And thou, lift thy staff, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry [ground] through the midst of the sea.
Israel is trapped between Pharaoh's army and the water. God gives no escape route around the danger. Instead He tells Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea itself. Why does God open the way through the very thing that looks like the end?
First Israel heard, "Stand still." Now the word is, "Go forward." One writer explains why the two orders belong together.
There is no inconsistency between the command "Stand still," and the one now given, "Go forward." They did need the reminder that they could do nothing. But faith should have seen that the work was done, and marched boldly forward through the sea that seemed to block their advance. Death, and the power of death, had been overcome, the salvation had been completed, and so they were to go forward. The Lord completes the work, and that finished work of salvation opens a way of escape from Satan's power through death. Now the believer is to walk through it, confident in Him who was their Judge and has now become their Saviour.
The command to go forward came with a promise: the sea would open. But it opened one step at a time.
Here was the path of faith. The hand of God opens the way for us to take the first step, and this is all that faith ever asks. God never gives guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps the heart in constant dependence upon God... It is clear that the sea was not divided all at once. Had it been, it would have been "sight" and not "faith." It does not take faith to begin a journey when I can see the whole way through. To begin when I can see only the first step — that is faith.
God used a wind to move the water. But one writer points to where the real power and authority lay.
God used the "strong east wind" as His instrument to split the Red Sea. The waters stood as crystal walls on either side and made a path for His people to cross to the other side. Yet the power and authority of God rested in the rod that Moses stretched out. "He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap" (Psalm 78:13).
Another writer names what the raised rod signified, and where its judgment finally fell.
Moses used the rod at the Red Sea, for it was the sign of judicial authority, and so it fittingly appears on that occasion. Judgment fell upon Christ so that we should be delivered.
The verse promises firm footing. One writer counts how often this chapter repeats the phrase.
"Tell the people of Israel to go forward," says the Lord. The hosts of Israel obey and step forward into what looked like death. Then the sea divides, crystal walls of salvation rise up on either hand, and they march on dry ground. This chapter mentions dry ground four times. It is as if God would emphasise by this figure that the death and resurrection of Christ provide the solid ground on which faith puts its feet. Nature and flesh cannot walk this path.
Nothing like this had ever happened: a whole nation walking into the sea at God's command.
God had brought Israel out of slavery. Now they were about to go through what looked to the human eye like the grave itself. In this way they would truly know the strength and the salvation of God. The Lord's way for them, away from the enemy, was the sea. Never in this world's history did men make a march so glorious and so wonderful! It was an unheard-of wonder that men should march right into the waves and then "go through the sea on dry ground."
The same divided water served two ends at once. Israel's road became Egypt's ruin.
Moses was to act, lifting up his rod over the sea, when the Lord would carve a way through it for His people. That way would be salvation to Israel but destruction to proud Pharaoh and his host. It happened in such a striking way that people would remember it for many generations. We see in type that a way of life was to be made through the waters of death.
- Command: "Stand still" and "go forward" do not clash. Israel could do nothing to make the way. Once God made it, faith was to walk it.
- Provision: Every command from God comes with the grace to obey it. The sea opened step by step, so Israel leaned on Him for each fresh step.
- Rod: The staff carried God's authority and judgment; the wind was only the instrument. That judgment fell on Christ so that we could go free.
- Dry ground: The chapter names it four times. It marks the solid footing faith stands on: the death and resurrection of Christ. Flesh cannot walk there.
- Outcome: One divided sea, two ends — a path of life for the redeemed, a grave for the pursuer, and something Israel would remember for generations.
And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall pursue after them; and I will glorify myself in Pharaoh and in all his host, in his chariots and in his horsemen.
God tells Israel to march into a sea that has not yet opened. Then He turns to speak about the army behind them. Before a single Egyptian chariot moves, He says what He will do with the pursuers, and why. Their pursuit will end in His own glory.
The verse says God will harden the Egyptians. Writers look at the Hebrew words used across the whole account to show what this hardening is.
"And I will harden Pharaoh's heart." This was stated before in chapter 4:21. Eighteen times we read of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. But the Hebrew uses two different words, and the difference matters. One means to "make firm" or "strong." The other means "to make stubborn." These two words show Pharaoh hardening his own heart, and God hardening it after Pharaoh went on in his wicked way. Scripture says five times that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Only then did God begin His hardening and make Pharaoh's heart stubborn. Pharaoh hardened himself, then God hardened him. God hardens as an act of judgment, because man refuses His Word. He never hardens first, and He never forces a man to be an unbeliever. There is a solemn warning in this. Thousands harden their hearts today.
