[And He Walks With Me] Exodus 14
2 The location of Pi Hahiroth is unclear, and scholars debate whether they have enough information even to investigate the matter. It would seem that Pi comes from the Egyptian language, but Hahiroth is nonsensical in Egyptian. It may come from Hebrew meaning the “mouth of waters.” Archaeologists in the mid-1970s uncovered the remains of an ancient canal which paralleled the boundary between Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. Thus, some scholars suggest this term should be seen as the Israelites’ name for the place where this canal met the Sea of Reeds, which would have been one of the lakes connected by the canal.[77]
3 The same thought – namely, They are wandering around the land in confusion – must have occurred to the Israelites. Sometimes, God leads on paths which seem counterproductive or at least meandering. It is tempting in these moments to assume he is confused and so reclaim the reins. However, it must be remembered that detours such as this create opportunities for God to prove and glorify himself yet again. If Israel had stopped following when God made this unexpected turn, they would have missed the events of vss 15-31 and deprived God the opportunity to neutralize what would have been their greatest threat in the Promised Land: a belligerent, resurgent Egypt. Be faithful and keep following, even when God leads on detours.
6-8 The match-up here is almost comical. The Israelites… were going out defiantly (lit., “with a high hand”). Previously, they were described as emerging from Israel in military divisions (see 12:17, 40, 51) as if they were a great army, and indeed, they may have been lined up in some semblance of a military formation. This, however, did not negate the fact that they were just emerging from slavery and therefore realistically had very few actual weapons. Moreover, any military formation was slowed down by the throng of children and elderly, not to mention all the stuff and livestock they were toting with them. The Israelite column, then, was littered with cows, goats, and carts filled with stuff. In contrast, because its army was comprised primarily of second and third sons who were not in line to assume control of the father’s estate and profession,[78] Egypt could still field a respectable army including six hundred of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one. The number of chariots is surprisingly large. Historians typically estimate ancient Egypt could field 200-250 chariots, and it is possible that even those numbers were exaggerated.[79] Yet, even if the number of chariots is inflated, by the thirteenth century BC, the Egyptian army consisted of four divisions of approximately 5,000 soldiers each.[80] Each division was organized into companies of 250, which were further divided into platoons of 50, and included at least fifty two-man chariots.[81] These were largely professional soldiers, though the Egyptians often included foreign mercenaries on offensive campaigns.[82] This, then, was a proper army, with all of the proper military training, weapons, and equipment, and it made sense that such a force would quickly overtake the ragtag former slaves of Israel. Even if the Egyptians could muster only 20,000 soldiers (4 divisions x 5,000 soldiers each), it was immediately obvious that Israel was outgunned and outclassed.
11-14 In stark contrast to their claim in verse 12, the people were keen to believe God’s promise when Moses first delivered it in Exodus 4:29-31. When Moses’ first confrontation of Pharaoh did not result in their immediate release, but actually caused their suffering to intensify, they complained. Similarly, there is no indication they complained or resisted in Exodus 12:35-36 when the Egyptians gave them silver and gold items and… clothing, or in 13:17-22 when God led them out of Egypt by the pillar of cloud… and… pillar of fire. Yet, when the Egyptian army appeared, they suddenly “recalled” protesting, Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians. Put another way, as long as things were good, they were happy to go along, but whenever God’s calling grew difficult, they supposedly knew it was a bad idea all along. The challenge of faith is to remember what a good idea God’s will was when things were good, even when they are not, and the challenge of leadership is to remain steadfastly focused on the mission regardless of how well (or poorly) it seems to be going at the moment.
Sometimes, the only thing a saint can do is stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation. For all the talk in chapter 12 about the Israelites leaving Egypt in military divisions, there was no mistaking that the former slaves were hopelessly outclassed by the professional soldiers, chariots, and associated accoutrements of the Egyptian army. To see the seemingly overwhelming danger or insurmountable obstacle and yet remain committed to the calling and promise of God is an act of profound faith. It is truly acting on the belief that the Lord will fight for you and accepting that he will get all the credit and glory for the victory. In such moments, there is neither place for pride nor need for words. Indeed, “there is a time when dialogue becomes useless and both parties’ positions are entrenched.”[83] If God said it, he will do it.
15-18 The Syriac[84] text injects “Then Moses cried out to Yahweh” at the beginning of this verse. This resolves the non sequitur by making explicit what is implied at the end of verse 14. Durham asserts, “The inquiry of v 15 is… assumed to be a response to a complaint of Moses that is now lost.”[85] He imagines this complaint took a form similar to Exodus 17:3, and it is not difficult to envision such a thing. However, such a complaint would seem to short circuit Moses’ building exasperation with the Israelites throughout the rest of the account, which culminated in Numbers 20. I imagine Moses went to lead the people in prayer, but before he could say even a word, the Lord answered. God knows what we will ask even before we ask it, and he has already formulated and enacted a plan to meet the need from before the beginning of time. Sometimes, we must wait for him to act, but other times, he has been waiting for us. This is an example of the latter case, and now, it was time for action. God outlined three distinct roles. (1) Tell the Israelites to break camp. The people were to do the only thing they could in the situation. That is, they were to prepare themselves to move when God called. (2) Moses was to lift up [his] staff, stretch out [his] hand over the sea, and divide it. While this was technically not standing quietly by while the Lord unilaterally fought the battle against the Egyptians, it was still a far cry from playing the hero or rallying the troops to war. No one would think that Moses parted the sea by his own power simply by raising his staff. Rather, this action served to direct the people’s attention to God and his delivered salvation. (3) God was going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after [the Israelites]. Again, this is not exactly what was expected. No doubt, Moses and the Israelites were hoping for spontaneous combustion or a battle with a little more spectacle. Yet, baiting the Egyptian army into the divided sea after the Israelites was an exclamation point at the end of the first phase of the exodus. See note on 26-28.
