15:1. “Then
sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake,
saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the
horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”
This, the first biblical
reference to singing, reminds us of the important place singing has in the
worship of the Church, though it is to be noted that it was David who
instituted the use of instrumental music in connection with Israel’s
worship, see 2 Chronicles 7:6; 29:27; 35:15. There is no scriptural
authority for the use of instrumental music in connection with the worship
of the Church, see Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16. We are to express our
worship in prayers and singing, but not to play instruments. The silence of
God relative to instrumental music in the Church may not be construed as His
permission to use it.
Jehovah’s utter defeat of
the Egyptians foreshadows the greater victory accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ at Calvary, where by His death and resurrection He annulled Satan’s
power, and dealt him a mortal wound, the arch fiend’s activity today being
but his death throes. Nor should we overlook the fact that it was by
submitting himself on our behalf to the overwhelming waters of Divine wrath,
that the Lord won that great victory, and delivered us from the power of
death, the hymnist having described that victory in the words, “In weakness
and defeat, He won the meed and crown; trod all our foes beneath His feet by
being trodden down.”
15:2. “The
Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God,
and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt
him.”
When Moses penned these
words he was writing as the spokesman of the redeemed of every age. When
Christ won that great victory at Calvary He did what we lacked the power to
do; and inherent in the words “he is my God” is the implication that our
gratitude is to be expressed in the presentation of obedient lives. As God
He has the right to command our worship, but He has chosen to be also our
Redeemer so that our worship might be the spontaneous gratitude of redeemed
hearts expressed in obedient lives, rather than the compelled obedience of
slaves.
Relative to the
preparation of “an habitation,” the literal reference is to the preparation
of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple which replaced it; but in the case
of believers of this present Church age Paul reminds us that we are the
habitation of God through the Holy Spirit who indwells us, “Know ye not that
ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1
Corinthians 3:16, see also 1 Corinthians 6:19, and 2 Corinthians 6:16.
“... I will exalt him” is
also rendered I will set Him on high: I will give Him glory: I will extol
Him.
15:3. “The
Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.”
Implicit in the Lord’s
being a man of war is the fact of His fighting against some one or some
thing, i.e., Satan and his infernal hosts, and all men who reject Christ as
Savior; but there is also the refutation of the false teaching of those who
present Him as being too loving to consign anyone to hell and the lake of
fire, in spite of the clear teaching of Scripture to the contrary.
“... the Lord is his name”
is simply another way of saying that He is omnipotent.”
15:4.
“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen
captains also are drowned in the Red sea.”
15:5. “The
depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.”
In the eyes of men that
Egyptian army was the epitome of power, but when confronted with God’s
omnipotence it might as well have been composed of ants. It was powerless.
Horses, chariots, captains, soldiers: all were swept to perdition by the
waters under God’s control. Their destruction may well be a foreshadowing
of the casting of the unconverted into the dreadful lake of fire following
the judgment of the great white throne.
15:6. “Thy
right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord,
hath dashed in pieces the enemy.”
As God was glorified in
His destruction of Pharaoh’s hosts that day, so will He also be in His
ultimate consignment to the eternal torment of the lake of fire of everyone
who dies in unbelief. What folly then for men to glorify Him by unrepentant
rebellion, when they could more easily, and to their own everlasting
blessing, glorify Him by confessing their sinfulness, and by trusting in the
Lord Jesus Christ as Savior!
15:7. “And in
the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up
against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.”
“... excellency” is also
translated glory, triumph, splendor. Just by virtue of what He is
inherently, and by His effortless control of all things, He destroyed
Egypt’s armies as fire consumes dry grass. If rebel humanity could but
grasp the power inherently resident in Deity they would tremble to
transgress even in thought, much less in word and deed.
15:8. “And
with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods
stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the
sea.”
The blast or breath of
God’s nostrils is a type of the Holy Spirit, see e.g., John 20:22, “... he
breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” and Acts
2:2-4, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of
them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
This is also translated
the waters were piled up: were massed together: were parted: stood erect
like a bank: upreared like a mound: stood upright like a dyke: were
compacted like a wall; while the latter part of the verse is rendered
deep waters became solid.
God can just as easily
liquefy solids as He can solidify liquid. Water and rock alike are subject
to His control, not only as to what they do, but as to what they are. By
the use of cold He makes the waters of the sea as solid rock, and by the use
of heat He melts the rock so that molten mountains flow like water at His
command. Consider, for example, His destruction of Pompeii.
And this is the Almighty
God against Whom puny man dares to shake his little fist in ignorant and
impotent defiance!
15:9. “The
enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust
shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy
them.”
A partial variant
rendering of this is, I will apportion the spoil; I will divide the plunder;
I will glut my vengeance. And this has been the arrogant shout of every
tyrant against the Jews, from that day to this, the most recent attempt to
destroy them being that of Nazi Germany during World War II.
In the impending Great
Tribulation the Beast will also seek to annihilate them, but every such
attempt is doomed to failure, for they are God’s chosen people, and He will
not permit them to be destroyed.
