Exodus 14
The Victory at the Red Sea
Ex 14:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:
Jehovah gave divine information to Moses.
2 “Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it.
This seems like a military blunder. The Jews were pinned in by the wilderness on one side and the Red Sea on the other.
3 Pharaoh will think regarding the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around confused in the land – the desert has closed in on them.’
Pharaoh will think that Israel is inexperienced in military strategy. This was a suicidal military blunder.
4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them. I will gain honor because of Pharaoh and because of all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So this is what they did.
After Jehovah performs His next miracle, Egypt will know that Jehovah is the one true God. “You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that--and tremble with fear.” (James 2:7) Some of the Egyptians became believers, as God used this miracle as an efficacious call which they could not resist.
5 When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, “What in the world have we done? For we have released the people of Israel from serving us!”
At one time, the servants of Pharaoh were angry at Pharaoh for not driving the Jews out of Egypt. Now that the Jews had left, the servants realized that their national economic structure was in shambles. There would be no more free labor. They wanted their slaves back.
6 Then he prepared his chariots and took his army with him.
Egypt was a strong military nation with one of the largest chariot cavalries in the known world.
7 He took six hundred select chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, and officers on all of them.
For many years, skeptics accused the Bible of exaggerating the size of the 600 Egyptian chariots. In 1997, on the site of the city of Ramses II, German archeologists unearthed enough stables for at least 500 horses and chariots.
8 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly.
Jehovah allowed Pharaoh to continue to act upon his total depravity and sinful nature. When God leaves the unregenerate man alone, he will not be able to discern the truth of God, even if ten miracles are done right in front of his eyes. If unchecked, the unregenerate man will oppress, enslave, or exterminate all believers from this earth. He will worship demons through creation. He will choose the Anti-christ as world leader. He will censor, attack, and execute those who teach the Bible. He will pass anti-biblical laws which support homosexuality, lesbianism, abortion, feminism, secular humanism, evolution, racism, socialism, and multiculturalism.
9 The Egyptians chased after them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-Zephon.
The Pharaoh’s army attempted to enslave the Jews. They were in violation of the Abrahamic Covenant.
10 When Pharaoh got closer, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified. The Israelites cried out to the Lord,
Jehovah promised the Israelites that He would deliver them from Egypt, so Israel should not have shown so much fear. After all, Israel had witnessed the miraculous deliverance of the ten plagues.
11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What in the world have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
Egypt was known for its pyramids. The graves that the Jews were talking about were the Egyptian pyramids, which were basically cities of the dead. The Jews saw ten miracles of God, but they still did not believe that Jehovah could save them. Faith comes with the infusion of Bible doctrine, not the observance or miracles. Charismatics have this faith method backwards.
12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, because it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’ ”
This was not a cry for help, but whining.
13 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again.
The Hebrew word for “salvation” is יְשׁוּעָה (Yeshua), which is the Hebrew word for Jesus.
14 The Lord will fight for you, and you can be still.”
Jehovah, the covenant keeping God, will fight for Israel. Egypt violated the Abrahamic Covenant. They attacked Jehovah’s firstborn. Therefore, they would receive the kind-for-kind curse.
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
Jehovah told Moses that the Jews needed to quit complaining and start moving into the water. Christians need to quit being crybabies. They’re to study Bible doctrine at the deepest level and enter into the battle.
16 And as for you, lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground.
Moses was to lift his staff and divide the Red Sea. Jehovah wanted all of Israel to see that Moses was given the divine call of God. The miracles of Moses authenticated his call, just as the miracles of Jesus and the apostles would later authenticate their call.
17 And as for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will come after them, that I may be honored because of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen.
Jehovah would fulfill His promise of the Abrahamic Covenant and be honored. All of the angelic world, the Jews, and future readers of Scripture would understand that Jehovah is the God who keeps His promises.
18 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Not only will the Jews know Jehovah, but the Egyptians will know Him as well. Some will know Him and shudder. Some will know Him and believe.
All atheists and agnostics know that there is a God, because God has revealed Himself through nature, conscience, and Scripture. The Egyptians also had the revelation of God through His word and through His miracles, so those Egyptians who rejected God are without excuse. They will receive an even more severe judgment in eternity.
Skeptics who have heard the Word of God and rejected it will also receive a more severe judgment. Agnostics are insulting God, because they are accusing God of not giving them enough evidence to believe. Atheists are fools (Psalm 14:1), because God has revealed Himself to them, but they rejected this divine knowledge from God and continued to live their life in sin.
Those Christ-rejecters who attack Christ through other believers are actively fighting with satanic forces against God’s elect. They are sticking their finger in God’s eye, daring Him to move. “God is slow and patient and not willing for any to perish.” He will patiently await for their cup of iniquity to fill, and then He will move in perfect justice. God would not be God if He did not judge evil. The most evil thing that a person can do is to reject Christ, blaspheme God, and move against His firstborn (which is Israel), or against His children who will one day co-reign with Him (the church).
19The angel of God, who was going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.
The Shekinah Glory moved behind Israel to protect His firstborn.
20 It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other the whole night.
Notice that the Egyptian camp was enveloped in darkness, but the Jewish camp was lit up at night.
21Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided.
The East wind dried up the ground during the night. Modern liberals do not accept this miracle, because of the total depravity of their sinful nature. Even if God moved modern skeptics back in time to witness this miracle, they would still reject it and blaspheme God. Unless God intervenes and opens their eyes, they will remain biased in their thinking.
22 So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
The Israelites traveled through the parted Red Sea.
23 The Egyptians chased them and followed them into the middle of the sea – all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.
The Egyptians hated the chosen people of God so much, that even after ten plagues, they chased them into the Red Sea to kill them or enslave them.
24 In the morning watch the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army into a panic.
Jehovah caused panic among the Egyptian army. Jehovah can do this, because He is omnipotent. “There is nothing too great for the Lord.”
25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving, and the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from Israel, for the Lord fights for them against Egypt!”
The 600 chariots all experienced wheel problems, all at the same time. The chariot cavalry recognized that they were fighting against Jehovah.
26 The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sea, so that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen!”
Moses would perform this miracle to authenticate to the observing Jews that his message and mission was from God. Korah and his sons were watching.
27 So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state when the sun began to rise. Now the Egyptians were fleeing before it, but the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.
This rich and wealthy Egyptian River Valley Civilization became a nation of poverty. Many of the Egyptian cavalry soldiers may have believed in Jehovah before their death.
28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea – not so much as one of them survived!
Skeptics doubt this miracle, because the Egyptians make no mention of this in their literature. First of all, Pharaoh’s scribes would not write about this defeat. Second, if they did write these events on papyrus, it would disintegrate naturally after about 100 years. Third, they would not dare paint these historical events on their walls.
Many liberals claim that the Jewish authors of Scripture misspelled “Reed Sea.” They claim that this “Red Sea” was actually the shallow “Reed Sea,” but it was misspelled. They falsely claim there was no miracle. The Jews just simply walked through the shallow waters of the Reed Sea. If this was true, then how did the shallow Reed Sea drown the entire Egyptian army? Skeptics hate the Bible so much, that they must result to fanciful interpretations to make the Bible fit their own human speculations.
29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
This was a miraculous escape. What are the chances of a slave nation escaping the mightiest nation of the world without weapons of war?
30 So the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea.
Jehovah fulfilled the Abrahamic Covenant kind-for-kind. The mighty chariot cavalry of Egypt had no chance against Jehovah.
31 When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had exercised over the Egyptians, they feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
According to Psalm 106:7, this belief was only temporary. The Israelites eventually forgot the works of God. They would later only possess a temporary faith in Moses.