Exodus 14:19 Then the angel of
God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind
them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt
and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and
light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east
wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the
sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all
Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night
the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and
threw it into confusion. 25 He
jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And
the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is
fighting for them against Egypt." 26
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that
the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and
horsemen." 27 Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its
place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the
sea. 28 The water flowed back
and covered the chariots and horsemen--the entire army of Pharaoh that had
followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 29 But the Israelites went through the
sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from
the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the
shore. 31 And when the
Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the
people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
This week is not only a
continuation of the Old Testament sermon series, loosely titled the way of deliverance, it is also, in
many ways, the MAIN EVENT itself. There are many things both before and after
this event that are of great importance to the life of faith for God's old
covenant people, but no single event looms larger than the crossing of the sea
as related in this passage. Without chapter 14 of Exodus, there would be no
true Exodus; there would only have been a brief intermission; a momentary
whiff of liberation followed by punishment, torture, and resumption of slavery.
This week's passage,
like so many that we've been looking at lately, is dense with meaning. I
particularly like how one Jewish commentator points out both the natural and
the supernatural in the narrative.
Vss 21-22 mention that this was the work of the Lord, and the image described
sounds like water piled up on top of itself; not unlike the scene from the old
Charlton Heston movie. On the other hand, the same verses attribute this to a strong east wind--something which
occurs, or can occur quite naturally.
The point being, there is a seamless interplay between God's intervention
(divine/supernatural) and God's use of plain, ordinary, things of nature.
Again, this has a very sacramental ring
to it.
Another commentator
looking at the same verses saw echoes of [new] creation occurring: the waters were divided, 22 and the
Israelites went through the sea on dry ground. From Genesis 1:9 we read: And God said,
"Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground
appear." And it was so. In
'recapitulating' the creation story, the author wants us to see these events
also in terms of creation; God is creating (even birthing) a covenant people; no longer to be slaves in Egypt, but
now free to be God's sons and daughters. The same commentator also points out a
heavy irony in the story: the birth-canal
to freedom is a death-trap to outsiders. Israel walks through on dry ground, but the wheels of the
chariots are jammed with mud. In the narrative itself, Israel doesn't even have faith yet (that
doesn't come until vs31); all they have is enough fear and a slight inkling to
move forward, and the humility of their station to be doing so on foot.
Horsemen and charioteers, however, who dare to approach the divine presence as
outsiders, spitefully, and without proper humility, soon discover the folly of
their ways.
In all,
there are several big themes going on in this passage. There is the theme of
NEW BEGINNINGS. The baptismal emphasis is clear, again. Having already had one
strong baptismal theme (baby Moses being drawn out of the water), we now have
another. Indeed, St. Paul even sees the passage with baptismal echoes in 1Cor
10. This time around the focus would be more along the lines of the corporate
nature of a shared baptismal experience, the creative act of God calling forth
a people devoted to his will, and of course, the new beginning of the life of
faith. When we as a people get a glimpse... when we even partially grasp what
God has done for us in salvation, there can only be one response, that of the
people of Israel at the start of the very next chapter: [the song of Miriam
& Moses] The LORD is my strength and
my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him (Ex
15:2).
Another
big theme here is the idea of God fighting our enemies. While technically not
part of the lectionary's selection, vs 14 is HUGE in terms of the narrative
flow of the story. When the people realize they're trapped between the
proverbial rock and hard-place--the sea in front of them, Pharaoh's army behind
them, they turn on Moses and berate him for this horrible idea of trying to
escape. This is a collective mortal moment. They sense that their only choice
now is which form of death they'll endure--drowning in the sea, or death by the
sword. In response to this utter, chaotic turmoil... this hopelessness on the
part of the people, Moses responds: The
Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still (Ex. 14:14). This
was no easy thing that Moses wanted. "Keeping still" goes against the
grain, even if the best you can do in the circumstances is run around in
circles at top speed. Whether you've ever considered it this way or not, one of
the *truly great things about modern anesthesiology is that it enables the
surgeon to do great things for the
patient because the patient is STILL. It's inspiring to me that the people
listen to Moses, even though, narratively, they've yet to believe or have faith
in anything.
From the
skeptic's corner, I suppose the big question is why doesn't God always fight
our battles for us? Why does person A get cancer and recover, but person B gets
cancer and dies? Why does struggling congregation A turn things around and
become thriving, whereas struggling congregation B doesn't? Why is Christianity
taking hold in new ways in some parts of the world, but being brutally snuffed
out in other parts? There are no perfect answers to any of these questions. Narratively, the crossing of the sea was about God saving a
PEOPLE. A lone individual who decided to break free and try it on their own
would have been doomed. Also, narratively, the saving of this people had a
divine purpose to further salvation. A lot, then, boils down to our concept of
"deliverance." I'm reminded of Luther's spin on the meaning of the
7th petition in the Lord's Prayer, and deliver
us from evil. What does this mean? We pray in this petition, as in a summary, that our Father in heaven
would deliver us from all manner of evil, of body and soul, property and
honor, and at last, when our last hour shall come, grant us a blessed end,
and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself into heaven.
NONE of us know when our last
hour will come, but for the believer, death doesn't mean that God has failed,
it is merely one more act of deliverance God works on our behalf.
Cheers,
T.M.
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