Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea.
Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.
He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea.
The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces.
In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’
You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them.
“You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.
The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia.
Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone, until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people you have purchased pass over.
You will bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell in; the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established.
Yahweh will reign forever and ever.”
For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea. Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.
Miriam answered them, “Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them. He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.”
They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees. They encamped there by the waters.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27 Praising God for the overthrow of his enemies, and…
Praising God for the overthrow of his enemies, and their deliverance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–27 Exo 15:1 Then sang Moses and the children of…
Exo 15:1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Ver. 1. Then sang Moses.] Presently upon the deliverance, while their hearts were hot, and the mercy fresh. No part of the thank offering might be kept unspent till the third day. Benefits soon grow stale, and putrify, as fish.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27 Moses composed the song, and he, together with the…
Moses composed the song, and he, together with the Israelites, sung it, unto the honour and praise of God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 22 Having read how that complete victory of Israel over…
Having read how that complete victory of Israel over the Egyptians was obtained, here we are told how it was celebrated; those that were to hold their peace while the deliverance was in working (Exo 14:14) must not hold their peace now that it was wrought; the less they had to do then the more they had to do now. If God accomplishes deliverance by his own immediate power, it redounds so much the more to his glory. Moses, no doubt by divine inspiration, indited this song, and delivered it to the children of Israel, to be sung before they stirred from the place where they saw the Egyptians dead upon the shore. Observe, 1. They expressed their joy in God, and thankfulness to him, by singing; it is almost natural to us thus to give vent to our joy and the exultations of our spirit. By this instance it appears that the singing of psalms, as an act of religious worship, was used in the church of Christ before the giving of the ceremonial law, and therefore was no part of it, nor abolished with it. Singing is as much the language of holy joy as praying is of holy desire. 2. Moses, who had gone before them through the sea, goes before them in the song, and composes it for them. Note, Those that are active in public services should not be neuters in public praises. 3. When the mercy was fresh, and they were much affected with it, then they sang this song. Note, When we have received special mercy from God, we ought to be quick and speedy in our returns of praise to him, before time and the deceitfulness of our own hearts efface the good impressions that have been made. David sang his triumphant song in the day that the Lord delivered him, Sa2 22:1. Bis dat qui cito dat - He gives twice who gives quickly. 4. When they believed the Lord (Exo 14:31) then they sang this song: it was a song of faith; this connection is observed (Psa 106:12): Then believed they his words, they sang his praise. If with the heart man believes, thus confession must be made. Here is,
I. The song itself; and,
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1. We may observe respecting this song, that it is, (1.) An ancient song, the most ancient that we know of. (2.) A most admirable composition, the style lofty and magnificent, the images lively and proper, and the whole very moving. (3.) It is a holy song, consecrated to the honour of God, and intended to exalt his name and celebrate his praise, and his only, not in the least to magnify any man: holiness to the Lord is engraven in it, and to him they made melody in the singing of it. (4.) It is a typical song. The triumphs of the gospel church, in the downfall of its enemies, are expressed in the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb put together, which are said to be sung upon a sea of glass, as this was upon the Red Sea, Rev 15:2, Rev 15:3.
2. Let us observe what Moses chiefly aims at in this song.
(1.) He gives glory to God, and triumphs in him; this is first in his intention (Exo 15:1): I will sing unto the Lord. Note, All our joy must terminate in God, and all our praises be offered up to him, the Father of lights and Father of mercies, for he hath triumphed. Note, All that love God triumph in his triumphs; what is his honour should be our joy. Israel rejoiced in God, [1.] As their own God, and therefore their strength, song, and salvation, Exo 15:2. Happy therefore the people whose God is the Lord; they need no more to make them happy. They have work to do, temptations to grapple with, and afflictions to bear, and are weak in themselves; but he strengthens them: his grace is their strength. They are often in sorrow, upon many accounts, but in him they have comfort, he is their song; sin, and death, and hell, threaten them, but he is, and will be, their salvation: See Isa 12:2. [2.] As their fathers' God. This they take notice of, because, being conscious to themselves of their own unworthiness and provocations, they had reason to think that what God had now done for them was for their fathers' sake, Deu 4:37. Note, The children of the covenant ought to improve their fathers' relation to God as their God for comfort, for caution, and for quickening. [3.] As a God of infinite power (Exo 15:3): The Lord is a man of war, that is, well able to deal with all those that strive with their Maker, and will certainly be too hard for them. [4.] As a God of matchless and incomparable perfection, Exo 15:11. This is expressed, First, More generally: Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods! This is pure praise, and a high expression of humble adoration. - It is a challenge to all other gods to compare with him: "Let them stand forth, and pretend their utmost; none of them dare make the comparison." Egypt was notorious for the multitude of its gods, but the God of the Hebrews was too hard for them and baffled them all, Num 33:4; Deu. 32:23-39. The princes and potentates of the world are called gods, but they are feeble and mortal, none of them all comparable to Jehovah, the almighty and eternal God. - It is confession of his infinite perfection, as transcendent and unparalleled. Note, God is to be worshipped and adored as a being of such infinite perfection that there is none like him, nor any to be compared with him, as one that in all things has and must have the pre-eminence, Psa 89:6. Secondly, More particularly, 1. He is glorious in holiness; his holiness is his glory. It is that attribute which angels adore, Isa 6:3. His holiness appeared in the destruction of Pharaoh, his hatred of sin, and his wrath against obstinate sinners. It appeared in the deliverance of Israel, his delight in the holy seed, and his faithfulness to his own promise. God is rich in mercy - this is his treasure, glorious in holiness - this is his honour. Let us always give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 2. He is fearful in praises. That which is the matter of our praise, though it is joyful to the servants of God, is dreadful and very terrible to his enemies, Psa 66:1-3. Or it directs us in the manner of our praising God; we should praise him with a humble holy awe, and serve the Lord with fear. Even our spiritual joy and triumph must be balanced with a religious fear. 3. He is doing wonders, wondrous to all, being above the power and out of the common course of nature; especially wondrous to us, in whose favour they are wrought, who are so unworthy that we had little reason to expect them. They were wonders of power and wonders of grace; in both God was to be humbly adored.
(2.) He describes the deliverance they were now triumphing in, because the song was intended, not only to express and excite their thankfulness for the present, but to preserve and perpetuate the remembrance of this work of wonder to after-ages. Two things were to be taken notice of: -
[1.] The destruction of the enemy; the waters were divided, Exo 15:8. The floods stood upright as a heap. Pharaoh and all his hosts were buried in the waters. The horse and his rider could not escape (Exo 15:1), the chariots, and the chosen captains (Exo 15:4); they themselves went into the sea, and they were overwhelmed, Exo 15:19. The depths, the sea, covered them, and the proud waters went over the proud sinners; they sank like a stone, like lead (Exo 15:5, Exo 15:10), under the weight of their own guilt and God's wrath. Their sin had made them hard like a stone, and now they justly sink like a stone. Nay, the earth itself swallowed them (Exo 15:12); their dead bodies sank into the sands upon which they were thrown up, which sucked them in. Those whom the Creator fights against the whole creation is at war with. All this was the Lord's doing, and his only. It was an act of his power: Thy right hand, O Lord, not ours, has dashed in pieces the enemy, Exo 15:6. It was with the blast of thy nostrils (Exo 15:8), and thy wind (Exo 15:10), and the stretching out of thy right hand, Exo 15:12. It was an instance of his transcendent power - in the greatness of thy excellency; and it was the execution of his justice: Thou sentest forth thy wrath, Exo 15:7. This destruction of the Egyptians was made the more remarkable by their pride and insolence, and their strange assurance of success: The enemy said, I will pursue, Exo 15:9. Here is, First, Great confidence. When they pursue, they do not question but they shall overtake; and, when they overtake, they do not question but they shall overcome, and obtain so decisive a victory as to divide the spoil. Note, It is common for men to be most elevated with the hope of success when they are upon the brink of ruin, which makes their ruin so much the sorer. See Isa 37:24, Isa 37:25. Secondly, Great cruelty - nothing but killing, and slaying, and destroying, and this will satisfy his lust; and a barbarous lust that is which so much blood must be the satisfaction of. Note, It is a cruel hatred with which the church is hated; its enemies are bloody men. This is taken notice of here to show, 1. That God resists the proud, and delights to humble those who lift up themselves; he that says, "I will, and I will, whether God will or no," shall be made to know that wherein he deals proudly God is above him. 2. That those who thirst for blood shall have enough of it. Those who love to be destroying shall be destroyed; for we know who has said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay.
[2.] The protection and guidance of Israel (Exo 15:13): Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people, led them forth out of the bondage Egypt, led them forth out of the perils of the Red Sea, Exo 15:19. But the children of Israel went on dry land. Note, The destruction of the wicked serves for a foil to set off the salvation of Israel, and to make it the more illustrious, Isa 45:13-15.
(3.) He sets himself to improve this wonderful appearance of God for them. [1.] In order to quicken them to serve God: in consideration of this, I will prepare him habitation, Exo 15:2. God having preserved them, and prepared a covert for them under which they had been safe and easy, they resolve to spare no cost nor pains for the erecting of a tabernacle to his honour, and there they will exalt him, and mention, to his praise, the honour he had got upon Pharaoh. God had now exalted them, making them great and high, and therefore they will exalt him, by speaking of his infinite height and grandeur. Note, Our constant endeavour should be, by praising his name and serving his interests, to exalt God; and it is an advancement to us to be so employed. [2.] In order to encourage them to trust in God. So confident is this Psalmist of the happy issue of the salvation which was so gloriously begun that he looks upon it as in effect finished already: "Thou hast guided them to thy holy habitation, Exo 15:13. Thou hast thus put them into the way to it, and wilt in due time bring them to the end of that way," for God's work is perfect; or, "Thou hast guided them to attend thy holy habitation in heaven with their praises." Note, Those whom God takes under his direction he will guide to his holy habitation in faith now, and in fruition shortly. Two ways this great deliverance was encouraging: - First, It was such an instance of God's power as would terrify their enemies, and quite dishearten them, Exo 15:14-16. The very report of the overthrow of the Egyptians would be more than half the over throw of all their other enemies; it would sink their spirits, which would go far towards the sinking of their powers and interests; he Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Canaanites (with each of which nations Israel was to grapple), would be alarmed by it, would be quite dispirited, and would conclude it was in vain to fight against Israel, when a God of such power fought for them. It had this effect; the Edomites were afraid of them (Deu 2:4), so were the Moabites (Num 22:3), and the Canaanites, Jos 2:9, Jos 2:10; Jos 5:1. Thus God sent his fear before them (Exo 23:27), and cut off the spirit of princes. Secondly, It was such a beginning of God's favour to them as gave them an earnest of he perfection of his kindness. This was but in order to something further: Thou shalt bring them in, Exo 15:17. If he thus bring them out of Egypt, notwithstanding their unworthiness, and the difficulties that lay in the way of their escape, doubtless he will bring them into Canaan; for has he begun (so begun), and will he not make an end? Note, Our experiences of God's power and favour should be improved for the support of our expectations. "Thou hast, therefore, not only thou canst, but we trust thou wilt," is good arguing. Thou wilt plant them in the place which thou has made for thee to dwell in. Note, It is good dwelling where God dwells, in his church on earth (Psa 27:4), in his church in heaven, Joh 17:24. Where he says, "This is my rest for ever," we should say, "Let it be ours." Lastly, The great ground of the encouragement which they draw from this work of wonder is, The Lord shall reign for ever and ever, Exo 15:18. They had now seen an end of Pharaoh's reign; but time itself shall not put a period to Jehovah's reign, which, like himself, is eternal, and not subject to change. Note, It is the unspeakable comfort of all God's faithful subjects, not only that he does reign universally and with an incontestable sovereignty, but that he will reign eternally, and there shall be no end of his dominion.
II. The solemn singing of this song, Exo 15:20, Exo 15:21. Miriam (or Mary, it is the same name) presided in an assembly of the women, who (according to the softness of their sex, and the common usage of those times for expressing joy, with timbrels and dances) sang this song. Moses led the psalm, and gave it out for the men, and then Miriam for the women. Famous victories were wont to be applauded by the daughters of Israel (Sa1 18:6, Sa1 18:7); so was this. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, it is said (Mic 6:4), He sent before them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, though we read not of any thing memorable that Miriam did but this. But those are to be reckoned great blessings to a people who assist them, and go before them, in praising God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–26 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this…
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord,.... Which is the first song recorded in Scripture, though no doubt before this time songs of praise were sung to the Lord; the people of God having occasion in all ages more or less to sing his praises. The Jews (n) speak of ten songs, the first of which was sung by Adam, when his sins were forgiven him, and this song of Moses is the second; though sometimes they say (o), from the creation of the world to the standing of Israel by the Red sea, we do not find that ever any man sung a song but Israel; God created the first man, but he sang no song: however, this is the first on record, and is a typical one; Moses the composer of it, and who bore a principal part in it, and was the deliverer of the people of Israel, was a type of Christ, the Redeemer of his church: and Israel that joined with him in it, and were the persons delivered, were typical of the spiritual Israel of God redeemed by Christ; and the deliverance here celebrated bore a great resemblance to the redemption wrought out by him; and Christ, the Angel of the Lord, that went before the Israelites through the Red sea, and fought for them, is the principal person concerned in it, and who is meant by the Lord throughout the whole of it, and to whom it is sung; and a song upon a similar occasion to this will be sung in the latter day, upon the destruction of spiritual Egypt, or antichrist, and is called the song of Moses and the Lamb in allusion to it, Rev 15:3 The Jews (p) say, this shall be sung at the time, when the wicked shall perish out of the world, and observe that it is not written "then sung", but "then shall sing", &c. Moses had reason to sing, since God had heard his prayer, and had done him honour before the people, and he was both an instrument of and a sharer in the salvation wrought; and the children of Israel had reason to sing, inasmuch as they were a people chosen of God, and distinguished by him; were redeemed from bondage, called out of Egypt, and now saved out of the hands of their enemies, who were all destroyed, and they brought safely through the Red sea, and landed on firm ground. And the time when they sung this song was then, when they had passed through the sea on dry land; and when they had seen the Egyptians their enemies dead on the sea shore; and when they were in a proper frame of spirit to sing, when they had taken notice of and considered what great and wonderful things the Lord had done for them, and their minds were suitably impressed with a sense of them; when they were in the exercise of the graces of the fear of God, and faith in him, and which is necessary to the performance of all religious duties, and particularly this of singing the praises of God:
and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord: that went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire; who had led them safely through the Red sea, and troubled and destroyed the host of the Egyptians; even the same Jehovah, who has undertook the salvation of his people, is become the author of it, and to whom the song of redeeming grace is due:
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for he hath triumphed gloriously; over Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, the enemies of Israel, as Christ has over sin, in the destruction of it by his sacrifice, and over Satan, and his principalities and powers, when he spoiled them on the cross, and over death the last enemy, and all others; over whom he has made his people more than conquerors, through himself: or, "in excelling he excels" (q); all the angels of heaven, in his name, and nature, relation, and office; and all the sons of men, even the greatest among them, being King of kings, and Lord of lords; in the wonderful things done by him, no such achievements having ever been wrought by any of them: or, "in magnifying, he is magnified" (r); appears to be what he is, great in his nature, perfections, and works; and to be magnified, or declared to be great, and extolled as such by all that know and fear him:
the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea; the horses and horsemen of Pharaoh; and which is not amiss allegorically applied, by Tertullian (s), to the world and the devil; the world is the horse, and the rider the devil; that being under his power and direction, he being the god of it, and working effectually in it; spurring and exciting the men of it to every sinful lust and pleasure; and may be put for all the spiritual enemies of God's people, especially their sins; which are cast by the Lord into the midst of the sea, never to be seen and remembered any more, and which is to them matter of a song of praise and thanksgiving.
