DAY TWENTY: 

Crossing the Red Sea 

Exodus 13:17-14:31  

The Children of Israel are on their way back home after a 430-year stay in Egypt! But how are they going to get there? The same God who freed them from captivity with "a strong arm and mighty hand" is not going to abandon them now. He will lead them all the way. It will help if we have a map in front of us:

The quickest route to Canaan would have been along the Mediterranean coast. This was a major trade route, the road that took Joseph to Egypt many years before. It was level and well-marked. Had they gone this way they would have reached Canaan in a matter of days. But God didn't lead them that way. They would have run into the Philistines and their strong army. These newly-freed slaves would be afraid and want to return to Egypt.

So God took them south, toward the Red Sea. The exact route is difficult to pin down. The words translated Red Sea could also be translated as Sea of Reeds. There was a series of large lakes which were drained when the Suez Canal was built. Some suggest that they crossed one of those lakes. Skeptics point out that some of these lakes are quite shallow and they Israelites could have waded across. Others argue that Israel went to the upper end of the Gulf of Suez and crossed the Red Sea at that point. Recently a number of scholars have proposed that Israel crossed the Red Sea on the other side of the Sinai Peninsula, at the opening of the Gulf of Aqaba. It can be confusing to sort through all of this, and it's really not critical to what God wants to teach us. 

God led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The pillar of fire enabled them to keep moving at night. Soon they found themselves camping at the shore of the Red Sea.  

Meanwhile, back in Egypt, Pharaoh is having second thoughts about releasing the Hebrews. They were a massive workforce, and without them Pharaoh's building projects would lie unfinished. He had to get them back! This was all part of God's plan. He said that He would harden Pharaoh's heart once more so that he would pursue Israel. Then He would show His glory with an even greater deliverance. Pharaoh called up his army, with over 600 chariots (the tanks of that day) and headed out.

Israel was camped at the shore of the Red Sea. Soon a cloud of dust appeared on the western horizon. It was the Egyptians coming after them! The people were afraid. They complained to Moses (the first, but definitely not the last, time they grumbled against their leader). "Are there no graves in Egypt? Is that why you brought us out here to die? We'd have been better off in Egypt!" Moses replied, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of theLord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lordwill fight for you, and you have only to be silent." (14:13-14)

The Lord told Moses to lift up his hands toward the Red Sea and tell the people to head toward the beach, ready to cross. The pillar of cloud and fire moved behind the camp and stood as a wall that the Egyptians could not cross. Then God sent a strong east wind that blew all night which parted the waters! The people crossed over- 600,000 men, all the women and children and foreigners who had attached themselves to Israel, and their flocks. This must have been an impressive sight! I remember the first time I saw Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, The rendering of the Red Sea crossing was truly spectacular! I'm sure it didn't hold a candle to the real thing.

The Egyptians saw what was happening. Israel was crossing the sea on dry ground! They couldn't attack, though, because God stood between them and His people. When the last of the freed slaves had crossed, the pillar lifted and Pharaoh ordered his troops to advance. The sea was still parted and they drove their chariots into it. The pillar of cloud hovered over the Egyptians and threw them into a state of confusion. The chariots started bogging down. Then it suddenly occurred to the Egyptians that they were in the middle of the sea! "Let's get out of here!" But then the Lord told Moses to raise his hands over the water once more. The Red Sea came back together, drowning the Egyptians. God had delivered His people once again!

Our passage ends with these words: "Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses." And they all lived happily ever after. I'm afraid not! There's a lot more to the story, and we'll pick it up next week as we look at the Ten Commandments.

Like yesterday's passage, what we've read today is about God's amazing power to save His people. He devastated Egypt with the ten plagues, and now He has drowned the Egyptian army that pursued His people. Jeremiah 32:17-21 says, "Ah, LordGod! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm!Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed,whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror." If God can do things like this, can't He also help us? He certainly can, and He promises that He will. All He asks of us is to trust Him.

If God wanted to get His people's attention, He succeeded! They saw what He had done for them and they were in awe. They also had a deep respect for Moses, the man they had complained against not long before. They know that God is with him and they have confidence in his leadership (at least for the moment). 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 says, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea..." Moses was God's man! Yet Israel would grumble against him and against his brother Aaron repeatedly. More about that next week. Suffice it to say that God raises up leaders for His people, and His people must respect those leaders.

Why do we question God? Why do we think we know more than He does? He is all-powerful, all-wise and all-loving. Where else can we turn but to Him?

Here is one of my favorite songs from my college days, when I was young in the faith. It's based on the song that Moses taught the people in Exodus 15 as they celebrated their deliverance: