The Israelites now began their migration from Goshen to Canaan.
"The way of the land of the Philistines"refers to the most northern of three routes travelers took from Egypt to Canaan (v. 17). The others lay farther south. The Egyptians had heavily fortified this caravan route, also called the Via Maris(the way of the sea). The Egyptians would have engaged Israel in battle had the chosen people gone that way.
The people marched in an orderly fashion (v. 18). This is the meaning of "martial array."Moses had not yet organized them as an army.
Succoth was evidently north and west of the Bitter Lakes (v. 20). Today the Suez Canal connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean by way of the Bitter Lakes. Archaeologists have not yet identified certainly the sites referred to here such as Succoth and Etham as well as many of those mentioned in the records of the Israelites' journey (e.g., Num. 33). Consequently it is virtually impossible to pin down their exact locations. Many of these sites were nothing more than stopping points or oases. They were not established towns. Kaiser wrote concerning their locations, "Everyone is guessing!"231
The wilderness referred to in this verse would have been the wilderness of Shur located to the east of the Nile delta.
There was only one cloudy pillar (v. 21; cf. 14:24).232
"Like the burning bush (3:2), the pillar was the visible symbol of God's presence among His people. The Lord Himself was in the pillar (13:21; 14:24) and often spoke to the people from it ([chs. 19-20; ] Num. 12:5-6; Deut. 31:15-16; Ps. 99:6-7). The later hymn-writers of Israel fondly remembered it (Pss. 78:14; 105:39). A similar cloud of smoke came to represent the glory of the Lord in the sanctuary throughout much of Israel's history (Exod. 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Isa. 4:5; 6:3-4)."233
The pillar of cloud and fire remained over the Israelites until they entered Canaan under Joshua's leadership (v. 22). Perhaps it appeared as Meyer imagined it.
"When the excessive heat made it necessary for Israel to march at night, the light of the Fiery Pillar was enough to light the way: and when in the day the scorching glare of the sun was blinding, the cloud spread itself abroad like a great umbrella, so that the women and children could travel in comparative comfort [cf. Ps. 84:11]."234
14:1-4 Scholars have not been able to locate definitely the sites referred to in verse 2.
"An Egyptian papyrus associates Baal Zephon with Tahpahnes . . . a known site near Lake Menzaleh in the northeastern delta region."235
However, it seems that the crossing took place farther south in view of the implication that it took the Israelites no less and no more than three days to reach Marah (15:22-23). The evidence for the location of Marah seems a bit stronger.
"Yahweh's first intention was to give the appearance that Israel, fearful of the main road, then fearful of the wilderness, was starting first one way and then another, not knowing where to turn and so a ready prey for recapture or destruction. Yahweh's second intention was to lure the Egyptians into a trap, first by making Pharaoh's mind obstinate once again, and then by defeating Pharaoh and his forces, who were certain to come down in vengeance upon an apparently helpless and muddled Israel."236
The Hebrew phrase yam supthat Moses used to describe the body of water through which the Israelites passed miraculously means "Red Sea,"not "Reed Sea."
"If there is anything that sophisticated students of the Bible know, it is that yam sup, although traditionally translated Red Sea, really means Reed Sea, and that it was in fact the Reed Sea that the Israelites crossed on their way out of Egypt.
"Well it doesn't and it wasn't and they're wrong!"237
In the article quoted above, the writer explained that the word supdid not originate in the Egyptian language but in Hebrew. Many scholars have claimed it came from an Egyptian root word meaning "reed."He showed that it came from a Hebrew root word meaning "end."Yamis also a Hebrew word that means "sea."The yam supis then the sea at the end. The ancients used the name yam supto describe the body of water that lay beyond the farthest lands known to them. It meant the sea at the end of the world. It clearly refers to the Red Sea often in the Old Testament (Exod. 15:4; Num. 21:4; 33:8; Josh. 2:10; 4:23; 1 Kings 9:26; Jer. 47:21; et al.). The Greeks later used the same term, translated into Greek, to refer to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The translation of yam supas Reed Sea is evidently both inaccurate and misleading. It implies that the Israelites simply crossed some shallow marsh when they left Egypt. Such an interpretation lacks support in the inspired record of Israel's Exodus.238
Moses recorded that God hardened Pharaoh's heart three times in this chapter (vv. 4, 8, 17).
14:5-14 This is the first of Israel's many complaints against Moses and Yahweh that Moses recorded in Scripture. It is the first of ten that culminated in God's judgment of them at Kadesh Barnea (v. 11; Num. 14:22-23).
"This is the first example in the Old Testament of what some scholars call holy war' or Yahweh war.' That is, this war was undertaken by the Lord in defense of His own reputation, promises, and self-interest (14:10-14; see also, for example, 15:3; Deut. 1:30; 3:22; 20:4). It is to be distinguished from ordinary' war that Israel might undertake on her own (Num. 14:39-45)."239
14:15-25 The cloud became a source of light to the fleeing Israelites but darkness to the pursuing Egyptians (vv. 19-20).