(n) Targum in Cant. i. 1. (o) Shemot Rabba, sect. 23. fol. 107. 3. (p) Tikkune Zohar, correct. 10. fol. 20. 2. (q) "excellendo excelluit", Piscator. (r) "Magnificando magnificatus est", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus. (s) Contr. Marcion, l. 4. c. 20.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25 In this chapter,
In this chapter,
I. Israel looks back upon Egypt with a song of praise for their deliverance. Here is,
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1. The song itself, ver. 1-19.
2. The solemn singing of it, ver. 20, 21.
II. Israel marches forward in the wilderness, ver. 22. Their discontent at the waters of Marah, ver. 23, 24. and the relief granted them, ver. 25, 26. Their satisfaction in the waters of Elim, ver. 27.
Then sang Moses - Moses composed this song, and sang it with the children of Israel. Doubtless he wrote it by inspiration, and sang it on the spot. By this instance it appears that the singing of psalms, as an act of religious worship, was used in the church of Christ before the giving of the ceremonial law, therefore it is no part of it, nor abolished with it: singing is as much the language of holy joy, as praying is of holy desire. I will sing unto the Lord - All our joy must terminate in God, and all our praises be offered up to him, for he hath triumphed - All that love God triumph in his triumphs.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Moses and the Israelites sing a song of praise…
CHAPTER XV
Moses and the Israelites sing a song of praise to God for their
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late deliverance, in which they celebrate the power of God,
gloriously manifested in the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, 1;
express their confidence in him as their strength and protector, 2, 3;
detail the chief circumstances in the overthrow of the Egyptians, 4-8;
and relate the purposes they had formed for the destruction of God's
people, 9,
and how he destroyed them in the imaginations of their hearts, 10.
Jehovah is celebrated for the perfections of his nature and his
wondrous works, 11-13.
A prediction of the effect which the account of the destruction
of the Egyptians should have on the Edomites, Moabites, and
Canaanites, 14-16.
A prediction of the establishment of Israel in the promised land, 17.
The full chorus of praise, 18.
Recapitulation of the destruction of the Egyptians, and the
deliverance of Israel, 19.
Miriam and the women join in and prolong the chorus, 20, 21.
The people travel three days in the wilderness of Shur, and find no
water, 22.
Coming to Marah, and finding bitter waters, they murmur against
Moses, 23, 24.
In answer to the prayer of Moses, God shows him a tree by which the
waters are sweetened, 25.
God gives them statutes and gracious promises, 26.
They come to Elim, where they find twelve wells of water and
seventy palm trees, and there they encamp, 27.
NOTES ON CHAP. XV
Verse 1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song] POETRY has been cultivated in all ages and among all people, from the most refined to the most barbarous; and to it principally, under the kind providence of God, we are indebted for most of the original accounts we have of the ancient nations of the universe. Equally measured lines, with a harmonious collocation of expressive, sonorous, and sometimes highly metaphorical terms, the alternate lines either answering to each other in sense, or ending with similar sounds, were easily committed to memory, and easily retained. As these were often accompanied with a pleasing air or tune, the subject being a concatenation of striking and interesting events, histories formed thus became the amusement of youth, the softeners of the tedium of labour, and even the solace of age. In such a way the histories of most nations have been preserved. The interesting events celebrated, the rhythm or metre, and the accompanying tune or recitativo air, rendered them easily transmissible to posterity; and by means of tradition they passed safely from father to son through the times of comparative darkness, till they arrived at those ages in which the pen and the press have given them a sort of deathless duration and permanent stability, by multiplying the copies. Many of the ancient historic and heroic British tales are continued by tradition among the aboriginal inhabitants of Ireland to the present day; and the repetition of them constitutes the chief amusement of the winter evenings. Even the prose histories, which were written on the ground of the poetic, copied closely their exemplars, and the historians themselves were obliged to study all the beauties and ornaments of style, that their works might become popular; and to this circumstance we owe not a small measure of what is termed refinement of language. How observable is this in the history of Herodotus, who appears to have closely copied the ancient poetic records in his inimitable and harmonious prose; and, that his books might bear as near a resemblance as possible to the ancient and popular originals, he divided them into nine, and dedicated each to one of the muses! His work therefore seems to occupy the same place between the ancient poetic compositions and mere prosaic histories, as the polype does between plants and animals. Much even of our sacred records is written in poetry, which God has thus consecrated to be the faithful transmitter of remote and important events; and of this the song before the reader is a proof in point. Though this is not the first specimen of poetry we have met with in the Pentateuch, (see Lamech's speech to his wives, Ge 4:23-24; Noah's prophecy concerning his sons, Ge 9:25-27; and Jacob's blessing to the twelve patriarchs, Ge 49:2-27, and the notes there,) yet it is the first regular ode of any considerable length, having but one subject; and it is all written in hemistichs, or half lines, the usual form in Hebrew poetry; and though this form frequently occurs, it is not attended to in our common printed Hebrew Bibles, except in this and three other places, (De 32:1-43; Jdg 5:1-31; and 2Sa 22:1-51), all of which shall be noticed as they occur. But in Dr. Kennicott's edition of the Hebrew Bible, all the poetry, wheresoever it occurs, is printed in its own hemistich form.
After what has been said it is perhaps scarcely necessary to observe, that as such ancient poetic histories commemorated great and extraordinary displays of providence, courage, strength, fidelity, heroism, and piety; hence the origin of EPIC poems, of which the song in this chapter is the earliest specimen. And on the principle of preserving the memory of such events, most nations have had their epic poets, who have generally taken for their subject the most splendid or most remote events of their country's history, which either referred to the formation or extension of their empire, the exploits of their ancestors, or the establishment of their religion. Hence the ancient HEBREWS had their Shir Mosheh, the piece in question: the GREEKS, their Ilias; the HINDOOS, their Mahabarat; the ROMANS, their AEneis; the NORWEGIANS, their Edda; the IRISH and SCOTCH, their Fingal and Chronological poems; the WELSH, their Taliessin and his Triads; the ARABS, their Nebiun-Nameh (exploits of Mohammed) and Hamleh Heedry, (exploits of Aly;) the PERSIANS, their SHAH Nameh, (book of kings;) the ITALIANS, their Gerusalemme Liberata; the PORTUGUESE, their Lusiad; the ENGLISH, their Paradise Lost; and, in humble imitation of all the rest, (etsi non passibus aequis,) the FRENCH, their Henriade.
The song of Moses has been in the highest repute in the Church of God from the beginning; the author of the Book of Wisdom attributes it in a particular manner to the wisdom of God, and says that on this occasion God opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of infants eloquent; Wisdom 10:21. As if he had said, Every person felt an interest in the great events which had taken place, and all laboured to give Jehovah that praise which was due to his name. "With this song of victory over Pharaoh," says Mr. Ainsworth, "the Holy Ghost compares the song of those who have gotten the victory over the spiritual Pharaoh, the beast, (Antichrist), when they stand by the sea of glass mingled with fire, (as Israel stood here by the Red Sea,) having the harps of God, (as the women here had timbrels, Ex 15:20), and they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, the Son of God," Re 15:2-4.
I will sing unto the Lord] Moses begins the song, and in the two first hemistichs states the subject of it; and these two first lines became the grand chorus of the piece, as we may learn from Ex 15:21. See Dr. Kennicott's arrangement and translation of this piece at the end of this chapter. See Clarke on Ex 15:26.
Triumphed gloriously] כי גאה גאה ki gaoh gaah, he is exceedingly exalted, rendered by the Septuagint, Ενδοξως γαρ δεδοξασται, He is gloriously glorified; and surely this was one of the most signal displays of the glorious majesty of God ever exhibited since the creation of the world. And when it is considered that the whole of this transaction shadowed out the redemption of the human race from the thraldom and power of sin and iniquity by the Lord Jesus, and the final triumph of the Church of God over all its enemies, we may also join in the song, and celebrate Him who has triumphed so gloriously, having conquered death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27 Exo 15:1. Then sang Moses — this song —…
Exo 15:1. Then sang Moses — this song — The first song recorded in Scripture, and, excepting perhaps the book of Job, the most ancient piece of genuine poetry extant in the world. And it cannot be too much admired. It abounds with noble and sublime sentiments, expressed in strong and lofty language. Its figures are bold, its images striking, and every part of it calculated to affect the mind and possess the imagination. There is nothing comparable to it in all the works of profane writers. It is termed the Song of Moses, Rev 15:2-3, and is represented as sung, together with the song of the Lamb, by those who had gotten the victory over the beast, all standing on a sea of glass with the harps of God in their hands. Doubtless Moses wrote this song by inspiration, and, with the children of Israel, sang it on the spot then, while a grateful sense of their deliverance out of Egypt, their safe passage through the Red sea, and their triumph over Pharaoh and his host, were fresh upon their minds. By this instance it appears that the singing of psalms or hymns, as an act of religions worship, was used in the church of Christ before the giving of the ceremonial law, and that therefore it is no part of it, nor abolished with it: singing is as much the language of holy joy, as praying is of holy desire. I will sing unto the Lord — All our joy must terminate in God, and all our praises be offered up to him; for he hath triumphed — All that love God triumph in his triumphs.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27 With the deliverance of Israel is associated the development…
With the deliverance of Israel is associated the development of the national poetry, which finds its first and perfect expression in this magnificent hymn. It was sung by Moses and the people, an expression which evidently points to him as the author. That it was written at the time is an assertion expressly made in the text, and it is supported by the strongest internal evidence. In every age this song gave the tone to the poetry of Israel; especially at great critical epochs of deliverance: and in the book of Revelation Exo 15:3 it is associated with the final triumph of the Church.
The division of the song into three parts is distinctly marked: Exo 15:1-5; Exo 15:6-10; Exo 15:11-18 : each begins with an ascription of praise to God; each increases in length and varied imagery unto the triumphant close.
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Exo 15:1
He hath triumphed gloriously - Literally, He is gloriously glorious.
The horse and his rider - The word “rider” may include horseman, but applies properly to the charioteer.
Exo 15:2
The Lord is my strength and song - My strength and song is Jah. See Psa 68:4. The name was chosen here by Moses to draw attention to the promise ratified by the name “I am.”
I will prepare Him an habitation - I will glorify Him. Our Authorized Version is open to serious objection, as suggesting a thought (namely, of erecting a temple) which could hardly have been in the mind of Moses at that time, and unsuited to the occasion.
Exo 15:3
A man of war - Compare Psa 24:8. The name has on this occasion a special fitness: man had no part in the victory; the battle was the Lord’s.
The Lord is his name - “Jah is His name.” See Exo 15:2.
Exo 15:4
Hath He cast - “Hurled,” as from a sling. See Exo 14:27.
His chosen captains - See Exo 14:7 note.
Exo 15:5
As a stone - The warriors in chariots are always represented on the monuments with heavy coats of mail; the corslets of “chosen captains” consisted of plates of highly tempered bronze, with sleeves reaching nearly to the elbow, covering the whole body and the thighs nearly to the knee. The wearers must have sunk at once like a stone, or as we read in Exo 5:10, like lumps of lead.
Exo 15:7
Thy wrath - Literally, Thy burning, i. e. the fire of Thy wrath, a word chosen expressly with reference to the effect.
Exo 15:8
The blast of God’s nostrils corresponds to the natural agency, the east wind Exo 14:21, which drove the waters back: on the north the waters rose high, overhanging the sands, but kept back by the strongwind: on the south they laid in massive rollers, kept down by the same agency in the deep bed of the Red Sea.
Exo 15:9
The enemy said - The abrupt, gasping utterances; the haste, cupidity and ferocity of the Egyptians; the confusion and disorder of their thoughts, belong to the highest order of poetry. They enable us to realize the feelings which induced Pharaoh and his host to pursue the Israelites over the treacherous sandbanks.
Exo 15:10
Thou didst blow with thy wind - Notice the solemn majesty of these few words, in immediate contrast with the tumult and confusion of the preceding verse. In Exo 14:28, we read only, “the waters returned,” here we are told that it was because the wind blew. A sudden change in the direction of the wind would bring back at once the masses of water heaped up on the north.
They sank as lead - See the note at Exo 15:5.
Exo 15:11
Among the gods - Compare Psa 86:8; Deu 32:16-17. A Hebrew just leaving the land in which polytheism attained its highest development, with gigantic statues and temples of incomparable grandeur, might well on such an occasion dwell upon this consummation of the long series of triumphs by which the “greatness beyond compare” of Yahweh was once for all established.
Exo 15:13
Thy holy habitation - Either Palestine, regarded as the land of promise, sanctified by manifestations of God to the Patriarchs, and destined to be both the home of God’s people, and the place where His glory and purposes were to be perfectly revealed: or Mount Moriah.
Exo 15:14
The inhabitants of Palestina - i. e. the country of the Philistines. They were the first who would expect an invasion, and the first whose district would have been invaded but for the faintheartedness of the Israelites.
Exo 15:15
The dukes of Edom - See Gen 36:15. It denotes the chieftains, not the kings of Edom.
The mighty men of Moab - The physical strength and great stature of the Moabites are noted in other passages: see Jer 48:29, Jer 48:41.
Canaan - The name in this, as in many passages of Genesis, designates the whole of Palestine: and is used of course with reference to the promise to Abraham. It was known to the Egyptians, and occurs frequently on the monuments as Pa-kanana, which applies, if not to the whole of Palestine, yet to the northern district under Lebanon, which the Phoenicians occupied and called “Canaan.”
Exo 15:17
In the mountain of thine inheritance - See Exo 15:13.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27 Canticle. Origen reckons this to be the most ancient…
Canticle. Origen reckons this to be the most ancient piece of poetry. It is truly sublime, and calculated to fill the souls of those, who say their late cruel masters, now prostrate at their feet in death, with sentiments of the greatest gratitude and piety towards their almighty benefactor. (Haydock) --- God miraculously gave utterance to the dumb on this occasion, (Widsom x. 21.) and taught the whole congregation of Israel to join in harmonious concert. (De Mirab. S. S. inter. op. St. Augustine) This mode of perpetuating the memory of past benefits by canticles, is very common in Scripture. (Calmet) --- Let us sing. So the Septuagint The Hebrew has "I will sing....for he hath triumphed gloriously." This canticle was composed by Moses, about 1491 years B.C. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 22 B.—The song of triumph
B.—The song of triumph
Exo_15:1-21 1
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1Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto Jehovah, and said:
I will sing unto Jehovah, for he is highly exalted;2
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
2My strength and my song is Jah, and he hath become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will glorify him,
My father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3Jehovah is a man of war, Jehovah is his name.
4Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea;
And his choicest captains were plunged into the Red Sea.
5The floods cover3 them, they went down into the depths like a stone.
6Thy right hand, Jehovah, glorious in strength,
Thy right hand, Jehovah, dasheth4 enemies in pieces.
7And in the greatness of thy majesty thou overthrowest thy foes;
Thou sendest out thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble.
8And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were heaped up;
Fixed like a dam were the waters,
The floods were congealed in the heart of the sea.
