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.