No Way Out But God-Exodus 14-15

Exodus, Sermons

REBIRTH occurs only by God‘s divine intervention and rebirthing process.

No one likes to be stuck. Yet it may be the best situation to push you beyond your limit and comfort zone. Before conversion in 1980 I’d just come to the U.S., which is unique among my medical peers. It should’ve been a high point for me. But I felt stuck with an overwhelming sense of emptiness (Gen 1:2). I didn’t want to go back…or forward. But God opened my eyes to see the only way out into the light (Gen 1:3). It may be like the beleaguered Israelites being caught between the impassable raging sea and the Egyptian army bent on enslaving them again. From Moses, they learned that there’s no way out but to fear and trust God (Exo 14:31). No one likes being stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Yet, it may be the only time where you’ll have only one option—trust only God. Through the Song of Moses and Miriam, they sang in awe and wonder, “Who is like you among the gods?” (Exo 15:11).

God set a strategic trap to draw Pharaoh out (Exo 14:4-6, 17-18). God sent the Israelites to a vulnerable location next to the sea and “hemmed in by the desert” (Exo 14:3). The narrative is spectacularly jam packed with action worthy of a big budget Hollywood movie:

  1. the people obey God’s directions (Exo 13:18);
  2. Pharaoh pursues them with chariots (Exo 14:7-9);
  3. the people cry out in terror blaming Moses and lying about themselves (Exo 14:10-12);
  4. Moses steadies them courageously with faith in God (Exo 14:13-14);
  5. God directs Moses and the Israelites toward the water (Exo 14:15-16);
  6. the pillar of cloud/fire protects them (Exo 14:19-20);
  7. God drives the sea apart (Exo 14:21);
  8. the people walk through the sea on dry ground (Exo 14:22,29);
  9. Pharaoh pursues (Exo 14:23);
  10. God fights against the Egyptians (Exo 14:24);
  11. the charioteers panic acknowledging that God fights for Israel (Exo 14:25);
  12. Moses stretches out his hand/raises his staff (Exo 14:26);
  13. God sweeps the Egyptians into the sea (Exo 14:27-28); and
  14. the people fear and trust the Lord and Moses (Exo 14:31).

Know that “I am the Lord.” Why did God destroy Pharaoh and the Egyptians? The stated purposes are two, one for Him and one for Egypt. “I will [1] gain glory for myself [be honored] through Pharaoh and all his army, and [2] the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord” (Exo 14:4). Is this a superfluous show of strength after the plagues? Pharaoh’s persistence is unrelenting. So, God reveals who He is in a unique unequivocal way. God’s purpose is not limited to manipulating a specific Pharaoh for 1 specific purpose. The scope of God’s action and self-revelation is both historic and cosmic. Ultimately, the true goal of the contest is the “conversion” of the Israelites (Exo 14:31).

Why would God seek glory [kaved – to be heavy, weighty, honored or glorified]? God seeks to make his weight in the world manifest and known, seeks to be recognized for His gravity and significance in human affairs. It is not that He is insecure and craves recognition, but He wants that weight to be felt, known, and celebrated.

SLAVISHNESS. The credo of slavish souls: complaining and blaming. In a massive show of force in hot pursuit, the Egyptians overtake the Israelites (Exo 14:9). The Israelites cried out to God (Exo 14:10) and turned against Moses, whom they hold responsible, and accuse him of deliverately bringing them out to die in the wilderness (Exo 14:11). They claim falsely to leave them alone in Egypt (Exo 14:12).

