Today we will look into the events leading to one of the most popular miracles in the Bible, one that is often recalled and referred to when we want to appeal to what is extraordinary and amazing; it is when God asked Moses to lift his staff and suddenly, right before all the eyes of this newly born nation Israel, the sea opened up and divided into two high walls of water with some 3 million Israelites walking through on dry ground to freedom. What a love story at the seashore.
At the same time, they saw pillars of fire reaching high on the sky, and a fiery cloud hovering over, to shelter and illuminate the nation. This event must have astounded everyone. But, as great as this event must have been, and in no way do I want to belittle it, it is not the most amazing part of this story.
More profound than the splitting of the sea itself were all of God’s actions before, during and after it. What is so touching is the manner in which the Lord orchestrated the whole scene. He did it with such consistent care and sensitivity, as a father leading his young children with utmost caution and attention.
This is what is most moving and memorable because at the end, this extraordinary miracle of the parting of the sea, had a short-lasting effect on the people; not long after, they rebelled, and began to complain, often putting all this journey into question with many wanting to return back to Egypt. So, it is not so much the parting of the sea that is most remarkable, but it is when we see how deep the Lord’s love is.
And this is when we come to another instance when the Lord asked Israel, this time, not only to take an even longer route, but to go back in the opposite direction. And the reason is awesome; it led to the parting of the sea. This is how the 14th chapter of Exodus begins; vs.1-3, Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. “For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ This is when, as the Israelites turned back, they found themselves in a peculiar place where they were literally trapped on all four sides. They had positioned themselves in front of the Sea of Reeds, with mountains on each side and with only one way out.
This is when Pharaoh received news that the Israelites were wandering aimlessly and so, seeing a great opportunity to get his revenge, he decided to gather all his army in order to reinstate these Israelites as slaves. But the whole detour was a bait to attract the Egyptians in order to eliminate this powerful army. Now, why would the Lord do that? It was not a question of revenge on His part, but of a great strategy to protect. We remember that He is head of military logistics.
Have you ever wondered where the world powers were during the time Israel was journeying and then settling in the land? It took a long time for the Israelites to settle down. One can even count a period of about 500 years until the time of David and the building of the Temple. But during these 500 years, where were the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medo-Persians and even the Greeks and the Romans? These were all dormant and it was only when Israel’s sin reached its point of no return that the Lord raised the Assyrians in 721 BC and then the Babylonians in 586 BC.
Here we can see how the Lord is master of history and how He so arranges it according to His perfect timing. It is as if He prevented these nations from prematurely developing their powers, until it was the right moment.
And when Israel reached the land, there were 31 states within this tiny territory of Canaan. Why was it relatively easy for the Israelites to conquer them? It was because these tribes were so disorganized. Israel was able to get them one by one. Should these smaller kingdoms have gathered together into a united state, they would have been a real threat. But the LORD did not allow it. We see the same thing happening today in that many of the enemies surrounding Israel are themselves enemies with each other. This keeps them at bay for now.
At the time of the Exodus however, there was one powerful threatening nation which needed to be put down in order for Israel to continue her journey; that is the Egyptian with its mighty army: So, the Lord lured them, to come to the sea so that He could deal with them and they bit the bait. Pharoah believed that it was his lucky time, as we read in vs.6-7 So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
But understanding how the Israelites felt, it is here where our Moshe Rebainu, our rabbi Moses, gives them such powerful advice, more powerful than the miracle they were about to witness in the parting of the sea. Some advice that each one of us can take home with us.
Moses’ precious words are found in vs.13-14, But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today… “The Lord will fight for you, be at peace.”
Here are contained four of the greatest pieces of advice we can find in difficult and uncertain times.
Fear not
Stand still
See the salvation of the Lord
Be at peace
First, we have these two words so often repeated throughout the whole Bible; fear not! These words in different forms have been found to appear some 366 times in the Bible (Kendall. Theology). That is, once for every day of the year, 365 times, plus one more day, in case we found ourselves in a leap year. Those who were born in the leap year have often complained that they celebrate their birthday only once every 4 years, for only once every 4 years does the month of February have 29 days.
The second piece of advice is stand still. That does not mean to stand idle but be in a state of readiness. This is the Hebrew word , הִֽתְיַצְב֗וּ Hiteyazevou. It is a word used to command an army to be ready for battle as in Jeremiah 46:4. To the believer it is equivalent to the command found in Ephesian 6 where we are told to put on the armor of God and be ready to quench the fiery darts of the evil one. This is a command to be ready.
The third piece of advice is so powerful. It says see the salvation of the Lord and here the Hebrew for salvation is Yeshua, the name of the Messiah. It says אֶת־יְשׁוּעַ֣ת, your Yeshua. And so, by faith, the Israelites were asked to arm themselves with faith and hope and see the salvation of the Lord and then the compensation came when they saw the parting of the sea. For us it is similar to the command in Hebrews 12:2 where we are told to fix our eyes on Yeshua. The word looking, or fixing in the Greek is a demanding one. It is to direct one’s attention without distraction, to fix on something to gain more precise knowledge of the subject.
The word fixing tells us that knowing Him is not a onetime experience. If He is eternal, how can we just know Him through one experience?
The fourth piece of advice is just as powerful: Be at peace. The Hebrew, haras also designates an engraver. But what could be the relation between the word be at peace and the word engrave? Think of, for instance, a name engraved on a bracelet. This name never moves and is not altered by any circumstances. So should one be who has the Prince of Peace as His Lord and Savior. That is indeed a lot to ask for, but the believer has everything he or she needs to be as firm and unchanging as an engraving.
Click Here for the Teaching The Book of Exodus, Sermon 12: Love at the Seashore