You could call Egypt's charge into the seabed a military mistake. The verse rules that out. It names God as the one who moved them.
How solemn these events look in the light of Exodus 14:17 and 18. Those verses lift them far above the shallow thoughts and ideas of men. They show them to be the expression of God's sovereignty in His dealings in judgment with people who will not bend their own will. Such people fight against Him and try to stop Him from carrying out what He has purposed for the blessing of His people.
What looked to Pharaoh like an easy recapture was the trap. The hardening worked through his own sense of strength.
Then God would harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that in haughty self-confidence they would follow Israel into the sea (v. 17). In this way God would be honored, and in a way Egypt did not expect.
God's honour here is not won at the cost of His people's rescue. The same divided sea serves both ends.
God would harden the Egyptians so that they would follow, and follow to their own destruction. And He would be glorified both in the salvation of His people and in the destruction of their enemies.
The glory God speaks of did not stay on the seashore. Forty years later, a woman named Rahab told the story back to Israel's spies.
This woman speaks of the crossing of the Red Sea, which had happened forty years before. She says it filled the nations of Canaan with terror, so that the way into the land was open from the first.
Writers read Pharaoh's pursuit as a picture of something later and larger. Another enemy was led on to the place of his own defeat.
Pharaoh's determined pursuit of God's people only led him and his armies into the place of judgment. There they were crushed and overwhelmed, in the very place where they had hoped to seize Israel. In the same way, Satan led on his armies, and the forces of this world too, both religious and political, to bring about the death of the Son of God. But the very thing in which they thought they had triumphed over the gentle and lowly Jesus became the means of the overthrow of Satan and his armies.
Both nations went into the same water. What separated them was faith, not strength.
"By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned" (Hebrews 11:29). The solemn lesson is this: to face the power of death in human confidence is certain destruction. Only the blood-bought people can pass through in safety.
- Cause. Pharaoh hardened himself first. God's hardening came after repeated refusals, and it never makes a man an unbeliever.
- Trap. Egypt's own self-confidence carried the hardening. They charged in expecting a win, and God had already made it their end.
- Glory. One divided sea did both things. It saved Israel and drowned Egypt, and God took honour from both.
- Reach. That honour travelled. Forty years later Canaan still trembled at the Red Sea, and Rahab said so.
- Pattern. An enemy presses hardest at the very place of his own defeat. That is the shape of the cross — and the warning that only the blood-bought pass through death safely.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have glorified myself in Pharaoh, in his chariots and in his horsemen.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before them, and stood behind them.
Israel is trapped between the sea and Pharaoh's advancing army. At that moment the God who had been walking ahead of them changes position. It raises two questions: who is this Angel, and why does He move to the back?
The Angel who leads Israel is no ordinary messenger. One writer compares the passages where He appears.
It is clear, from this passage and from chapter 14 and others, that Scripture gives Him divine attributes. For example, God says of Him, "My name is in Him." In Exodus 14, Scripture first calls Him an angel and then identifies Him with Jehovah (compare verse 24 with verse 19). The fair conclusion is that in this angel we have none other than the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jehovah. In His many appearances we may see foreshadowings of His incarnation. It is He who has always been the leader of His people.
Everything in the chapter turns on this one move. It settles the battle before a blow is struck.
Verses 19 and 20 record what we may dare to call the decisive move in this tremendous drama. The Angel of God in the pillar of cloud moved from the front of the Israelites. He planted Himself between them and the pursuing Egyptians. He was about to walk with them through the waters of death. But He would go covering their rear with the cloud of His presence. Whatever was now about to happen, no Egyptian would be able to strike a single Israelite unless he could pierce through the cloud. Before he could touch any of those escaping from slavery he would have to overcome God Almighty!
The pillar changed its role as Israel's need changed.
The army of Egypt had come out, and were pressing on the heels of the children of Israel. Then the Pillar puts itself between the two armies. Instead of being lit up all through, it becomes darkness on the side turned to the Egyptians, and light on the side turned to the Israelites. So the one could not come near the other. It was a shield now, as it had been a guide before. It is just whatever the people needed.
One writer sees this double effect as a picture of the cross.
It is both very solemn and very interesting to notice the double aspect of the "pillar" in this chapter. How like the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! That cross has a double aspect too. It forms the foundation of the believer's peace. At the same time it seals the condemnation of a guilty world. The very same blood cleanses the believer's conscience and gives him perfect peace. That same blood stains this earth and completes its guilt.
