Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to Jehovah, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto Jehovah, for he is highly exalted The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Exodus 15 opens with a whole nation doing something it had never done before: singing. God had spared Israel in Egypt and brought them through the sea, yet the song starts only here, on the far shore, with their enemies gone — and that timing is the first thing to explain.
Until now, every sound from Israel had been a cry of one kind or another.
Up to this moment, we have not heard so much as a single note of praise. We have heard their cry of deep sorrow, as they worked at the brick kilns of Egypt. We have listened to their cry of unbelief, when they faced what they thought were impossible difficulties. But until now, we have heard no song of praise. Only when they stood as a saved people, surrounded by the fruits of God's salvation, did the triumphal hymn burst out from the whole redeemed assembly.
The word "salvation" turns up in this song for the first time. One writer weighs what it means and why it waits until now.
Salvation does not mean only that guilt is gone through His blood. It means God keeps us and brings us through every difficulty, past, present and future — a complete victory over the enemy... We might have said that Jehovah saved Israel on the night of the passover lamb. But nowhere then do we hear such an expression. No; they were sheltered, but in the true sense not yet "saved." Salvation means the known destruction of their foes. God had risen up in the majesty of His power and shown it fully in their favour... This phrase is not merely a casual expression; it is the deliberate and fitting language of the Holy Spirit. We are meant to notice that now we can speak of "salvation," not before.
Singing starts here in the Bible. That fact carries a rule about who can sing at all.
The first thing to notice about this outburst of joy is this: Scripture never mentions singing except in connection with redemption. Even angels are never said to sing... So only redeemed ones can sing, and from this we learn the true character of Christian song. It should express the joy of salvation — the praise and gladness that the knowledge of redemption produces in the soul.
Read the song looking for the singers and you will not find them. That absence is the point.
Look through the notes of this song in Exodus 15. We do not find a single note about self: its doings, its sayings, its feelings, its fruits. It is all about Jehovah from beginning to end... Self is forgotten. Their circumstances drop out of sight. One object, and only one, fills their vision, and that object is the Lord Himself in His character and ways... We offer proper worship only when poor worthless self, with all its belongings, drops out of sight and Christ alone fills the heart.
The verse names a leader before it names the people. One writer sees Moses here as a picture of Christ, and ties the song to a battle Israel never fought.
Moses there is a type of our blessed Lord. It is His song. "Then sang Moses." And the children whom grace had delivered joined in the song. This was a beautiful picture of what came true later. "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." (Psalm 22:22; John 20:17.) But the song was founded on peace... The enemies were and are all gone. The battle was the Lord's. The sea is a picture of His death, in which He destroyed them all. The question, the struggle, was not between the people and the enemy, but between the Lord and the enemy; and because it was so there is not an enemy left.
The Bible's first song has an echo at its far end. In Revelation another rescued company takes up the same tune.
There is a striking parallel between this triumphant company and Israel of old in the day of her deliverance and gladness. Plagues struck Egypt, the oppressor. Israel crossed the Red Sea, saved and set free, and sang on the eastern bank of the sea — the first song recorded in Scripture (Ex. 15). All of this has its spiritual counterpart. A series of plagues strikes the Beast, the enslaver of God's saints. The godly remnant, beyond the malice of the Beast, saved and triumphant, sing the song of Moses on the sea of glass — the last song recorded in Scripture (Rev. 15).
- Silence — Israel cried in slavery and cried in unbelief. Scripture records no note of praise until they stood as a saved people among the fruits of God's victory.
- Salvation — Shelter under the blood is not yet what Scripture calls salvation. Salvation is the known destruction of the foes, and the word waits for this song.
- Song — Singing in the Bible starts with redemption and belongs to the redeemed; even angels are never said to sing.
- Subject — There is not one note about self in the whole song; it is all about the Lord — which is what makes it worship.
- Singer — Moses starts the song and the delivered people join in. He pictures Christ singing God's praise among His brothers. The same song returns as the last song in Scripture.
My strength and song is Jah, and he is become my salvation This is my God, and I will glorify him; My father's God, and I will extol him.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Jehovah is a man of war; Jehovah, his name.
Israel has just come through the sea, and the enemy who swore to destroy them is gone. Their song calls God a warrior — a title taken straight from what He had just done — and then names Him.
The words are the reaction of people who had given themselves up for lost.
The unusual title, "Jehovah is a man of war," came out of their sheer amazement at the triumph. They had cried out in despair, and the enemy had shouted, "My hand shall destroy them," when suddenly Jehovah's arm won the victory. He was "a man of war," fighting and winning over the gods of the nations, and so He will again be known on the earth.
The second half of the verse is not a repetition. It names the God who fought. Where the ESV prints "the LORD" in capital letters, older translations print His personal name: "Jehovah."
This part of the song is about the Lord's power in winning the great victory over the enemy. "The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name" (v. 3). "Jehovah" means He exists of Himself for ever and needs nothing outside Himself. Yet He stands in gracious covenant relationship with His people. He alone gains the victory, but His people are blessed by it.
A name is not a label stuck on from outside. It says what the bearer is. One writer follows that line from Moses' song to the name given to Jesus.
The name is personal to the one who bears it. When God gave a name, it fitted the person exactly. So the Lord said to one of the apostles, "You are Peter." The name expresses what a person is. The title describes what a person does. "Saviour" is a title of the Lord: "unto you is born … a Saviour" (Luke 2:11). But His personal name is "Jesus," meaning Jehovah the Saviour (Matt. 1:21). So, in celebrating the salvation of Israel, Moses sang, "The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name" (Ex. 15:3).
Israel did not fight at the sea. God took their enemies as His own.
Now if God delivers and redeems us, He is for us instead of being against us. Indeed it says, "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent" (Ex. 14:14). The Passover held back God Himself as Judge and set Israel in safety. At the Red Sea God steps in as a Saviour for His people. They have nothing to do but watch their own deliverance. In redemption God, so to speak, acts as if the enemies that were against us, and that we were quite powerless to overcome, were against Him.
The song treats the battle as a revelation, not merely a rescue.
His service in that day of power tells us who He is. So does every other service of His, in weakness or in strength… So it is written of Him, "The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name" (Ex. 15:3). This word of the Spirit says that His warfare reveals His lordship, His glory, His name, His person. In Egypt the gods felt His hand, as they did afterwards among the Philistines, and again in Babylon.
What was true at the sea is not left in the past.
"The LORD is a man of war" when His people need Him, and their faith can count on Him as their present help in time of need. Whenever Israel turned to Jehovah in truth, He was always ready to appear for them. But the glory must be all His own. Israel's empty shout of triumph must stop, so that Jehovah's voice can be heard clearly. How good it is to be silent and let Jehovah speak! His voice has power to bring peace to His people and to strike terror into His enemies.
The song looks forward as well as back.
Note the expression "Jehovah is a man of war." It points forward to the time when He would come as a man, and to His coming as the mighty King who conquers His enemies (Psalm 45:3; 46:8-9; Isaiah 63:1-7; Revelation 19:11). The whole song is prophetic. What Jehovah has done in the judgment of His enemies and the complete deliverance of His people, He will do again.
- Won. The title comes out of a real victory. Israel had despaired, the enemy had boasted, and God's arm settled it.
- Named. "Jehovah" is the name of the One who exists of Himself and keeps covenant with His people. The warrior is not a stranger; He is theirs.
- Alone. He alone gains the victory, and His people are blessed by it; at the sea they had only to stand still and watch.
- Revealed. His warfare tells us who He is — His lordship, His glory, His person — so the battle reveals God; it is not only a rescue.
- Again. The same name is a present help when His people need Him, and the same hand will conquer again.
Pharaoh's chariots and his army hath he cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
Exodus 15:4 belongs to the song Israel sang on the far shore, once the sea had closed over the army that chased them. The verse names what went down — the chariots, the whole force, and Pharaoh's picked officers — and gives God the credit.
The verse lists Egypt's assets one by one, and none of them held. One writer reads verses 4 and 5 together and carries the picture into the believer's own life:
Every resource of the enemy was completely defeated — Pharaoh's chariots, his army, and his best officers. The sea covered them. They sank like a stone, never to be a threat again (vv. 4-5). By faith, believers today know that the Lord Jesus has completely defeated the power of sin. The same is true of our sins: "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19).
"Chosen officers" is not a vague phrase. It points to a picked, decorated force that Egypt was proud of:
Pharaoh's "six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them," and "all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army" joined in the pursuit. Each regiment wore its own colours. Each carried the weapons of its branch of the service, made to the best military knowledge of the day… Every battalion had its own standard, marked with the names or images of different gods… The army was the pride of Egypt.
Israel's confidence on that shore did not rest on a strong position or a truce. It rested on something simpler: the pursuers were gone:
No enemy was left to raise his head. All their enemies, the glory and flower of Egypt, had gone down like "lead in the mighty waters." They are a free people. They have seen the salvation of the Lord, so they can celebrate its triumphs… No enemy could raise his head for one simple reason: there were none left.
God is the one acting in both halves of the verse. Israel did not fight, and the song makes a point of it:
Moses and the congregation retell that a victory had been won. More than that, they retell how it was won. They sing of the horse and his rider thrown into the sea, of the Lord, as a man of war, casting His enemies into the mighty waters, of the depths covering the foe. And they make it clear that Israel themselves had not fought. The Lord had made the battle all His own.
The crossing pictures the death and resurrection of Christ. Pharaoh's grave in that same water changed how Israel saw him:
When Israel crossed the Red Sea, they crossed a picture of the death and resurrection of Christ. It gave them a new position. From it they could look at their oppressor with an experience they had never had before. Instead of looking back in fear of Pharaoh, they looked at his death and burial in that same sea. The sea had become the means of separating them for ever from his power and rule.
Verse 4 celebrates a drowning, which makes this more than a thank-you for rescue. One writer traces it forward:
Israel's magnificent triumph was not only a song of salvation, or a hymn of praise for deliverance. It was more. It was a grand celebration of the glory of God in the overthrow of those who had risen up against Him. So it was a song of judgment… At the end of the plagues and signs that will then visit the earth, the victors will sing the "song of Moses, the servant of God" (the song of judgment upon evil), and the "song of the Lamb" (the song of salvation).
Singing shows up here for the first time in Israel's story, and one writer sees a rule in that:
The first thing to notice about this outburst of joy is this. Scripture never mentions singing except in connection with redemption. Even angels are never said to sing… So only the redeemed can sing, and from that we learn the true character of Christian song. It should express the joy of salvation — the notes of praise and gladness that the knowledge of redemption produces in the soul.
- Cast — the verb is God's. Israel did not fight; they watched the chariots, the army, and the picked officers go into the sea.
- Chosen — Egypt's best went down. Six hundred picked chariots, a captain over each, and regiments under standards marked with the names of gods.
- Covered — the sea that opened for Israel closed over Pharaoh. The very thing that set them free became his grave.
- Cleared — no enemy was left to raise his head. Israel could celebrate peace, not just hope for it.
- Celebrated — only the redeemed sing. This song is both praise for salvation and a song of judgment. It sounds again at the end, in the song of Moses and of the Lamb.
The depths covered them; they sank to the bottom as a stone.
Israel's song stops to look at the sea floor. One line tells what happened to the greatest army of that day, and it raises a question: why would a rescued people sing about drowned soldiers?
Israel had already been spared in Egypt, yet no one sang until this morning. One writer points to the sight that opened their mouths:
Peace is the complete and final overthrow of every hostile foe, so that there is no enemy left to show. … The thirtieth verse of chapter 14 tells you the source of this note of praise: "Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore."
The water that opened a road for Israel closed over Egypt. One writer draws out what that reversal leaves us with:
The army of the adversary is overthrown, and finds its grave where we have found a pathway. All fear is over; we can stand in peace on the opposite shore in the power of a resurrection life that has passed through death.
The song is not poetry stretched beyond the facts. Israel sang what it had just watched happen:
The Egyptians fled toward the sea, but the Lord overthrew them in the middle of it. "The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained" (14:28). … There they met their death; there, too, they were buried. "The sea covered them." That is the testimony of eyewitnesses to that awful judgment.
That one morning closed Egypt's story and opened Israel's:
In one sense the Red Sea closed the whole history, if you take it by itself as to Egypt. In another sense it begins the life. But it closed the history by redemption and judgment, for the Egyptians were judged. The death that was salvation to Israel was judgment to the Egyptians.
Nothing random decided the outcome. Another writer traces each result back to the night of the Passover, then adds a third:
In their folly they had exposed themselves to the judgment of God, and so they were buried beneath the waters of the Red Sea. Death and judgment were the Egyptians' due, because of their willful sin and rebellion in the sight of God. Salvation became Israel's due, on the ground of the slain lamb and the blood-sprinkled doorposts. And worship was the Lord's due, because of what He had done, both for the glory of His great name and the blessing of His redeemed people.
One writer notes where the word "salvation" first appears, and why it waits until the sea:
When the Israelites had passed over, the Red Sea closes on their enemies and all are dead; then Israel was saved. It is remarkable that here for the first time God uses the word salvation. He does not say salvation on the night of the Passover lamb, but when they have passed through the sea. Salvation is a great deal more than being kept safe. Salvation means complete clearance from all our foes. It brings us out of the house of slavery and sets us free and clean before God, to be His visible people in the world.
A stone sinks once and stays down. One writer applies that to the power of sin and to the believer's sins:
All the resources of the enemy — Pharaoh's chariots and his army, including his choicest officers — were totally defeated. The sea covered them, and they sank like a stone, never to be a threat again (vv. 4-5). By faith today believers realize that the Lord Jesus has totally defeated the power of sin. The same is true of our sins: "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19).
The drowned army settles one more question. One writer says the sea floor answers who the Lord is, and shows Him in a character Israel had not yet known:
"Who is the Lord?" has now received a full answer. Pharaoh's chosen chariots and his captains lay buried in the sea. But there is more: the Lord had now shown Himself as Redeemer. Now they understood what redemption was — redemption by power — and began to enjoy it. God had worked in Egypt on their behalf. God had sheltered them in Egypt from divine judgment. God had redeemed them with an outstretched arm at the Red Sea.
- Buried. The sea closed over Pharaoh's army and became their grave. Eyewitnesses reported it.
- Beneath. A stone that sinks does not come back up. The threat is removed for good, not just held off.
- Both. One event carried two verdicts. The water that saved Israel judged Egypt, and the blood of the lamb made the difference.
- Beyond. With the enemy gone, "salvation" means more than escaping harm. It means complete clearance from every foe.
- Burst. Only then did Israel sing. Sight of a finished victory, not a hoped-for one, is what turns rescue into song.
Thy right hand, Jehovah, is become glorious in power Thy right hand, Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Israel stands safe on the far side of the sea, and Pharaoh's army lies wrecked behind them. Their song names God's right hand twice in one line — so what does that hand stand for, and why does the singing start only now?
The phrase carries a settled sense across Scripture. It marks power, but it also marks blessing and the highest place of honour.
The "right hand" speaks of authority, power, and eminence. According to Exodus 15:6, delivering and subduing power belong to the right hand. In Genesis 48:14 the right hand gives out sovereign and unchangeable blessing. In one Psalm, Jehovah invites David's Lord to sit at His right hand. Our Lord used this basic truth in the Gospels as proof of the greatness of His Person. Acts 2:32-36 hails His exaltation as God's approval of Him, and at the same time as a reversal of man's judgment.