"Thus the double nature of the glory of God in salvation and judgment, which later appears so frequently in Scripture, could not have been more graphically depicted."240
The angel switched from guiding to guarding the Israelites. The strong east wind was another miracle like those that produced the plagues (v. 21; cf. Ps. 77:16-19).
The two million Israelites could have passed through the sea in the time the text says if they crossed in a wide column, perhaps a half-mile wide (v. 22). Some interpreters take the wall of water literally and others interpret it figuratively.
"The metaphor [water like a wall] is no more to be taken literally than when Ezra 9:9 says that God has given him a wall' (the same word) in Israel. It is a poetic metaphor to explain why the Egyptian chariots could not sweep in to right and left, and cut Israel off; they had to cross by the same ford, directly behind the Israelites."241
Nevertheless nothing in the text precludes a literal wall of water.242This seems to be the normal meaning of the text.
The text does not say that Pharoah personally perished in the Red Sea (cf. vv. 8, 10, 28; Ps. 106:7-12; 136:13-15).243
14:26-31 This miraculous deliverance produced fear (reverential trust) in Yahweh among the Israelites (v. 31). Their confidence in Moses as well as in God revived (cf. v. 10-12).
". . . whenever confidence in Moses increases, as here and at Sinai, it is because of an action of Yahweh."244
"In view of the importance of the concept of faith and trust in God for the writer of the Pentateuch, we should take a long look at these verses. Just as Abraham believed God and was counted righteous (Ge 15:6), so the Israelites, under the leadership of Moses, also believed God. It seems reasonable that the writer would have us conclude here in the wilderness the people of God were living a righteous life of faith, like Abraham. As they headed toward Sinai, their trust was in the God of Abraham who had done great deeds for them. It is only natural, and certainly in line with the argument of the book, that they would break out into a song of praise in the next chapter. On the negative side, however, we should not lose sight of the fact that these same people would forget only too quickly the great work of God, make a golden calf (Ps 106:11-13), and thus forsake the God about whom they were now singing."245
Many critics who have sought to explain away God's supernatural deliverance of Israel have attacked this story. They have tried by various explanations to account for what happened in natural terms exclusively. It is obvious from this chapter, however, that regardless of where the crossing took place enough water was present to drown the army of Egyptians that pursued Israel (v. 28). Immediately after this deliverance, the Israelites regarded their salvation as supernatural (15:1-21), and they continued to do so for generations (e.g., Ps. 106:7-8). The people of Canaan heard about and believed in this miraculous deliverance, and it terrified them (Josh. 2:9-10; 9:9). The critic's problem may be moral rather than intellectual. Some of the critics do not want to deal with the implications of there being supernatural phenomena so they try to explain them away. The text clearly presents a supernatural deliverance and even states that God acted as He did to prove His supernatural power (vv. 4, 18).
"From the start of the exodus, it becomes clear, Yahweh has orchestrated the entire sequence."246
The Lord finished the Israelites' liberation when He destroyed the Egyptian army. The Israelites' slavery ended when they left Egypt, but they began to experience true freedom after they crossed the Red Sea. The ten plagues had broken Pharaoh's hold on the Israelites, but the Red Sea deliverance removed them from his reach forever. God redeemed Israel on the Passover night, but He liberated Israel from slavery finally at the Red Sea.247In Christian experience these two works of God, redemption and liberation, occur at the same time; they are two aspects of salvation.
"The song is composed of three gradually increasing strophes, each of which commences with the praise of Jehovah, and ends with a description of the overthrow of the Egyptian host (vv. 2-5, 6-10, 11-18). The theme announced in the introduction in v. 1 is thus treated in three different ways; and whilst the omnipotence of God, displayed in the destruction of the enemy, is the prominent topic in the first two strophes, the third depicts with prophetic confidence the fruit of this glorious event in the establishment of Israel, as a kingdom of Jehovah, in the promised inheritance."248
Cassuto divided the strophes better, I believe, as vv. 1-6, vv. 7-11, and vv. 12-16, with an epilogue in vv. 17-18.249Kaiser proposed a similar division: 1b-5, 6-10, 11-16a, and 16b-18.250
"It is not comparable to any one psalm, or song or hymn, or liturgy known to us anywhere else in the OT or in ANE literature."251
"Yahweh is both the subject and the object of this psalm; the hymn is about him and to him, both here and in the similar usage of Judg 5:3 . . ."252
It is interesting that Moses described the Egyptian pursuers as being thrown into the sea (v. 4) and sinking like a stone (v. 5) and lead (v. 10). The same image describes Pharaoh's earlier order to throw the Hebrew babies into the Nile River (1:22). God did to the Egyptians what they had done to the Israelites.253
This hymn is a fitting climax to all God's miracles on behalf of the Israelites in leading them out of Egypt. It is a song of praise that focuses on God Himself and attributes to Him the superiority over all other gods that He had demonstrated (cf. v. 11). Undoubtedly the Israelites sang this inspired song many times during their wilderness wanderings and for generations from then on.254The first part of the song (vv. 1-12) looks back on God's destruction of the Egyptian soldiers, and the second part (vv. 13-18) predicts Israel's entrance into the Promised Land. The divine name appears ten times.
