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.