Pharaoh put God's power to the test. What he learned was not a lesson for him alone.
Pharaoh was foolish enough to challenge the power of God when he refused to let Israel go. As a result he learned how great God's power is. He saw it in the destruction of the land of Egypt, and in the overthrow of his army in the Red Sea. Whether it is man or Satan, he has to learn that he cannot interfere with God's people without paying for it. God may wait patiently until the evil is ripe. But when He steps in, He shows His right hand to be glorious in power — a power nothing can resist.
Israel had already been safe under the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt. Yet no song comes until the enemy lies dead on the shore. Scripture's own wording explains the difference.
How beautiful the accuracy of Scripture! We might have said that Jehovah saved Israel on the night of the Passover lamb. But at that point Scripture never uses such a word. They were sheltered, but in the true sense not yet "saved." Salvation means that their foes are known to be destroyed. God had risen up in the majesty of His power and shown it in full on their behalf.
This song keeps to one theme. That theme sets it apart from another song later in Scripture.
The whole song of Moses, beautiful as it is, is about the hand and power of God doing wonders: "Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power." So too in Revelation 15: "Great and amazing are Your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty." The song of the Lamb is: "Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations."
Some writers read the phrase as pointing past an image to a Person.
His right hand, the hand of positive power, has dashed in pieces the enemy. Christ is in effect the right hand of God, for He is indeed "the Man of Your right hand" (Ps. 80:17). He is the One who carries out the work of God.
Egypt's army drowned in the sea. One writer sees in that a picture of a far greater victory still.
May we not recognise in these words of Exodus 15:6 a hidden reference to our Lord Jesus Christ? Here we have the magnificent victory over the enemies of Israel. Jehovah saved His people out of the hand of the Egyptians. Infinitely more glorious was the victory of our Lord Jesus over all the powers of evil at the cross. There "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." And not only this: "when He ascended on high He led a host of captives." So now, our enemies defeated, His people are for ever free.
Power is only one side of that hand. In another Scripture the same right hand holds the one He loves.
The right hand is the hand we do things with. It is the symbol of power... He throws His mighty right arm around her to hold her up and draw her closer to Himself. And what a protection that is. With His powerful arm around her, no enemy can trouble her, and no harm can reach her.
- Hand — the right hand stands for authority, power and high standing. Here it is the power that rescues God's people and defeats their enemies.
- Displayed — that power shows itself glorious when God acts. Pharaoh challenged it and learned that nothing can resist it. God may wait, but He does step in.
- Salvation — in Egypt Israel was sheltered under the blood, but not yet called "saved." Salvation is the known destruction of the foe. Only then does the singing start.
- Christ — commentators read the right hand as a Person: "the Man of Your right hand," who carries out God's work. His victory at the cross far outweighs the Red Sea.
- Embrace — the hand that shattered the enemy is the arm around His own people. No enemy can reach them there.
And by the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown thine adversaries Thou sentest forth thy burning wrath, it consumed them as stubble.
Israel stands safe on the far shore of the Red Sea, and the first song in Scripture bursts out. This line is one of its high points, and it raises two questions: whose enemies did God destroy, and how can wrath become something to sing about?
The verse speaks only to God, and says nothing about Israel. That is the shape of the whole song.
Now, in looking through the various notes of this song in Exodus 15, we do not find a single note about self — its doings, its sayings, its feelings, or its fruits. It is all about the Lord from beginning to end… In Exodus 14 the crushing pressure of their circumstances had bottled up the hearts of the people. In Exodus 15 the pressure lifts, and their hearts pour out in a sweet song of praise. They forget self. They lose sight of their circumstances. One object, and only one, fills their vision, and that object is the Lord Himself in His character and ways.
The verse pairs two images: a majesty nothing can resist, and a fire that leaves nothing behind. One writer links them to the wind of the next verse.
His great excellence overpowers and overthrows all who dare to rise against Him. In His anger they are consumed like stubble set on fire. The song compares the "strong east wind" that blew the sea back to the blast of God's nostrils, which made the waters gather together and stand upright (v. 8). What power there is in the mere breath of God! We would never think of breath as power, but what looks small is immense where God is at work.
Pharaoh chased Israel, but the song treats him as an enemy of God. What happened at the sea also sets the pattern for the end.
The magnificent triumph of Israel was not merely a song of salvation, or a hymn of praise for deliverance. It was more — a grand celebration of the glory of God in the overthrow of those who had risen up against Him. It was therefore a song of judgment. Pharaoh had used magic and all the force of his kingdom against the Lord; he pitted his power against that of the Almighty. In this, what happened in the past foretells what will happen in the future… At the end of the plagues and signs that will then visit the earth, the victors will sing the "song of Moses, the servant of God" (the song of judgment on evil), and the "song of the Lamb" (the song of salvation).
The same principle reaches down to every attack on God's people since.
The heart calls on God to remember the enemy's attacks and insults instead of taking fright at them, because the insult falls on His name. And this is true. For the world's enmity is really against the Lord in being against His people. Were they not His people, the world would not trouble itself much about them.
Dry stalks left in a field burn away in seconds. One writer takes that same image forward to the day when the Lord appears to the world.
He appears in terror to tread down under His feet those who have despised Him… Thus will He appear to the world, and "all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch."
The same greatness that broke Egypt has met a deeper enemy.
Sin and Satan's power forced Him to come forward as the man of war. In the greatness of His excellence He has overthrown those who rose up against Him. He did it to free His redeemed from the harmful yoke, and to guide them in His strength to His holy dwelling place (Ex. 15).
Israel sang because the danger was behind them, not ahead. That is where the believer stands.
The waters returned and swallowed the whole army of the Egyptians. "There remained not so much as one of them." This is welcome news for the believer, for the soul that has really turned to Jesus. He can look back and see the power of the enemy broken, his sins gone, the judgment past. The judgment fell on Jesus, and He is risen, having exhausted the judgment and destroyed the power of the enemy.
- Rose. The enemy rose up against God Himself. Attack God's people and you attack the Lord whose people they are.
- Overthrown. God's greatness is not for show. It overpowers everyone who dares to stand against Him.
- Consumed. Wrath burns opposition like dry stubble. Scripture uses the same picture for a coming day that leaves neither root nor branch.
- Sung. With the pressure gone, Israel sang not one note about themselves. The song is about the Lord from first word to last.
- Christ. The man of war has overthrown sin and Satan. So the believer looks back on judgment already past.
And by the breath of thy nostrils the waters were heaped up; The streams stood as a mound; The depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The song at the sea pauses here to describe how the water itself behaved when God acted. The waters stood up like a wall and the deeps hardened in the middle of the sea, and one cause lies behind both — the breath of God.
The historical account in Exodus 14 and the song in Exodus 15 report one event in two styles. One writer sets them side by side. He uses the newer reading, "piled up," which the ESV also follows.
"The waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left" — so the historical record runs. "At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up: the floods stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea" (15:8). So sang Moses and Israel. They described in poetic language the way made through the waters. It was a path of dry land, with the waters piled up on each side.
The "blast" is not vague poetry. It points to the strong east wind that blew the sea back.
The song likens the "strong east wind" that blew the sea back to the blast of God's nostrils. That breath made the waters gather together and stand upright (v. 8). What power there is simply in the breath of God! We would never link breath with power. But what looks small is immense where God is at work.
The word "congealed" suggests freezing, and commentators differ on how far to press it. One says the water became solid without becoming ice:
"The depths congealed in the heart of the sea." The water of the Red Sea was not changed to ice. But for a time the liquid congealed — it became solid by miraculous power.
Another keeps the picture of ice, and notes that the same word which held the water up also let it go:
At the divine word, the flowing sea suddenly became like a solid mound, and its waves were bound together like walls of ice. At the same word, the sea returned to its strength, and the wind drove the floods upon the enemy army, who "sank as lead in the mighty waters."
