Exodus 15:11

15:11 Who is like you, ¹  O Lord, among the gods? ² 

Who is like you? – majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, ³  working wonders?

Exodus 15:1

The Song of Triumph

15:1 ⁴ Then Moses and the Israelites sang ⁵  this song to the Lord. They said, ⁶ 

“I will sing ⁷  to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, ⁸ 

the horse and its rider ⁹  he has thrown into the sea.

Exodus 16:25

16:25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the area. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 16:2

16:2 The entire company ¹¹  of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron in the desert.

Exodus 2:5

2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh ¹²  came down to wash herself ¹³  by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, ¹⁴  and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, ¹⁵  took it, ¹⁶ 

Psalms 95:3

95:3 For the Lord is a great God,

a great king who is superior to ¹⁷  all gods.

Psalms 97:9

97:9 For you, O Lord, are the sovereign king ¹⁸  over the whole earth;

you are elevated high above all gods.

Psalms 135:5

135:5 Yes, ¹⁹  I know the Lord is great,

and our Lord is superior to all gods.

[15:11]  ¹ tn The question is of course rhetorical; it is a way of affirming that no one is comparable to God. See C. J. Labuschagne, The Incomparability of Yahweh in the Old Testament, 22, 66-67, and 94-97.

[15:11]  ² sn Verses 11-17 will now focus on Yahweh as the incomparable one who was able to save Israel from their foes and afterward lead them to the promised land.

[15:11]  ³ tn S. R. Driver suggests “praiseworthy acts” as the translation (Exodus, 137).

[15:1]  ⁴ sn This chapter is a song of praise sung by Moses and the people right after the deliverance from the Sea. The song itself is vv. 1b-18; it falls into three sections – praise to God (1b-3), the cause for the praise (4-13), and the conclusion (14-18). The point of the first section is that God’s saving acts inspire praise from his people; the second is that God’s powerful acts deliver his people from the forces of evil; and the third section is that God’s demonstrations of his sovereignty inspire confidence in him by his people. So the Victory Song is very much like the other declarative praise psalms – the resolve to praise, the power of God, the victory over the enemies, the incomparability of God in his redemption, and the fear of the people. See also C. Cohen, “Studies in Early Israelite Poetry I: An Unrecognized Case of Three Line Staircase Parallelism in the Song of the Sea,” JANESCU 7 (1975): 13-17; D. N. Freedman, “Strophe and Meter in Exodus 15,” A Light unto My Path, 163-203; E. Levine, “Neofiti I: A Study of Exodus 15,” Bib 54 (1973): 301-30; T. C. Butler, “‘The Song of the Sea’: Exodus 15:1-18: A Study in the Exegesis of Hebrew Poetry,” DissAb 32 (1971): 2782-A.

[15:1]  ⁵ tn The verb is יָשִׁיר (yashir), a normal imperfect tense form. But after the adverb “then” this form is to be treated as a preterite (see GKC 314-15 §107.c).

[15:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they said, saying.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:1]  ⁷ tn The form is the singular cohortative, expressing the resolution of Moses to sing the song of praise (“I will” being stronger than “I shall”).

[15:1]  ⁸ tn This causal clause gives the reason for and summary of the praise. The Hebrew expression has כִּי־גָּאֹה גָּאָה (ki ga’oh ga’ah). The basic idea of the verb is “rise up loftily” or “proudly.” But derivatives of the root carry the nuance of majesty or pride (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 132). So the idea of the perfect tense with its infinitive absolute may mean “he is highly exalted” or “he has done majestically” or “he is gloriously glorious.”

[15:1]  ⁹ sn The common understanding is that Egypt did not have people riding horses at this time, and so the phrase the horse and its rider is either viewed as an anachronism or is interpreted to mean charioteers. The word “to ride” can mean on a horse or in a chariot. Some have suggested changing “rider” to “chariot” (re-vocalization) to read “the horse and its chariot.”

[16:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the field” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); NAB, NIV, NLT “on the ground.”

[16:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “community” or “assembly.”

[2:5]  ¹² sn It is impossible, perhaps, to identify with certainty who this person was. For those who have taken a view that Rameses was the pharaoh, there were numerous daughters for Rameses. She is named Tharmuth in Jub. 47:5; Josephus spells it Thermouthis (Ant. 2.9.5 [2.224]), but Eusebius has Merris (Praep. Ev. ix. 27). E. H. Merrill (Kingdom of Priests, 60) makes a reasonable case for her identification as the famous Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. She would have been there about the time of Moses’ birth, and the general picture of her from history shows her to be the kind of princess with enough courage to countermand a decree of her father.

[2:5]  ¹³ tn Or “bathe.”

[2:5]  ¹⁴ sn A disjunctive vav initiates here a circumstantial clause. The picture is one of a royal entourage coming down to the edge of a tributary of the river, and while the princess was bathing, her female attendants were walking along the edge of the water out of the way of the princess. They may not have witnessed the discovery or the discussion.

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn The word here is אָמָה (’amah), which means “female slave.” The word translated “attendants” earlier in the verse is נַעֲרֹת (na’arot, “young women”), possibly referring here to an assortment of servants and companions.

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is preterite, third person feminine singular, with a pronominal suffix, from לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”). The form says literally “and she took it,” and retains the princess as the subject of the verb.

[95:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “above.”

[97:9]  ¹⁸ tn Traditionally “Most High.”

[135:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.”