Faith Through The Sea

1. The place of the miracle.

For just a few minutes, I want to deal with the location of the miracle at the sea. There are many thoughts about this, but I do want you to remember that this was a location that was known to the writer of Exodus, even though 3,500 years later there are some who still debate whether this even happened, much less where.

I am showing a NASA satellite picture of the area I believe the Exodus event happened. Geographers in the 18th century discovered that the Gulf of Suez, the NW extension of the Red Sea, actually extended up to the area of the Great Bitter Lake, based on modern sea shell remains found there. Today, the Great Bitter lake is fed by the waters from both the Mediterranean and Red Sea. There are no locks on the Suez Canal proper and almost no tidal movement—this is another indication that the Red Sea may have extended further north than we see today.

I have included also a map that indicates where the crossing may have took place, though it may have been even further south of this area. The area at narrower part of the Great Bitter Lake is actually over a mile across.

Psalm 103:7 NASB95

He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.

This is a fitting description of the distinction between the LORD’s chosen leader and His people. Another Psalm 25:14

Psalm 25:14 NASB95

The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant.

suggests to us that the type of leadership Moses displayed was a key ingredient in Israel’s success.

2. The pride of Pharaoh, vs. 1-9.

How short a memory Pharaoh and his officers have of the power of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians and the gods of Egypt. Of course with the loss of slave labor, they came to the realization that their way of life was threatened, if not destroyed; their economy in a shambles without the forced servitude of the children of Israel.

The LORD had convinced Pharaoh and his captains that the Israelites were wandering just like lost sheep in the wilderness, easily pursued, captured, and returned to servitude. The trap of the LORD had been set; Egypt would be utterly defeated and the LORD would receive all the glory.

Pharaoh did not know what the LORD’s plans were; all he saw was what he thought was overwhelming opportunity. The size of the chariot army--six hundred select chariots, the cream of the crop, plus all the other chariots of Egypt, plus horsemen and his army, with leaders over all of them with one purpose: to forcefully return the children of Israel to slavery. Pharaoh himself readied his own chariot. And it was the LORD who strengthened Pharaoh’s heart to do what was in his own heart without considering the consequences of going against the LORD and His chosen people, which Pharaoh and Egypt had already experienced--talk about short-term memory loss!

Verse 9 tells us that the Egyptians overtook the Israelites camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon -- exactly where the LORD had lead the Israelites to. The events that happen at this place will cause “the Egyptians to know that I am the LORD.”

3. The panic of the sons of Israel, vs. 10-12.

As I had just mentioned, Israel was led to this particular place by the LORD Himself. The fiery pillar showed them the way they were to go, and as long as they kept their eyes on it and followed the LORD, they were exhibiting a walk by faith and no enemy could touch them. It was when they took their eyes off the LORD, looked back and saw the Egyptians getting nearer, that fear started to tighten their chests and they began to complain.

The text tells us that the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, which by itself would normally be a good thing; the problem was what they cried out to the LORD about, accusing the LORD by accusing Moses that he had led them out to the wilderness to die, and questioning why Moses (by implication, the LORD) would deal with them in such a way. They even suggested that it would have been better to serve the Egyptians and die there in the land of death, rather than in the wilderness. But the LORD didn’t bring them to this place to have them destroyed

A disappointing pattern begins to emerge of Israel’s behavior, which has too many similarities to our own in our walk of faith. Things going well? The Israelites usually obeyed the LORD and Moses, thereby making progress. Trials? Discomfort? The Israelites started complaining to Moses and the LORD and asking to go back to Egypt. Let us not be too harsh on them-- after all, how much discomfort or disappointment does it take to make us unhappy with the Lord’s will so that we stop believing and start complaining? We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

2 Corinthians 5:7 NASB95

for we walk by faith, not by sight—

But when we forget God’s promises, we start to imagine the worst possible scenario. Unbelief has a way of fogging our memories of God’s demonstrations of His great power and of His faithfulness to His Word.

4. The promises of the LORD, vs. 13-16.

Moses gave several commands to the people:

1) Do not fear! (13a) We have been given a fight or flight response to our fears, but Moses tells them to fear not!

2) Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD! (13b) The Israelites had marched out of Egypt by faith; now by faith they would stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.

3) The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent. (14) None of their grumbling or complaining would help the Israelites out of this situation; only the LORD can and that is His promise in this verse. In this particular conflict, God would defeat the Egyptians without Israel’s assistance. It was an ominous statement Moses makes in the last part of verse 13 (13c): “the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.”

Then the LORD speaks to Moses, telling the sons of Israel to stop crying out and start moving out, forward, into the sea! Moses was to lift up his staff, stretch out his hand over the sea and divide it and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. In doing this, the LORD was keeping His promise that He would deliver Israel and take them as His people (Ex. 3:7-8).

Exodus 3:7–8 NASB95

The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

This miracle would be the standard of measure of the great power of the LORD to future generations of Israelites. But it also had another purpose: the LORD revealing once more His power and glory in the defeat of the Egyptian army: “ Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” (14:18)

5. The LORD's power, vs. 19-31.

1. The angel of the LORD moved from before the camp of Israel and went behind them; the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.

2. The cloud came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of the Israelites; to the Egyptians it brought darkness to the Israelites it gave light at night as it had been.

3. The result was the Egyptians could not draw nearer to the Israelites all night because of the cloud.

4. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land, having divided the waters.

5. The sons of Israel went through the waters on the dry land, the waters pilled up on either side of them.

6. After the sons of Israel went through, then the Egyptians took up the pursuit into the midst of the sea. Psalm 77:16-20

Psalm 77:16–20 NASB95

The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were in anguish; The deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water; The skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows flashed here and there. The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, And Your footprints may not be known. You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

This psalm indicates that a severe rainstorm accompanied the high winds, and after Israel had crossed, the rain turned Israel’s dry pathway into a muddy road.

7. Confusion in the camp of Egypt, the breaking down of some chariots, the difficulty of travel on the now muddied floor of the sea--all of this opened the eyes of the Egyptians to the One fighting for Israel. And though they sought to turn away and flee, the LORD had them right where He wanted them.

8. Moses was commanded to again stretch out his hand over the sea, this time so the water may envelop the Egyptians.

9. At daybreak, the sea returned to its normal state and the Egyptians were destroyed, all who had gone into the sea after the Israelites.

10. Israel saw the great power the LORD used against the Egyptians, resulting in their fearing the LORD, believing in the LORD and in His servant Moses.