The heaped-up water was not only held back. One writer describes what Israel walked between:
Israel marched forward in the pathway through the mighty waters. The depths were hidden in the heart of the sea. On either side of this pathway through death stood crystal walls, lit by the light of God's glory-cloud. The sea had lost its strength, and the powers of nature were both suspended and used, for the salvation of Israel. Death, as it were, became a wall of defence to Israel on right hand and left as they passed through the sea.
Another writer calls that path a grave — one Israel walked through alive:
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).
Some argue that the song is only poetry, and that the prose account grew out of it. One writer answered that critic directly:
He would again persuade us that the historical account is merely drawn from the poetry of chapter 15. But the historical account is one continuous narrative. You cannot take this piece out of it without destroying the whole... The song states the miracle as simply as the history which had already told the facts... (See Ex. 14:21-22.)
These facts reach us in a song, and one writer draws out what singing means in Scripture.
The first thing to notice about this outburst of joy is that Scripture never mentions singing except in connection with redemption... It is only redeemed ones who can sing, and we learn from that the true character of Christian song. It should express the joy of salvation — the praise and gladness that the knowledge of redemption produces in the soul.
- Breath. The song names the east wind that blew the sea back as the blast of God's nostrils — what seems slight becomes immense when God is behind it.
- Wall. That breath piled the water into standing heaps. Commentators differ on whether "congealed" means real ice or water made solid by God's power.
- Path. Between the walls lay dry land, so the poetry of chapter 15 and the history of chapter 14 report one and the same crossing.
- Grave. The waters were death on both sides. Yet death itself guarded Israel as they walked through by faith, and closed on Egypt at the same word.
- Song. Because this is redemption, the record comes out as singing. Only the redeemed sing, and their song is the joy of salvation.
The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul shall be sated upon them; I will unsheath my sword, my hand shall dispossess them.
In the middle of its praise, the song of Moses stops and quotes the enemy's own words. Pharaoh gets to boast in the very song that celebrates his ruin. He fires off six boasts, four of them beginning "I will" — and the next line of the song answers him with what God did.
The enemy speaks at full volume here. One breath from God then silences him.
Verse 9 quotes the enemy's proud boast of what he will do: he will overtake them, divide the spoil, satisfy his craving for revenge, and destroy them with the sword. How simply God met this arrogant defiance! He did no more than blow with His wind; the sea covered them, and they sank like lead in the mighty waters (v. 10). The noise of the horses and chariots, the shouting and the rattle of weapons fell silent in a moment. What a sight for Israel to see!
Revenge, pride and money all drove the chase.
Revenge as well as military pride burned in the hearts of the Egyptians. Israel had marched out with a high hand, and the proud Egyptians were stung by the bearing of their former slaves. On top of that, Israel had carried off a vast amount of wealth, and the Egyptians meant to get it back. "I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them," cried the enemy.
The enemy never drew that sword. God had already placed Himself in between.
Pharaoh had said, "I will pursue, I will overtake…"; but what does the Lord answer? You will have to settle accounts with Me, Pharaoh, before you touch one of My people. You will have to pass through the pillar of cloud and fire before you can reach them.
The same writer sets the enemy's claim beside God's answer:
So, later on, when "the enemy" said, "I will pursue, I will overtake…," God replied, "They are My people." He struck His enemy and theirs at one stroke: "the sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters." Thank God, weak and bad as I am, I belong to Him.
Pharaoh's boast is not a one-off. Other proud men said "I will" after him, and it ended the same way each time.
The enemy thinks he is carrying out the purpose of his own heart, and in boastful pride he gathers his armies to take the spoil. What faith knows is that Jehovah both leads and commands. It is a solemn lesson. How often the proud "I will" of man brings him under the crushing stroke of almighty power! God puts that power into action to shield and rescue the people He loves without measure. Proud Pharaoh must sink down before it. Midian's armies must fall under its sword. Boastful Rabshakeh and the armies of Assyria must melt away before its blast. How many more of earth's great men have fallen, and must yet fall, before its withering breath! In the same way, but with higher thoughts, the Christian heart can look at the record God has given, rejoice in Christ now enthroned, and say, "Who shall separate us?" — even though we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
Egypt was not the last power to try this. One writer looks ahead to the day when God goes out to fight the nations of the world.
Then the nations of the world will have to learn what Pharaoh learned at the Red Sea — the unstoppable might of the One they have dared to line up against in battle.
The chase was real, and so was the fear. But the pursuer has a line he cannot cross.
Satan may pursue, and he may make us tremble, just as Pharaoh did all the way to the Red Sea. But at the sea Pharaoh's power was broken for ever, and at the resurrection of Christ the power of Satan comes to its eternal end. God's people are saved, and great is God's salvation… The enemy's force stops at the grave of Christ. Resurrection ground he cannot reach.
- Boast — Six boasts, four of them "I will": pursue, overtake, divide, gorge, draw the sword, destroy. God's answer takes one line — He blew with His wind.
- Motive — Behind the boast lay revenge, wounded pride and greed for the wealth Israel carried out of Egypt.
- Barrier — Before the sword could reach one Israelite, it had to pass the pillar of cloud and fire. God's reply to the claim was, "They are My people."
- Pattern — Pharaoh, Midian, Assyria: the proud "I will" of man keeps meeting the same crushing stroke. At the end, the nations will learn what Pharaoh learned at the sea.
- Limit — The enemy may pursue and may terrify, but his force stops at the grave of Christ. Resurrection ground he cannot reach.
Thou didst blow with thy breath, the sea covered them; They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
The song at the Red Sea turns here. The enemy has just boasted about what his sword will do. The answer comes in one line about God's wind. Why did the end of Egypt's army take no more than a breath? And why does Israel sing about it?
The verse answers the string of "I will" statements just before it. Commentators read the two verses as a contrast between loud threats and quiet power.
In verse 9 the enemy makes his proud boast of what he will do. He says he will overtake them, divide the spoil and satisfy his vengeful lust, destroying them by the sword. How simply God met this arrogant defiance! He only blew with His wind, the sea covered them and they sank like lead in the mighty waters (v. 10). All at once the noise of the horses and chariots, the shouting and the rattle of arms fell completely silent. What a sight for Israel to see!
The same answer has met other proud powers in Scripture.
The enemy thinks he is carrying out the purpose of his own heart, and in boastful pride assembles his hosts to take a spoil. The secret for faith is that the Lord both leads and commands. It is a solemn lesson. How often the proud "I will" of man brings him under the crushing stroke of Almighty power! God calls that power into action to shield and deliver the objects of infinite love. Proud Pharaoh must sink down before it. Boastful Rabshakeh and the armies of Assyria must melt away before its blast.
God needed no new weapon here. A change in the wind was enough.
The Egyptian army fled against those mighty waves, but in vain. The wind that had blown the waters into a heap had stopped. Another wind helped them rush back to their bed with the awful force of their weight. "You blew with Your wind." (Ex. 15:10.) So the sea covered the host of Pharaoh; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Israel can sing because the threat was not pushed back. It was gone.
There was no enemy to lift up his head. All their enemies, the glory and flower of Egypt, had gone down like "lead in the mighty waters." They are a free people. They have seen the salvation of the Lord, so they can celebrate its triumphs. But notice the point of importance. There was no enemy to lift up his head, for this simple reason: there were none left. The mighty waters of the Red Sea, through which Israel passed in safety, returned and flowed over the glory of Egypt.
The enemy aimed his boast at one particular people. God's reply names whose they are.
So, later on, "the enemy" said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them" (Ex. 15:9). God replied, "They are My people." He struck His enemy and theirs at once: "the sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters." Thank God, with all my feebleness and badness, I belong to Him.
Commentators read this sea as a picture. They also mark where Scripture first calls Israel redeemed.