9Said the enemy: I will pursue, overtake, divide spoil;
My lust shall be sated with them;
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
10Thou blewest with thy breath, the sea covered them;
They sank like lead into the mighty waters.
11Who is like unto thee, Jehovah, among the gods?
Who is like unto the, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
12Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swalloweth them.
13Thou leddest forth in thy mercy the people that thou hast redeemed;
Thou guidedst them by thy power unto thy holy habitation.
14Peoples heard, they tremble;
Anguish took hold of the inhabitants of Philistia.
15Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
The mighty ones of Moab—trembling taketh hold of them;
All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
16Fear and dread fall upon them;
By the greatness of thine arm they are still as a stone;
Till thy people pass over, Jehovah,
Till the people pass over whom thou hast purchased.
17Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance,
The place which thou hast made for thy dwelling, Jehovah,
The sanctuary, Lord, which thy hands have established.
18Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever.
19For the horse [horses] of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Jehovah brought again [back] the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
20And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a [the] timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. 21And Miriam answered [responded to] them, Sing ye to Jehovah, for he hath triumphed gloriously [is highly exalted]; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
[Exo_15:1. There seems to be no warrant for the rendering of the A. V.: “He hath triumphed gloriously.” נָּאָה, in the other three passages (Job_8:11; Job_10:16; Eze_47:5) in which it is used, has clearly the meaning “rise,” “grow large.” The adjective גֵּאֶה means “high,” or “high-minded,” “proud.” The renderings of the LXX. and Vulg., are better than that of the A. V., viz., ἐνδόξως γὰρ ἐνδόξασται, and “gloriose enim magnificatus est.”—Tr.].
[Exo_15:5. יְכַסְיֻמוּ is a peculiar form, מוּ for מוֹ (only here), and יְכַסְיוּ for יְכַסּוּ, as not unfrequently in pause. The A. V. here as in several cases afterwards in this chapter, quite neglects the alternation of tenses. The Imperfect is best rendered by our present.—Tr.].
[Exo_15:6. Here too the force and life of the original require the present tense; the statement is general rather than specific. אוֹיֵב, being without the article, may be understood collectively.—Tr.].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
A list of treatises on this theme is given by Knobel, p. 152. To it may be added the exhaustive monograph of K. H. Sack, Die Lieder in den historischen Büchern des Alten Testaments, p. 41–64.
The passage through the Red Sea, as a fundamental fact of the typical kingdom of God, reaches in its relations through all the Holy Scriptures, referring backwards to the deluge, and forwards to Christian baptism, and finally to the last judgment; and so the echoes of this song of Moses extend through all the Scriptures. Preliminary to it are the poetic passages of Genesis and the blessing of Jacob; following it, after some epic passages, comes the parting song of Moses with his blessings, Deuteronomy 32, 33. Two grand companion-pieces, following this, Deborah’s song of triumph, and David’s song of deliverance (2 Samuel 22; Psalms 18), introduce the poetry of the Psalms, in which the key-note, struck by Moses’ song, is heard again. Comp. Psalms 77, 78, 105, 106, 114. Finally mention is made again of the song of Moses at the close of the New Testament; its notes resound forward as the typical song of triumph of the people of God even into the next world, Rev_15:3.
As to the historical originality of the song in this place, three opinions may be specified. According to the older view, represented especially by Kurtz and Sack, the song is wholly Mosaic. According to the modern, critical view, represented especially by Knobel (Bunsen regards the song of Moses and Miriam as including Exo_15:1-3; V. 2, p. 147), the song belongs to a later period. He says that, according to Exo_15:17, it cannot have originated before the times of David and Solomon, for which view he adduces also the phrase שָׁלִישׁ, Exo_15:4; but adds that in its peculiarity it certainly belongs to an old period. This statement involves a rather distinct contradiction. Heek (Introd. I. p. 303) assumes that the song in its original form was genuinely Mosaic, i.e., “that a genuinely Mosaic song lies at the foundation, but later, as used by the people, received some addition, or was in general somewhat worked over.” This assumption does not contradict in principle the spirit of biblical theology; for the collection of the Psalms shows that within the sphere of revelation such reconstructions have taken place. Vid.Psalms 14; Psalms 53. Yet as to the facts in the case before us, we need to look more carefully. Even Exo_15:13, considered as a triumphant prophetic anticipation, may be regarded as original. The holy dwelling-place stands in Moses’ mind all complete, after the further shore of the Red Sea has been happily reached; whilst the scholastic spirit cannot see the holy dwelling-place till the tabernacle or even the temple is a finished fact. But letting this verse pass, without challenge, as an interpolation, and even also the second half of Exo_15:17, which as a whole seems even to contain contradictory elements, yet the following verses correspond excellently to the occasion. For fear of the Philistines the circuitous way through the Sinaitic desert was commanded; consequently it would accord with psychological laws that the Philistines next to the Egyptians should be first in the thoughts of the people. With this is connected the second thought. The direction now taken would bring them into collision with Edom and Moab, and finally with Canaan: to this fact corresponds the joyous presentiment that Jehovah, by this great fact, has prepared the way for the deliverance of His people to the end. It is characteristic that the scholastic spirit throws into the scale the questionable use of an archæological term (שָׁלִישׁ), in opposition to the internal leading features of the song, which every way suits the Mosaic period. Thus, here nothing is said of Jehovah’s righteousness, but the idea of His holiness here for the first time comes distinctly out, Exo_15:11. This accords with the demands of internal biblical sequence: first, the El-elyon [Most High God] of the primeval times and of Melchizedek; then the El-shaddai [God Almighty], the miracle-working God of Abraham; then Jehovah the Holy One in the age of Moses. Also the prayer in Exo_15:16 and, in part, Exo_15:17 [rendered by Lange jussively, “Let fear … fall,” etc.], prove that Israel was still on the journey.
Analysis of the Song.—“The song may be divided into three strophes increasing successively in length, of which each one begins with the praise of Jehovah and ends with a description of the overthrow of the Egyptian host, Exo_15:2-18” (Keil). Knobel, however, makes the first strophe consist of Exo_15:1-3 (Jehovah as the lofty hero); the second, Exo_15:4-11 (as the highest God); the third, Exo_15:12-18 (as the King of Israel). Sack divides still differently. The festive, subjective mood which produces the song (the introduction or foundation) is properly set off by itself in Exo_15:2. Also Exo_15:3-8 may be taken together as a magnifying of Jehovah’s heroism (which here makes up for Israel’s unfitness for warfare) as displayed against Pharaoh. Then comes the contrast presented in the enemy’s defiance and defeat, Exo_15:9-10. Thence follows the conclusion, that Jehovah is Israel’s God, exalted above all the gods (religions) of the heathen, Exo_15:11-13. To this is appended the celebration of the terrifying effect of this achievement of Jehovah on the heathen people; according to Sack, from Exo_15:14 to Exo_15:18. We regard Exo_15:17-18 as a concluding prayer belonging by itself.
Especially is to be noticed here the relation of the following words. Evidently Miriam here institutes the antiphony, and that in the simplest and most natural form. This moment might be called the birth of the theocratic antiphony. It corresponds to the position of females, that the song is very short, the refrain of the song of Moses, but ennobled by the sound of timbrel and by the dance, in which Miriam is the representative of the women, as Moses of the men.
Exo_15:1-2. Jehovah’s exploit; Israel’s song. עֹז, “Strength, might; not praise and glory” (Keil). But that strength which the poet experiences, that which becomes in him a fountain of song, is his inspiration. Jah, concentration of the name Jehovah, perhaps a more familiar form of the awe-inspiring name.
Exo_15:3-8. Jehovah as a warlike hero in contrast with Pharaoh.—A man of war.—As such he had become Israel’s consolation and reliance by his annihilation of Egypt’s dreadful military power, which Israel alone could not have resisted. Thy right hand, Jehovah (Exo_15:6) does not form a contrast with what is said of Jehovah as a man of war, but is a further celebration of the warlike power of Jehovah as displayed against his foes.
Exo_15:9-10. Pharaoh, Jehovah’s enemy, as the persecutor of His people, in his arrogance, in contrast with Jehovah.—I will pursue.—The spirit of the eager enemy is pictured in a masterly way by the incomplete sentences following one another without the copula.—They sank (plunged). צָלֲלוּ is translated by Knobel: “they whirled.” But lead falling upon water does anything but whirl around. Keil translates צָלַל here “sank into the depths,” referring to צוּלָה and מְעוּלָה, the abyss of the sea, and alleging that lead cast into water can neither whir nor whirl. Yet it might cause the peculiar sound of water designated by the words dash, splash, etc. The question might be asked, whether a new picturesque expression would not be preferable to the repetition of the thought of Exo_15:5. But this is decided by the consideration that they did not fall upon the water, but the water came over them.
Exo_15:11-13. Jehovah therefore has shown Himself to be the God of His people Israel.—Who is like unto thee.—The germ of the name Michael. Jehovah appears here as the exalted God of God’s people, before whom the gods (the heathen—and anti-Christian—forms of religion) cannot stand.—Who is like unto thee, again in fine repetition, for now Jehovah is celebrated as He who glorifies Himself (or is glorified) in holiness. He is made glorious by His holiness, by the august distinction of His personality from all hostile elements, of His people from the Egyptians by the waters of the Red Sea, of His light from darkness. The passage through the Red Sea has made manifest the holiness of Jehovah, who henceforward through His revelation will sanctify His people, as was first typically promised by the deluge; comp. Psa_77:14 [13].5—Fearful in praises.—The obscure expression נוֹרָא תְהִלֹּת means not only summe venerandus, but also that “man, because God performs fearful miracles, can sing to Him praises worthy of his wonderful deeds only with fear and trembling” (Keil). But can one sing praises with fear and trembling? Yet songs of praise themselves may disseminate fear and terror in the kingdom of darkness; at any rate, Jehovah can reveal His dreadfulness so as to call forth songs of praise from His people.—Doing wonders.—The notion of the miraculous likewise here first appears more marked, as that of something new and extraordinary, which through God’s creative power transcends the extraordinary phenomena of the ancient natural world.—Only a stretching out of His hand, and the earth swallows them up. The words, says Keil, have nothing more to do with the Egyptians, but with the enemies of the Lord in general, since the Egyptians were swallowed by the sea. But the contrast is between God’s outstretched hand in heaven and the absolute subordination of the whole earth, which certainly includes the sea.—In thy mercy.—Here the notion of grace becomes more definite in connection with the typical deliverance.—Unto thy holy habitation.——See above. According to Knobel, this expression indicates that the song was composed at a later period. Noticeable is the expression נְוֵה קֹדֶשׁ. The Red Sea being the boundary-line between Egypt and God’s people, the region or pasture (נָוֶה) of holiness began on the other shore of the sea. Keil refers the phrase to Canaan, the leading of the people into that land being now pledged to them, so that the expression, like many others, would have to be understood in a prophetic sense.
Exo_15:14-16. The terrifying effect of this exploit of Jehovah among the heathen.—Even the singers at the Red Sea could proclaim this effect as an accomplished fact. Rumors of wars and victories even in the East circulate rapidly, and the facts, through the reports, assume an imposing form. Vid.Jos_2:9; Jos_9:9. The ramification of this effect is entirely in accordance with the plan of the journey, comp. Num_20:18 sqq.; Exo_21:4; Deu_2:3; Deu_2:8. See above.—Still asa stone.—דָּמַם may mean either to stand still, or to be rigid and silent. We regard the first sense as the more probable. As Israel must march among the stones of the wilderness, so he wishes also to march through the nations clean to his goal. To this refers also the two-fold עַד־יַעֲבֹר [“pass over”], which Knobel refers to the crossing of the Jordan—a proof of the degree of senselessness to which modern criticism can attain in its prejudices.
Exo_15:17-18. Concluding prayer and doxology.—A part of Exo_15:17, as an original conclusion, could not be at all dispensed with.—Thou shalt bring them in.—According to Knobel, the futures are preterites (!); according to Keil, they should not be read as wishes, but as simple predictions. Predictions in reference to Jehovah’s actions!—In the mountain of thine inheritance.—According to Knobel, this is the mountain-region of Canaan; according to Keil, the mountain which Jehovah had chosen, by the offering of Isaac (Genesis 22), as his dwelling-place, his sanctuary, Psa_78:54. There is no ground for regarding this expression as a vaticinium post eventum; it seems, however, also very one-sided to refer the prophecy directly to the definite locality of the sanctuary on Moriah. How long the tabernacle first stood in Shiloh, how often the ark changed its place! In symbolical language a mountain is a secure height on which the people of Israel, Jehovah’s possession, gained a firm lodgment. The centre of this mountain is, on the one hand, the dwelling-place of Jehovah; on the other, the sanctuary of the Lord (אָדֹנָי) for His people. The brief concluding sentence forms a worthy close; a simple expression of unlimited confidence: Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever.
Exo_15:19-20. Transition to the antiphony of Miriam.—The horses of Pharaoh.—Keil understands that Pharaoh rode on his horse in front of the army. But this is neither ancient nor modern custom. Moreover, סוּם evidently refers to chariots and horsemen.—The prophetess.—“Not ob poeticam et musicam facultatem (Rosenmüller), but on account of her prophetic gifts” (Keil). It is not well to distinguish the two kinds of endowment within the theocracy so sharply, in so far, that is, as the question of endowment is concerned.—The sister of Aaron.—So in Num_12:1-6, where, together with Aaron, she takes sides against Moses. According to Kurtz, she is so called because she was co-ordinate with Aaron, but subordinate to Moses. She stood, as the leader of Jewish women, appropriately by the side of the future conductor of the religious service. According to the New Testament, it was also customary to name younger children after the older ones (e.g. Judas of James).—The timbrel in her hand.—The taber, tambourine.—And with dances.—Here first appears the religious dance, introduced by Miriam with religious festivities, but probably not without Aaron’s influence. The frequent occurrence of this dance is seen from a concordance.6
Exo_15:21. Sing ye to Jehovah.—From this derives the antiphony in the Old Testament and New Testament, e.g.Jdg_11:34; 1Sa_18:6; 1Sa_21:11; 1Sa_29:5. Is not the occasion great enough in itself, that the orgin of the antiphony should have been looked for in Egypt? For the rest, vid. on the ancient Egyptian female dancers with tambourines, Keil, Archäologie, § 137, Note 8.
Footnotes:
[1][For convenience sake the translation of this song is given without indicating in what particulars it differs from that of the A. V.—Tr.].
[2][Exo_15:1. There seems to be no warrant for the rendering of the A. V.: “He hath triumphed gloriously.” נָּאָה, in the other three passages (Job_8:11; Job_10:16; Eze_47:5) in which it is used, has clearly the meaning “rise,” “grow large.” The adjective גֵּאֶה means “high,” or “high-minded,” “proud.” The renderings of the LXX. and Vulg., are better than that of the A. V., viz., ἐνδόξως γὰρ ἐνδόξασται, and “gloriose enim magnificatus est.”—Tr.].
[3][Exo_15:5. יְכַסְיֻמוּ is a peculiar form, מוּ for מוֹ (only here), and יְכַסְיוּ for יְכַסּוּ, as not unfrequently in pause. The A. V. here as in several cases afterwards in this chapter, quite neglects the alternation of tenses. The Imperfect is best rendered by our present.—Tr.].
[4][Exo_15:6. Here too the force and life of the original require the present tense; the statement is general rather than specific. אוֹיֵב, being without the article, may be understood collectively.—Tr.].
[5][Where בַּקֹּדֶשׁ, the same expression which in Exo_15:11 is rendered “in holiness.” is in the A. V. incorrectly rendered “in the sanctuary.”—Tr.].
