Exodus 15:1-21: Notes From David Jackman's Talk

^NASB Exodus 15:1-21 Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said, "I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. ² "The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will extol Him. ³ "The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name. ⁴ "Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. ⁵ "The deeps cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone. ⁶ "Thy right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power, Thy right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. ⁷ "And in the greatness of Thine excellence Thou dost overthrow those who rise up against Thee; Thou dost send forth Thy burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff. ⁸ "And at the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were piled up, The flowing waters stood up like a heap; The deeps were 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 be gratified against them; I will draw out my sword, my hand shall destroy them.' ¹⁰ "Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters. ¹¹ "Who is like Thee among the gods, O LORD? Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? ¹² "Thou didst stretch out Thy right hand, The earth swallowed them. ¹³ "In Thy lovingkindness Thou hast led the people whom Thou hast redeemed; In Thy strength Thou hast guided them to Thy holy habitation. ¹⁴ "The peoples have heard, they tremble; Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ "Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; The leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. ¹⁶ "Terror and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of Thine arm they are motionless as stone; Until Thy people pass over, O LORD, Until the people pass over whom Thou hast purchased. ¹⁷ "Thou wilt bring them and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, The place, O LORD, which Thou hast made for Thy dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. ¹⁸ "The LORD shall reign forever and ever."

¹⁹ For the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, and the LORD brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea.

²⁰ And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing. ²¹ And Miriam answered them, "Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea."

The Importance of Preaching

The ministry of the Word of God is the means that the Spirit of God uses to accomplish his purposes in the world. Our confidence is in the Word and the Spirit of God, not in the preacher or in our hard work or skills. There is a dimension of the preaching ministry that carries with it the authority of God’s Spirit. Good preaching engages the mind, the heart, and the will. Preaching is all form of biblical proclamation, and all requires the same preparation and confidence in the Word of God. If we want to be effective proclaimers of God’s word, we want to not be cool analysts, but passionate hearers. If the word grips me, there is a chance it will grip my hearers as well. Preaching is truth in personality. But it is the same truth and the same God who speaks. We need to be passionate listeners so we can be passionate proclaimers.

Exodus offers us great narrative, appropriate to our modern context, and much that can teach the character of God.

Context of Exodus 15

One of the major strands in the book is the formation of the people of God. In chapter 40, the sons of Abraham are constituted as a people of God. Israel is called YHWH’s firstborn son. This is a heartfelt relationship between God and his people (4:22). Throughout the Pentateuch, God describes the nation of Israel as his Son (Dt 32:6). The son should attempt to conform to the father, and respect and obey the Father, out of love and gratitude for all that the father has done for him.

Galatians 3:16 tells us that the ‘seed’ is Jesus, and all God’s promises find their fulfillment in Christ, and in us as we are united to God by faith. It is thus not surprising that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is prototokos, used 4 x in the NT. Jesus shares this with all believers (Heb 12).

But the son must become a holy nation. From the burning bush, through the plagues, on to Sinai, God keeps calling them ‘my people’. ‘I will be your God, you will be my people’. YHWH is the hero of the story of Exodus. All nations must recognize that YHWH is the God of the whole world. God is at work demonstrating his sovereignty to his people.

^NASB Exodus 13:17-18 ¹⁷ Now it came about when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, "Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and they return to Egypt." ¹⁸ Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt.

God is aware that the people of Israel will change their minds if they engage in battle. God has bigger purposes than getting them into the land. The people needed to learn to trust God, thus the circuitous journey. Luther comments, ‘it took a night to get Israel out of the Egypt, but 40 years to get them into the promised land’. There is, however, a bigger purpose, that God will gain glory.

^NASB Exodus 14:4 "Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." And they did so.

The narrative gives us real theological gems. ‘I will gain glory for myself’. This focuses us on God, on recognizing who God is, and that his purposes will prevail. This is pastorally significant.

