Essentials of Exodus - Lesson 5

All right. In this session, we're going to look at the event of actually crossing the sea and the chapters that lead up to it. If you're reading along through Exodus, all the signs and wonders are part of this epic narrative that's building in intensity, and we're getting closer and closer to this showdown, the ultimate showdown with Pharaoh.

And then you get to chapter 12, and very suddenly the narrative movement comes to a screeching halt, and we get a whole chapter and a half of instructions for how to do the Passover, which might seem kind of disruptive, like what happened to our really great story and why are we doing this here? Couldn't this be in Leviticus? Put it somewhere else so that we don't have to interrupt the story. But I think there's a really important theological point being made by putting the Passover instructions right here, because God wants to say to his people that he doesn't want this event of rescuing them from Egypt to be just a one-time thing. And if we were just going along in the epic narrative, and then he gets them out of Egypt, and they're set free, and okay, game over, we're done.

But by pausing before they leave to explain the instructions for the not just in a way of, here's what to do in Egypt, but here's what to do every year so that you can keep remembering what I did in Egypt. God is ensuring that every generation sees themselves as the generation that God brought out of Egypt. He doesn't want them to think of the exodus as something that happened to their grandparents or their great-grandparents.

He wants the Israelites to embrace the exodus as something that happened to them, something that's alive and well in their hearts. A few years ago, I went to a conference in San Antonio, Texas, and my hotel was right next door to the Alamo. And I knew about the Alamo.

Remember the Alamo? That's all I remembered. And the conference was so busy, it was so packed that I didn't have time to actually go tour the Alamo and read all the signs and refresh my memory. I'm sure it was a battle.

I don't know who was fighting who. All I remember is this cry, remember the Alamo. And what's true is that I heard the story once, probably in fifth grade.

And because it wasn't a regular part of my life, I forgot the story. And so I just have this vague memory. I have a similar experience or similar relationship with the nutcracker.

I know there's a sugar plum fairy, some nutcrackers, a mouse, some rats maybe, but I actually don't know the plot because it hasn't been our family's tradition to go to the nutcracker every year or to read the book. So I think this is instructive for us when we think about why does God care so much about them celebrating the Passover every year? Because if you celebrate it every year, then you actually have the experience and the ongoing sense of memory creation that makes it part of your story. And these kind of memories are really powerful for us.

If you have a family tradition of always eating a certain food or going to a certain place every year, then it becomes a really key part of your sense of identity, your collective identity as a family. And when that thing is missing, you feel it. So from the beginning, God sets up this plan for them to keep rehearsing what he did when he brought them out of Egypt so that every generation will embrace the Exodus as something they experienced.

They are the people that God set free. And their children will grow up, like, by the time they're 12, they'll probably remember nine times during the Passover and remember the smells and the tastes and the touch, the feeling of wearing their traveling clothes and the sound of hearing the scriptures read and remembered. I like to think that God does not have any grandchildren.

He has only children. And so every generation becomes the generation that came out of Egypt. And this is how Moses addresses the people in Deuteronomy.

His closing message, his closing sermon to the people of God, he's speaking to the second generation, the first generation who actually came out of slavery from Egypt, all died in the wilderness. The second generation is now getting ready to enter the land, and Moses addresses them and gives them the law and retells the stories. And he keeps saying, you did this and I said this to you and you responded this way, because he's treating them as if they were the people who came out of Egypt, because God has no grandchildren.

We, by implication and by extension, we were slaves in Egypt and God set us free. There's one place where this is especially poignant. In Deuteronomy chapter five, Moses repeats the 10 commandments for the next generation.

And when he tells them the Sabbath command, we've already spent some good time on the Sabbath command, but he gives them a different motivation for keeping it than he did in Exodus. In Exodus, he says, the Lord made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. That's why you should keep the Sabbath.