[6][According to some, the word here, rendered “dances” really denotes a musical instrument used in connection with dunces. So, e.g., Prof. Marks in Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Am. Ed., p. 538.—Tr.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27 Miriam the prophetess--so called from her receiving divine revelations…
Miriam the prophetess--so called from her receiving divine revelations (Num 12:1; Mic 6:4), but in this instance principally from her being eminently skilled in music, and in this sense the word "prophecy" is sometimes used in Scripture (Ch1 25:1; Co1 11:5).
took a timbrel--or "tabret"--a musical instrument in the form of a hoop, edged round with rings or pieces of brass to make a jingling noise and covered over with tightened parchment like a drum. It was beat with the fingers, and corresponds to our tambourine.
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all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances--We shall understand this by attending to the modern customs of the East, where the dance--a slow, grave, and solemn gesture, generally accompanied with singing and the sound of the timbrel, is still led by the principal female of the company, the rest imitating her movements and repeating the words of the song as they drop from her lips.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 9, 11, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 SONG OF MOSES AND MIRIAM, Exo_15:1-21.
SONG OF MOSES AND MIRIAM, Exo_15:1-21.
1. Most glorious — That is, perhaps, as well as our English can do with the terse, alliterative גאה גאח, which swelled like a thousand trumpets in every repetition of the chorus.
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The horse and his rider — To be taken collectively, cavalry and chariotry.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–27 1a. Then sang, &c.] cf. Num_21:17. (In Jdg_5:1 the…
1a. Then sang, &c.] cf. Num_21:17. (In Jdg_5:1 the Heb. is simply, And.)
1b. Exordium. The poet bids himself sing (cf. Jdg_5:3); and briefly, but forcibly, announces his theme (cf. v. 21).
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hath triumphed gloriously] This fine paraphrase is based upon the triumphando magnifice egit of Seb. Münster, in his Latin version of the O.T. (1534–5). A more lit. rendering would be hath risen up (see, for the rare word, Job_8:11; Job_10:16, Eze_47:5) majestically or proudly: the root idea of the word is to rise up loftily; but derivatives have generally the fig. senses of majesty or pride (see e.g. v. 7, Psa_96:1).
The horse, &c.] Thus briefly, but completely, is the ruin of the Pharaoh’s army described: its chariots and horses, the mainstay of its strength, are, by Divine might, cast irretrievably into the sea.
and his rider] רָכַבי means both to ride a horse, and to ride in a chariot (Jer_51:21 ‘the horse and his rider, … and the chariot and its rider’; similarly Hag_2:22): hence, as the Egyptians at this time has no cavalry (on Exo_14:9), if the verse is contemporary with the Exodus, either ‘rider’ must be understood of the rider in the chariot, or (as the pron. rather distinctly connects the ‘rider’ with the horse: cf. Gen_49:17, and Jer. l.c.) we may read for רֹכְבֹו either רֹכֵב (so LXX.), i.e. ‘The horse and the rider’ (viz. in the chariot), or (Haupt) רֶכֶב, i.e. ‘The horse and the chariot’ (Exo_14:9).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27 (1) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel.—With…
XV.
THE SONG OF MOSES.
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(1) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel.—With his usual modesty, Moses does not say that he composed the magnificent ode which follows; but it is scarcely conceivable that it can have had any other author. It bears a close resemblance to the Egyptian religious poetry, with which Moses—and probably no other Israelite of the time—would have been familiar from his early training; and it breathes the elevated tone of religious sentiment that was scarcely shared with Moses by any contemporary. The prophetic statements in the latter verses of the hymn have led some to assign to it a date later than Joshua; but the vagueness of these statements stands in a remarkable contrast with the definiteness and graphic power of the descriptive portion, and points to the time of Moses for the composition. The poetic genius shown in the composition is, no doubt, very considerable; but the statement that it transcends all later Hebrew poesy would not have been made by any critic whose judgment was not biased by his theories. The ode is distinguished from later similar compositions by greater simplicity in the language, and greater freedom in the rhythmical arrangement. There is the usual “parallelism of clauses,” with its three varieties of “antithetic, synthetic, and synonymous;” but the regular cadence is interrupted with unusual frequency by triplet stanzas, and the parallelism is less exact than that of later times.
The ode divides itself into two portions (Exo_15:1-12 and Exo_15:13-18): the first retrospective, the second prospective. Part II. has no sub-divisions; but Part I. Consists of three, or perhaps we should say of four, portions. First comes the burden, or refrain (Exo_15:1), which was repeated at the close of each sub-division by Miriam and her choir of women (Exo_15:21). Then we have the first stanza, or strophe, reaching from Exo_15:2 to Exo_15:5. Next we have stanza or strophe 2, extending from Exo_15:6 to Exo_15:10. After this, stanza or strophe 3, comprising Exo_15:11-12. These shorter, and as it were tentative, efforts are followed by the grand burst of prophetic song which constitutes Part II., and extends from Exo_15:13 to Exo_15:18, terminating with the sublime utterance, beyond which no thought of man can go, “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.”
I will sing.—It may convey to the ordinary reader some idea of the rhythm of the ode to transcribe into Roman characters and accentuate this opening passage, which is as follows :—
Ashirah layhováh ki gaóh gaáh,
Sus v’rokebo ramáh bayyám.
He hath triumphed gloriously.—Heb., he hath glorified himself gloriously (ἐνδόξως δεδόξασται, LXX.). The main idea implied in the verb gââh is exaltation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Exodus 15
Exodus 15
This chapter opens with Israel’s magnificent song of triumph on the shore of the Red Sea, when they had seen "that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians." They had seen God’s salvation, and they, therefore, sing His praise and recount His mighty acts. "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord." Up to this moment, we have not heard so much as a single note of praise. We have heard their cry of deep sorrow, as they toiled amid the brick-kilns of Egypt; we have hearkened to their cry of unbelief, when surrounded by what they deemed insuperable difficulties; but, until now, we have heard no song of praise. It was not until, as a saved people, they found themselves surrounded by the fruits of God’s salvation, that the triumphal hymn burst forth from the whole redeemed assembly. It was when they emerged from their significant baptism "in the cloud and in the sea," and were able to gaze upon the rich spoils of victory, which lay scattered around them, that six hundred thousand voices were heard chanting the song of victory. The waters of the Red Sea rolled between them and Egypt, and they stood on the shore as a fully delivered people, and, therefore, they were able to praise Jehovah.
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In this, as in everything else, they were our types. We, too, must know ourselves as saved, in the power of death and resurrection, before ever we can present clear and intelligent worship. There will always be reserve and hesitancy in the soul, proceeding, no doubt, from positive inability to enter into the accomplished redemption which is in Christ Jesus. There may be the acknowledgement of the fact that there is salvation in Christ, and in none other; but this is a very different thing from apprehending, by faith, the true character and ground of that salvation, and realising it as ours. The Spirit of God reveals, with unmistakable clearness, in the Word, that the Church is united to Christ in death and resurrection; and, moreover, that a risen Christ, at God’s right hand, is the measure and pledge of the Church’s acceptance. When this is believed, it conducts the soul entirely beyond the region of doubt and uncertainty. How can the Christian doubt when he knows that he is continually represented before the throne of God by an Advocate, even "Jesus Christ the righteous?" It is the privilege of the very feeblest member of the Church of God to know that he was represented by Christ on the cross; that all his sins were confessed, borne, judged, and atoned for there. This is a divine reality, and, when laid hold of by faith, must give peace. But nothing short of it ever can give peace. There may be earnest, anxious, and most sincere desires after God. There may be the most pious and devout attendance upon all the ordinances, offices, and forms of religion. But there is no other possible way in which to get the sense of sin entirely removed from the conscience, but seeing it judged in the Person of Christ, as a sin-offering on the cursed tree. If it was judged there, once for all, it is now by the believer to be regarded as a divinely and, therefore, eternally-settled question. And that it was so judged is proved by the resurrection of the Surety. "I know that whatsoever God doeth it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it that men should fear before him." (Ecc. 3: 14)
However, while it is generally admitted that all this is, true in reference to the Church collectively, many find considerable difficulty in making a personal application thereof. They are ready to say, with the psalmist, "Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me," &c. (Ps. 73: 1, 2) They are looking at themselves instead of at Christ, in death, and Christ, in resurrection. They are occupied rather with their appropriation of Christ than with Christ Himself. They are thinking of their capacity rather than their title. Thus they are kept in a state of the most distressing uncertainty; and, as a consequence, they are never able to take the place of happy, intelligent worshippers. They are praying for salvation instead of rejoicing in the conscious possession of it. They are looking at their imperfect fruits instead of Christ’s perfect atonement.
Now, in looking through the various notes of this song, in Exodus 15, we do not find a single note about self, its doings, its sayings, its feelings, or its fruits. It is all about Jehovah from beginning to end. It begins with, "I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." This is a specimen of the entire song. It is a simple record of the attributes and actings of Jehovah. In Ex. 14 the hearts of the people? had, as it were, been pent up, by the excessive pressure of their circumstances: but in Ex. 15 the pressure is removed, and their hearts find full vent in a sweet song of praise. Self is forgotten. Circumstances are lost sight of. One object, and but one, fills their vision, and that object is the Lord Himself in His character and ways. They were able to say, "Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands." (Ps. 92: 4) This is true worship. It is when poor worthless self, with all its belongings, is lost sight of, and Christ alone fills the heart, that we present proper worship. There is no need for the efforts of a fleshly pietism to awaken in the soul feelings of devotion. Nor is there any demand whatever for the adventitious appliances of religion, so called, to kindle in the soul the flame of acceptable worship. Oh! no; let but the heart be occupied with the Person of Christ, and "songs of praise" will be the natural result. It is impossible for the eye to rest on Him and the spirit not be bowed in holy worship. If we contemplate the worship of the hosts which surround the throne of God and the Lamb, we shall find that it is ever evoked by the presentation of some special feature of divine excellence or divine acting. Thus should it be with the Church on earth; and when it is not so, it is because we allow things to intrude upon us which have no place in the regions of unclouded light and unalloyed blessedness. In all true worship, God Himself is at once the object of worship, the subject of worship, and the power of worship.
Hence Exodus 15 is a fine specimen of a song of praise. It is the language of a redeemed people celebrating the worthy praise of Him who had redeemed them. "The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my fathers God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name, . . . thy right hand, O Lord is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy ....who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? . . . . Thou, in thy mercy, hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. . . . The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." How comprehensive is the range of this song. It begins with redemption and ends with the glory. It begins with the cross, and ends with the kingdom. It is like a beauteous rainbow, of which one end dips in "the sufferings," and the other in "the glory which should follow." It is all about Jehovah. It is an outpouring of soul produced by a view of God and His gracious and glorious actings.
Moreover, it does not stop short of the actual accomplishment of the divine purpose; as we read, "Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation." The people were able to say this, though they had but just planted their foot on the margin of the desert. It was not the expression of a vague hope. It was not feeding upon poor blind chance. Oh! no; when the soul is wholly occupied with God, it is enabled to launch out into all the fullness of His grace, to bask in the sunshine of His countenance, and delight itself in the rich abundance of His mercy and loving-kindness. There is not a cloud upon the prospect, when the believing soul, taking its stand upon the eternal rock on which redeeming love has set it in association with a risen Christ, looks up into the spacious vault of God’s infinite plans and purposes, and dwells upon the effulgence of that glory which God has prepared for all those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
This will account for the peculiarly brilliant, elevated, and unqualified character of all those bursts of praise which we find throughout sacred Scripture, The creature is set aside; God is the object. He fills the entire sphere of the soul’s vision. There is nothing of man, his feelings, or his experiences, and, therefore, the stream of praise flows copiously and uninterruptedly forth. How different is this from some of the hymns which we so often hear sung in Christian assemblies, so full of our failings, our feebleness, our shortcomings. The fact is, we can never sing with real, spiritual intelligence and power when we are looking at ourselves We shall ever be discovering something within which will act as a drawback to our worship. Indeed, with many, it seems to be accounted a Christian grace to be in a continual state of doubt and hesitation; and, as a consequence, their hymns are quite in character with their condition. Such persons, however sincere and pious, have never yet, in the actual experience of their souls, entered upon the proper ground of worship. They have not yet got done with themselves. They have not passed through the sea; and, as a spiritually baptised people, taken their stand on the shore, in the power of resurrection. They are still, in some way or another, occupied with self. They do not regard self as a crucified thing, with which God is for ever done.
May the Holy Ghost lead all God’s people into fuller, clearer, and worthier apprehensions of their place and privilege as those who, being washed from their sins in the blood of Christ, are presented before God in all that infinite and unclouded acceptance in which He stands, as the risen and glorified Head of His Church. Doubts and fears do not become them, for their divine Surety has not left a shadow of a foundation on which to build a doubt or a fear. Their place is within the veil. They "have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." (Heb. 10: 19) Are there any doubts or fears in the holiest? Is it not evident that a doubting spirit virtually calls in question the perfectness of Christ’s work - a work which has been attested, in the view of all created intelligence, by the resurrection of Christ from the dead? That blessed one could not have left the tomb unless all ground of doubting and fearing had been perfectly removed on behalf of His people. Wherefore, it is the Christians sweet privilege ever to triumph in a full salvation. The Lord Himself has become his salvation; and he has only to enjoy the fruits of that which God has wrought for him, and to walk to His praise while waiting for that time, when "Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever."
But there is one note in this song, to which I shall just invite my reader’s attention. "He is my God and I will prepare him an habitation." It is worthy of note that when the heart was full to overflowing with the joy of redemption, it gives expression to its devoted purpose in reference to "a habitation for God." Let the Christian reader ponder this. God dwelling with man is a grand thought pervading Scripture from Exodus 15 to Revelation. Hearken to the following utterance of a devoted heart: "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." (Ps. 132: 3-5) Again, "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." (Ps. 49: 9; John 2: 17.) I do not attempt to pursue this subject here; but I would fain awaken such an interest concerning it in the breast of my reader, as shall lead him to pursue it, prayerfully, for himself, from the earliest notice of it in the Word until he arrives at that soul-stirring announcement, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Rev. 21: 3, 4)
"So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; and they went out into the wilderness of Shur: and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water." (ver. 22) It is when we get into wilderness experience, that we are put to the test as to the real measure of our acquaintance with God and with our own hearts. There is a freshness and an exuberance of joy connected with the opening of our Christian career, which very soon receives a check from the keen blast of the desert; and then, unless there is a deep sense of what God is to us, above and beyond everything else, we are apt to break down, and, "in our hearts, turn back again into Egypt." The discipline of the wilderness is needful, not to furnish us with a title to Canaan, but to make us acquainted with God and with our own hearts; to enable us to enter into the power of our relationship, and to enlarge our capacity for the enjoyment of Canaan when we actually get there. (See Deut. 8: 2-5.)
The greenness, freshness, and luxuriance of spring have peculiar charms, which will pass away before the scorching heat of summer; but then, with proper care, that very heat which removes the fair traces of spring, produces the mellowed and matured fruits of autumn. Thus it is also in the Christian life; for there is, as we know, a striking and deeply instructive analogy between the principles which obtain in the kingdom of nature and those which characterise the kingdom of grace, seeing it is the same God whose handiwork meets our view in both.
