Have You Ever Felt Completely Stuck? (Exodus 13-15:21)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Have you ever felt stuck and walled in by your enemies?

That’s where the Hebrew people are in this passage. Exodus 13:17-18 says,

“¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.” ¹⁸ So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation.”

The Ten Plagues were acts of de-creation that led up to the main event. But as Peter Enns notes, “The parting of the water at Moses’ command is the ultimate creation reversal. In Genesis 1:9, the seas come together and separate themselves from the dry land. Here, the seas are split open to expose the land beneath.”^[1] Enns goes on to say that,

In both episodes, the result is that “dry land” appears, though in Exodus this has a different purpose. In Genesis 1, the dry land brings forth the myriad of creatures who will live there. So too in Exodus, the dry land will give life to the Israelites. For the Egyptians, however, this act of “creation” is reversed, for it brings death, not life. As such, it is not just a creation reversal, but the ultimate payback for Pharaoh’s attempt to kill the Israelite firstborn in the waters of the Nile.[2]

In Exodus 14:13-15, Moses tells his people to stand firm before crying out to God for help. Exodus 14:21-22 tells us something about the way God works with humanity. It says, ²¹ “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, ²² and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.”

God asks for obedience and invites us to participate, but he is the one who saves us. How did God part the Red Sea? Some have suggested natural phenomena can explain this, but Scripture does not take this view.

In Genesis, we see a series of mini-exoduses, such as Abraham’s journey into and out of Egypt. Then, there is the obvious connection between the Exodus, the waters of creation, and Noah’s Flood. “The Exodus was in mind already in Genesis. To put it somewhat boldly, Genesis was written for the purpose of bringing us to Exodus.”^[3]

“In other words,” Enns writes, “the release of Israelite slaves from Egypt is not so much a series of similar stories, but one grand story told in a number of similar ways. In Genesis Yahweh is not only the Creator-God, he is also the Deliverer-God. ^[4]

A Meditation to PRAY

Praise | I praise you for being the God who delivers.

Release | I will keep my eyes on you, not the enemies surrounding me. I choose to trust you.

Ask | Help me stand firm in your truth and walk in obedience.

Yield | I give you the story of my life. Use it for your glory.

A Challenge to Act Like Christ  

The Exodus shapes God’s people and helps us understand God’s redeeming nature. As Peter Enns notes, “In one sense the Bible as a whole can be summarized as the story of God’s intervening to bring his chosen people out of a foreign, hostile place and back to the chosen land, back to Eden. The full depth of this pattern of divine activity becomes clear through the person and work of Christ.”[5]

Here are a few examples:

• On the Mount of Transfiguration, “Jesus is not just discussing with Moses and Elijah his death, but the significance of his death, which is nicely summarized by exodos. Jesus’ death is his departure, his Exodus, from this life to the next. He is a new Moses, leading the way for God’s people to a new mode of existence. He is a new Moses, leading God’s people to a new chosen land.”^[6]
• Speaking to the importance of baptism, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2, Paul says, ¹“Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” Thus, through baptism, Christians have their own Exodus experience.
• In Revelation 18:21, John writes of Babylon, “Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea,” bringing flashbacks to the Exodus. “In the end, Babylon will, like Pharaoh and his army before them, meet a violent end, like a huge millstone thrown “into the sea” (Rev. 18:21). Babylon will meet a watery death, in symbolic terms, and the final Exodus will be complete.”^[7]

It's no wonder that Jesus says in John 5:24, ²⁴ “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.” Like the Hebrews, we, too, have an enemy named Satan. His demonic forces are intent on destroying us. Jesus came to this earth to do much more than deliver us from sticky situations. He came to save us from hell and eternal separation from God. But when we place our hope in Christ, we pass from the shores of certain death to abundant life.

And as you do, you’ll be able to sing the song of the redeemed in Exodus 15:2 and say, “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”

*Unless you specify otherwise, comments and questions you ask may be featured in upcoming podcast episodes.

[1] Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 274.

[2] Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 274.

^[3]Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 285.

[4] Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 285.

[5] Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 285

^[6]Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 292.

^[7]Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 292.