Exodus 15

"The Horse and Rider He Has Thrown into the Sea"

This song commemorates the second triumph of Yahweh, God of Israel,

over Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt.

After Israel left Egypt, God led them towards the Red Sea

by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night.

But it was not merely that God sent a cloud to do this.

13:21 says that "The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud."

Indeed, we will see at the completion of the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud

Will descend upon the tabernacle when it is completed.

The pillar of cloud and fire, therefore,

represents the Holy Spirit-the presence of God with His people.

(We will look more at this when we come to the end of Exodus)

But it is God himself who leads Israel to the Red Sea.

And it is God himself who hardens Pharaoh's heart in order that he may gain honor over him

(14:4)

Had Pharaoh forgotten that quickly what God had done?

But Israel, when they see Pharaoh's army coming towards them,

forgets just as easily. (14:11-12)

Moses' response is important:

14:13-14

And indeed, this is precisely what happens.

God delivered his people through the cloud and through the sea.

The cloud gave light to Israel and darkness to their enemies,

while the sea floor was dry for Israel, but turned to mud for Egypt (14:24-25)

14:30-31 gives the prose summary of the events,

and 15:1-18 gives the poetic summary.

This is the first song recorded in Scripture.

The blessings of Genesis are recorded in poetic form,

but this is the first time that we see the people of God singing

in response to what He has done.

(Laban refers to song in Gen 31:27, but only in terms of a farewell party)

Let us hear first the purpose of this song,

so that we might understand the reason why we sing in worship.

And then let us hear how the Scripture understands the crossing of the Red Sea,

so that we might understand how we have been brought from death to life.

What is the purpose of the Song of Moses?

The immediate purpose is celebration.

Music and song are associated in Scripture with all sorts of celebrations,

but one of the most common is the triumphant victory song.

Many songs and psalms celebrate the victory of God over his enemies.

Deuteronomy 32 contains the song of Moses recounting the work of the Lord

in delivering Israel from Egypt

and speaks of Israel's future rebellion and God's future deliverance

Judges 5 contains the song of Deborah

after God destroyed Sisera and the Midianite army.

1 Samuel 2 recounts Hannah's song of praise for the birth of Samuel,

Which speaks of the birth of Samuel

as an act of God's salvation for his people.

2 Samuel 22 records David's song of praise

for God's deliverance from all his enemies

Dozens of Psalms recount the mighty deeds of God in delivering his people.

Luke 1 recounts the songs of Mary and Zechariah,

Both of whom speak of the birth of their sons as an act of deliverance.

Part of what we do in our singing,

is celebrate the great and awesome works of the Lord

in delivering us from our enemies.

Let us look at how Moses does this in this song:

The song begins with a simple summary (v1).

This becomes the chorus for Miriam and the women,

answering the song with timbrel and dance.

Why should we sing to Yahweh?

Because he has triumphantly triumphed.

Some have tried to say that we should love and worship God

simply because of who He is,

not because of what he has done for us.

Scripture does not support this.

God himself calls us to worship him-to sing praise to him-

Because of what he has done.

You cannot separate who He is and what He has done.

This is made clear in the following verses, as the song turns to who God is (v2-3).

Yahweh is my strength and song (blending victory and worship).

And he has become my salvation.

He is my God.

He is my father's God.

He is the God who has been faithful to his promises to my fathers,

And now he is the God who has been faithful to me.

Because Yahweh is a man of war.

And this is detailed in (v4-5).

God is a warrior-and the most powerful king in the universe,

Just had his whole army obliterated.

The casualties were Egypt-everyone; Israel-no one.

Complete and utter destruction is the fate of all who oppose him.

Then v6-10 move on to a description of how God destroyed the Egyptians.

He did it by his right hand (v6-7) and the blast of his nostrils (v8-10).

Does God have a right hand and nostrils?

Plainly he does not have hands and nostrils the way we do.

That would be to get things backward.

That would be to make God in our image.

But we are created in the image of God.

We reflect who he is.

Therefore it would be appropriate to say

That our right hand was created as a picture of God's right hand.

Our right hand is a picture of God's strength and power.