There are three distinct positions in which we may contemplate Israel, namely, in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the land of Canaan. In all these, they are "our types;" but we are in all three together. This may seem paradoxical, but it is true. As a matter of actual fact, we are in Egypt, surrounded by natural things, which are entirely adapted to the natural heart. But, inasmuch as we have been called by God’s grace into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ, we, according to the affections and desires of the new nature, necessarily find our place outside of all that which belongs to Egypt,, (i.e., the world in its natural state),* and this causes us to taste of wilderness experience, or, in other words, it places us, as a matter of experience, in the wilderness. The divine nature earnestly breathes after a different order of things - after a purer atmosphere than that with which we find ourselves surrounded, and thus it causes us to feel Egypt to be a moral desert.
{*There is a wide moral difference between Egypt and Babylon, which it is important to understand. Egypt was that out of which Israel came; Babylon was that into which they were afterwards carried. (Comp. Amos 5: 25-27 with Acts 7: 42, 43) Egypt expresses what man has made of the world; Babylon expresses what Satan has made, is making, or will make, of the professing Church. Hence, we are not only surrounded with the circumstances of Egypt, but also by the moral principles of Babylon.
This renders our "days" what the Holy Ghost has termed "perilous." (calepoi - "difficult".) It demands a special energy of the Spirit of God, and complete subjection to the authority of the Word, to enable one to meet the combined influence of the realities of Egypt and the spirit and principles of Babylon. The former meet the natural desires of the heart; while the latter connect themselves with, and address themselves to, the religiousness of nature, which gives them a peculiar hold upon the heart. Man is a religious being, and peculiarly susceptible of the influences which arise from music, sculpture, painting, and pompous rites and ceremonies. When these things stand connected with the full supply of all his natural wants - yes, with all the ease and luxury of life, nothing but the mighty power of God’s Word and Spirit can keep one true to Christ.
We should also remark that there is a vast difference between the destinies of Egypt and those of Babylon. Isaiah 19 sets before us the blessing that are in store for Egypt. It concludes thus: "And the Lord shall smite Egypt; he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even unto the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them. . . . . . in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance."(ver. 22-25)
Very different is the close of Babylon’s history, whether viewed as a literal city or a spiritual system. "I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." (Isaiah 14: 23) "It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation." (Isaiah 13: 20) So much for Babylon literally; and looking at it from a mystic or spiritual point of view, we read its destiny in Revelation 18. The entire chapter is a description of Babylon, and it concludes thus: " A strong angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, "Thus, with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." (Verse 21)
With what immense solemnity should those words fall upon the ears of all who are in any wise connected with Babylon - that is to say, with the false, professing church. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues!" (Rev. 18: 5) The "power" of the Holy Ghost will necessarily produce, or express itself in a certain " form, and the enemy’s aim has ever been to rob the professing church of the power, while he leads her to cling to, and perpetuate the form - to stereotype the form when all the spirit and life has passed away. Thus he builds the spiritual Babylon. The stones of which this city is built are lifeless professors; and the slime or mortar which binds these stones together is a, form of godliness without the power."
Oh my beloved reader, let us see to it that we fully, clearly and influentially understand these things.}
But then, inasmuch as we are, in God’s view, eternally associated with Him who is passed right through into the heavenlies, and taken His seat there in triumph and majesty, it is our happy privilege to know ourselves, by faith, as "sitting together with him" there. (Eph. 2) So that although we are, as to our bodies, in Egypt, we are, as to our experience, in the wilderness, while at the same time, faith conducts us, in spirit, into Canaan, and enables us to feed upon "the old corn of the land," i.e., upon Christ, not as One come down to earth merely, but as One gone back to heaven and seated there in glory.
The concluding verses of this 15th chapter show us Israel in the wilderness. Up to this point it seemed to them to be all fair sailing. Heavy judgements poured upon Egypt, but Israel perfectly exempt - the army of Egypt dead upon the sea shore, but Israel in triumph. All this was well enough; but alas! the aspect of things speedily changed. The notes of praise were soon exchanged for the accents of discontent. "When they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?" Again, "the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full! for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
Here were the trials of the wilderness. What shall we eat?" and "What shall we drink?" The waters of Marah tested the heart of Israel and developed their murmuring spirit; but the Lord showed them that there was no bitterness which He could not sweeten with the provision of His own grace. "And the Lord showed them a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet; there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them." Beauteous figure this of Him who was, in infinite grace, cast into the bitter waters of death, in order that those waters might yield nought but sweetness to us for ever. We can truly say, "the bitterness of death is past," and nothing remains for us but the eternal sweets of resurrection.
Verse 26 sets before us the momentous character of this first stage of Gods redeemed in the wilderness. We are in great danger, at this point, of falling into a fretful, impatient, murmuring spirit. The only remedy for this is to keep the eye steadily fixed on Jesus - "looking unto Jesus." He, blessed be His name, ever unfolds himself according to the need of His people; and they, instead of complaining of their circumstances, should only make their circumstances an occasion of drawing afresh upon Him. Thus it is that the wilderness ministers to our experience of what God is. It is a school in which we learn His patient grace and ample resources. "Forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness." (Acts 13: 18) The spiritual mind will ever own that it is worth having bitter waters for God to sweeten. "We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Rom. 5: 3-5)
However, the wilderness has its Elims as well as its Marahs; its wells and palm trees, as well as its bitter waters. "And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped thereby the waters." (Ver. 27) The Lord graciously and tenderly provides green spots in the desert for His journeying people; and though they are, at best, but oases, yet are they refreshing to the spirit and encouraging to the heart. The sojourn at Elim was eminently calculated to soothe the hearts of the people, and hush their murmurings. The grateful shade of its palm trees, and the refreshing of its wells, came in, sweetly and seasonably, after the trial of Marah, and significantly set forth, in our view, the precious virtues of that spiritual ministry which God provides for his people down here. "The twelve and "the seventy " are numbers intimately associated with ministry.
But Elim was not Canaan. Its wells and palm trees were but foretastes of that happy land which lay beyond the bounds of the sterile desert on which the redeemed had just entered. It furnished refreshment, no doubt, but it was wilderness refreshment. It was but for passing moment, designed, in grace, to encourage their depressed spirits, and nerve them for their onward march to Canaan. Thus it is as we know, with ministry in the Church. It is a gracious provision for our need, designed to refresh, strengthen, and encourage our hearts, "until we all come to the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ." (Eph. 4)
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27 Vers. 1-21THE SONG OF MOSES. Full of gratitude, joy,…
Vers. 1-21THE SONG OF MOSES. Full of gratitude, joy, and happiness burning with a desire to vent in devotional utterance of the most fitting kind, his intense and almost ecstatic feelings, Moses, who to his other extraordinary powers, added the sublime gift of poesy, composed, shortly after the passage, a hymn of praise, and sang it with a chorus of the people as a thanksgiving to the Almighty. The hymn itself is generally allowed to be one of transcendent beauty. Deriving probably the general outline of its form and character of its rhythm from the Egyptian poetry of the time, with which Moses had been familiar from his youth, it embodies ideas purely Hebrew, and remarkable for grandeur, simplicity, and depth. Naturally, as being the first outburst of the poetical genius of the nation, and also connected with the very commencement of the national life, it exerted the most important formative influence upon the later Hebrew poetic style, furnishing a pattern to the later lyric poets, from which they but rarely deviated. The "parallelism of the members," which from the middle of the Last century has been acknowledged to be the only real rhythmical law of Hebrew poetry, with its three forms of "synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic (or verbal) parallelism" is here found almost us distinctly marked as in any of the later compositions. At the same time, a greater lyrical freedom is observable than was afterwards practised. The song divides itself primarily into two parts: the first (vers. 1-12) retrospective, celebrating the recent deliverance; the second (vers. 13-18) prospective, describing the effects that would flow from the deliverance in future time. The verbs indeed of the second part are at first grammatical preterites; but (as Kalisch observes) they are "according to the sense, futures their past form denoting only that the prophet sees the events revealed to him as though they were already accomplished. Hence, after a time, he slides into the future (ver. 16). The second part is continuous, and has no marked break: the first sub-divides into three unequal portions, each commencing with an address to Jehovah, and each terminating with a statement of the great fact, that the Egyptians were swallowed up. These three portions are:
1. vers. 2-5, "The Lord is my strength," to "They sank into the bottom as astone.
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2. vers. 6-10," Thy right hand, O Lord," to "They sank like lead in themighty waters.
3. vers. 11-12, "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord," to "The earth swallowedthem." The first verse stands separate from the whole, as an introduction, and at the same time as the refrain. Moses and a chorus of men commenced their chant with it, and probably proceeded to the end of ver. 5, when Miriam, with the Hebrew women, interposed with a repetition of the refrain (see ver. 21). The chant of the males was resumed and carried to the close of ver. 10, when again the refrain came in. It was further repeated after ver. 12; and once moral at the close of the whole "song." Similar refrains, or burdens, are found in Egyptian melodies
PART I
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel. It is in accordance with the general modesty of Moses, that he says nothing of the composition of the "song." No serious doubt of his authorship has ever been entertained; but the general belief rests on the improbability of there having been among the Israelites a second literary genius of the highest order, without any mention being made of him. The joint-singing by Moses and "the children of Israel" implies the previous training of a choir, and would seem to show that the Israelites remained for some days encamped at the point which they had occupied on quitting the bed of the sea. He hath triumphed gloriously. Literally. He is gloriously glorious." (ejndoxwv dedoxastai, LXX) The horse and his rider. Rather, "The horse and his driver." Chariots, not cavalry, are in the mind of the writer.
Vers. 1-18. The song of Moses a pattern thanksgiving.
There is nothing in the whole range of sacred or profane literature more fresh, more vigorous, more teeming with devotional thought than this wonderful poem. In rhythm it is grand and sonorous, in construction skilful and varied, in the quality of the thoughts lofty, in the mode of expression at once simple and sublime. Partly historic, partly prophetic, it describes the past with marvellous power, and gives with a few touches a glorious picture of the future. Throughout it breathes the warmest love of God, the deepest thankfulness to him, the strongest regard for his honour. We may well take it for our model when we have to thank God:
I FOR A TEMPORAL DELIVERANCE; and observe
(1) its matter;
(2) its manner;
(3) its form.
(1) Its matter comprises
(a) distinct and repeated enunciation of the deliverance itself, with expatiation on its circumstances;
(b) anticipation of further advantages to flow from the deliverance in the future;
(c) transition from the particular mercy to the consideration of God"s power, greatness and goodness in the abstract; and
(d) glorification of God on all three accounts.
(2) Its manner comprises, among other points,
(a) beginning and ending with praise;
(b) intermixture of the praise with the grounds of praise;
(c) persistence and repetition, but with the introduction of new touches.
(3) Its form is
(a) poetic;
(b) discontinuous, or broken into stanzas;
(c) irregular.
Our thanksgivings for great national or even great personal deliverances may well, if our powers suffice, take a poetic shape. Poetry is more expressive than prose, more heart-stirring, more enthusiastic. It is also better remembered, and it is less diffuse.
II FOR SPIRITUAL DELIVERANCE FROM THE EGYPT OF SIN. Each man"s deliverance will have its own peculiar features, which he will do well to note and make special subjects of thankfulness, not sparing repetition, that he may present the matter to himself in various lights, and see all God"s goodness in respect of it. Each deliverance will also lead naturally to prospective thoughts, extending beyond the wilderness of this life to the Canaan which is our inheritance. Each will profitably lead us to go beyond ourselves, and dwell for a while on the general attributes of God, whence proceed the mercies that we individually experience; and we shall do well to praise God on all these accounts. Manner and form are of less importance than matter, and admit of more variety without sensible loss; but even here "the song" furnishes a pattern on which it would be hard to improve. The grounds for preferring poetry to prose for such an outpouring of the heart as a thanksgiving have been already stated. The propriety of beginning and ending with praise is unquestionable. Repetition has a value as deepening impressions, and affording opportunity for remedying accidental coldness or inattention. In private devotion the actual repetition of the very same words has an occasional place, as we see by our Lord"s example in the garden of Gethsemane; (Mat_26:44) but in a composition, phrases should be varied. Moses"s song may well guide us as to the extent and character of such variation (e.g. , vers. 5, 10, and 12).
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Vers. 1-19. Moses" Song.
The sublimity of this noble ode is universally admitted. It brings Moses before us in the new character of "poet." Moses does not seem to have devoted himself largely to this species of composition; but the three specimens of his work which remain to us this ode, his "Song" and "Blessing" in Deuteronomy, and Psalm 90. show him to have possessed a poetical genius of the very highest order; to have been as great as poet, as we know him to have been as warrior, leader, statesman, legislator, historian, patriot, and saint. The grandest features of poetry belong to the thrilling piece before us. It is the magnificent outburst of the feeling of uncontrollable triumph, awakened by the sight of the overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and by the sense of deliverance and safety thence resulting. The language quakes and thunders in keeping with the grandeur of the theme. The presentation of the ideas is in the highest degree picturesque. The strokes of imagery are masterpieces the whole scene of defeat and disaster being repeatedly revealed, as by lurid lightning-flashes, in single sentences, and even single words. The movement is rapid, rhythmical, inspiring. The art displayed in the minutiae of literary construction is very great, while in all, and through all, pervading, as its energising soul, every syllable and stanza of the composition, is the spirit of adoring awe and wonder, blending with gratitude, which ascribes all the greatness, and honour, and renown, of the victory to Jehovah. We have to touch at present, however, less on the literary beauties than on the religious teaching of the ode; and the nature of this, after what has been said on ch. 14., admits of being briefly indicated.
I THE TRIUMPH CELEBRATED (vers. 1, 2). This celebration of the deliverance at the Red Sea was
1. Natural. Adoring and exultant feeling naturally passes into song. It seeksexpression. It tends to become rhythmical. It unites itself with music. Like mountain torrents, tearing down to the plain, and cutting their channels as they flow, pent-up emotion of this kind will not be denied utterance, and if suitable channels of rhythmical expression are not provided for it, will cut out channels for itself.
2. Appropriate. It was right that, having experienced this great deliverance,the children of Israel should give utterance, in strains of praise, to the feelings of wonder, gratitude, and adoration with which it inspired them. It was due to God, and it would be beneficial in its reactive effects upon themselves. The duty of praise for benefits received is one to which no religious mind can be indifferent. If God has gifted us with the faculty of song, it is right that the first use we make of it should be to extol his goodness. See the Psalms. (Psa_92:1 Psa_98:1 Psa_105:1, 2 111:1; etc.)
3. Elevating. The faculty of song is not merely one of the faculties of ournature. It is connected with that which is deepest in us. When the Psalmist bids his faculty of song awake, he speaks of it as his "glory. up, my glory". (Psa_57:8; cf. Psa_16:9 Psa_30:12) It is Carlyle who says deep things are musical." Song, in its higher reaches, unites all the faculties of the soul in consentaneous exercise heart, intellect, conscience, the religious nature, imagination, the artistic and tuneful sentiments, the social feelings. It arouses, elevates, fructifies, enkindles. It awakens the spirit to the sense of its own infinitude; fills it with scorn of what is base; attunes and harmonises it to what is noble. We do well, therefore, to cultivate the faculty of song; to exercise it in public and in private worship; to make it the daily vehicle of the expression of our religious feelings. "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns," etc. (Eph_5:19) See that the melody is from the heart, yet with the understanding also. (1Co_14:15)
II THE TRIUMPH DESCRIBED (vers. 3-13). The quick, abrupt, vivid language of the ode brings the whole scene of Pharaoh"s pursuit and destruction before us, almost as if it were transacting in our sight. The hot, breathless, intensely eager pursuit is depicted in ver. 9, but it is chiefly the destruction that is dwelt on, and dwelt on in such terms, with the use of such similes, and in such relations of contrast to the proud monarch"s insolence and boasting, as limns it with photographic distinctness on the mental vision. The design in the description being to exalt and glorify God"s power in the overthrow, the points chiefly exhibited are these
1. The ease of this destruction. It is done in an instant, and without effort.In striking contrast with Pharaoh"s paraphernalia of war, with his savage exertions in pursuit, and with his elaborate drawing out of his purposes in ver. 9 will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil," etc. God simply blows with his wind, and the enemy is annihilated. "Thou didst blow with thy wind; the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters" (ver. 10). A movement of his hand, a blast of his nostrils, a solitary waft from the heat of his anger, suffices to destroy them.
