Exodus 14--Crossing the Red Sea on Dry Ground

Crossing the Red Sea​
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

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This is another one of those moments in Israel's history that was pivotal that God continues to draw their memory back to when He reminds them of who He is because of the things He has done, and the people reach a place where there is no other way forward other than the miracle that God provides and no turning back once they go forward--much like the decision that many of us faced when we came to repentance and chose to follow Christ.  The journey ahead is long and hard, but if our decision is real, there never, ever any going back the way we came--that is not an option.

God knows exactly what He's doing and tells the Israelites to camp at an indefensible position with the sea cutting them off from any possibility of retreat.  God causes Pharaoh to desire once again to go back on his word and to try to pursue the Israelites to try to enslave them once again, but God has other plans for Pharaoh and his army.  God's agenda in all this?  To prove once and for all to all of Egypt that He alone is the Lord and there are no other gods worthy of their worship.  It is the people of Egypt that are enslaved to the powers of darkness, and God also wants them to be free, but it will take a lot for the scales to come off their eyes.

After the plagues, it is amazing that Pharaoh could even muster up 600 chariots and soldiers to ride in them to chase after the .Israelites.  This was not only a huge show-of-force, but could possibly represent all that was left of his cavalry at that point since so many of the animals and livestock had been destroyed and I'm sure many of the soldiers were killed during the plagues as well.  Pharaoh was going to make one last-ditch effort to save his pride and possibly his nation, and Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen and army caught up with the people and surrounded them.  The Israelites were in an impossible situation because they had an army they could not fight all around them with the exception of the Red Sea that was in front of them, but they had no way to cross it on their own.

The people implored Moses to cry out to the LORD as they did for salvation, as it looked like God had put them in a lose-lose situation and the people wondered if they went through all this just to surrender and admit defeat now.  Surly that's not the result that God wanted, and His name was on the line now.  I love Moses' answer to the people as this are words we also need to live by when we see impossible situations like this, "13 And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”"  God's reply is also quite remarkable here, "15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. "  God expects us move forward even when the path looks impossible, especially in light of the power that He has already demonstrated.  Remember the question God asked Abraham after He told him that he would have a son in his old age and Abraham doubted?  "14 Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14a)

God put the pillar of cloud (the Shekinah Glory that we talked about last time) between the Egyptians and the Israelites so that the Egyptians were confused and so that the Egyptians would not be able to see the escape that God was providing for His people until it was too late.  The Lord kept the Egyptians busy until His people had safely crossed over and then removed the pillar of cloud so that the Egyptian army could see that the Israelites had escaped on dry ground and Pharaoh ordered his army and chariots to give pursuit.  But the Lord made the ground that had been dry so that the chariots and soldiers got stuck in it, and he caused the walls of water to fall in and collapse on the Egyptian army and drown Pharaoh and his men.

The nation of Egypt had been humbled, though maybe not brought to their knees as God would have liked.  They lost their economic and military dominance in a very short period of time--everything that God had given them during the years of favor when Joseph had been leading and having the people fear the Lord was removed in a very short time because a new Pharaoh that did not fear the Lord came in and showed no respect for God or His people.  And the end result of it all is that Israel, Egypt and all the surrounding nations learned to fear the LORD and his awesome and awful power (depending on which side you were standing on).  We'll see that when the people get to Canaan how the Canaanites have heard about the ways in which the Lord has provided protection and salvation for His people.