Pharaoh pursues Israel with his elite troops but God is in charge. The narrative has all the drama of a firsthand account. The people cry out, but also blame Moses. And Moses increasingly takes the lead and says:

^NASB Exodus 14:13-17 ¹³ But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. ¹⁴ "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." ¹⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ "And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.

Moses is expecting God to deliver Israel. But the way God delivers Israel is completely unexpected. We would have thought that Israel would have to fight, but if we were there, we wouldn’t have thought that God would rescue his people and destroy his enemies through the sea. God parts the sea by his powerful breath, and the people pass through, but the Egyptians are drowned.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 is the theological reflection of the events in Chapter 14.

Exodus 14:29 - 15:1 ²⁹ But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

This is a summary of the event.

³⁰ Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

This is the explanation of the event.

³¹ And when Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.

This is the theological significance of the event.

J I Packer said, ‘revelation = event + explanation’. Here, we see the pattern of God’s action, God’s explanation, and the theological significance. This pattern continues in Exodus and indeed in Scripture. For example, we see the same pattern in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 , that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Here there is the event, Christ died, the explanation, for our sins, and the theological significance, according to the Scriptures.

Chapter 15 is an extended response to the event of Chapter 14.

Verses 1-5 rehearses God’s matchless character. What does it mean that the Lord is our God? Whenever we come to YHWH, we must think covenant. God is the eternal God who makes and keeps his promises. This is a great ‘Promise-fulfillment moment’. The source of the great deliverance is YHWH. To unpack the ideas in verses 4-10, would be pastorally helpful for a congregation. We preach Christ in you, the hope of God. And when we preach a great action, let’s preach God and his character, in worship, praise and adoration.

Verses 6-12 rehearse God’s mighty deeds. We love to rehearse our victories. And part of the way we worship God is to celebrate his victories. The differences in the verbs highlight the different aspects of what God has done. As we grow in the knowledge of God, we need to deepen in our praise and worship of God, and not stop at trivial articulation of the greatness of God. Eg verse 8, getting Israel through the Red Sea was like God blowing his nose. We need to help people to enter into what is implied by these poetic statements. The Egyptians sank like lead! It is good to enjoy and relive this. And this is also what we should do when we remember the cross and the defeat of death. We should want to praise God as articulately and variously as we can.

Thus, the celebration of God’s mighty deeds comes to climax in verse 11.

Exodus 15:11 ¹¹ "Who is like Thee among the gods, O LORD? Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?

Holiness expresses the godness of God. And we should cry out like this concerning Jesus' death and resurrection.

The prophetic perfect celebrates the certainties of the future in past tenses.

Exodus 15:13 ¹³ "In Thy lovingkindness Thou hast led the people whom Thou hast redeemed; In Thy strength Thou hast guided them to Thy holy habitation.

They have not yet entered the land or even made it to Sinai, but Israel praises God as if it has happened already, so sure is it because of God’s faithfulness. See also:

Exodus 15:17-18 ¹⁷ "Thou wilt bring them and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, The place, O LORD, which Thou hast made for Thy dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.

Contemporary lessons to be learned and applied

There are three lessons to be learnt for NT Christians.

• There is no circumstance or problem in life that is outside God’s providence. All our circumstances are under God’s will and loving providence and sovereign rule.

• Nothing can change God’s Covenant faithfulness to his people. It is thus important to see that God led Israel through the sea, even though we cannot see God’s footprints.

• All of life’s experiences are to the greater end of bringing glory to God. Through the deliverance of God’s people, God is bringing glory to himself. The enemies of God, in the end, appear washed up, dead, and God will get the glory.

Romans 8:28-31 ²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; ³⁰ and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Jesus is the true firstborn, and we are among many brothers. We are being conformed to the image of the Son. Thus, corporately and individually, we trust the God of Exodus 15. The worship of heaven is the worship that sings the song of Moses, and the Lamb, that God is a warrior who triumphs gloriously over sin, death and the devil.