2. The swiftness of it. This, which was a most impressive feature of the overthrow, is brought out in various images. "The depths have covered them; they sank to the bottom as a stone, they sank as lead in the mighty waters" (vers. 5-10).
3. The fatality of it. The destruction was complete. There was no recovery from it. Horse and chariot and charioteer; the chosen captains; the whole array of Pharaoh"s military strength all went down in one swift, fell swoop, to the sea-bottom. "Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy" (ver. 6). Pondering these images, we cannot but be impressed by the folly, the insanity, as well as the futility, of all attempts at contending with the Almighty.
III THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD AS REVEALED IN THE TRIUMPH. These, naturally, are made conspicuous in the ode. It was Jehovah, not Israel, who had achieved the triumph; and to Jehovah, accordingly, was all the praise due. Further, the design in the transaction had been precisely this: to display the character of God as Jehovah, and give a new demonstration of his possession of the attributes denoted by the name Jah (vers. 2, 3). The attributes of Jehovah specially extolled are
1. Power. "Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power" (ver. 6). The greatness of this power is seen by its being measured against the military might of Pharaoh, which thereby becomes a foil to it: another measure being found in the might and fury of the elements which it controls winds, mighty waters, etc. Its resistlessness is seen in the suddenness and decisiveness of the overthrow.
2. Supremacy (vers. 11-18). This attribute, which is of the very essence of the Jehovah conception, was signally illustrated in the Red Sea catastrophe. (Psa_135:6) Not only was God therein revealed as absolute Ruler in the domain of nature, but it was shown how Pharaoh himself, pursuing his own end, was yet bent to be an instrument in accomplishing God"s; how, when he thought he was freest, and most certain of victory, God had the hook in his jaws, and was leading all his host straight into the grave prepared for him; how, accordingly, God is Supreme Ruler in the moral as well as in the natural world, in the region of human wills as well as in that of natural causation.
1. Holiness. The holiness of God, burning like fire among stubble, and utterly consuming the hosts of the enemy, is justly celebrated in these verses (ver. 7). God was revealed as "glorious in holiness" (ver. 13); and because he was so, Israel was filled with awe in his presence (ver. 13), and his habitation is spoken of as a "holy habitation" (ver. 13), a sanctuary (ver. 17).
2. Mercy. This is the other side of the transaction of the Red Sea the side of deliverance, as the former was of judgment, and mention is made of it in vers. 2, 13. Here, then, is a wonderful constellation of Divine attributes exhibited, too, not in word, but in suitable action, in deeds which gave them embodiment, and impressive manifestation. They are the same attributes which have been at work all down history, operating for the good of the Church, and for the overthrow of evil.
IV THE EFFECTS OF THE TRIUMPH (vers. 13-18). It is viewed
1. As inspiring fear in the surrounding nations, in Edom, in Moab, amongthe Philistines, and other inhabitants of Canaan. Every powerful manifestation of God"s attributes is fitted to awaken terror among his enemies, and actually does so. Results similar to those here described will follow the great predicted judgments on the last representatives of Antichristianism. (Rev_11:13) The nations who heard of Israel"s deliverance would have reason to fear, for their position exposed them to risk of attack, and Canaan was actually the destination of the tribes. This may suggest to us that if Israel had gone up to conquer these tribes, at the time when God wished them, they would not have found the conquest so hard as their fears represented. The Philistines and Canaanites were "melted" with terror: they were paralysed by their fears, and "still as a stone" (vers. 15, 16). Yet, through the unbelief and cowardice of the attacking force, this great opportunity was missed.
2. As a pledge that God would complete the work he had begun, andwould ultimately "plant them in the mountain of his inheritance" (vers. 1317). In several of the expressions, the tenses are past, as though the thing prophesied were already as good as done. This also is an apostle"s mode of arguing God who has done the greater, will not now fail to do the less, and perfect the work he has begun. (Rom_5:9, 10 8:32; Php_1:6) Mark in this ode the designation of Israel as a redeemed, a purchased people (ver. 13) the Red Sea deliverance being viewed as a second purchasing of Israel by God to himself. J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Vers. 1-19. The song of triumph God exalted in the lips of the people.
This song we may take as being in some measure the result and expression of the state of feeling mentioned in Exo_14:31. People who feared Jehovah and believed in him were very likely, in such a rush of feeling, to sing as did the Israelites here: at the same time we must be careful not to rest content with attributing this song merely to natural causes. There is no need to deny the presence of genius; if only we bear in mind at the same time, that it is genius elevated and sanctified by the inspiration which Jehovah alone can give. Who else than God himself can lead into a true acquaintance with him? and if they who thus know him would speak of him and sing of him, it must he with such an arrangement of thoughts and choice of expressions as he alone can supply. The history of hymnology makes it very evident that genius is not enough for distinction in this sacred service. Poems full of genius, and almost faultless in form, are yet worthless for praise. For in this as other matters God has taken the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, lie puts the holy and eternal fire on lips that the world despises. They who have made the praises of the Church have not been the writers of epics; they are not found among the poets-laureate; and so here we must look for the power of God as much in the construction of this song, as in the production of the events it celebrates. We are called on to observe him who somehow makes men to utter even more than they know. It may be needful at the proper time to consider this as a contribution to Hebrew poetry; it is better still ever to remember it as a contribution to the worthy praise of God, that praise which while it celebrates him, instructs and ennobles the man who renders it. The question of authorship here, bear in mind, is not to be settled right off by saying that Moses composed it. He and the people sang it, but who composed it is quite another question. And that this point is left undetermined only throws us back more on the thought of God as the great agent in bringing this song into existence. As to the topics treated of in the song, the very fact that there have been so many different ways of dividing it, makes one more disposed to consider it in its unity, without any attempt to divide it into sections at all. Thus then let us notice in succession the dominant truths and convictions which run through the song. The first point is the exaltation of God amongst his people. This is the word with which the song begins. "I will sing unto Jehovah, for he is highly exalted.
I NOTICE THE FACT THAT THERE IS EXALTATION OF GOD. God, in ruling the composition of this song, takes care of this most important point. It was the very point that needed to be brought out in all its prominence, so that no man should be exalted instead of God. Men exalt one another. They are constituted so as to admire that which is great and powerful, and when they are not men of faith, able to comprehend the greatness of the invisible God, their admiration must needs expend itself on the visible man. All temptation of this kind is here kept out of the way. The feeling that Jehovah is exalted runs all through the song. Everything is ascribed to him. Moses himself makes no claim, expects no praise. The people do not gather round him and hail him as deliverer. The tone of the praise is thus in perfect harmony with the deed that has been done. God becomes practically everything and man nothing. For what had Israel done here? They had indeed walked down to the Red Sea, through it, and on to the other side, but no one who regards the proprieties of language would speak of this as contributing to their salvation. We do not praise a man for availing himself of the conditions of safety. Thus we have a type of the way in which God is exalted and glorified in spiritual salvation. When we consider what has to be done in saving a man from his sins; and when we consider also the manifestations, so abundant, so transcendent, of God"s power in doing so, then how plainly incongruous it is to begin praising man for that simple act of faith by which he avails himself of God"s goodness in Christ. The more we consider, the more we shall feel that whatever praise man may deserve is better left to God to express. By all means let us have brotherly appreciation for brotherly kindness; brotherly gratitude encouraging brotherly love. But God only can praise rightly. Though nothing is said of Moses in this song, God took ample care of the fame and reward of his faithful servant. We had better keep to that which God requires from us, namely, praise to himself. As he requires it, so we inky be sure he will fit us to render it.
II THE EXALTATION OF JEHOVAH IS AN EXALTATION TO SUPREMACY. He is supreme over physical force in one of its most imposing forms. "The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." Perhaps those who have had to meet a charge of cavalry in the battle-field can best appreciate this expression. Jehovah is a man of war, and he goes out with strange weapons against great kings and their chosen captains; weapons which they cannot understand and cannot meet. He does not meet sword with sword, and chariot with chariot; the elements of nature are at his instant and entire command. In his hand the mightiest are as nothing.
What is the excellency of Pharaoh, even though he be king of Egypt, before the greatness of the excellency of Jehovah? The answer is that as stubble before the fire, so is opposing man before Almighty God. "What a wind that must be, that strong east wind which raises waters, even from the deep, and keeps them when they are raised!" So we imagine man speaking in his inevitable submission to the powers of nature when they are roused. But when God has to speak of the east wind, it is as of something which comes as easily as a blast from the nostrils. True, this expression is chiefly used to indicate his wrath; but it also indicates the ease if ease be a fitting word to use of Jehovah with which his work is done. In ver. 9, man is represented as resolving and rushing forth in the utmost confidence; anticipating the end from the beginning; certain of his resources and certain of the result, and then as he advances in all his pride and ostentation, God meets him in equal simplicity and sublimity. Thou didst blow with thy breath, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters." One breath from God, and the mightiest fabric goes down like a house of cards! Man accumulates his resources, he strains with prodigious efforts, he gathers his forces without mercy and without scruple; and then when all is in array, God calmly lifts his right hand, and the earth swallows the preparation and the pride of years.
III THERE IS THE EXALTATION OF GOD ABOVE ALL OTHER DEITIES WORSHIPPED BY MEN. "Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods?" This, of course, is also an illustration of Jehovah"s exaltation to supremacy. Moses and the Israelites had not attained the feeling that all other deities than Jehovah were but empty and delusive names. That discovery was reserved in the wisdom of God for later and prepared generations. The feeling that the gods of the nations were real beings with terrible power, was very potent in the breasts of the Israelites, as was evidenced by their frequent and facile lapses into idolatry. Therefore this uplifting of Jehovah above the gods was most appropriate praise to put into the lips of Israel at this time. The gods of Egypt represented the strength of Egypt; the gods of Philistia the strength of Philistia; the gods of every country the strength of every country where they were worshipped. When the strength of a land was broken, it was like writing Ichabod on the statue of its presiding deity.
IV THIS WAS AN EXALTATION IN SUPREMACY WHICH EXTENDED TO THE FUTURE. God, shown supreme in the midst of his people and over their enemies, will maintain and manifest that supremacy in all the time to come. The calamities of Egypt travelling, as it had done, in the path of ten humiliations, and now utterly overthrown, are to be made known in Philistia, in Edom, in Moab, and all through Canaan. Here we flint some explanation of the apprehension with which the progress of Israel was afterwards viewed, as by the Edomites and Balak. The Israelites came to be looked on to some extent as a peculiar foe. The utter destruction of a whole army in the Red Sea was not an event which could be kept in a corner. God had now done something for Israel which enemies might notice as a measure and an index of what would yet be done. Then from the mention of these typical enemies. Philistia, Moab, etc., we are led to consider the abiding enemies of God"s abiding people, those invisible ones who are fully known only to God himself. They have some sense that what has been done by Jesus against them is the measure of what will yet be done. Just as the Philistines felt the sound of Pharaoh"s destruction echoing against their fastnesses, and even in the very echo, shaking them, so we may be sure the principalities and powers of evil felt the greatness of what had been achieved when Christ was raised from the dead. That great act of Jehovah has been far more appreciated in the invisible world, among the powers of evil, than it is among us. They cannot but feel what the end will be. What forgetting fools the Israelites were in after ages, to act in contradiction to this exultant song of praise, trembling and fleeing before the nations that were round about. Y.
Vers. 1-19. The song of triumph.
The sense of Israel"s obligation to Jehovah fully expressed. God, we have noticed, is lifted up in this song. We now proceed to observe how he is lifted up in the midst of his people, whom he encompasses with his protection, whom he cheers and illuminates with his favour. His destruction is not mere destruction; his supremacy is not only over his enemies, but also as the guide, the comforter, and the portion of his own. Hence we discover almost immediately on breaking into the song, how Israel is found expressing complete dependence on Jehovah.
I THERE IS THE EXPRESSION OF INDEBTEDNESS. God has come to Israel in its suffering, need, and helplessness. Israel is weak, and God gives the strength it needs. Israel is sad-hearted, and God enables it to burst forth in songs of gladness. Israel is in peril, and God has interposed with effectual and abiding salvation. He has not only supplied some needs, but all needs wherein Israel was able to receive his aid. More needs would have been supplied, if more had been felt; more causes of gratitude given, if more could have been brought into operation. God is now felt to be a guide (ver. 13), and the land that was thought to fasten the people in, now takes its right place in the memory of the devout as an evident part of the highway of God"s holy ones. What expressions of indebtedness could be more complete? It was impossible to exaggerate the debt, and God took care that the words of the song should not fall short in acknowledging it. Thus let it ever be our aim to thank God for his goodness to us, in such words as he supplies, and fill his forms full with the devotion of meditative and observant hearts.
II THIS EXPRESSION IS A PERSONAL ONE. The word "I" stands out prominently. The song was not only for a delivered nation, but for a nation in whose deliverance every individual was blessed. It was emphatically a song for every Israelite. God had done all this for Israel, not that he might have a nation for his own to be looked at in the mass, averaged over the whole, the good along with the bad; it was to be a nation made up of holy, obedient, and grateful individuals. Even already, God is indicating that his true people must be bound to him by personal attachment and service. Pharaoh had said in his haste and thoughtlessness, "I and my people are wicked". (Exo_9:27) Here Jehovah gives something for each one of his own people to say; and if each of them labours to say it with a feeling corresponding to the words, then indeed there will come an outburst from the nation such as could not in any other way be produced.
III THIS EXPRESSION BEING PERSONAL, IS ALSO AN EXPRESSION AS TO THE SOURCE OF PERSONAL ABILITY. "The Lord is my strength." The strength of a believer just amounts to that which God puts into him according to his need and according to his faith. Bring to God as many vessels as you will, and if it be wise to fill them, then God can fill them all. Learn that the natural strength of man, even at its best, is inadequate for some purposes and uncertain for any. It breaks down, often without warning and without recovery. Therefore it is a great matter for me to feel that "the Lord is my strength." He himself comes in, not to supplement human efforts, nor to fill up human defects, but rather to make his presence felt with men in the choosing of right purposes, and the carrying of them out to a full and satisfying attainment. The Israelite had been nothing in himself; nothing as against the tyranny of Pharaoh in Egypt; nothing as against the pursuing chariots by the Red Sea. And now all at once he is able to sing as if he were a portion and a factor of Omnipotence.