PASSIVITY. The credo of passive piety (Exo 14:13-14) [in response to the credo of slavish cowardice]: keep quiet, do nothing, and put your trust in God. Moses’ response reveals his growing stature and courage and his growing faith in the Lord. He shows no fear and tries to encourage the people with a faith-filled prophecy: you will see the Lord’s salvation. But God takes issue with Moses’ principle and proposes…

ACTION…the principle of hopeful action (Exo 14:15-18). Objecting to the idea, “Let God take care of it,” God treats Moses’ principle–“keep quiet, stay put, and trust God”–as indistinguishable from the slavish principle, “keep quiet, stay put, and trust Phsaroh.”  Both ideas ignore the possiblity and necessity of human agency. The proper attitude is neither fear and despair nor hope for a miracle but, rather, act in hope. God will help [only] those who help themselves. God is saying to Moses, “You must lead the people, and they must act. Tell them, ‘God forward. Advance. Walk–yes, walk into the water.’ And you, not only speak, but you yourself must act: lift up your rod [both the rallying insignia of leadership and a smummons to divine assistance]. Stretch out your hand (the force of agency). Divide the sea. That is what you and the people must do. The rest will be up to Me.”

Splitting the Sea of Reeds is described in language and imagery that recall the creation story (Genesis 1).

  • Starting in darkness with a watery chaos [tohu vavohu] (Gen 1:2),
  • the ruach [“breath” or “spirit”] of God hovered over the face of the waters (Gen 1:2),
  • light was created and day was separated from night (Gen 1:3-5), and
  • the waters were divided, above from below (Gen 1:6-8),
  • to open a space for dry land to appear (Gen 1:9-10).

Rebirth. The original coming-into-being of the world, through acts of separation, is re–evoked in this symbolic rebirth of the nation of Israel, passing through the waters from slavery under Pharaoh to freedom in relation to God. Seeing their prey escaping on a path through the waters, the Egyptians come after them, intending to prevent “birth” in Israel…and falling eagerly into God’s trap (Exo 14:24).

The one and only speech of the Egyptians in the whole episode and their last word acknowledges the superiority of God (Exo 14:25). God’s oft-repeated purpose–that the Egyptians shall know Y-H-V-H–has finally been achieved with their last breadth of life. It is time for them to disappear (Exo 14:26-29). The flooding waters cover the Egyptians. All are drowned. Not one survives. Judgment is executed against all those who pursued the Lord’s firstborn, seeking to re-enslave them. Poetic justice is rendered against the nation that sought to drown Israel’s [literal] firstborn. To rule by might and not by right is to be the author of a mayhem that is finally self-engulfing. Egypt is finished off in the formless chaos (Gen 1:2) that is the true meaning of who she was. “And there was evening and there was morning” (Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31): a new day has dawned.

The final purpose and meaning of the story: its effect on Israel (Exo 14:30-31). The conclusion of the story of the Sea of Reeds is “That day the Lord saved Israel” (Exo 14:30). The conclusion speaks for the first time of Israel–a singularity, a collective, mature [not “children”] and unified, a nation today and tomorrow–which exists as such only thanks to God’s salvation. Through this providential rebirthing process, the nation of Israel comes into being.

The Lord is God over all chaotic and oppressive forces that rule in the created world. The drowning of Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen is unequaled in the history of OT revelation. The lordship of Yahweh is more than release for slaves. It means the coming end of the principalities that twist the world. Pharaoh lured into the sea revealed the Creator’s move to redeem creation and restore it to the Creator. Escaping Pharaoh is not enough. God had to break his power in such a way that the entire world would know who the Lord is and what God’s sovereignty means.

The Song of the Sea (15:1-21) is, like the Gettysburg Address (or perhaps better “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”), Moses’ attempt to teach the people the meaning of the war and inspire them for the great tasks ahead. Often the glory of the victory is ascribed to the conquering king, but here there is not a single word of praise or glory given to Moses. Moses, in fact, writes himself out of the song. It is from start to finish a song of praise to, an ode of triumph for, and a hymn of glory about Y-H-V-H. Through this song Y-H-V-H achieves one of His stated goals: His great glory. Lifted up in song, He gets it from Moses and His people (Exo 15:1).

