Exodus 14: Crossing the Red Sea
[Read Exodus 13 for a better look at the context]
The Red Sea Crossing is one of my favorite chapters in Scripture, and it has been since I was really little. In this chapter (Exodus 14), we see the salvation of the Lord yet again for the Israelites. We see how faithful and true He is, in how he deals with His children, how He makes a way when there was no way. How He leads His people through. Let’s pray and we’ll get started.
Father, You are a God who keeps His promises. You are faithful, and just. You hold Your people in Your hand. Lord, thank you for this chapter. Thank you for the reminders throughout Scripture of who You are. I ask that you would speak to us, Lord. Reveal Yourself through Your word. Let it be all of You, all to You, all for Your glory, In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The Account: Part 1
Exodus chapter 14 starts out with the LORD speaking to Moses. Let’s read verses 1-4.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so
Exodus 14:1-4 NKJV
The children of Israel were camping at Etham, and the Lord tells them to turn and go a different direction. So it seems this chapter starts off with a course change. Has that ever happened to you? Maybe you were on a trip and you look at the map and realize you were going the wrong way, or maybe a different way is shorter…by the way, it’s been my experience that shortcuts are almost never shorter, right? But this course change is actually not like most. It wasn’t that the Israelites were going the wrong way, or that God changed His mind. This was part of the plan all along.
So God tells Moses change course. Moses was to lead the Israelites down between Migdol and the sea. The other two proper nouns here, Pa Hahiroth and Baal Zephon, were actually apparently mountains or even mountain ranges. So the Israelites are dropping into a valley with walls on either side, and the Red Sea in front of them.
[Side bar here: it isn’t really clear where they crossed the Red Sea, or where these names and places were back then. But even though there’s a lot of disagreement there, everyone can agree that the land was very different back then. The landscape could literally be changed season to season with the flooding and the dry seasons. So while it’d be really cool to know exactly where this took place, it isn’t as important as knowing that it really did take place, and not only that but it took place exactly as Scripture tells us.]
Now the Israelites are wandering down into this dead-end valley. No wonder Pharaoh thought they were confused by the land. From the outside, they looked like they were wandering around aimlessly. Now they’re sitting ducks. Combine that with the Egyptians at Pharaoh’s door complaining about losing their slaves, and Pharaoh simply couldn’t resist. This was going to be too easy. So much for their God, right? And he goes after them, just like God promised.
Verse 10 says that the Israelites lifted up their eyes and saw the Egyptians coming after them. This wasn’t just some little army. Pharaoh pulled out all the stops. Think about it: Egypt was the world superpower, the leading nation in medicine, technology, and military might. They were the inventers of the chariot, and they had hundreds of them. If Pharaoh took all his people, all the chariots in Egypt, all his army, there would have been at least hundreds of thousands of Egyptians descending now on the Israelites.
This is what the Israelites saw when they lifted their eyes…but, as Jon Courson points out (listen to his more recent Exodus 14 commentary here and here) they didn’t lift their eyes high enough. They didn’t look up to God. They started panicking.
We should give the Israelites a little grace here; this does look pretty bad from the outside. God is the One who took them on this route. It seems that He led them into a trap. How many of us would have responded the same way: “did you lead us out here to die?” How many of us have responded that way when we feel boxed in?
The Application: Part 1
Sometimes God takes us down paths we don’t understand. Sometimes, it looks like those paths are leading to closed doors, dead ends. “Lord, we said we would follow You, why have You led us here?”
There’s a song by Hillary Scott called “Thy Will”, and the opening lyric says:
I’m so confused. I know I heard you loud and clear.
So I followed through. But somehow I ended up here.
It can be tempting in those circumstances to blame God. To cry out and ask Him why. To think about the good old days: “Well, we were better off to just stay slaves in Egypt” and forget how far the Lord has already brought us. To wonder if somewhere we got our signals crossed. Surely God didn’t mean to lead us to a dead end? With our enemies closing in behind us and nowhere to run? Did God lead us out here to die?
Maybe it’s a financial issue, or problem at work. Maybe it’s something you thought you were finally freed from, and now it feels like it’s creeping in again. Maybe it’s depression, or a relationship issue. Or maybe a prayer request that you’ve brought before the Lord over and over, and you’re becoming discouraged. Maybe it’s crippling grief over the loss of a loved one. Or maybe you’re just starting to feel like you’re in a rut. Whatever the case is, now you feel walled in on every side, and you think “This is it, Lord. There’s no escape”…or so it seems.
And yet, God’s answer to us is much the same as it is to Moses and the Israelites here.
In verse 14, Moses confidently tells the Israelites that “the LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace,” or you shall be still. And then it seems, by the text, that he turns to God and wonders, “Lord, what do we do?”
“Tell the children of Israel to go forward,” the LORD responds.
Go forward.
But Lord, there IS NO forward from here!
Go forward.
And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Exodus 14:15-18 NKJV
I will gain honor. They will know that I am the LORD. You will know that I am the LORD. Go forward.
In Part 2, we’ll conclude this chapter in Scripture. We’ll see just how God delivers His people, and how that application is still true today.
Thank you for joining me today. What did you think? I’d love to hear about a time when God was calling you forward even though it was hard.
As always, God bless you and your homes!
With Love,
Morgan