IV THIS EXPRESSION BEING PERSONAL IS ALSO AN EXPRESSION AS TO THE SOURCE OF PERSONAL GLADNESS. "The Lord is my song." From him comes real and abiding gladness, such gladness as becomes man at his best estate. The world has its great singers, and what it reckons imperishable songs. Each nation has its own patriotic effusions, and excited and often half-drunken crowds will roar themselves hoarse over national anthems. There are love songs, drinking songs, war songs, and all that great number besides which elude classification. It would be foolish indeed of the Christian, in his haste, to despise these productions, for many of them are very beautiful, and they have an unquestionable and not astonishing hold on the general heart. But after all, we must escape into higher and holier associations, and dwell in them, if we would have gladness, such as will satisfy. The Lord must be our song. He, in his attributes, his actions, and the history of his dealings with the children of men, must be the topic of our praise. The great thing to make each of us glad must be that our minds are kept in perfect peace because they are stayed upon him. All other gladness, sweet as it may be in the beginning, will prove bitter, perhaps very bitter, in the end. Nor was Jehovah any less the song of every true Israelite here, because he was shown acting in such a stern, uncompromising way. The people had to praise God for an actual, present, and overwhelming mercy; and if they had to sing of destruction, that was a necessity not to be escaped. True, there is no word of pity all the way through this song for the destroyed host of Pharaoh, simply because it was not the place for such an expression. The thing to be here expressed and dwelt upon is praise to Jehovah, because of the greatness and completeness of the Divine action. And what an impressive contrast there is between the conduct of these Israelites when delivered and the conduct in the hour of victory, which only too many pages of history record, indeed, such conduct is not absent from the pages of the Old Testament itself. It was, of course, impossible, that any scene of butchery, pillage, and violation, could be presented to us here; but there is not even any tone of savage, revengeful,exultation over the destroyed. Israel stands by the mighty waters, looks on the corpses of the Egyptians, and sends up this volume of undiluted, unqualified praise to Jehovah. Let us, for the moment, forget the personal unworthiness of the singers, their past unbelief, their future lapses into idolatry, rebellion, and self will. The words of praise here were the right words to speak; and at the time, we may be sure, many of them felt them. The words were true, the feeling real; the fault was that the singers did not continue to live so as to not the feeling more deeply in their breasts.
V THIS EXPRESSION BEING PERSONAL, IS ALSO AN EXPRESSION AS TO THE SOURCE OF PERSONAL SAFETY. "He has become my salvation." There is thus an experience to dwell on that peculiarly inspires grateful acknowledgment. We are grateful to those who provide for us, who instruct us, who supply us with comforts and pleasures; but there is a peculiar tie to him who saves us in any hour of peril. God himself cannot but look with peculiar interest to those whom he has delivered; and the delivered should look with peculiar devotion to him. If it is much to create men and to provide for them in their natural existence, it is more still to save them from death and to give them eternal life in Christ; and thus God must look in a special way on those who believe and are being saved. And so also, if it is much to be created and much to be provided for, it is even more to be saved; to have the sure feeling that beyond this changing, corruptible scene, there is the house of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. There are untold millions who owe existence and all their power of enjoyment to God, yet not one syllable of real thankfulness has ever passed their lips. But as to those who are saved, if they be truly in process of salvation, thankfulness is part of their life. Of this be perfectly sure, no salvation is going on if thankfulness for it be not in the heart and some sort of praise on the lip and in the life.
VI In view of all that has thus been considered, it will be seen as a fitting consequence that JEHOVAH SHOULD BE DISTINCTLY SET FORTH AS WORTHY OF ADORATION AND HONOR. "He is my God and I will glorify him, my father"s God and I will exalt him." My father"s God. Here is the response, more or less appreciative, to all declarations in which Jehovah speaks of himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. True praise of God takes in the great historic past, yes, and also the past which is not historic; a past none the less real, none the less contributory to the present, even though there be no record of it such as we can read. Jehovah was deliverer to Israel that day by the Red Sea, because of what he had been to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries before. What God is to each of us to-day, is possible because of what he was to our fathers long ago. Explore then and discover how present blessings are rooted in the past. This will not only be an interesting study, but will increase gratitude, and fix it more surely in the regions of the understanding. Y.
HOMILIES BY H. T. ROBJOHNS Vers. 1-21. Song of Moses and the Lamb.
they sing the song of Moses," etc.. (Rev_15:3) It is quite impossible to sever in thought the song by the sea, and the reference in the Book of the Revelation. We therefore take for our text the words chosen, and in our homily keep ever in view the passage of the sea.
I THE SINGERS. "They that have gotten the victory." But conquerors must first have been soldiers. Here they are Christians who have become part of the Church militant by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Over what victorious"? As a matter of fact Christians are brought off more than conquerors over "the world, the flesh, and the devil." But in Rev_15:2, only "the world" is referred to; and of it only two constituents are mentioned: "the beast" and" the image" or likeness "of the beast." On these and that "other beast" see Revelation 13.; and for such exposition as is calculated to place the symbols in a reasonable light, see Porter"s" Christian Prophecy:" Maclehose, Glasgow; and "The Apocalypse" by Prof. Godwin: Hodder and Stoughton. The enemies overcome were, and ever are:
1. Force: as directed against the Kingdom of God. The "beast" of Revelation 13. is anti-theistic, or anti-Christian civil despotism, wherever found. Read Rev_13:1-10, with this idea in the mind, and the description is seen to be vividly true. Illustrations of battle and victory may be found in Egypt tyrannising over Israel, in early persecutions of the Christian Church. As soon as ever Christianity became a spiritual power conspicuous enough to attract attention, force set itself against it. So ever since down to martyr history in Madagascar. Note: there are instances now in which force, in varied forms, will set itself against the conscience. The "mark" and "number" of the image are the signs, open or secret, of being identified with anti-theistic despotism.)
2. Opinion. That which resembler godless government, viz. godless opinion, the tone of society, etc. This power of society against the Divine Kingdom, this pressure of opinion must have been terrible in Egypt. Felt to-day, not only at the "club," but in every workshop. One may add to this, not mentioned in Revelation 15., but in Revelation 13., "another beast," viz.:
3. Fraud. Specially as associated with "Priestcraft," whether of false religions, or of corrupted forms of Christianity. For illustration of the despotism of Egyptian priestcraft, see Ebers" "Uarda." This power seems mild as a lamb, with the speech of a dragon; rises out of the earth (does not descend from heaven); wields civil power for its own purpose (as in the case of Rome); pretends to miracle; gives power to anti-Christian public opinion; inflicts social wrong. How strong their enemies are, viz., anti-Christian government, anti-Christian public opinion, anti-Christian religion, every Christian comes sooner or later to know.
II THEIR POSITION. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass," etc. Here note:
1. The sea. A sea of crystal flaked with fire. Such as we may sometimes see under light of setting sun. The symbol of the experience of life, i.e. , of mingled mercy and judgment. (Psa_101:1)
2. The shore, i.e. , the position of the victorious ejpi thlassan not in the sense of standing on the wave, but of an army encamped "upon the sea," i.e., upon the shore.
3. The allusion. To Israel on the eastern shore of the Red Sea.
4. The reality in this symbol. The victorious redeemed Church, on the further side of the experience of life, singing the new and everlasting song.
III THE SONG. It is "of Moses and of the Lamb" A song like that of old, springing out of similar circumstances, celebrating a like deliverance. Here observe:
1. The place of Moses in relation to Christ. Moses is "the servant," etc. Incidental evidence of Christ"s superiority and Deity. Christ is not a servant, save as he voluntarily took that position. (Php_2:7)
2. The central place of the Lamb throughout the Book of the Revelation. Argument for the transcendent import of the Atonement.
The song is
1. One. Not two.
2. Thankful. Some of the songs of earth are penitential, prayerful, plaintive.
3. Of the Saved. From guilt, sin, darkness, sorrow. Go into detail. What a song it will be!
4. Of the Free. The three despotisms of force, opinion, fraud, were left by Israel behind. So with the redeemed Church of God.
5. Of the New-born. A new departure for Israel; the unending life before the Church triumphant.
6. Of the Seers, who now see past all subordinate and second causes past Moses past even the Mediator Jesus, to the First Origin of all, "great and marvellous Lord God.Almighty.
7. A song of review. This is the final verdict, "Just and true," etc.
IV LESSONS.
1. To Christians. Do not wait for the final song. Sing in the passage of the sea. Poetry and. music the natural expression of praise. Some can pour forth their own song, e.g. , Keble and Watts, Wesley and Lyre. Others must adopt praise furnished to their lips. But for all there is the poetry and the music the sweet psalm of a pure and holy life.
2. To those not Christians. To sing the song of the saved, we must be saved.
No lips untuned can sing that song Or join the music there. R.
HOMILIES BY G. A. GOODHART Vers. 1-21. One of the first songs in the Biblethe first Jewish song we may almost call it the tap-root whence springs the main stem ofJewish psalmody. The art of poetry and instruments of music were no doubt brought from Egypt; the land of slavery was yet the land of science. Such "spoils" were made all the more valuable, and appropriated all the more firmly by consecration (cf. Keble, Christian Year, 3rd Sunday in Lent). All the wealth of the world is at the disposal of God"s children for the earth is the Lord"s, and the fulness thereof the problem which they have to solve is how to use it without abusing it (cf. 1Co_10:23-28) Turn to the song itself, and see what lessons it has to teach. Three stanzas (vers. 1-5, 6-10, 11-18) each begins with ascription of praise to Jehovah; each ends with a reference to Jehovah"s treatment of his foes. Notice:
I PRESENT GRATITUDE. Vers. 1-5. In the excitement of the great deliverance, words almost fail to express the praise. The name of the deliverer is repeated four times in eight lines. Yet not once is it a "vain repetition." All the difference in the world between using God"s name to disguise an empty heart and using it to express the feelings of a full one. Here, "out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh.." God loves such praise, the praise of a heart which cannot help praising. Some try to praise because they think God expects it of them; their hearts are like dry wells whilst yet, out of supposed respect to God, they keep on working the pump-handle! Fill the heart first and all such artificial efforts will be needless; the full heart is a springing well. How fill?" By letting the thought of God"s great mercies pierce through to the heart"s deeps. If the thought of God and of his deeds comes home to us, our praise will soon flow forth freely.
II PAST MERCIES THE CAUSE OF PRESENT GRATITUDE. Vers. 6-10. This is what called forth the praise. All real, all genuine. Moses is not sending up his song to a possible" God, but to one whom he believes in utterly as a living, present, powerful ruler. Notice
1. The reality of the enemy, No doubt about the tyranny in Egypt. Brickfields and scourges had left their mark upon the memory. No doubt either as to the late danger (ver. 9). The exasperated pursuers determined to repossess their prey.
2. The reality of the deliverance. Where were the pursuers now? The wreckage drifting within sight marked the spot where they had sunk for ever!
3. The reality of the deliverer. No doubt as to his existence no doubt as to his goodness in face of such overwhelming evidence. We also, if we would but realise it, have been as truly delivered from dangers just as real. If we but half believe in God, and offer him only a make-shift praise, it is not because he has done less for us; it is because we think less on the meaning of his mercies.
III PAST MERCIES THE PLEDGE OF FUTURE TRIUMPHS. Vers. 11-18. Moses was confident about the future because he had no doubt about the past. He was prepared to go "from strength to strength," because he could start from a strong position. From what God has done, we may rightly infer what he will do. If he has made a way for his people through the sea of waters, he will also make a way for them through yet stormier and more perilous seas (ver. 16). The first deliverance is a pledge and prophecy of all future deliverances. Thus the song of Moses, strong in a present confidence, firmly based upon past mercies, finds its outcome in a good hope, inspiring men along the path of progress. If we would sing the song as it should be sung, we must learn from memory to praise truly; and true praise will soon quicken hope. To live for the future we must live upon the past. The song of the Lamb, the song which specially expresses the full satisfaction of all our hopes, can only be sung by those who have sung first this other song; the song which still feeds hope at the same time that it expresses gratitude. G.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 1, 2. The sacrifice of praise.
I THE PLACE OF PRAISE. The first provision for God"s ransomed is a song. God"s hand must be recognised in the mercy, otherwise its blessing is missed. The place bright with God"s goodness is meant to be a meeting-place between the soul and himself.
II THE REASONS FOR PRAISE.
1. The greatness of God"s deed. The chariots and the horses had been thereliance of Egypt, and the terror of Israel; and" the horse and his rider" had God cast in the sea.
2. He who had been their strength and their song had become theirsalvation, Their confidence had not been misplaced: he had not failed them in their need.
3. The individualising love of God: he is "my God." God had appeared for each: not one had been lost.
4. The glory of God"s past deeds he was their fathers" God. This wasbut one of many like judgments and deliverances, and their song was only swelling the mighty chorus of God"s unending praise.
III THE RESOLVES OF PRAISE.
1. They will prepare a habitation for God. It is the work of God"s people inevery age to prepare a dwelling-place for him where his character is made known, his voice heard, and his love and fear shed abroad.
2. To exalt God"s fame. He was their fathers" God, and that was a call tomake him known. He had given a fuller revelation of himself than even this great mercy contained. There were purposes and promises in that record which outran this mercy and themselves. Our praise must ever add, "these are but part of his ways," and exalt God as the world"s refuge and help. U.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 9, 11, 14, 17, 18, 19, 22 Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel.
Exo_15:1
Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel.
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The Song of Moses at the Red Sea
Unwonted interest attaches to this song--the earliest on record of all the sacred odes, and the very foremost in the annals of Hebrew anthology. To the Jewish people themselves, it is what they have long called it, The Song; a designation to which it is entitled, alike from its inherent pre-eminence and its unrivalled associations.
1. It is Israels natal song. For, in crossing the Red Sea, they passed through the birth-throes of their national existence, and from this epoch dates a new chronology in Israels calendar. The oppressed tribes have become a commonwealth; and a commonwealth of the free.
2. It is Israels emancipation song, or song of liberty. It signalises a triple deliverance; marking the supreme moment of rescue from the threefold evils of domestic slavery, political bondage, and religious thraldom.
3. It is Israels first National Anthem and Te Deum in one. The Exodus was not a mere effort on the part of the Hebrew race to achieve their independence and realize their aspirations after a separate nationality. The spirit of even this idea had yet to be created within them; but everything depended on their being first delivered from the corrupting influences of Egyptian fetichism and idolatry, no less than from the yoke of Egyptian bondage. Not that the mass of them could at all appreciate the full meaning of the grand event as a mighty religious movement, repeating on a larger scale the migration of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, and breaking away from idolatrous and debasing superstitions, to find a home for the free development of a higher creed and worship. But the eye of their great leader descried this Divine purpose; and he had gone with this first tentative proposal to Pharaoh from God Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. It is Israels Te Deum, or song of thanks and praise to God. An overwhelming sense of the Divine interposition is the predominant sentiment in the song from first to last. It is no mere secular ode; no mere war-song or outburst of patriotic triumph; no exultant shriek of insult over a fallen foe; but an anthem of blessing and gratitude for a great deliverance, a devout and solemn psalm before God, to whom, of whom, and for whom it is sung. This high and sacred intent keeps it from degenerating into a wild strain of vindictiveness or vainglory.
4. It is Israels Church-song; the type of all songs of redemption and salvation. The very words redemption and salvation are first introduced in connection with this great deliverance. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm; and again, Fear ye not; stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. The people had become unified into a worshipping assembly. It is Israels triumph-song of deliverance. The note is that of joy and victory; and is prophetic of the success of every battle and struggle for the Lords cause and kingdom, fought in the Lords name and in His strength. This triumph is the precursor especially of that final and glorious one at the end of the ages, when the spiritual Israel, which no man can number, from every people, and tribe and language, having gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, shall take up a position like their prototypes of old not, however, by the shore of the Red Sea, with the mere emblem of Gods presence before them--but as John saw them in apocalyptic vision, standing by the sea of glass mingled with fire; no longer led merely by Miriam and her chorus, but all of them having the harp of God in their hand, singing, not only the Song of Moses, the servant of God, but the Song of the Lamb.