"The event at the Red Sea, when the Egyptian army was drowned, was celebrated as a great military victory achieved by God (Exodus 15:1-12). It was that event, wherein a new dimension of the nature of God was discovered by the Hebrews (the new understanding is expressed forcefully by the explanation the Lord is a man in battle' [v. 3]), that opened to their understanding the real possibility, if not necessity, of taking possession of the promised land by means of military conquest (Exodus 15:13-18)."255
"The Exodus was one of the foundational events of Israel's religion. It marked the liberation from Egyptian slavery, which in turn made possible the formation of a relationship of covenant between Israel and God. And nowhere is the Exodus given more powerful expression than in the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-18), a great victory hymn celebrating God's triumph over Egypt at the sea. To this day, the ancient hymn continues to be employed in the synagogue worship of Judaism. Its continued use reflects the centrality of its theme, that of God's control over the forces of both nature and history in the redemption of his people.
"When one reads the Song of the Sea, one immediately gains an impression of the joy and exhilaration expressed by those who first used its words in worship. But what is not immediately evident to the modern reader is the subtle manner in which the poet has given force to his themes by the adaptation of Canaanite mythology. Underlying the words and structure of the Hebrew hymn are the motifs of the central mythology of Baal; only when one understands the fashion in which that mythology has been transformed can one go on to perceive the extraordinary significance which the poet attributed to the Exodus from Egypt.
"The poet has applied some of the most central motifs of the myth of Baal. These motifs may be summarized in certain key terms: conflict, order, kingship, and palace-construction. Taking the cycle of Baal texts as a whole (see further Chapter IV), the narrative begins with conflict between Baal and Yamm (Sea'); Baal, representing order, is threatened by the chaotic Yamm. Baal's conquest of Yamm marks one of the steps in the process of creation; order is established, and chaos is subdued. Baal's victory over Yamm is also the key to his kingship, and to symbolize the order and consolidate the kingship, Baal initiates the construction of his palace. And then, in the course of the myth, conflict breaks out again, this time between Baal and Mot. Baal is eventually victorious in this conflict, establishing once again his kingship and the rule of order. It is important to note not only the centrality of these motifs in the Baal myth, but also their significance; the motifs as a whole establish a cosmological framework within which to interpret the Baal myth. It is, above all, a cosmology, developing the origins and permanent establishment of order in the world, as understood and believed by the Canaanites. Its central celebration is that of creation.
"In the Song of the Sea, the poet has developed the same central motifs in the structure of his song. The song begins with conflict between God and Egypt (Exodus 15:1-12), but the way in which the poet has transformed the ancient motifs is instructive. Sea' is no longer the adversary of order, but God uses the sea (Hebrew yam) as an instrument in the conquest of chaos. After the conquest, God is victorious and establishes order; his kingship is proclaimed in a statement of his incomparability (verse 11). But then the theme of conflict is resumed again, as future enemies are anticipated (verses 14-16). They, too, would be conquered, and eventually God's palace and throne would be established as a symbol of the order achieved in his victory (verse 17). Finally, God's kingship would be openly declared, as a consequence of his victories: the Lord shall reign for ever and ever' (verse 18). The Hebrew expression for this statement of kingship is yhwh ymlk, directly analogous to the celebration of Baal's kingship in the Ugaritic texts: b'l ymlk.
"It is one thing to trace the motifs of the Baal myth in the Song of the Sea; it is another to grasp their significance. The primary significance lies in the cosmological meaning of the motifs; the Hebrew poet has taken the symbolic language of creation and adapted it to give expression to his understanding of the meaning of the Exodus. At one level, the Exodus was simply the escape of Hebrews from Egyptian slavery; at another level, it marked a new act of divine creation. Just as Genesis 1 celebrates the creation of the world, so too Exodus 15 celebrates the creation of a new people, Israel. And when one perceives this underlying significance of the poetic language employed in the Song of the Sea, one is then in a position to understand better another portion of the biblical text, namely, the reasons given for the observation of the sabbath day."256
"Throughout the poem, however, the picture of God's great deeds foreshadows most closely that of David, who defeated the chiefs of Edom, Philistia, and Canaan and made Mount Zion the eternal home for the Lord's sanctuary (v. 17)."257
"The poem of Exod 15 celebrates Yahweh present withhis people and doing forthem as no other god anywhere and at any time canbe present to do. As such, it is a kind of summary of the theological base of the whole of the Book of Exodus."258
Worship was the result of redemption. The people looked back at their deliverance and forward to God's Promised Land. At this point their joy was due to their freedom from slavery. However the desert lay ahead. The family of Abraham had become a nation, and God was dwelling among them in the cloud. God's presence with the nation introduced the need for holiness in Israel. The emphasis on holiness begins with God's dwelling among His people in the cloud. It increased when God descended on the tabernacle and ark.
The parallel that exists between Abraham's experiences and Israel's is also significant. God first called Abram out of pagan Ur. Then He blessed him with a covenant after the patriarch obeyed God and went where Yahweh led him. God did the same thing with Israel. This similarity suggests that God's dealings with both Abram and Israel may be programmatic and indicative of His method of dealing with His elect generally.