God brought His people through the Red Sea, and it delivered them from Egypt forever. That sea was a picture of the death and resurrection of Christ. In that death and resurrection He met the whole force of death and judgment, and the power of the enemy too, on His people's behalf. So Scripture does not speak of redemption until they stand on the far side of that sea of death and judgment, where they also saw their enemies dead on the shore.
This sudden end was not haste on God's part. It came after a long series of warnings.
God usually warns before He judges. His mercy and grace are so great that we might perhaps say, without going beyond the truth, that He always does. Scripture is full of examples… Pharaoh had many warnings long before his final doom. His chariot wheels came off some hours before he "sank like lead in the mighty waters" (Ex. 14, 15).
- Boast — One breath of God answers the enemy's string of "I wills"; the rattle of chariots falls silent in a moment.
- Breath — One wind piled the sea up so Israel could cross; when it stopped, another wind drove the water back over Egypt.
- Belonging — God's reply to "I will destroy them" is "They are My people"; He strikes His enemy and theirs at the same stroke.
- Warning — Pharaoh's chariot wheels came off hours before the waters closed. God warns before He judges.
- Song — Israel sings only when no enemy is left to lift his head. Commentators read the sea as a picture of Christ's death and resurrection, where He met the power of the enemy for His people.
Who is like unto thee, Jehovah, among the gods? Who is like unto thee, glorifying thyself in holiness, Fearful [in] praises, doing wonders?
Israel has just walked out of the sea, and the army that enslaved them lies dead on the shore. Their song now turns from what God did to who God is, and it asks a question no one can answer.
The question about "the gods" was not abstract. Months earlier these singers were slaves in Egypt, where every temple carried a god's name. The writers quoted here use older versions, which read "Jehovah" where the ESV reads "LORD," and "glorious in holiness" where it reads "majestic in holiness."
About six months before Israel's sudden freedom, the name of Jehovah was almost unknown on the earth. There were very few exceptions. His people were slaves. It seemed as if the enemy had the kingdom of this world completely in his own hand. Every temple carried the carved names of the gods of the nations, and all peoples honoured them... a few months earlier, Israel had quarried and dragged the huge stones for the temple-cities of these gods. Now every god of Egypt lay struck down. Every temple was desolate. Their bodies still bore the brand, but the people were free. He who is glorious in holiness had laid the unholy worship of the gods low.
An outsider later reached the same conclusion. Moses told his father-in-law Jethro the whole story of the rescue, and Jethro answered on the note of this verse.
It is beautiful to see that Moses' account made his father-in-law rejoice and bless Jehovah. It truly brought him into the spirit of the song recorded in Exodus 15... Jethro adds, "Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods, for He was above them in the very thing where they acted proudly."
Here, for the first time, Scripture calls God holy.
It is now, after redemption, that God reveals Himself as "glorious in holiness." He never did before. Unless a person looks into the Bible and bows to the truth, he would never believe this: God could write a whole book and never once speak of holiness before this... In Scripture, holiness rests on redemption. So does God's ability to come and dwell among us in righteousness. How could He do this until sin was gone?
The timing is the point.
In fact, man can bear the full revelation of God's holiness only after redemption is accomplished... But as soon as redemption is pictured, in Jehovah working deliverance, even the Israelites can speak without fear. In their measure they rejoice and praise His name.
One writer names the quality that comes first in God's praise — and the one people least want to hear.
Holiness has first place in this cluster of glories... And yet it is the very trait of His nature that men are most averse to, and most likely to overlook. He has therefore reminded us over and over again in His Word that He is holy. In this attribute of His being He is incomparable.
Older versions read "fearful in praises" where the ESV reads "awesome in glorious deeds." Israel had no excuse for missing what worship owes God.
But ever since the crossing of the Red Sea, they had all heard and sung this song... They may not have understood that the sanctuary, its vessels and its furnishings spoke only of what God is to His own in Christ, and what He is for them to God. Even so, Sinai left them in no doubt: everyone owed God fear, and holiness especially suits the priests who draw near to Jehovah.
Israel's rescue was a picture. One writer traces the same holiness to a greater deliverance.
Christ's death showed God's holiness in full. During the three hours of darkness He had to forsake His own Son, who was made sin for us. When made sin for us, we hear the Son of God cry, in spirit, in Psalm 22:3, "But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel." ... How glorious indeed is the holiness of God as seen in the death and resurrection of His Son.
The same mouths that asked who is like God later demanded a golden calf.
Who would have thought that the worshippers on the shore of the Red Sea would ever say, "Make us gods to go before us"? In their magnificent song they had said, "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?" ... Had they now found someone like Him? It would seem so. And who? A golden calf! How dreadful! And yet this is man. Yes — man, in every age.
- Rescue first. The song is only possible on the far side of the sea; deliverance comes before the singing.
- Then holiness. Only after redemption does Scripture first call God holy.
- Then nearness. Holiness does not push the redeemed away; it is the ground on which God can dwell among them.
- Then fear. Worship carries awe: everyone owes God fear, and holiness suits those who draw near to Him.
- Then vigilance. The people who asked "Who is like you?" soon made a calf. Ask the question again; do not just remember it.
Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.
Israel stands safe on the far shore, singing. One line in the song points to God's outstretched hand and to the ground that closed over the army chasing them.
The song keeps returning to God's right hand. One writer traces what Pharaoh learned by challenging it.
Pharaoh was foolish enough to challenge the power of God when he refused to let Israel go. As a result he learned how great God's power is. He learned it in the destruction of the land of Egypt, and in the overthrow of his army in the Red Sea. Whether it is man or Satan, he has to learn that he cannot interfere with God's people and get away with it. God may wait in patience until the evil is ripe. But when He steps in, His right hand shows itself glorious in power — a power that nothing can resist.
The next line of the song turns from the enemy to Israel. One writer reads the two lines together.
On the one hand, He stretched out His hand in holy judgment, for He hates evil: the earth swallowed the enemy (v. 12). On the other hand, in tender mercy He led forth the people He had redeemed (v. 13), for He loves to do good.
That judgment flows from God's holiness. The same writer describes how holiness shapes the way God uses His power.
His holiness involves His love of what is good and His hatred of evil. He acts out of the purity of His sanctuary, on this basis of holiness. He does not use His greater power in a selfish way. He uses power in perfect truth, and so He does amazing wonders.
The song says the earth swallowed them, yet the army went down in the sea. One writer points to the sea bed itself as the grave God dug that night.
That same night He dug a grave for Pharaoh and his chariots in the bed of the sea, wrapping its waters around them in one mighty burial cloth. This calls to mind the prophetic words of Hosea 13:14. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be your plagues. O grave, I will be your destruction."
The Hosea line there is quoted from an older translation.
The act was complete on both sides — for Israel and against Egypt.
God's work is always marked by thoroughness. He saved every soul of Israel in triumph, and every Egyptian lay dead on the shore. We read, "not one of them remained." Has any army, before or since, been destroyed so completely?
The blood of the lamb had already sheltered Israel in Egypt. One writer shows why that shelter was not the end of the story.
The blood of the lamb sheltered Israel from judgment. In the same way, the blood of Christ is before the eye of God, and everyone who believes this is sheltered from the judgment. But Pharaoh and the Egyptians still oppressed Israel after that shelter. In the same way, the power of Satan and the flesh still oppresses the believer. There is no peace until he takes hold of the death and resurrection of Christ, pictured by the passage through the Red Sea.
This song is more than the record of one escape. One writer hears in it a judgment that will come again on a far larger stage.
The magnificent triumph of Israel was not merely a song of salvation, or a hymn of praise for deliverance. It was more — a grand celebration of the glory of God in the overthrow of those who had risen up against Him. It was, therefore, a song of judgment... What happened in Egypt will happen again on a larger scale across the earth. At the end of the plagues and signs that will then visit the earth, the victors will sing two songs. One is the "song of Moses, the servant of God" — the song of judgment on evil. The other is the "song of the Lamb" — the song of salvation.