But in Deuteronomy, when he's speaking to the next generation, he says, remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that Yahweh your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, Yahweh your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. The first time I noticed this, I thought, isn't that kind of backwards? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't God have said through Moses to the people at Sinai, remember you were slaves in Egypt and I've set you free.

That's why you Sabbath. And then I could see Moses get into the second generation saying, okay, we got to switch this up a bit because these people weren't slaves. But no, he's saying to the second generation, remember that you were slaves in Egypt.

I don't want you to miss out on this identity forming experience that you had. In fact, that's probably why God brings them around the long way to get into the promised land. So they go up around the dead sea so they can cross the Jordan river and he stops the water and they cross through on dry ground, which is like a mini recreation of crossing the sea of reeds so that that generation can feel the sense of like, whoa, what was this that just happened? They get in on God's deliverance that happened in Egypt.

There's a lot we could say about the Passover, about the moment when God is telling them how to prepare for the night when he's going to kill the firstborn of Pharaoh. I think maybe the most important thing to note is that this is something they opt into. So up until this point, God's been just doing signs and wonders and it's affecting all of the people in Egypt.

And then after a while he's doing signs and wonders that only affect the Egyptians and he's protecting his people. He's showing the distinction between Egypt and Israel. And then it gets to the point where it's like, okay, it's time to make a decision.

Are you on board with Yahweh? Will you obey his command? It's not a hard one. You just have to take a branch and dip it in some blood and paint it on your doorposts. Anybody could do it, but it's kind of weird.

So if you don't believe Yahweh, you might be like, yeah, no, I'm not, I'm not doing, I'm not participating. So God gives them this tangible way of saying, I am staking my claim on Yahweh. I want to belong to him.

I believe that he's the one who's done all this stuff in Egypt and I want to be on his team. Presumably you could do this even if you weren't a Hebrew, even if you were in Egyptian. And we find out in chapter 12, verse 38, that when the Israelites left Egypt, many other people went up with them.

They've had the opportunity to see God at work. They've had the opportunity to see that Yahweh is greater than Pharaoh and he defeated the gods of Egypt. So that's where I'm going.

And so, I don't know quite how that all worked out. This is one of the questions I have for Moses on the other side, but it says many other people went up with them and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. And they, uh, the people baked loaves of unleavened bread because there wasn't enough time to let the bread rise.

So they're just like baking this unleavened bread. And that's where the, the practice of celebrating a festival with flatbread comes from. We're going to remember back to that time.

My family grew up with a somewhat unusual tradition of going out to breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, like to a big buffet, if possible. My grandparents would take us to the Holiday Inn that had a breakfast buffet and they would buy breakfast for the entire extended family. And we would load up our plates and then we would go to church because we had a Thanksgiving morning service, best service of the year.

And then we would come home and cook the turkey and all the other things and have another huge meal. It really didn't make much sense to me why we, I liked it. I'm not complaining.

Just like, why do we have two big meals on the same day? So one time I asked, why do we do this? And my mom's answer was, well, one time when I was growing up, our oven was broken. And so on Thanksgiving morning, we went out to eat because we couldn't cook at home. And the tradition just stuck the next Thanksgiving.

It was like, let's do that again. And so now all these years later, our daughter came to spend Thanksgiving with us. And she said, can we go out to eat Thanksgiving morning? Like that's the tradition.

And it all started with a broken oven. So this festival of flatbread that goes on for generations all starts with, we didn't have time to let the bread rise. And so now we're going to eat flatbread to remember what a hurry we were in as, as God was rushing us out of our place of enslavement.

Chapter 14 is a beautiful story of, of God coming in at that moment when they're in desperation and opening up the sea for them. Maybe you're curious about where this actually happened. And if you are, I would commend the work of Jim Hoffmeier to you.

He's got, he's an evangelical Egyptologist and he has a new book, a new edition of his book called Israel in and out of Egypt. That's coming out soon. That brings together all the geological and archeological and textual evidence to determine that the Israelites crossed what's, what was known as the bitter lakes, which had lots of reeds.