19-22 While the pillar of cloud guarded Israel’s rear, a powerful east wind blew through the night turned the sea into dry land, dividing the waters so that they were like a wall to them on their right and their left. Whether this was the Red Sea proper, one of its gulfs, or even one of the lakes to the north of the Gulf of Suez is of no consequence. This was another clear miracle of the Lord. Notice, however, two critical characteristics of this miracle. Notice, first, the timing. The Lord guarded them all night long and the wind blew all that night. Not all miracles are instantaneous. Some take hours. Some take days. Some take months or even years to come to fruition. Saints must always remember that God’s timing is not the same as human timing, and just because a miracle may require time does not make it any less miraculous. Notice, second, the means. God used a powerful east wind to divide the sea and turn the seabed into dry land. Additionally, the Israelites went. That is, the people had to walk from one side of the sea to the other (29). Sometimes, miracles are purely supernatural as in Genesis 1, where God spoke and it was. Other times, he leverages natural elements such as the wind and the Israelites’ walking. Indeed, modern science recognizes the power of wind to move water from one place to another in the form of a storm surge, and if not for other bits of the story, modern readers might conclude this is the full explanation. Yet, the pillar of cloud and Moses’ outstretched arm reveal the supernatural nature of this event,[86] and the same east wind has blown through the region for thousands of years without dividing the sea a second time. This is the nature of miracles. Whether or not they incorporate natural elements is incidental. The far bigger question is whether the same results are reproducible in a predictable fashion. If not, then whether or not there were natural elements is incidental: it was a miracle.
21 There is only one ANE narrative which comes close to paralleling the events recorded here. This is surprising because biblical accounts often have distorted parallels in other contemporaneous sources. It is even more curious because the narrative in question is of Egyptian origin. In it, the king asked the priest to help overcome his boredom. The priest’s recommendation was to launch a boat on the palace lake, rowed by twenty naked women from the king’s harem. When one of the women dropped a piece of jewelry into the lake and insisted she would rather have her own piece rather than a reproduction, the priest used magical incantations to fold the water from one half of the lake onto the other, found the charm, and then returned the water to its original position. It is, of course, possible that the two accounts are completely unrelated. However, it is also possible that God designed the parting of the sea to make clear that he really had the power to divide water, in contrast to the Egyptian priests who had only a legend.[87]
24-25 The morning watch typically referred to the period 2-6 am. The term originated in the military, where the night was divided into watches for guard duty.[88] Here, it reveals that the Israelites walked through the night to cross the sea, and it was during the early morning hours that Egypt was finally allowed to give pursuit.
The Egyptians’ response to the sudden confusion is the culmination of the plagues, the pillar of cloud and fire which kept them at bay through the night, the parted sea, and now the swerving chariot wheels. Part of having a professional standing army meant that the gear of war was well-maintained. Mass failure of this sort was unheard. More important, though, is the implication of their statement: if the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt, then Pharaoh must not be a god at all.
26-28 Egyptian culture viewed the annual flooding of the Nile River as a critical way the gods provided for their agricultural success and prosperity. In contrast, the story of Noah, wherein the flood was God’s judgment against sinful man was foundational to the Israelite culture. By destroying the entire Egyptian army in the water, God poignantly demonstrated that the Egyptian understanding of divinity, morality, and power were on the wrong side of history.
30 There is no question as to the fate of the Egyptian army: Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. The effect of this miracle was predictable: the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses. This is an entirely appropriate response, but if one’s faith is predicated solely on a miracle, then one will always be searching for the next miracle so God can prove himself again. Moreover, in the absence of a steady diet of miracles, this sort of faith will inevitably wane. The measure of real faith is that it leverages what God has done in the past to look forward to what he will do in the future and so endures even when the miracle is not immediately forthcoming. See Daniel 3:16-18.
[77] Wells 2016, Exodus 14:2
[78] Vos 1999, 156
[79] Keener and Zondervan 2016, Exodus 14:7
[80] Vos 1999, 156
[81] Vos 1999, 156
[82] Vos 1999, 157
[83] Adeyemo 2010, Exodus 14:1-31
[84] The Syriac Old Testament is a translation of the Old Testament into Syriac, the dialect of Aramaic which Jesus most likely spoke, dated to the second century CE.
[85] Durham 2018, 192
[86] Carpenter and McCown 1992, Exodus 13:17-15:21
[87] Wells 2016, Exodus 14:21
[88] “Exodus 14:24 Study Bible”, n.d.