Exodus 15

Exodus 15

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Song of Moses

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
    horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
² The Lord is my strength and my might,^[a]
    and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
³ The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.

⁴ “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
    his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.^[b]
5 The floods covered them;
    they went down into the depths like a stone.
⁶ Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power—
    your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
⁷ In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;
    you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
⁸ At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
    the floods stood up in a heap;
    the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
    I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
    I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
¹⁰ You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
    they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
    Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
    awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
¹² You stretched out your right hand,
    the earth swallowed them.

¹³ “In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;
    you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
¹⁴ The peoples heard, they trembled;
    pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
¹⁵ Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
    trembling seized the leaders of Moab;
    all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
¹⁶ Terror and dread fell upon them;
    by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone
until your people, O Lord, passed by,
    until the people whom you acquired passed by.
¹⁷ You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,
    the place, O Lord, that you made your abode,
    the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
¹⁸ The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

¹⁹ When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lordbrought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

The Song of Miriam

²⁰ Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. ²¹ And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Bitter Water Made Sweet

²² Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea,^[c] and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah.^[d] 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵ He cried out to the Lord; and the Lordshowed him a piece of wood;^[e] he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord^[f] made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test. ²⁶ He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.

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     And so we begin the rollercoaster.  On the one hand the people of Israel are making songs and celebrating God's power and deliverance.  On the other hand the people of Israel are complaining against Moses and God for bringing them to bitter water.  There will be rejoicing, rejection, faithfulness, bravery, cowardice and depravity.  At the heart of the rollercoaster, I believe, is the belief by the people that this journey is supposed to be easy.

     God is Lord over all things.  The Israelites just witnessed this.  They saw the plagues.  They saw the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh's army.  They know the power that they follow.  Surely with that power on your side, all obstacles will melt away.  When they come to Marah, the people are bitterly surprised.  Is this a joke?  Did this God of awesome power forget about them or deliver them only to do them harm?  The shock of lacking such a basic human need drives them to anger and complaining quickly.

     Sometimes, many times, following the faithful path does not make the journey easier.  It costs.  It costs money.  It costs time.  It costs prestige.  It costs heartache.  Why?  Why would God not use His power to make life easier and more fun for his followers?  I am pretty sure that if following Him meant no more trouble, more people...billions more people would sign up.

     I get it.  I am continually stressed out over my family's money struggles.  I have been raising funds for nearly 15 years and every month I wonder if this is the time it will not work, that God will not come through, if I made the right decision to go into ministry when I could be making double, triple or more in a secular job.  Isn't it supposed to be easier than this?

     No.  For a couple of reasons

• Struggle reveal who we are, who we were made to be and where we need healing.  God says right up there to the Israelites: "I am the Lord who heals you."
• God desires children, not groupies.  Worship centered around God's blessings is a business transaction: You give me good stuff, I give you good stuff.  Worship centered around God's goodness is relationship: hearts growing closer together out of mutual love.
• This life is not the endgame.  God seems more interested in us suffering some in this life in order to build the character and relationships that will see us into joyful eternity as opposed to sailing through this life unscathed yet losing our connection to the Giver of Life and spending eternity in despair.
• The incarnation.  Jesus gave up immeasurable riches in order to bless those who were sick, lost and poor.  I believe we are called to do the same.

I still struggle when money is tight, especially when I have to say no to those I love.  But it helps to remember that this is not supposed to be easy.  

Not easy...but infinitely good.

Exodus 14

Exodus 14

New International Version (NIV)

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. ³ Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ ⁴ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” ⁶ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. ⁷ He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. ⁸ The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. ⁹ The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen^[a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. ¹⁶ Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
¹⁹ Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, ²² and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
²³ The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. ²⁴ During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. ²⁵ He jammed^[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward^[c] it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. ²⁸ The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
²⁹ But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰ That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. ³¹ And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

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     There are lots of things to write about in this section of scripture, but I want to focus on a connection that I saw a couple of years ago when I was preparing a sermon.  This episode, crossing the Red Sea, mirrors another iconic story from  the history of the Israelites, God's covenant with Abraham.

     Night comes and God, in the form of smoke and fire, passes through the middle of the sacrifices in order to show Abraham that their covenant is bound.  In this passage God, in the form of cloud and fire, guards the backs of His people while they pass through the middle of the walls of water, following His leading into the unknown.  I think this is God renewing His covenant with the children of Abraham while increasing His glory among the Hebrews and the Egyptians.  Abraham gains a new name and his children gain a new identity.

Exodus 13

Exodus 13

New International Version (NIV)

Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

³ Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. ⁴ Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. ⁵ When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: ⁶ For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. ⁷ Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. ⁸ On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. ¹⁰ You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.
¹¹ “After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, ¹² you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. ¹³ Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
¹⁴ “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ ¹⁶ And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Crossing the Sea

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.^[a] The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”^[b]
20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. ²¹ By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. ²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

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Why did God lead the people through the wilderness instead of by the most direct route to the Promised Land?  Because they were not ready.  The slaves were not ready to be warriors and conquerors yet.  God thought that they would turn around at the first sign of opposition.  So He leads them into a desolate place and He begins forging a new culture, creating festivals and centering their calendar around this pivotal event in their history.  He reminds them over and over again of their destination.  God does not simply invite His people out of a bad situation, He also calls them into something amazing.  He does not call His people to simply be nomads...but to make a journey towards a new home.  This journey is what will forge the Israelites and bind them to God.  It will teach them who He is and what He desires.  It will give them the faith and the conviction to follow Him into taking the Promised Land...eventually.  The journey, and the story of the journey, will be the foundation that their new nation is built upon.