It was very reedy, but it was deep enough water that they had like piers and docks for boats. And then it was connected up to the Mediterranean sea. And then it, so these lakes aren't there anymore because when they dug the Suez canal, it drained all the water from the lakes.

So we can't just like look on our maps and find the spot because the terrain has changed since then. But based on all of the different locations that are mentioned and their study of the different sites and identifying which one's which, he believes they crossed the Bala lakes or bitter lakes into the Sinai peninsula. And this is amazing because they're, God leads them intentionally to a place where they're going to feel desperate, where they're going to be trapped against the water so that he can split the sea for them and bring them through.

They're terrified. They cry out to the Lord. Moses says, stand firm and you will see the deliverance Yahweh will bring you today.

And then God tells Moses to raise his staff, stretch it over the sea to divide the water. So the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. There's echoes here of creation in Genesis one, where God divides the sea from the dry land and separates them.

And in the dry land emerges so that they can live. And here the dry land is emerging so that they can cross. It says, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them.

And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. Then the angel of God who'd been traveling in front of Israel's army withdrew and went behind them.

The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel throughout the night. The cloud brought darkness to one side and light to another side. So neither went near the other all night long.

Another evidence of the presence of God with them protecting. And then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, the same hand that brought about so many of these signs and wonders in Egypt now stretched over the sea. And all that night Yahweh drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land.

The waters were divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left. This is how we know it wasn't just like low tide, right? This is a miraculous crossing where God has split the waters. The Egyptians pursue them.

Uh, they're, they're coming, they're coming out. Okay, we'll go too. And they walk right into the trap and he jams the wheels of their chariots.

So they have difficulty driving and then they conclude, let's get away from the Israelites. Yahweh is fighting for them against Egypt, which is exactly what's happening. So Moses stretches out his hand again, the waters sweep back over the, over the Egyptians and cover the chariots and horsemen and all of them drown.

Now I mentioned, uh, in an earlier session that traditionally we count 10 plagues, but that I think there are 12 and we should call them the signs and wonders. So if we think of the traditional 10 plagues, uh, the, the one we're adding to the beginning is the staff that turns into a snake. And the one we're adding at the end is the sea that swallows the, the fair, the army of Pharaoh.

What's really cool is that that when the staff turns into a snake, God initially tells Moses to throw down the staff and it will turn into a Nahash, a snake, just a regular snake. But when he actually does it in chapter seven, he throws down the staff and it turns into a Tanin, which is a sea serpent. And then his sea serpent swallows the sea serpent of Pharaoh.

And then when you get to chapter 14 and 15, the sea swallows the army of Pharaoh. And so I think there's really intentional, uh, warning in this first sign that God does against Pharaoh. He's like saying, look what I can do.

And if you continue to, uh, be rebellious against me, if you continue to be stubborn, then I'm going to swallow you whole. And that's exactly what he does at the end. So then they sing about it.

Um, verse 31, chapter 1431 says when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared Yahweh and put their trust in him and in Moses, his servant. And then they sing about what God has done. I mean, I think I'd sing after such a relief, like not only are they free, but there ain't nobody who's going to come after them anymore because the army is gone.

I will sing to Yahweh for he's highly exalted, both horse and driver. He has hurled into the sea. Uh, it's common to have horse and rider.

That's what we sing horse and rider thrown into the sea, you know, the old song, but they didn't ride horses back then they used horse, they hitched them up to chariots to drive. So, so the rider, uh, in Hebrew is referring to the person riding in the chariot that's being pulled by the horse. It wasn't until later in history that they had horseback riding, uh, in battle.

Yahweh is my strength and my defense. He has become my salvation. This is the first place in the Bible where, uh, Yahweh is referred to as a savior, uh, who brings salvation.

He is my God and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. This is profound because Moses finally knows who his father is. He's, he's identifying fully with the people of Israel.

Yahweh is a warrior. Yahweh is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army, he has hurled into the sea.

