And Moses said to the people, Fear not stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you to-day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The sea lies ahead of Israel, and Pharaoh's chariots are closing in behind. At that moment Moses tells the people to do nothing and to watch God save them. (The ESV has "stand firm"; the writers quoted below use the older "stand still.")
God had already spared Israel on the night they killed the lamb in Egypt. Yet Scripture does not call them saved until this chapter.
Here, for the first time, we have the pattern. Moses says "this day" and speaks about the salvation of Jehovah; and later in the chapter we read, "Jehovah saved Israel." How beautiful the accuracy of Scripture! We might have said that Jehovah saved Israel on the night of the passover lamb, but Scripture never uses such words there. No; they were sheltered, but in the true sense not yet "saved." Salvation means that they knew their enemies were destroyed. God had risen up in the majesty of His power and shown that power in full on their behalf.
Notice when these words came. Every human way of escape had closed first.
The Israelites reached the Red Sea. Pharaoh's horsemen and chariots were behind them, the sea lay in front, and every human way of escape was cut off. Only then, for the first time, came the words, "Fear not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you." It is the same for the converted man in Romans 7, still under law, in the "belly of the fish." Only when he has come to nothing in his own strength, and cries out in despair, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" does he see that salvation and deliverance must come from the Lord.
Standing still is the last thing a frightened crowd wants to do.
Here is the first attitude which faith takes in the presence of a trial. "Stand still." This is impossible to flesh and blood… Nature must be doing something. It will rush here and there. It would gladly have some hand in the matter. It may try to justify and sanctify its worthless doings by giving them the impressive and popular title of "a legitimate use of means." But they are the plain and positive fruits of unbelief, which always shuts out God… Unbelief creates or magnifies difficulties. Then it sets us to work removing them by our own busy, fruitless activity, which only raises a dust around us and keeps us from seeing God's salvation.
Later God tells these same people to go forward. So stillness cannot mean drifting.
We must beware of a possible misunderstanding of these words. They do not mean that we have nothing at all to do, or that we may drift with the stream and let things take their course… What, then, does He mean by standing still? The word implies that they were to weigh their position calmly, from God's side. They were to drop their worries, give up every fear, and consider what power there was in Jehovah. "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Commentators differ on how the two commands fit together. One writer judges that Moses spoke too soon:
While Moses displayed this calm faith that may well fill us with admiration, he yet made a mistake. He told the people to "stand still." But when he cried to the Lord, the command came that they should "go forward"… If they had stayed where they were, the dividing of the sea would not have delivered them.
Moses does not promise that the enemy will be held back, but that he will be gone for good. One writer sees Christ's death and resurrection behind that promise.
What is God's salvation? Christ has gone down beneath the waves and billows of divine judgment for His people, bearing their sins and enduring the judgment due to them. He has risen again in the power of a finished work, an atonement by which God has been glorified. And what is the result? The power of the enemy is destroyed, and we are called to gaze on a risen Saviour, and an empty tomb.
The command here turns out to be the first lesson in a longer course.
This attitude of stillness shows a spirit of rich reliance on God. And may we not say that there is progress of soul in the order in which we have quoted these three verses? It may be more easy for us to stand still than to sit still; and yet it is our strength to sit still. Again, it may suit us better to sit still than to be still, and yet it is in being still that we learn that "I am God."
- Shut in. God led Israel to a place with no human way out. Only there did this word come — the point Romans 7 reaches when a man's own strength has failed.
- Stand still. The order cuts against every instinct. Restless activity is unbelief, raising dust that hides the deliverance God is working.
- See. Stillness is not drifting. It is calmly weighing the position from God's side and setting fear aside to consider His power.
- Salvation. Being sheltered by the lamb's blood is not yet salvation. Salvation is the enemy destroyed and never seen again — Christ judged in our place, risen, the tomb empty.
- Go forward. Moses said "stand still," but the word from the Lord was "go forward." Faith stands still to see God act, then moves at His word.
Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall be still.
Israel stood trapped between the sea and Pharaoh's army, and Moses told them the fighting would not be theirs. So when is doing nothing the right response, and what is God promising to do instead?
Israel had left Egypt, but Egypt had not let go. The old enemy was still chasing them.
Shut in between the desert and the sea, with Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen in full pursuit, their cry is a cry of despair. God Himself must take up the question between them and their old enemy again, and settle it for good. God fights for them; and they do nothing but "stand still and see the salvation of the LORD."
The promise names who does the fighting. That changes who the enemy now faces.
If God delivers and redeems us, He is for us and not against us. It says: "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." … At the Red Sea God steps in as Saviour for His people. They have nothing to do but look on at their own deliverance. In redemption God acts, so to speak, as if the enemies we could never beat had become His own enemies.
Standing still is the part human nature cannot manage. Restless activity feels like faith, but it is not.
Nature must be doing something. It will rush here and there. It would gladly have some hand in the matter. It may even excuse its worthless doings with the fine, popular title of "a legitimate use of means." But they are still the plain fruits of unbelief. Unbelief always shuts God out, and sees nothing except the dark cloud of its own making. Unbelief creates difficulties, or makes them look bigger. Then it sets us to removing them by our own busy, fruitless efforts. All they really do is raise a dust around us that hides God's salvation.
The scale of the command is easy to miss. God told a whole nation to make no move.
Six hundred thousand men were to stand still, moving neither foot nor finger! Deep silence suited them, for God was about to act out a drama like no other. How well that cheering word was suited to draw Israel's trembling heart away from its own deadly crisis, and on to faith in the LORD of hosts!
The command pointed them to God's salvation. One writer asks what that salvation is.
What is God's salvation? It is that Christ went down under the waves of divine judgment for His people. He bore their sins and took the judgment they deserved. Then He rose again in the power of a finished work, an atonement that glorified God. And what is the result? God has destroyed the enemy's power, and He calls us to gaze on a risen Saviour and an empty tomb.
A verse or two later, God tells the same people to move. Both orders belong together.
There is nothing inconsistent between the command to "Stand still" and "Go forward." One action is passive, the other active. One is inward, the other outward. But both need faith to take hold of God's resources, which never fail.
Three chapters later Israel meets Amalek, a desert people who attacked them, and this time they must fight. One writer marks the contrast.
God did not put Amalek out of Israel's way — they had to fight him, and it is the same for us… This is very different from what we get in chapter 14: "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
- Shut in — the sea ahead and the army behind left no way out. God chose that dead end as the setting for their rescue.
- Shifted — the fight moved off Israel's shoulders onto God's. He acts as though the enemies too strong for us were His own.
- Still — standing still takes faith, not idleness. Restless self-effort only raises dust that hides God's salvation.
- Shown — the salvation they watched pictures Christ going down under judgment and rising again, with the enemy's power broken.
- Sent — the same faith that stands still then goes forward, and later fights Amalek. Silence here is not a rule for every battle.