The same writer follows this protection through to the conscience.
Jehovah placed Himself right between Israel and the enemy — this was protection indeed... So God always places Himself between His people and every enemy, so that "no weapon formed against them can prosper." He has placed Himself between us and our sins. It is our happy privilege to find Him between us and everyone and everything that could be against us. This is the true way to find both peace of heart and peace of conscience. The believer may make a careful and anxious search for his sins, but he cannot find them. Why? Because God is between him and them.
The blood of the Lamb had already sheltered Israel. Here they learn something more.
They have a backward look for a moment, and they find that God has put Himself between themselves and the enemy. He seemed to say — Come on, Pharaoh, you may touch them if you can, you may put your hand on them if you can. And were they safe? Indeed they were. They were safe under the shelter of the blood, but now they are to learn that they are saved. I am safe when under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb. I am saved when the power of the enemy is broken... The angel going behind them was most gracious. If the light had been in front, the rear would have been in terror. Imagine six hundred thousand of them, only five abreast. The first five would say, We are all right, but the last five are not very safe. But God comes in between the last five and the enemy, and how safe they all were, with the light of God shining over their heads.
- Who moves — The Angel is Jehovah Himself. Israel's leader is God the Son, and His appearances point forward to His incarnation.
- Where He moves — He leaves the front and takes the rear. Now the enemy must overcome God Almighty to touch one Israelite.
- What He becomes — The guide becomes a shield. The pillar is whatever the people need, when they need it.
- What it shows — One cloud, two effects: darkness to Egypt, light to Israel. So with the cross: the believer's peace and the world's condemnation at once.
- What it gives — God stands between you and the enemy, and between you and your sins. Safe under the blood; saved when God breaks the enemy's power.
And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and was a cloud and darkness, and lit up the night; and the one did not come near the other all the night.
The sea lies in front of Israel, and Pharaoh's army presses in from behind. The pillar that had led them now moves to the rear, stands between the two camps, and keeps the pursuers back all night.
An enemy who wanted Israel now had a different problem.
The Lord placed Himself right between Israel and the enemy — this was protection indeed. Before Pharaoh could touch a hair of Israel's head, he would have to make his way through the very tent of the Almighty — yes, through the Almighty Himself. This is how God always places Himself between His people and every enemy, so that no weapon formed against them can prosper. He has placed Himself between us and our sins; and it is our happy privilege to find Him between us and everyone and everything that could be against us.
The cloud had gone ahead of the people as a guide. Here it takes a new place and a new work.
The army of Egypt had come out and was pressing on the heels of the children of Israel; and then the Pillar puts itself between the two armies. It is no longer lit up and shining all over. It becomes darkness on the side turned toward the Egyptians, and light on the side turned toward the Israelites. So the one could not come near the other. It was a shield now, as it had been a guide before. It is just whatever the people needed. That was its way. It expressed the grace of the One who had now saved Israel.
One writer asks us to picture the scene from where Israel stood.
Now consider the situation. Behind the very last of the company was the presence of the Almighty, like a searchlight of huge power. It was not in their eyes to dazzle them. It was placed so that its light, reflected from the glassy walls of water, must have lit up all their way. All that night Israel walked in the light, and the enemy, despite their swift chariots, was stumbling in the darkness. All that night too the Angel of God Himself was walking through the sea of death. That Angel was the representative of the Lord.
Older translations bring out the split more sharply than the ESV: the cloud was "darkness to them," the Egyptians, but "gave light by night" to Israel. One commentator sees the cross working the same way.
It is both very solemn and very interesting to notice the double aspect of the "pillar" in this chapter. It was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to Israel. How like the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! That cross truly has a double aspect as well. It forms the foundation of the believer's peace, and at the same time seals the condemnation of a guilty world. The very same blood that cleanses the believer's conscience and gives him perfect peace stains this earth and completes its guilt.
The sea had not yet opened. Israel was still waiting on the shore.
The Lord steps in and puts Himself between Satan and His people... Before He gives the comfort of deliverance, He always makes sure that Satan does not touch us.
Israel brought nothing to that night's safety.
The finest soldiers of Egypt might well look down on that panic-stricken crowd. But they were under the shield of Almighty power. Before anyone could reach them, he must first meet and overcome God Himself... It is therefore not what we are, but what God is. And notice that the One who is for the believer is against the enemy. What gave light to the children of Israel was a cloud and darkness to Pharaoh and his army.