Now this is where we get a poetic retelling of what's happened. Pharaoh and his army drove into the sea, right? They, they went there themselves, but, but in, in this poetic imagination, Yahweh is hurling them. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the sea of reeds.

The deep waters have covered them. They sank to the depths like a stone. Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power.

Your right hand shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger and it consumed them like stubble.

Stubble is what they had to spread out all over Egypt to try to collect enough of to make bricks. And now Pharaoh's being, Pharaoh's army is being consumed like stubble, which is to say really fast. It's very flammable.

Then we get a very poetic imagination. By the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up. So that wind that blew all night long is now conceived of as Yahweh's breath from his nostrils that is piling up the waters.

The surging waters stood up like a wall. The deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy boasted, I will pursue.

I will overtake them. I'll divide the spoils. I'll gorge myself on them.

I'll draw my sword and my hand will destroy them. But you blew with your breath and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who among the gods is like you, Yahweh? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? Most of us in Christian contexts grew up thinking of there only being one God, but Israel's coming out of a context in which there are many gods. And now they know that Yahweh is greater than any other rivals. Who is like you among the gods reflects this environment that they've come out of.

You stretch out your right hand and the earth swallows your enemies. This is the swallowing language that I told you we found here. In your unfailing love, you will lead the people you've redeemed.

In your strength, you will guide them to your holy dwelling. So here we transition from the defeat of Pharaoh at the sea to where is this all going? And the place it's going is to worship God at the mountain, at his dwelling place. The nations will hear and tremble.

Anguish will grip the people of Philistia. The chiefs of Edom will be terrified. The leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling.

The people of Canaan will melt away. Terror and dread will fall on them. This is true, of course, in Joshua when they get into Canaan and they hear from Rahab, she says, all of us are melting in fear.

So she is testifying that the people of Canaan are melting away. She actually quotes this song. By the power of your arm, they will be as still as a stone until your people pass through Yahweh.

Until the people you brought, bought to pass by, you will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. The place Yahweh you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established. Yahweh reigns forever and ever.

This is the first time in the Bible where Yahweh is said to be king. Yahweh Malach. Malach is the verbal form of Melech, which means king.

So Pharaoh claimed to be king, but now Yahweh is said to be king and he will reign forever and ever. So at this point, Miriam enters the scene. The narrator tells us that Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand and all the women followed her with timbrels and dancing.

Now she's also Moses' sister, so why say Aaron's sister here? I think it's because she's functioning similarly to Aaron. She's echoing the song and leading the people. Moses is still the ultimate leader, but Aaron and Miriam are like his echoes that go around and lead the people.

It says timbrel, but this is not a tambourine with flappy jingly things on it. It's a drum. They didn't have tambourines at this point in history.

They had drums. So she takes a hand drum and all the women follow her and they're engaging in circle dancing and playing their drums, which is what you do when a successful army comes home from battle. You greet them with a song of celebration, celebrating their victory, and she's leading all of them in song.

Sing to Yahweh, for he is highly exalted, both horse and driver he's hurled into the sea. So the Miriam who was witness to God's delivering work on the shores of the Nile is now bearing witness to Yahweh as deliverer at the shores of the sea, and she's leading the people in this. She says, sing to Yahweh, and then they do a much longer song.

In the rest of the chapter, Moses and the Israelites sang this longer song. So it's a beautiful story, a wonderful climax to God's delivering work in Egypt, and I think we see a glimpse here of the value of celebrating feasts. The Passover feast is what makes sure, what ensures that the people will understand that God has saved them and that they won't forget.

This is, of course, what's happening when we take communion together in church. Communion is the tangible sensory reminder of Christ's redeeming work on the cross, and by communing regularly and repeating that story regularly, we don't lose sight of what Christ accomplished for us. As soon as we forget, we start going off the rails, we start drifting.

And so the feasts, this one and the other feasts that come up later in the book, are all part of that identity formation and keeping that alive for the people.