February 16 – Exodus Week 7

Main Focus: God’s guidance and invitation to follow him are a part of his saving work and grace.

Our series thus far has included many of the familiar stories from Exodus; perhaps it’s had you thinking of scenes from popular depictions like “The Prince of Egypt” (or, for a niche audience, the Rugrats Passover episode). This week is a quintessential moment in the exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, and here we’ll take a look at what was going on in the hearts of God’s people, what God was doing all along, and how this informs the way we relate to him today.

Last week we observed the liberation of Israel through the Passover, but almost immediately their newfound freedom is at risk. Pharaoh orders his forces to return his slaves, a rather swift reversal considering how crushed he seemed by the tenth plague. This was a man who had just lost his own firstborn child, and yet he still intends to resist the God of the Israelites.

We’ll get to why he was so obstinate in just a moment, but first in discussion we’ll observe Israel’s initial reaction, their own swift reversal from assured confidence to panic. Plus a dash of spite; their comment to Moses about their not being enough graves in Egypt assumes God has abandoned them (which they had at least ten plagues and emancipation to prove otherwise) and that they would surely die before God would fulfill his word to bring them into the Promised Land. It is, in short, an assumption that, regardless of what God had done up to that point, he would either forsake or fail them.

We’ll then take two questions to observe and unpack how God explains this whole event. In verse 4 we read yet again about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart such that he would yet again try to force his control over God’s people. And yet God allows this pursuit in order to “get glory” over him. That phrase helps us see what God is all about here. Strictly speaking, God cannot gain anymore glory than he already has; nothing can be added to his majesty or given to him that he does not already have (Romans 11:33-36). So, when God works to “get glory,” he acts in such a way as to reveal and highlight his glory in the world, and he does so for two different audiences. In the same stroke he masters his enemies and strikes fear in their hearts while saving his people and inspiring love in theirs.

We’ll then ask how this whole ordeal must have made the people of Israel feel about their God. That’ll give us an opportunity to notice how they likely felt both awe, joy, and love towards their saving God, and likely some disquiet when they saw dead Egyptians on the shore (v.30). There is an inescapable brutality to this story, particularly to folks with modern sensibilities; God’s enemies were utterly crushed, and Egyptian charioteers paid the price for their Pharaoh’s pride. Perhaps, as we ask how Israel felt, we can see how God’s actions here can lead us in a awe filled reverence for this all powerful, just, and holy God.

However, if you look at Israel’s response, it’s largely just praise given to God for delivering his people yet again. In the song of Moses in Exodus 15 you’ll see a dual theme of God’s salvation and judgment; somehow God can act to accomplish both simultaneously, resulting in the praise due to him from the people who receive his salvation. That is, first and foremost, how the parting of the Red Sea relates to the cross, the ultimate place in which we see God’s judgment and salvation, his wrath towards sin and his mercy towards sinners, on display. You can add to that relation God’s characteristic flourish of producing a way of salvation where there didn’t seem to be a way.

All this helps us know what this story might mean for us today. As we’ve noted in previous weeks, we deal with the exact same God who, unlike us, never changes. And, through Christ, the story of Exodus 14 is our story, too, and yet our receiving grace from God through the cross is an even greater miracle than their feet touching the sea bed. And, just like this one event can contain both salvation and judgment, we can hold two feelings simultaneously towards God as we read this: both a loving devotion to our Savior and a reverent respect for God’s just and holy ways.