Egypt could not see the people it was chasing. One writer reads that blocked view as a picture of the death of Christ.
We may take the cloud here as a symbol of the death of Christ, which comes in as a mighty barrier between the world and us. The marked-out path is on the resurrection side of the death of Christ. So the sharpest mind cannot grasp it. Because of the cloud, the Egyptians could not see through to the Israelites. It was darkness to them, but light to the Israelites. "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God... they are spiritually discerned."
- Between — God does not merely help from a distance; He puts Himself in the gap, so an enemy must get through Him first.
- Shield — The pillar guided from the front. Now it guards from the rear, becoming whatever the people need.
- Two sides — One cloud, two effects: darkness to Egypt, light to Israel. The cross divides the same way — a guilty world on one side, a believer at peace on the other.
- First — Protection came before deliverance. God secured them on the shore before He opened the sea.
- Ground — Their safety rested on what God is, not on what they were. Almighty power kept a frightened crowd safe all night.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah made the sea go [back] by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry [land], and the waters were divided.
The night Israel spent trapped between Pharaoh's army and the water ended with a road where there had been no road. Commentators ask what opened the sea — a rod, a wind, or God Himself — and what that path pictures for us.
Two things act in this verse at once: Moses' outstretched hand and a wind God sends. One writer traces where the real authority lay.
God used the "strong east wind" as His instrument to split the Red Sea. The waters stood as "crystal walls" on either side and made a path through which His people could pass to the other side. Yet it was the rod stretched out by Moses that carried the power and authority of God. "He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap" (Ps. 78:13); "He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry" (Ps. 106:9).
God did not open the sea in an instant. He took the whole night over it, and the ground He gave them was dry, not mud.
The Lord caused the sea to divide by means of a strong east wind blowing all night. He could have done this more quickly, but He did not, for Israel needed the delay. The sea bottom did not remain muddy, but became dry land. The children of Israel did not stop to marvel at the wonder of this great miracle in front of their eyes. They marched forward between the two upright walls of water. The power of God alone had formed those walls.
The sea in front of them had looked like the end of them. It became the way out.
Israel came up to the Red Sea, trembling and pressed by Pharaoh, the prince of the world. In front of them lay death and judgment, or destruction. God acts for them, and death and judgment turn into deliverance, because Christ undergoes death and judgment. In that way He secures us and lets us get out free on the other side.
Commentators read both the rod and the wind as pointing forward. The wind is not a pleasant breeze in Scripture — it is the wind that withers.
This "way of the sea" is God's ordained way for His people — a way we pass by faith, to start our pilgrim path with God. The rod of Moses clears this dry path for them to pass through, and "a strong east wind all night" clears it just as truly. We ought to be able to interpret this without difficulty. The rod of Moses is the rod of power in the shepherd's hand: and has not our Shepherd split open for us a path through death? Then there is the strong east wind of adversity. Notice in Pharaoh's dream (Gen. 41:6) how the east wind blasts the ears of corn. That wind blew through all the terrible night of His distress. Was it not that wind which in fact cleared the way for us through those waters of death?
The same sea did two opposite things.
God used what stood for death itself to destroy Israel's foes and to deliver His people.
Israel did not make this path, and they were not the first to walk it.
So we may say that Jehovah did not only make the way through the sea. He went that way Himself. Israel went through because they took the way He had made. Here then we clearly have the second picture of the death of Christ given in Israel's history. The first, of course, was the lamb sacrificed on the Passover night. This one carries us a step further, since it pictures not only death but resurrection too.
Some have tried to explain the crossing as a natural event. One detail rules that out.
Critical scholars have tried to explain this miracle as a natural event. But they overlooked one thing: on their right and on their left the waters were a wall. It was a grave, so to speak, into which Israel passed, when God's power had made the way through it. It was faith which led them through. "By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned" (Hebrews 11:29).
- Rod — the wind was the tool. The authority lay in the rod Moses stretched out. The Psalms give God alone the credit for dividing the sea.
- Night — He could have opened it faster; the long night gave Israel dry ground instead of mud, and a delay they needed.
- Way — death and judgment stood in front of them. That became their road out, because Christ went through death and judgment first.
- Wind — the east wind blasts and withers. It blew all through the night of His distress, and it cleared the path.
- Wall — the water stood as a wall on both sides. Israel walked through this grave by faith. The same grave closed on their enemies.