So we might say that God has a right hand more truly than we do!

Our right hands can only accomplish a few things,

But His right hand can do all things!

Here, his right hand "has dashed the enemy in pieces."

God struck them with his wrath, and they were consumed like stubble.

And with the blast of His nostrils, he opened the Red Sea and provided

a way of escape for his people

and a path of destruction for his enemies.

Exodus 14:21 says that it was the east wind,

but 15:8 says that it was the blast of His nostrils.

The east wind has a special place in biblical understanding.

The east wind is uniquely God's wind.

It was the east wind that brought the famine to Egypt in Joseph's day.

It was the east wind that brought the locusts to Egypt in Moses's day.

Psalm 78 says that it was an east wind

that brought the quail to rebellious Israel in the wilderness-

which brought death to thousands.

Isaiah 27:8 refers to the exile, saying:

"He removed them with his fierce blast in the day of the east wind."

Jeremiah 18:17 speaks of the east wind scattering rebellious Judah.

Ezekiel uses the language of the east wind in judgment,

Hosea 13:15 states regarding Israel:

though he may flourish as the reed plant,

@@@the east wind,

the wind of the LORD,

shall come, @@@rising from the wilderness;

@@and his fountain shall dry up,

@@@his spring shall be parched;

@@it shall strip his treasury @@@of every precious thing.

The east wind, the wind of Yahweh, is the agent of judgment in every instance.

Why is this?

From a human standpoint,

the east wind in Palestine is pretty destructive.

It blows off the desert-so the east wind will never bring rain.

It brings famine, drought, and destruction.

But this is not all.

Eden was also in the East.

The temple faces east.

Redemption comes from the East.

So it is appropriate that judgment also comes from the east.

For in bringing judgment on his enemies,

Salvation comes to his people.

In other words, God designed his creation

in order to teach theological lessons to his people.

Do not be afraid to see theological truths in nature.

The tornado rightly reminds us of the destructive power

of a twisted creation-spinning out of human control.

God reveals himself in the forces of nature.

And makes known his mighty deeds in history.

For this is where the song goes next:

v11-13 acknowledges that there is no other god like Yahweh.

And this will cause fear and dread to fall on the nations,

because they will recognize that their gods cannot stand against Yahweh.

Israel lives in the midst of many nations-

both empires like Egypt,

and small tribal confederations like the Canaanites.

And each of these nations has its own god.

And as they come towards the promised land,

the nations can see the demonstration of Yahweh's power and might.

Yahweh has triumphed over the gods of Egypt,

the most powerful nation in the world.

Who can stand before him?

And so, as with the Passover,

the Exodus and Red Sea crossing is to be seen as an anticipation of the future.

The deliverance of the Exodus,

the redemption from Egypt,

cannot be seen in isolation from the conquest of the Promised Land.

Just as the Passover points to Pentecost

(the feast of redemption and the feast of first fruits),

so the Exodus points to the inheritance of the Land.

V14-17 say this plainly.

The point of the Red Sea crossing,

With the destruction of Pharaoh's army,

Is to issue a challenge and a warning to the gods of Canaan.

Yahweh is coming, and he is bringing his people with him.

God has called his son, Israel, out of Egypt.

He is giving him his covenantal identity,

and marking him out as the heir of the promise,

So that He might bring him into the Land of Promise.

The song concludes with a confession of faith:

Yahweh shall reign forever and ever.

One part of what our singing should do

is recount the marvelous deeds of the Lord in our redemption.

There are a few hymns that tell stories,

but unfortunately, the art of narrative song has largely been left to country music.

It is also important to note that most of the people who would have sung this song,

never experienced what God did at the Red Sea.

This song was recorded in Scripture to be sung.

And given the importance of narrative song in the OT,

It is quite likely that this song was sung by every generation.

You don't have to experience the accomplishment of redemption

to benefit from its application.

After all, none of us were physically present when Christ died,

but we all benefit from his death.

And we sing of the accomplishment of redemption

precisely because we have received the application of it.

Likewise, Israel would sing of the crossing of the Red Sea

because it was there that they were delivered from Pharaoh's armies

by the mighty hand of God.