The song is divided into 3 strophes/stanzas (2-6, 7-11, 12-16) preceded by a 1-verse statement of purpose, looking backward (Exo 15:1)–a song for Y-H-V-H–and followed by a 2-verse epilogue, looking forward (Exo 15:17-18)–the Israelites sing with hope of a future age of peace and tranquility in which they shall be securely planted on the Lord’s holy mountain, the site of His santuary, and the kingdom of the Lord will be established on earth.

  1. [1st strophe (15:2-6)] Y–H–V–H is our savior is their experience of deliverance at the sea.
  2. [2nd strophe (15:7-11)] describes God‘s victory and moves to the famous last verse, it’s theological exclamation, put in the form of 2 rhetorical questions (Exo 15:11). Not only does Y-H-V-H have no peers among the gods that others worship, but he also cannot even be counted in the same category: Y-H-V-H is altogether beyond “god-ness.” beyond what the world understands as a “god.” He is glorious in His holiness, in His separateness or apartness [qodesh, holiness: “set aside and apart”]. Y-H-V-H is a singularity, doing awe-inspiring wonders that elicit our awe-filled praises.
  3. [3rd strophe (15:12-16)] moves from the present to the future, looking forward to the journey into Canaan and focuses on the Lord’s new people in a new place. The richest Hebrew word is in the phrase “the people you bought” [qanah] (Exo 15:16). It can mean “acquired by some effort,” or “created,” or “gave birth to,” or “acquired through cost” [or through labor], all of which requires strenuous effort by the Creator or begetter (Exo 4:22). All the meanings are relevant in the Exodus story. Later God says, “I am a jealous God” (Exo 20:5). God who had gone to so much trouble to redxeem the people would not easily let them go.

The song expresses joy and exhilaration, and also awe and gratitude–awe before, and gratitude for, the Lord’s power, but also at for His love and care for them now and in the future. Without awe and gratitude, the world would be only about force and power, winners and losers. Thus, the song teaches us that the defeat of Egypt is not only just punishment for “crimes” but also a triumph over a worldview that holds, in the end, that nothing matters but power.

Miriam appears for the first time by name out of nowhere, with no introduction (Exo 15:20-21). Without being named she played a leading part in Moses’ rescue and his adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exo 2:4, 7-10). Now, appearing at the end of Moses’ Egyptian story, again by the waters, she leads the women in celebrating the defeat of those who would have drowned him.

Liberation, release and abandon. Designated as Aaron‘s, rather than Moses’ sister is explained by the ancient practice called fratriachy, in which a woman is identified in relation to her oldest brother. Also in context, she is closer in spirit to Aaron than to Moses–and thus closer to the people. Whereas Moses holds God‘s rod in his hand [a symbol of rule and authority], Miriam takes in her hand a timbrel or tambourine [symbol of release and abandon]. In dance [primitive root meaning: “to twist or swirl, circularly”], the body is turned into a kinesthetic instrument of praise and joy, giving somatic expression to feelings beyond words. A manifestation of life and vitality, not just of mind, dancing expresses liberation and release from both ordered life and mental activity. But an ecstatic activity seeking the holy is always at risk of becoming profane, like the ecstatically whirling followers of Dionysus [the Greek god of wine and ecstasy].

The danger of dancing (Exo 15:20), an ambiguous exuberance of soul. Like joy, it is a great gift that elevates the spirit. But it is also dangerous to be released from one’s right mind, to be outside of oneself, to merge with others in boundless energy. Dionysiac passions in human life and the need both to give them expressions AND to hold them under rule–and the difficulty we all face in doing this successfully. Rhythmic bodily movements by ecstatic women, in the presence of men, cannot help but have sexual overtones. It comes with the territory of our being sexual beings.