15:10. “Thou
didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the
mighty waters.”
Wind is one of the symbols
of the Holy Spirit, see John 3:8, “The wind blows where it listeth (chooses,
pleases) .... so is every one that is born of the Spirit,” and Acts 2:2-4,
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind
.... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost ....” The sea was divided
by the power of the Holy Spirit, represented here by the wind. It was He
Who destroyed the Egyptian host.
15:11. “Who is
like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders (miracles)?”
“... gods” may not be
taken to mean that there are other gods besides Jehovah. The word is more
correctly rendered the celestials: the mighty: the angelic hosts.
“... glorious in holiness”
is also rendered in holy glory: majestic in holiness: honorable in
holiness: gloriously supreme.
“... fearful in praises”
is also translated revered and praised: awful: terrible in glorious
deeds: awe-inspiring in renown: awesome in splendor.
15:12. “Thou
stretchest out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.”
The right hand is the
scriptural symbol of strength or power; and the Egyptians are described as
having been swallowed by the earth because the sea is a constituent part of
the earth.
15:13. “Thou
in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast
guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.”
“... thy holy habitation”
as used here is clearly not descriptive of heaven, but rather, of the land
of Canaan as the special earthly dwelling place He had chosen for redeemed
Israel. Their dwelling in it was to be marked by holiness as an expression
of their gratitude for His having provided it for them. Our gratitude for
His having given us heaven as our eternal dwelling place ought to be
expressed by holy living during our sojourn here on earth.
15:14. “The
people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants
of Palestina.”
In the present context
“the people” were the Philistines, the name of the land Palestina or
Palestine being a derivitive of Philistine, the name of both place and
people meaning wallowing; and the name was fitting, for the
Philistines were a people who wallowed or reveled in sin.
15:15. “Then
the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall
take hold upon them; and the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.”
Edom means red;
Moab, means from father: what father? from her [the mother’s] father;
and Canaan means a trafficker. Edom is another name for Esau, the
elder and twin brother of Jacob/Israel; and Moab was the son incestuously
begotten by Jacob through his firstborn daughter,
see Genesis 19:32-37, for
comments on which see the author’s commentary on Genesis, also available on
this web site.
The Canaanites represent
the evil associated with the flesh, and in God’s saying that “Canaan shall
melt away” we are being informed that everything pertaining to the flesh is
doomed to destruction.
15:16. “Fear
and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be
as still as a stone; till the people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass
over, which thou hast purchased.”
This was the assurance
that the Canaanites would be petrified with fear when the Israelites marched
out of Egypt through a divided Red Sea, and into Canaan through a divided
Jordan, their passage through the Red Sea speaking typologically of the
believer’s separation from this present evil world which occurs at the
moment of conversion; and their crossing Jordan representing the beginning
of the believer’s lifelong conflict with the powers of darkness which would
seek to oppose his taking possession of the spiritual riches made available
to him by God the moment he trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and
Lord. The two crossings are indicated in the twice repeated “till the people
pass over.”
The word purchased
may also be translated redeemed. The Israelites had become God’s
redeemed people through the blood of the Passover lamb. We have become His
redeemed people through the infinitely more precious blood of the true
Passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. How very far short we fall of
comprehending how precious, how priceless we are to God! He was willing to
redeem us to Himself by the blood of the One of Whom He has declared, “This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” Matthew 3:17.
15:17. “Thou
shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in
the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the
Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.”
“... the mountain of thine
inheritance” is Jerusalem. This is a poetical description of the Tabernacle
which was yet to be built, and in which they would assemble to worship the
Lord, that tent of meeting being itself not only a type of the Church, but
also of His heavenly dwelling place, into which every believer of every age
will ultimately be brought to dwell with Him eternally.
Since a mountain is used
metaphorically to denote a kingdom and the authority of its king, the
reference here goes beyond the earthly Tabernacle, and points to the throne
of God in heaven.
15:18. “The
Lord shall reign for ever and ever.”
The eternal existence and
dominion of God are emphatically declared in this brief sentence.
15:19. “For
the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into
the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the
children off Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.”
Scholars are disagreed as
to whether this means that Pharaoh himself perished with his army, and the
matter is immaterial, for the horse is a biblical symbol of strength, see
Psalm 147:10, “He delighteth not in the strength of the horse,” so that the
statement may mean simply that all the strength of Egypt was destroyed in
the sea; but the very element which God used to destroy the Egyptians He
divided to provide safe passage for His people Israel.
Since however, the sea
represents earth’s unconverted masses, see Psalm 57:20 “But the wicked are
like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and
dirt,” Israel’s safe passage through the sea may be the symbolic
announcement of the truth that God brings His own safely to heaven through
the sea of earth’s troubled human masses.
15:20. “And
Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and
all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.”
Miriam means their
rebellion, the evil significance of her name, and the contrast between
its meaning and her present conduct here, teaching us that God by grace is
able to subdue human rebellion, and make the believer an instrument for His
glory.