- The hand acts. God stretches out His right hand, and no man or power can resist it or interfere with His people and get away with it.
- The hand judges. It comes down in holy judgment because God hates evil — power used in perfect truth, not for its own sake.
- The hand buries. The enemy's grave was dug in the bed of the sea, and not one of them remained.
- The hand leads. The hand that judged the enemy led out the redeemed people in tender mercy, because God loves to do good.
- The hand will act again. Egypt's overthrow is the pattern for a larger judgment still to come, when the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb sound together.
Thou by thy mercy hast led forth the people that thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them by thy strength unto the abode of thy holiness.
Israel's song at the Red Sea turns from what God did to Egypt to what He did for His own people. Verse 13 names the two things that carried them: His steadfast love and His strength. Where was He leading them, and what is the "holy abode" at the end of the road? Older translations read "mercy" and "holy habitation", and the writers quoted below use those words.
In Egypt the blood sheltered Israel from judgment. But something more had to happen before they could sing these words.
God brought His people through the Red Sea, and it delivered them from Egypt forever. That sea was a picture of the death and resurrection of Christ. There He met the whole force of death and judgment, and the power of the enemy too, on His people's behalf. So redemption is not spoken of until they stand on the far side of that sea of death and judgment. On its shore they also saw their enemies dead. Then they could sing, "You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed." In Egypt the blood sheltered them completely. But through their passage across the Red Sea they were redeemed from Egypt and its doom, and from death, judgment, and the power of Satan.
Verse 13 sits right beside the line about the earth swallowing the enemy.
On the one hand, He stretched out His hand in holy judgment, for He hates evil: the earth swallowed the enemy (v. 12). On the other hand, in tender mercy He led forth the people He had redeemed (v. 13), for He loves to do good. More than this, the song looks ahead to the end God has in view. It sings with full confidence, as though that end were already reached.
The verse names strength because they had none of their own. As one writer puts it: "He guided them in His strength (when they had none) to His holy habitation" (J. N. Darby).
The destination is not first of all a place. It is a Person.
How was I reconciled? As redeemed, made alive, and brought back to God according to the work He has done. And I have not come halfway to God: "You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation." "I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself." He has brought me to Himself in a way that is consistent with Himself.
Later the song speaks of God planting His people in His own mountain. One writer reads the two verses as two stages.
In Exodus 15:13 you find a difference that shows the thing in picture form: "You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation" — that is, to Himself. But in verse 17 it is, "You will bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance," and there you have the heavenly places pictured.
Earlier in the song Moses said he would prepare God a dwelling. God's answer comes back with an added word.
Note here, my soul, that God adds the word "holy" when He speaks of His habitation. It is not just "habitation", as Moses desired, but "holy habitation". Further, Scripture calls it "the sanctuary." These expressions stamp the character of God's dwelling-place according to His mind.
A dwelling of God among people is new here. Before redemption there was no such thing: "God did not dwell with Adam in innocence, nor with Abraham... But when redemption was accomplished, God stood fully revealed, and man perfectly redeemed" (J. N. Darby).
They sang this before a single step into the wilderness. Commentators differ on how to read that. Some hear faith taking hold of the end God has in view. One writer hears people saying more than they had yet lived.
Later in the song they seem to anticipate the end God has in view — "You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation" (v. 13). Clearly they expressed something beyond their own experience and affections, as we often do too. These were truths they did not yet hold with power in their hearts.
God has led His people to where He lives. Do they feel at home there?
He has brought us home to Himself. And what then? He has put His Spirit into our hearts, so that it may be our home... We are at home when the Spirit is working in our hearts, giving the joy of our portion in the presence of God. We may have to go out into the world to work, to push ourselves, and to be busy in a thousand ways. But when we get back again, what a change! We only go out to come back.
- Mercy starts it. Israel can only sing this song on the far side of the sea. In Egypt the blood sheltered them; redemption brought them right out of Egypt, death and the enemy's power.
- Strength carries it. His strength guides them because they had none of their own. The same hand that judged the enemy leads the redeemed.
- He is the destination. The "holy habitation" is God Himself; He does not bring His people halfway, but all the way to where He is.
- Holiness marks it. Moses offered to build a habitation. God answers with a holy habitation, a sanctuary stamped with His own character.
- Glory completes it. Verse 13 brings them to God. Verse 17 plants them in His inheritance. Faith sings the whole journey before taking one step of it.
The peoples heard it, they were afraid A thrill seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
Israel had just watched Egypt's army sink in the sea. Their song now looks down the road ahead, and says the news of what God did will reach the nations first.
Israel sang this line before walking one step of the wilderness. They had not yet met a single enemy.
Faith had the privilege of being occupied with the purposes of God. So it bridged the whole distance from the sea to the promised land, from the cross to the glory. They could not sing a note until the beaten enemy sank "as a stone" and the people were free. But when that was done, God inspired the song, and Moses led them to take it up on the far shore of the sea. It raised music in the desert that will echo in greater volume for ever.
Israel sang it as prophecy. Forty years later a woman inside Jericho repeated it as fact.
Look at the bolts and bars on the gates of Jericho, and at the witness of Rahab: "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us … for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt … And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted." That was a rebuke to the Israelites for not going up at first. When God gives a command, He also sets things moving to carry it out. This woman mentions the crossing of the Red Sea, forty years earlier, as the thing that filled the nations of Canaan with terror. From the first, the way into the land was open.
Writers connect that shaking with the cross:
We have little idea of the great shaking that took place among the rulers and authorities when the Lord Jesus went into death and came out victorious. He "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him" (Colossians 2:15).
The song does not stop at Egypt. It moves down the nations along Israel's route, and commentators read each one as a type.
This fourth section does not speak only of Egypt's defeat. The greatness of the Lord's power would subdue other nations too. Hearing of Israel's deliverance, they would be afraid (v. 14). The inhabitants of Palestine would feel anguish, for this was the land God had promised to Israel. The chiefs of Edom (self-important men) would lose heart, and Moab's rulers would tremble for fear. Edom speaks of the self-importance of the flesh. Moab illustrates the self-indulgence and self-satisfaction of easy-going religion. The true testimony of God disturbs both. All the inhabitants of Canaan would "melt away," finding no strength to resist God's army. Canaan means "trader," a picture of those who make merchandise of the things of God.
The song names the land after the Philistines. Older translations read "Palestina" here, where the ESV has "Philistia."
These people held only a very small strip of the land of Canaan. Yet, remarkably, the land has taken its name from them, for Palestine means the land of the Philistines. Scripture gives it that name only when it foretells judgment on it: Exodus 15:14; Isaiah 14:29, 31; Joel 3:4.
God never uses the name Palestine when He speaks of His people's heritage. It always marks out a hostile country. Faith looks on it as an enemy's land until the people of God take it.
Israel later stood at the border of that same land and said the opposite of this verse.
In Exodus 15 their eyes were only on the Lord, so they could sing the song of victory… In Numbers 14 it was Israel that was afraid, and sorrow took hold of them… In short, it completely reverses the picture. The sorrow, the trembling, and the fear take hold of Israel instead of their enemies. And why? Because the One who filled their vision in Exodus 15 is completely shut out in Numbers 14. This makes all the difference. In the one case, faith is on top; in the other, unbelief.
This is a song, not a calculation. It is the voice of settled confidence.
Will you meet enemies? Plenty of them. What will happen? They will all go down before God. Every difficulty becomes a new opportunity for God to display His power. The Lord comes in to show Himself strong. My friend, is all the world against you? God and you are a match for them. God and I together are invincible.
- Heard. The verse turns on a report. Israel had done no fighting; the news of what God did at the sea went ahead of them.