And all future generations received the benefits of that redemption.

2. How should we understand what God did at the Red Sea?

Psalm 106 speaks of the Red Sea crossing

as the great redemptive act that constituted Israel.

The Apostle Paul says that Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea

(1 Cor 10:1-2)

What does he mean?

Paul looks back at the Red Sea

and sees an event that closely correlates with baptism.

Baptism is the moment in history

when you become identified with Christ and his church.

As Paul will say later in 1 Cor 12:13

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body"

The Red Sea was the moment when all Israel was identified with Moses.

It was here that Israel was brought out of death into life.

When God created the world, where did the dry land come from?

The sea.

The creation of the world started with the sea.

The first picture of the new creation was also a watery one.

And the flood is used as a picture of baptism by Peter in 1 Peter 3.

And here in the creation of Israel, the Son of God,

he is redeemed through the water-just like Noah.

Sometimes we get so focused on the connection between baptism and circumcision,

that we forget that the New Testament connects baptism

with several other images as well.

This baptism in the sea is particularly interesting,

because who gets wet?!!

Both in the Flood and in the Red Sea,

the only people who get wet are those who are destroyed.

(Immersion as destruction!)

But Paul sees a real baptism here.

Remember that Paul sees baptism as the moment in history

where we are identified with Christ's death (Romans 6:3-4).

In baptism we are bodily conveyed

from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

Those who are baptized have a new identity as the people of God.

We are not talking about election here, but covenant.

"As many of us as were baptized" (Rom 6:3);

"for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Cor 12:13)

All those who are baptized are members of Christ and his church.

And therefore the promises and warnings of the gospel are yours.

(After all, in 1 Cor 10, Paul is about to warn the Corinthians

not to end up like Israel!)

Israel's baptism is said to be "into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea."

Why does Paul mention the cloud?

If the image is water, why mention the pillar of cloud/fire.

Recall what the pillar of cloud/fire symbolizes.

The cloud was the presence of God with his people.

It was the presence of the Holy Spirit with Israel.

Therefore when Paul says "cloud and sea"

He is referring to Spirit and water.

Israel did not yet have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit dwelt in the midst of the people,

but not yet within the people.

(Moses in Numb 11:19-how I wish that all the Lord's people had the Spirit)

The Spirit was only given to the prophets, priests, and kings-to the leaders of the people,

for special tasks in prefiguring our Savior.

But in an outward and figurative way,

Israel was baptized in the cloud and in the sea,

So that they might partake of the benefits of redemption.

And Paul says that just as they received these benefits from being baptized into Moses,

in the cloud and in the sea;

So how much more have you received greater benefits from being baptized into Christ,

into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

As Christ is our Passover,

so also is he our Red Sea.

He appeared trapped by the power of death,

and was brought down to the grave.

As with Israel at the Sea,

It appeared that his enemies would triumph.

Recall that when we looked at Gen 47,

I suggested that the Red Sea should be viewed

as the sea at the end of the world.

That Egypt should be seen as the underworld-the land of death-the grave.

I think that is what Paul is doing.

The baptism of Israel is their passing from death to life.

In that pagan mythology,

when you die,

you pass over the sea/river at the end of the world

To enter the underworld.

Here that pagan mythology is exploded.

Israel comes back from the land of death through the Sea.

And just as God delivered his son at the Red Sea,

so also he delivered his Son from the land of death.

He was raised up by the Father,

because death could not hold him.

And as Israel walked through the Sea with unmoistened foot,

so our Savior passed through the grave with triumph.

And just as Israel was baptized into Moses

-so that they might escape the land of death;

So also we have been baptized into Christ,

So that we might pass from death to life.

Q165: What is Baptism?

A165: Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, wherein Christ hath ordained the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,[1] to be a sign and seal of ingrafting into himself,[2] of remission of sins by his blood,[3] and regeneration by his Spirit;[4] of adoption,[5] and resurrection unto everlasting life;[6] and whereby the parties baptized are solemnly admitted into the visible church,[7] and enter into an open and professed engagement to be wholly and only the Lord's.[8]