Since she was the sister
of Aaron the High Priest, and since the male symbolizes the activity of the
will; and the female, its passivity, this linking together of prophecy and
priesthood may be the symbolic reminder that our passivity under God’s hand
is to be balanced by a corresponding activity under that same hand. The
knowledge God gives us is to be declared to others for His glory, their
blessing, and our eternal profit.
As has been noted already,
the expression of worship by instrumental music, singing and dancing, was
legitimate in the OT age, but not in this present age of grace.
15:21. “And
Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”
Miriam “answered them” is
also rendered responded to the men: led them in the refrain: sang unto
them: chanted for them: taught them to sing.
15:22. “So
Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness
of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.”
Shur means beheld:
rampart (as a point of observation), the wilderness of Shur being in the
extreme northwest corner of the Arabian (Sinai) Peninsula.
The meaning of the name
reminds us that however much our present state on earth may resemble that of
being in a barren wilderness, it is spiritually a rampart, a high place far
above that of the unconverted, where we are constantly under God’s watchful
eye and protecting care. And since three is the biblical number of
resurrection, their having gone three day’s journey speaks of their being on
resurrection ground. Their position and state is a symbolic picture of our
own. The world has become a wilderness for those who through faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ find that world incapable of furnishing anything that
would nurture our new spiritual life. We have become dead to that world, as
it is written, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,”
Galatians 2:20.
“... and found no water.”
He who shortly after conversion hasn’t found himself spiritually in the same
situation, is a rare individual. Water is a scriptural symbol of the
written Word, see Ephesians 5:26, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it
(the Church) with the washing of water by the word.” The new believer
however, hasn’t had time to know more of the Word than that which has to do
with his receiving salvation. The deeper truths of Scripture are as yet a
mystery to him. He has still to learn to read and study the Word so that it
becomes milk to cause his new spiritual life to grow, as it is written, “As
newborn babes, desire the sincre milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby,” 1 Peter 2:2. He has also to learn that it is also water to
refresh and cleanse him, see Psalm 119:9, “Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” All of this
is unknown to the new convert. These are things he has to learn from his
personal study of the Word, and from teaching; and until he does begin to
learn them he is spiritually in the same place as was Israel literally when
they stood on the edge of the desert “and found no water.”
15:23. “And
when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for
they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.”
15:24. “And
the people murmured (complained) against Moses, saying, What shall we
drink?”
15:25. “And he
cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast
into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a
statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.”
Marah means he
rebelled: bitterness, and as the sequel reveals, those waters are a type
of the written Word, which is the presentation of Christ the living Word
provided by God for the cleansing and refreshment of men in the midst of the
rebellion and bitterness of this evil world which is a spiritual desert.
The tree, cut down and
cast into the waters, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ “cut down” at
Calvary as man’s Substitute, and cast into the bitter waters of God’s fierce
anger against sin as announced in the Scriptures. Note, for example, that
in Psalms 69:1,2,14,15; 88:6,7,16-17 the Lord’s death is presented under the
figure of His being cast - like the tree we are here considering - into the
bitter waters of God’s righteous wrath against sin; and it is only when men
see Christ, as their Substitute, “cast into the (bitter) waters” of Divine
wrath at Calvary, that Scripture, which is bitter water condemning the
unbeliever, becomes the sweet water justifying and comforting the believer.
Statute
and ordinance are almost the same, statute meaning a thing
appointed: custom: manner; and ordinance meaning verdict:
sentence: charge. The two together embrace virtually all that God has
appointed for the regulation of man’s life; and as the men of the OT age
were tested or proved by the written Word, so does that same standard
measure men today.
15:26. “And
said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and
wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his
commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases
upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that
healeth thee.”
The Israelites’ obedience
would preserve them from chastisement, and secure God’s blessing; and the
same principle governs man’s relationship with God today.
15:27. “And
they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten
palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.”
Elim means mighty ones;
and twelve is the number of those under God’s government, e.g., the
twelve tribes of Israel; and the Church which is built upon the foundation
of the doctrine taught by the twelve Apostles.
The meaning of mighty
ones declares the truth that because of the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit there is resident within the believer’s body all the mighty power of
God, so that we can say with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me,” Philippians 4:13.
Elim may speak also of
God’s protecting care of His own, exercised through the angels whom He has
appointed to guard them; and the twelve wells of water may portray the
cleansing and refreshment of the written Word enjoyed by those who obey it.
Since seven is the
number of perfection or completeness seventy simply amplifies that
meaning. The palm tree speaks of righteousness, see e.g., “The righteous
shall flourish like the palm tree,” Psalm 92:12, so that the truth being
declared here in the seventy palm trees is that God sees Israel, not as she
has been and still is, but as she will be in the Millennium, manifesting the
perfect righteousness of her redeemed state in corresponding righteous
living. Her camping at Elim appears to be the typological foreshadowing of
that coming glorious millennial day.
As has been noted already
however, Israel is the OT type of the NT Church, so that her encampment at
Elim foreshadows the millennial and also the eternal glory of the believers
of this present Church age.