Women get the first words and the first scene at the very beginning, and the last words and the last scene in the story of Israel in Egypt. The dancing of the women is meant to reassert the supremacy of the principle of life against the largely masculine, battle-glorifying singing of the men. The men, fixated on the dead Egyptian host (Exo 14:17-18, 30; 15:10), celebrate the Lord as a god of war and of battles, while the women may be celebrating the rebirth, through the waters (Exo 14:16, 29), of the Israelite nation. It is emblematic of that vital regenrative element, lost from view in the male version of the event that both sexes have just witnessed. To the song of death–dealing victory in war must be added the dance life and love in peace.

What purposes does this song serve?

  1. It provides a verbal memory of an event whose traces will soon be invisible, and in danger of being forgotten.
  2. In commemorating the event, the song teaches the people–and the reader–the event’s meaning and future significance.
  3. It unites the Israelites as a people: their first collective act is singing as one a song that, in both content and performance, shows that and why they are a people, all equally looking up to the Lord.
  4. It inspires their fearful souls for the next battle with an easily repeatable mantra–“Who is like you, Y-H-V-H, among the gods” (Exo 15:11)–with which to face them.
  5. It turns the people toward God, to His powerful right hand, His love, His care, and His holiness, as they see something of the meaning of His name, “He Will Be.” It quells their fears and feeds their hopes. It offers them a transcendent purpose, becoming the object of their national aspiration: to serve the Lord on His holy mountain.

Moses comes into his own when he confronts Pharaoh and leads his people out of Egypt. He acts with

  • less hesitance,
  • more confidence,
  • unflinching courage,
  • greater trust in the Lord–yet also
  • greater independence.
  • He’s no longer worried about his inability to speak,
  • he composes exquisite poetry (Exo 11:5-7) and
  • he gets people to sing with him (Exo 15).
  • He has earned the people’s trust, both in leaving Egypt and at the Sea of Reeds.

When he first left the palace to look upon his brethren, he killed 1 Egyptian oppressor and could not resolve a dispute between 2 fighting Hebrews. By the end–with massive assistance from above–he killed off all of Egypt and united all the Israelites in song.

The people make progress too.

  • They began by crying out from their passivity to no one in particular, and concluded with increased knowledge of and reverence for the Lord.
  • On Exodus night, acting on their own behalf, they courageously marked their doors with the blood of an animal sacred to the Egyptians.
  • At the Sea of Reeds, facing the full force of Egypt, they bravely entered the sea between 2 looming walls of water, trusting Moses’ promise of divine assistance.
  • They go from blaming him for their increased burdens to trusting him in word and deed.
  • The concluding episode with Miriam and the women completes the brother-brother-sister team of leaders and integrates the women into the emerging feeling of peoplehood. But…

…the national way forward would not be smooth. The people’s courage, confidence, trust, and reverence are all short-lived. Necessity rears its head. The needs of life [water, food, defense against enemies] override pious remembrance and gratitude. Hymns of triumph cannot feed the hungry.

Reference:

  1. Leon R. Kass. Founding God’s Nation. Reading Exodus. 2021.
  2. James K. Bruckner. Exodus. New International Bible Commentary. 2008.
  3. John Goldingay. Exodus & Leviticus for Everyone. 2010.
  4. Robert Alter. The Hebrew Bible. A translation with commentary. The Five Books of Moses. 2019.
  5. Dennis Prager. Exodus. God, Slavery, and Freedom. The Rational Bible. 2018.

Both the bitterness of their slavery and the sweetness of their liberation are acted out in this sacred meal.

  • God delivers His people from slavery into His presence. “And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exo 29:46). A KV of Exodus.
  • Dionysus [dai-uh-nai-suhs]: the Greek god of wine, fruitfulness and vegetation, worship in orgiastic rites. He is also known as the bestower of ecstasy.
  • Dionysian: relating to the god Dionysus, relating to the sensual, spontaneous, and emotional aspects of human nature [Canaan].
  • Apollonian: relating to the god Apollo, relating to the rational, ordered, and self–disciplined aspects of human nature [Egypt].
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