited by God to make the same kind of reasoning and put their faith one hundred percent in God, and zero percent in themselves. There’s often a balance, but there are times when it has to be to one extreme.
This division of water and the appearance of dry ground is surely a reminder to us of days 2 and 3 of creation in Genesis 1 which recounts the separation of water and the provision of dry ground for human habitation. This is the creator God. Yahweh is telling the Isrealites that he is not just their God but the God.
The destruction of the Egyptian army reminds us of the destruction of people in the days of Noah, again by water. The Egyptians had thought to drown the Israelites in the water of the Nile but end up being drowned themselves in the water of the sea. God does this so "they will know I am the [creator] God" (verse 18).
The role of the pillar
During the night, the pillar of God and his angel move to the rear of the Israelites. We’ve seen that it both protects the Israelites and stops them returning by being a physical barrier, but it also divides the two groups of people. It divides in another way too. Tere is darkness to one side and light to the other.
Christians are children of light who walk in the light, whereas unbelievers walk in darkness. God is often depicted in the Bible in terms of cloud which obscures, on the one hand, whilst on the other as light that illuminates. When the final judgement falls it is utterly vital that we stand in the light of God.
An Army of People
We noted that in 13:18 the Israelites left Egypt "armed for battle", and 14:19 talks of the "Israelite army" which begs the question why an armed army does not fight. The answer is that God is not really arming them for this kind of battle - one with the world they have left. Their battles are to be over the world to come, the Promised Land.
Christian battle is one of witness and words. We trust God and live our lives in obedience to his word. We are involved in God’s work but it is God’s word through his Spirit that does the real work of conversion (1 Corinth 2).
Aftermath
God turns the confidence of the Egyptians into confusion and chaos (verse 24) and to destruction, and there is a change that comes about at the end of the chapter in the Israelites too. Verse 31 tells us that God's lesson that has been taught with such a demonstration of power gives the Israelites a fear and confidence in God. Their hearts are now properly focused. They also trust God’s messenger.
Remember that Yahweh told Moses in chapter three that the sign of proof of his power and truth was to be seen after the event. "Do it first and then I’ll giver you the sign." Well, that’s certainly true in this case. The Israelites have had to put themselves through quite an ordeal, but now they have the unmistakable sign that this God really does care for them. It is often like this for the Christian convert. The step of faith is difficult to take for it is recognised as a one way step, to be taken in earnestness. In my own case it took a great deal of courage and was one of the heardest things I ever did. But the confirmation of the rightness of my decision came after I had taken it. I acted on what I reasoned was the right thing to do, and then God stamped his seal of approval on that action.
Are you between a rock and a hard place? Unable to do anything about it? I hope this passage of Scripture will help you through as it helps me to trust in God.