- Sung early. Faith spanned the whole distance from the sea to the land, from the cross to the glory, before they had taken a single step.
- Confirmed late. Forty years on, Rahab repeated that Red Sea report inside Jericho. The way in had been open from the start.
- Named enemies. Philistia, Edom, Moab and Canaan each picture a kind of opposition. Scripture calls the land "Palestina" only when it announces judgment.
- Reversed by unbelief. At Numbers 14 the trembling moved to Israel, because they shut out the God who had filled their view at the sea.
Then the princes of Edom were amazed; The mighty men of Moab, trembling hath seized them; All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Fear and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of thine arm they are still as a stone; Till thy people pass over, Jehovah, Till the people pass over that thou hast purchased.
The song at the Red Sea does not stop at Egypt's defeat. It looks ahead to Canaan and names nations Israel had not yet met. Verse 16 says what will happen to those peoples — Edom, Moab, Canaan — and why: God's arm goes ahead of a people He has purchased.
The fear described here was not poetry. One writer points out that the people of Canaan later said this of themselves.
"Fear and dread" really did fall on the people of Canaan when they heard how Pharaoh was destroyed. They themselves said, "And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you" (Joshua 2:11). So at the moment of triumph, Israel, following the inspired words given to them by Moses, said what was literally true.
The same words landed on Moab a whole generation later, when a king watched Israel camp on his border.
This came true to the letter forty years later, when the King of Moab and his people saw the Lord's pilgrim host camped on their borders... Balak grew alarmed, all the more because Israel had just destroyed three military powers that dared to oppose their march.
"Still as a stone" means frozen. Fear holds the enemy in place, and God's people get a clear road.
All the inhabitants of Canaan would "melt away," finding no strength to resist God's army... The greatness of God's arm would make all these enemies "still as a stone" through fear and dread. So God's people would pass over without difficulty and take possession of their land. They were God's special people whom He had purchased.
Note the tense of the verse: the passing over is still ahead. (Where the ESV says "pass by," older translations read "pass over," the wording the writers quoted here use.) Israel sings about a crossing that has not happened yet. One writer marks the difference between what is already settled and what still lies ahead.
They sing of God's deliverance, note, before they have taken a step in the desert... But we still see the redeemed one as on the way to glory, not yet in possession of the promised dwelling-place of God. We have come to God's habitation, to God Himself, but the prepared place is future. Edom and Moab will be still as a stone, but the people have yet to pass over.
The verse ends by naming Israel as bought property. That word carries a claim on the ones purchased, not only a comfort.
What, then, is the difference between purchase for the believer and for the unbeliever? Here is the difference: faith accepts the purchase, while unbelief despises it and every responsibility that rests on it. The believer owns it, and is bound to glorify God in his body, as no longer his own. So we find Israel acknowledging both in the song of Moses.
Why could they speak of nations melting away before ever facing them? Because what God had just done at the sea settled what He would do at the end.
The power God had shown at the Red Sea was the guarantee. First, that He would carry out all His purposes for Israel. Second, that this power would at last appear in His everlasting reign. Faith is born through the knowledge of redemption, and it takes hold of this. It takes in the whole scope of God's purposes, and looks on them as if already done. It is so in the letter to the Romans: "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Romans 8:30).
Later, in Numbers 14, the whole picture turned around. One writer sets the two scenes side by side.
Instead of this, it was Israel that was afraid, and sorrow took hold on them... In short, it is the most complete reversing of the picture. The sorrow, the trembling, and the fear take hold of Israel instead of their enemies. And why? Because the One who filled their vision in Exodus 15 is completely shut out in Numbers 14. This makes all the difference. In the one case faith is in the ascendant; in the other, unbelief.
- Price. The verse calls Israel the people God purchased. Faith owns that purchase and lives as no longer its own. Unbelief despises it.
- Power. Not Israel's army but "the greatness of your arm" turns the nations to stone. Then the people pass over and take the land.
- Panic. The dread was real history. Canaan's hearts melted, and forty years later Moab's king trembled at the border.
- Passage. In the song the crossing is still ahead. The enemies will be still as a stone, but the people have yet to pass over. The place is prepared; they have not entered it.
- Pledge. What God did at the sea guarantees what He will finish. So faith looks on God's whole purpose as already done. Israel lost that song only in Numbers 14, when they shut God out of view.
Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, The place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling, The Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared.
The song of Moses does not stop at the shore of the Red Sea. It praises God for the escape from Egypt, then leaps ahead to a settled land and a home for God Himself among His people.
Israel sang about a land they had never seen. One writer treats this as the instinct of faith. It works forward from what God has already done.
Moses' song reckons on the end at the beginning. (See Exodus 15:17-19.) It is a fine exercise of the soul. Faith knows what the end must be from what the beginning has been. As we know, Israel's road from Egypt to Canaan — Exodus 12 to Joshua 4 — gives a fine picture of the whole journey.
Earlier in the song Moses wanted to build God a house. Here the promise turns around: God builds the house, and He brings His people into it.
As Moses recounts God's acts of power and delivering grace (Ex. 15), his first thought is the desire to make Him a house: "He is my God, and I will prepare Him a habitation." But verse 13 gives us a fuller thought of faith: "You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation." This is the redemption song of the Lord's strength and power. In verse 17 we get the clear promise of this new thing — a dwelling-place with God, which He Himself has made. That is what He will do for them. It is not just a rest in the wilderness. God's blessed purpose is to bring His people into His sanctuary which He has made. What! man to dwell with God! Wondrous fact!
(The words about preparing Him a habitation follow an older translation.)
Why does God's holiness come into view only here, and not earlier in the Bible? One writer links both that holiness and His dwelling among people to redemption.
It is now, after redemption, that God reveals Himself as "glorious in holiness." He never did before... Scripture makes holiness rest on redemption. God's coming to dwell among us in righteousness rests on it too. How could He do this until sin was gone? And how could sin be gone without redemption, so that God might have a holy resting-place among people?
The mountain, the place, the sanctuary — every one of them belongs to God in this verse. That shapes how a believer holds the promise: already brought to Him, not yet brought in.
"You shall plant them in the mountain of your inheritance," v. 17. God had not done this yet; but they were already with Him in His holy habitation — not theirs but His. And so we are in His presence, brought to God, though not yet in the place prepared for us on high. So, in Ephesians 1, the apostle prays "that they may know what is the hope of His calling, and the glory of His inheritance in the saints." Israel was to dwell in God's land; our home shall be in the Father's house. It is His glory, and He will bring us into it. No fear of the enemies along the way: to faith they are powerless. Full confidence belongs to redemption.
(The older translation reads "the mountain of your inheritance"; the ESV has "your own mountain.")
One writer traces this sanctuary through three stages.
God's purpose to dwell among a redeemed people comes out fully in verse 17, where it becomes a revelation. (See also Ex. 29:42 and 46.) This was a material sanctuary. His dwelling-place is now a spiritual house, the one foreshadowing the other. Yet a material sanctuary will have its place again on the millennial earth.
Israel's destination shapes the road they walk.
They are a holy people on the road, and they are going to the sanctuary. That is the spot where there is neither enemy nor anything evil happening. And, dear friends, we are going to it, and what ought to mark us along the way is holiness.
- Brought out. Redemption comes first in the song. Both God's holiness and His dwelling among people rest on it. Until sin was gone, He had no resting-place among them.
- Brought in. The God who took them out of Egypt promises to plant them in. Faith reads the end from the beginning and sings about a land it has not seen.
- His place. Mountain, place and sanctuary all belong to God. His people are already with Him, though not yet in the home He has prepared.
- His hands. Moses wanted to build God a house. The promise here is greater: a house God's own hands established, where man dwells with God.
- His road. A people headed for the sanctuary should be holy on the way. Commentators see that sanctuary as a spiritual house now, with a material one still to come.
Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever!
The song at the Red Sea ends with God's throne, not with Israel's freedom. Why would a people just set free, still standing on the shore, close their praise with a reign that never ends?
Commentators note where this line falls in the Bible's story. It comes from people who days earlier were slaves.
It is well worth noticing that the very first mention of the Lord's reign in Scripture comes when Israel first appears as a nation, on the banks of the Red Sea… Israel only appeared as a nation at the redemption out of Egypt. The people were many, and they kept growing. But they were only Hebrew slaves of the Egyptians, who held them in bondage. God judged the Egyptians, and the blood of the Passover saved the children of Israel from that judgment. So He redeemed them out of the land of Egypt.
The verse before this one speaks of a sanctuary, a place God made for Himself to live in. Writers point out that God had never done this before.
Another thing found in this beautiful song is the desire to build a tabernacle for the Lord. This is one of the great privileges that come out of redemption. God did not dwell with Adam in innocence, nor with Abraham… But once redemption was finished, God revealed Himself fully on the one hand, and on the other, man stood perfectly redeemed. Then God naturally, so to speak, comes to dwell with men, among them.
The closing line matches the opening line. One writer counts what the song is about, and draws a warning for how we sing today.
It begins with Him: "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously." It ends with Him: "The LORD will reign forever and ever." In all, His sacred Name occurs twelve times in the song. Moses did not lead the people to sing about themselves. He did not even lead them to sing about their own wonder and delight at all they had seen. We think one weakness in our modern hymn-singing is how often our hymns lead us to sing about the depth of our own feelings and experiences in praise and worship.
The words run far ahead of where Israel actually stood. Everything God intends for the nation is packed into one short piece of praise.
In short, the song celebrates victory, in view of the full accomplishment of God's purposes for Israel, and also, in type, for us. So it takes no account of the wilderness… but the crossing of the Jordan is in it (Ex. 15:16), and the conquest of Canaan, the setting up of His sanctuary in the land, and the establishing of His kingdom on earth… All the special features of God's purposes of blessing to Israel are before us in this divine song: salvation for a redeemed people, a dwelling place for God in their midst, God revealed in holiness, the enemy dashed in pieces, the Jordan crossed, all opposition subdued, the land enjoyed, the LORD King forever and ever!
Nothing in verses 17 and 18 had happened yet. What made it safe to sing was what had already happened behind them.
The power God had shown at the Red Sea was the guarantee. First, that He would carry out all His purposes concerning Israel. Second, that He would display this same power at last in His everlasting reign. Faith is born through the knowledge of redemption, and it takes hold of this. It takes in the whole range of God's purposes and looks on them as if they were already done… If anything could stop God's purposes, He would not be God. There may be enemies in the way, and they may set themselves against the carrying out of His declared will. But faith says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Does this line point to a kingdom on earth, or to something wider?
In this Scripture the reign spoken of clearly applies first to the earth. It is the everlasting kingdom of the LORD — the thousand-year rule of the Messiah, who must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. But in principle it goes further, for He shall reign forever and ever. This too will be the fruit of the cross. There He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. As a result He is exalted now, and will be forever.
The song does not stop at the Red Sea. Commentators link that shore with a later victory over a far greater oppressor.
Thinking of the future gives weight to the prophetic element in Israel's song at the Red Sea. It swells into the song of Moses and of the Lamb — the song of judgment and of salvation. As we hear Israel singing, we almost hear the future redeemed singing along with them — people set free from the idol-tyrants of the earth… For one greater than Pharaoh will be laid low. Pharaoh called himself a god, people worshipped him, and he resisted the LORD by magic and miracle. But that greater one will never enslave and deceive anyone again.
- Redeemed — Scripture first names God's reign at the moment He redeems a people. Slaves become a nation, and only then is there a King.
- Housed — Redemption gives God something He never had before: a home among men. He did not dwell with Adam or Abraham, but He comes to dwell with a redeemed people.
- His — The song opens and closes on God, and His Name runs through it twelve times. Praise takes its shape from that: about Him, not about our own feelings.
- Certain — What God did at the sea guarantees everything not yet done. Faith sings the ending while still standing at the beginning.
- Forever — The last word is a reign with no end. It starts on earth, and the same song rises again from people set free from a far greater oppressor.
For the horse of Pharaoh, with his chariots and with his horsemen, came into the sea, and Jehovah brought again the waters of the sea upon them; and the children of Israel went on dry [ground] through the midst of the sea.
The song of Moses has just risen to the endless reign of the LORD. Then it drops back to plain fact: Pharaoh's army under the water, and Israel walking through on dry ground. Why close a song of praise with a bare record of what happened? And why set the two halves of that day side by side in one sentence?
The verse opens with the word "For." It gives the ground the whole song rests on. One writer notes that a single event settles two things at once.
"The LORD will reign forever and ever" is the triumphant conclusion of faith's song. The reason for it is very blessed. His glory and their deliverance are based on the same thing.
The waters came back over Pharaoh's army; the same waters had stood open for Israel. The event was one. Its meaning depended on which side a person stood.
In one sense the Red Sea closed the whole history, if you look at it by itself in relation to Egypt. In another sense it begins the life. But it closed the history by redemption and judgment, for God judged the Egyptians. Death was salvation to Israel, but it was judgment to the Egyptians.
The difference goes back to the night of the Passover, when the blood of a lamb marked Israel's doorways.
The Egyptians had no slain lamb and no blood-sprinkled doorway. So they had nothing to keep off the death-blow when the destroying angel came near their homes. They had many sins and perhaps more or less concern, but no substitute, and therefore no salvation. So while the redeemed of the Lord were singing, the Egyptians were silent in death... Death and judgment were the Egyptians' due, because of their wilful sin and rebellion in God's sight. Salvation became Israel's due, on the ground of the slain lamb and the blood-sprinkled doorposts. And worship was the Lord's due, because of what He had done — both for the glory of His great name and the blessing of His redeemed people.
The verse says Israel walked on dry ground, and it places that walk in the middle of the sea. The account repeats the detail, and commentators read the repetition as deliberate.
Dry ground is mentioned four times in this chapter. It is as if God would use this picture to stress one fact: the death and resurrection of Christ provide the solid ground on which faith puts its feet. Nature and the flesh cannot walk this path. If they try, as Pharaoh's action pictures here, they can expect nothing but judgment. But faith finds firm footing there. Israel was safe, because going into the sea was an act of real faith in the Word of God, and of obedience to it.
Israel did not make the way through the sea. They walked a road already cut for them.
So we may say that Jehovah not only made the way through the sea. He went that way Himself, and Israel went through by taking up 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 was the lamb sacrificed on the Passover night. But this carries us a step further, since it pictures not only death but resurrection too... In the death of Christ, death itself has become the way of life to the believer. But only to the believer — the one who by faith takes up the way that has been made. It guarantees the judgment of the unbeliever. If God did not spare His Son when He became the Sin-bearer, how will the unbeliever be spared when he has to bear his own sins?
The song looks ahead to God's unending reign, then turns back to what He had already done at the sea. One writer calls that order a fine exercise for the soul.
This calculation on the end at the beginning is found in Moses' song. See Exodus 15:17-19. It is a fine exercise of the soul. Faith knows what the end must be from what the beginning has been.
- Ground. The song rests on a fact, not a feeling. God's glory and Israel's deliverance stand on the same event at the sea.
- Two ways. One act of God, two ends. The water that carried Israel across buried Egypt. Death was salvation to one and judgment to the other.
- Blood. The difference was the slain lamb. Those without a substitute had concern but no salvation. They were silent while the redeemed sang.
- Dry ground. Faith walks where nature drowns. The death and resurrection of Christ are the solid footing through the sea.
- The end. God cut the path, walked it first, and brought His people over. Faith looks at what He has already done and reads from it what the end must be.