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: