Exodus 14:10-23 - Homilies By J. Orr

The deliverance.

Consider on this section:—

I. THE CRITICAL SITUATION OF THE ISRAELITES .

1 . Their position. "Encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal Zephon" ( Exodus 14:9 ). The first view of the sea would probably be attractive to them. Its breeze, after the tedious travel of the desert, would be deliciously refreshing. They would look with a child's wonder and delight on the novel spectacle it presented. They would crowd to the beach to watch its dancing, white-tipped waves, and curiously to listen to its soft, lapping ripple on the shore. Yet this sea, which is to-day their joy and plaything, will have become by the morrow their terror and despair—their impregnable prison barrier. The experience is not uncommon. How often does it happen that the very things which at first we are disposed to hail with delight, to welcome and rejoice in, prove afterwards our greatest causes of sorrow! The engagements we enter into, the friendships we form, the bargains we make, the society we are introduced to, etc.

2 . The approach of the enemy. "The children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold the Egyptians marched after them" ( Exodus 14:10 ). The mountains are around, the sea is in front, and now—terrible situation!—the Egyptians are pursuing, and close at hand. On they come, in whirling chariots, in ranks upon ranks of footmen; the long lines are seen defiling in the distance, and Israel knows that in an hour or two more the avalanche will be upon them, sweeping all before it, burying them in destruction.

3 . They were entirely unprepared. They had been resting and unbending, not preparing for battle. The attack took them by surprise. There was no possibility under the circumstances of presenting an effectual resistance to the enemy. But, indeed, had the circumstances been ever so favourable, these hordes of slaves, accustomed so long to crouch before the rod of the taskmaster, would scarcely have attempted it. How critical, how perilous, therefore, the entire situation! A picture this of those straits of life formerly referred to, in which having done our utmost, we can do no more, and no alternative remains but prayer, and quiet waiting upon God.

II. THEIR PANIC AND DESPAIR ( Exodus 14:10-13 ). The appearance of the Egyptians naturally threw the Israelites into a state of the most acute terror. Remark:

1 . Great allowance must be made for them. We do not read that, on this occasion, God dealt severely with them for the wild, ungrateful words they uttered. He made allowance.

2 . Israel ' s behaviour was nevertheless very unworthy.

3 . The contrast of their conduct with that of Moses. The bearing of Moses at this crisis was sublime in its calmness and trust. He does not return "railing for railing." No angry word escapes his lips in reply to the reproaches of the people. They murmur; he betakes himself to prayer ( Exodus 14:15 ). They look to the visible chariots; he to the invisible power which is mightier than all. They seem bereft of reason, fearing immediate death; he is calm, undaunted, self-collected, and gives them the best of counsel. Ponder his words—"Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today" ( Exodus 14:13 ).

III. GOD 'S COMMAND TO MOSES ( Exodus 14:15-19 ).

1 . The command came in answer to prayer. "Wherefore criest thou unto me" ( Exodus 14:15 ). The words contain no reproach, but imply that prayer needed on the instant to be exchanged for action.

2 . Moses was to speak to the people that they go forward. See below.

3 . He was to stretch his rod over the sea, and divide the waters ( Exodus 14:16 ). The confidence of Moses, that God would show a way of salvation, was thus justified by the result. The light was not given as early as the people might have wished, but it was given in time. God also announces to Moses his purpose of destroying the Egyptians ( Exodus 14:17 , Exodus 14:18 ).

IV. THE ADVANCE THROUGH THE SEA . On this notice—

1 . The change in the position of the pillar of cloud and fire ( Exodus 14:19 , Exodus 14:20 ). Moving to the rear, it stood between the Israelites and their pursuers, turning a bright side to the former, and a dark side to the latter. (See below.) By this seasonable change in its position, it

2 . The division of the waters ( Exodus 14:21 ).

3 . The safe transit ( Exodus 14:22 ). The children of Israel got safely across. They were preserved in the very midst of the hostile element. Nay, the sea, which they had so much dreaded, became on either side a protecting wall to them. The same superintending Providence which secured, in the shipwreck of Paul, that "so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land" ( Acts 27:44 ), doubtless brought about a like happy result in the case of the Israelites. Their deliverance became, in after days, the type of any great deliverance wrought by God for his saints. See the figure wrought out in Psalms 18:4-20 .— J . O .