I. Introduction: or the triple aim of the song (verses 1, 2). Thus the song is, first of all, inscribed and offered to the Lord. He also is its great theme or subject; and it is His exaltation that constitutes its one and expressly avowed aim. To God, of God, for God--these are the three pivot-thoughts regulating and determining the movement of the opening strophe, and, indeed, of the entire hymn. Here, as not infrequently with later psalms, we have the whole song concentrated in the first verse. The occasion of the song, its subject, its design, are all indicated. First, there is here a singing to the Lord. The simplest idea we can attach to the opening words, I will sing to the Lord, is this--I will bring myself into the immediate and felt presence of Jehovah, and will address and offer my song to Him! How near has He been to us during the eventful and stupendous transactions of the night! Under a realizing sense of that Dearness I will direct my song to Him. To what a pitch of solemnity this conception raises the singer I But, while this idea of singing to the Lord is expressive of the singers attitude as immediately before the very face of the Supreme, it no less indicates that the song is an acceptable offering and oblation to the Lord. It is no self-pleasing exercise of gift and faculty, but a sacrifice to the Lord, the fruit of the lips. Singing, says one, is as much the language of holy joy as prayer is the language of holy desire. How sublime a sight! The whole of a people singing before the one invisible God, and consciously realizing more or less their direct relation to the Eternal, under no outward form or image or material symbol! Secondly, the Lord is the subject or theme of the song. Underlying all is the sense of the Divine personality. Nothing but this could have kindled the soul to song. If God is to be the subject of hymning praise, it must needs be the thought of a living, personal One, to evoke the spirit of glorying in and praising His name. Thirdly, there is here a singing, not only to the Lord and of the Lord, but for the Lord. To extol and exalt the Lord is declared to be the ultimate end and aim of this song. And indeed this is the highest reach and the final purpose of all praise--to manifest and express the Divine character, the Divine working and ways, the Divine glory and honour. We are taught to pray for God as well as to Him; and to put this ever in the foreground of our prayers, as of all things the first, the best, the supremely desirable. Hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done--these petitions have the precedence over any for either ourselves or others. But not only to do this, but also to express it and set forth our purpose to do it--this is the special aim and function of praise, of which Doxology, or the ascription of power, blessing, dominion, and every excellency, is the highest climax. It is the very anticipation of heaven itself and of all its worship.
II. The body, or subject-matter of the song (verses 3-13). The third verse seems to be designed for a great chorus--probably meant to be re-echoed by a body of deep-voiced warriors. It marks a transition from the declarative style of the introduction, to the alternation of recitative and ascriptive portions in the main body of the song. It forms also a suitable link between the two, being a fit climax to what precedes, because it sets forth why and in what character the Lord is to be exalted--the Lord is a Man of War--and a fit index to what follows, because it suggests, so strikingly, the nature of His triumph which is now about to be celebrated; a triumph involving struggle and conflict. He is a Man of War in accordance always with His sublime and sacred name Jehovah. The song proceeds to develop the three great qualities of the Jehovah-warrior, the Warrior who is Divine.
1. He is in power resistless. This power is seen first in the magnitude of the scale on which it operates--the sense of this being enhanced by the detail of particulars in verse 4. Pharaohs chariots, and his host, and his chosen captains. Then, again, in the ease with which it effects its object as He casts them into the sea--it is as if He had caught up the whole host in His hand, and slung it like a stone into the deep; and finally, in the completeness of the overthrow and the irreversible and irretrievable nature of the result. Having thus signalized the catastrophe, the poets inspiration seems to catch a new afflatus. The style suddenly changes in verses 6, 7, and 8; it ceases to be merely descriptive, and becomes directly ascriptive. The tone is now lofty and devout, God being addressed immediately in the second person, and the whole event being attributed to the interposition and miraculous operation of His power alone.
2. He is in equity and righteousness unchallengeable. The equity and righteousness is as manifest as the power. We are taught in verse 7 to regard the whole situation as intended for a display of the Divine excellency: so true, so timely, and so exemplary it is in its manifestation. With consummate ease, but with no less consummate justice, the dread penalty is enacted; to show how He is glorious in holiness and fearful in praises while doing wonders. For it is intimated that Egypt, in what it was doing, was not only the enemy of Israel, but it was of them that rose up against Thee; fighting against the Almighty and violating the first principles of Divine justice, truth, and mercy. The victims of the catastrophe were the fit subjects of a retributive and self-vindicating economy. Moreover, it was so well-timed. They were taken, as it were, red-handed, in the very act; at the very moment they were anticipating their revenge and gloating in its gratification. While they were intoxicated with insolence and pride: while they were breathing out threatening and cruelty, the Lord speaks to them in wrath; the Lord holds them in derision.
3. Yet, finally, He is in mercy plenteous. We have to note the goodness, no less than the severity, of God here. The reiteration in verse 12 of what has been said before, seems designedly made to enhance the sublime and suggestive contrast.
III. The threefold issues (verses 14-18). In this third and last wave of the anthem, the Divine mercy in the redemption of Israel is illustrated. The song becomes prophetic; and three grand issues are described and anticipated, an immediate, an intermediate, and a final one.
1. The immediate influence of the Exodus and passage of the Red Sea, on the tribes and peoples around, verses 14-16. A striking gradation is observed in describing the various effects: there is first a widespread panic and commotion in general, then the chiefs or phylarchs of Edom are paralyzed with terror; the mighty men of Moab tremble with uncontrollable fear; and finally the Canaanites melt away in despair.
2. There is an intermediate or remoter influence on the ultimate settlement and final destiny of Israel. So great an initial triumph was a happy augury and a sure prognostication of coming success. It was to be accepted as a Divine pledge of all needful aid and succour, until at length they should be firmly established in the promised land, as a nation, a race or family, and a Church. For in verse 17 we have a climax with three particulars, in which Israel is presented in three aspects, and their land is set forth in the triple character of an inheritance, a home, and a sanctuary, awakening the chords of patriotism, ancestry, and worship.
3. There is the last great issue of all, The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. The prophecy of this song reaches thus onward to the end of all things; for the deliverance of Israel was not merely typical of, but actually a part and instalment of, the final redemption. And therefore, this song of Moses is not only the key-note and inspiration of the songs of the Old Testament Church, but a song of the Church in every age, celebrating as it does an event and deliverance not only pledging but vitally contributing to the last great acts in the onward triumph of Christs complete redemption. (A. H. Drysdale, M. A.)
The Song of Moses
I. The history which the song celebrates.
II. The reflections which the history thus celebrated suggests.
1. The history affords an awful instance of persevering rebellion against God, notwithstanding the infliction of repeated and awakening chastisements.
2. The tendency of the human mind to forget past mercies, when we are involved in present afflictions.
3. The duty of yielding obedience to God, even when His commands seem to be opposed to our interests and our happiness.
4. The certainty that God will appear on behalf of His people, however long His interposition may be delayed.
5. The history reminds us of a nobler deliverance which God has effected for His people by Jesus Christ.
6. We may learn from the history with what grateful joy the disciples of Christ will celebrate His power and grace, when they have crossed the river of death. (J. Alexander.)
Jubilate
I. It will be instructive to notice the time of the singing of this song. To everything there is a season: there is a time of the singing of birds, and there is a time for the singing of saints. Then sang Moses.
1. It was first of all at the moment of realized salvation. When we doubt our salvation we suspend our singing; but when we realize it, when we see clearly the great work that God has done for us, then we sing unto the Lord who hath for us also triumphed gloriously. How can our joy of heart any longer be pent up?
2. So is it also in times of distinct consecration. I would remind you that the apostle assures us that all Israel were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. That passage through the Red Sea was the type of their death, their burial, and their resurrection to a new life; it was their national baptism unto God: and therefore they sang as it were a new song. It is the happiest thing that can ever happen to a mortal man, to be dedicated to God.
3. It was also a day of the manifest display of Gods power.
4. But this song may be sung at all times throughout the life of faith. Let your hearts begin to ring all their bells, and let not their sweet chimes cease for evermore.
II. The tone of this song.
1. Note, first, that the tone is enthusiastic.
2. The tone is also congregational, being intended for every Israelite to join in it. Though Moses began by saying, I will sing unto the Lord, yet Miriam concluded with, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. This is a hymn for every child of God, for all that have come out of Egypt. Let the song be enthusiastic and unanimous.
3. Yet please to notice how very distinctly personal it is. I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation; He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation; my fathers God, and I will exalt Him. Do not lose yourself in the throng.
4. Note, again, the tone of this song is exceeding confident. There is not a shadow of doubt in it: it is all the way through most positive in its ascriptions of praise.
5. And this song is exceeding comprehensive. It sings of what God has done, and then of what God will do in bringing His people into the Promised Land; nor does it finish till it rises to that loftiest strain of all: The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.
6. Note, too, all through, that this song is immeasurably joyous. The Israelites were slaves enjoying new liberty; children let out to play. They did not know how to be glad enough. Let us give to God our unlimited joy.
7. Yet I must say, however enthusiastic that song was, and however full of joy it was, it was only such a song as was due unto the Lord.
III. The first clauses of this song. The Lord is my strength and my song, etc.
1. Notice, the song is all of God: there is not a word about Moses. Let us forget men, forget earth, forget time, forget self, forget this mortal life, and only think of our God.
2. Observe, the song dwells upon what God has done: The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. Let us trace all the mercies we get to our God, for He hath wrought all our works in us; He hath chosen us, He hath redeemed us, He hath called us, He hath quickened us, He hath preserved us, He hath sanctified us, and He will perfect us in Christ Jesus. The glory is all His.
3. The song also declares what the Lord will yet do. We shall conquer yet in the great name of Jehovah. Take up the first note: The Lord is my strength. What a noble utterance! Poor Israel had no strength! She had cried out by reason of her sore bondage, making bricks without straw: The Lord is my strength when I have no strength of my own. It is well to say, The Lord is my strength when we are weak and the enemy is strong; but we must mind that we say the same when we are strong and our enemies are routed. The next is, The Lord is my song, that is to say, the Lord is the giver of our songs; He breathes the music into the hearts of His people; He is the Creator of their joy. The Lord is also the subject of their songs: they sing of Him and of all that He does on their behalf. The Lord is, moreover, the object of their song: they sing unto the Lord. Their praise is meant for Him alone. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Song of triumph
The Song of Moses has never been surpassed for the poetical beauty of its imagery and its expressions. It is, besides, so full of holiness and adoration, as to render it incomparable.
I. Let us recount all the causes for gratitude which are enumerated in it.
1. The Israelites had been delivered from a terrible danger. The enemy had said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
2. They had been delivered from inevitable danger. None could save them but God only. Before them was the sea; behind them were Pharaoh and his host.
3. They had been delivered from universal danger. Not the lives of a thousand only, or even of ten thousand, among them had been threatened; all, old and young together, were to have been slain.
4. They had been delivered by most glorious miracles; the strong east wind, the pillar of light, the sea changed, as it were, into walls of ice.
5. They bad been delivered notwithstanding their sins. Oh, what an example of the free grace of God! They had scorned His words, had murmured; it was, so to speak, in spite of themselves that God had saved them.
6. They had been delivered altogether, not one was missing, not one had perished, not even the youngest child. No mourning marred their triumph, as often happens to the nations of the earth when they are celebrating a great victory.
7. They had been saved by the power of God alone. It was not their work, it was that of the Lord, who had said to them, Stand still, and ye shall see the salvation of the Lord; the Lord shall fight for you.
8. Lastly, their deliverance was accompanied by promises for the future. God had brought them out of Egypt, but it was to lead them to Canaan.
II. If we are true believers, and if Jesus is our Saviour, we have the same reasons that the Israelites had for singing the song of praise.
1. Like them, we have been delivered from a terrible danger. It was the danger of death,--not of the body, for that is comparatively nothing, as our Lord has said, but of the soul; that is to say, condemnation, alienation from God, a whole eternity passed in outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
2. Like the Israelites, we have been delivered from inevitable danger. There is no way of escape--no salvation in any other than in the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. We have been delivered from a universal danger. Indeed, we are all by nature under condemnation. There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
4. We have been delivered by most glorious marvels. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, exclaims the apostle John. These things are so sublime, that the angels desire to look into them.
5. We have been delivered notwithstanding our sins; for God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
6. Like Israel, we have been delivered altogether. Not one of the chosen people of God will be missing; the youngest child, the most despised, the most forgotten of men, if he has put his trust in the Lord, will not perish.
7. God has saved us without any strength of our own, for we were incapable of doing anything. I have trodden the winepress alone, saith the Saviour by the mouth of Isaiah. He obeyed for us, He has borne our sins, He has accomplished all the work of our salvation.
8. Lastly, our deliverance has been accompanied, like that of the Israelites, with glorious promises. The Lord will guide us with His counsel, and afterwards He will receive us to glory. He will be our strength, because He has been our Saviour. (Prof. Gaussen.)
Manly gratitude
Among the mass of men how little there is of that frank, manly gratitude, that openly, and in the sight of a scoffing world, acknowledges the delivering, saving hand of God. Amid such wide-spread forgetfulness of the hand of an overruling Providence, it is a satisfaction to record the case of a thankful British seaman, a fine young man in the naval service on board Her Majestys ship, Queen. They were cruising off Cape Finisterre. The hands had been turned up to reef top sails for the night; the work was just finished, when the young captain of the mizzen top overbalanced himself and fell. He came down a distance of a hundred feet or more, and would have fallen on the deck, where no doubt he would have been instantly killed or seriously injured; but as he fell he clutched the foot-brail of the mizzen--this threw him against the sail, which broke his fall, and he was saved! And as he touched the deck he knelt down in the sight of the throng of officers and men who composed the crew, and offered up his thanks to Almighty God for his safe deliverance, during which time the silence and discipline was such one might have heard a pin drop on the deck.
After deliverance there should come a song
Gratitude is an imperative duty; and one of its first and finest forms is a hymn of thanksgiving and praise. It is true that it will not be worth much if it expends itself only in song; but wherever the psalm is sincere, it will communicate its melody also to the life. Too often, however, it does not even give a song. You remember how only one of the ten lepers returned to thank the Lord for His cleansing; and, perhaps, we should not be far wrong if we were to affirm that a similar proportion prevails to-day between the thankful and the ungrateful. Yet it would be wrong if we were to leave the impression that such gratitude as this of Moses is almost unknown. On the contrary, the pages of our hymn-books are covered with songs which have been born, like this one, out of deliverance. Many of the finest of Davids psalms are the utterances of his heart in thanksgiving for mercies similar to those which Moses celebrated; and some of the noblest lyrics of Watts and Wesley, of Montgomery and Lyre, have had a similar origin. Nor is this all; we can see that in all times of great national revival there has been an outburst of song. At the Reformation, no result of Luthers work was more remarkable than the stimulus it gave to the hymnology of the Fatherland. In fact, that may be said to have been as good as created by the Reformation; and in our own country each successive revival of religion has had its own special hymn. But we have not all the genius of Wesley, or the inspiration of Moses, or of David; and what shall we do then? We can at least appropriate the lyrics of those who have gone before us, and use them in so far as they meet our case; and I can conceive no more pleasant or profitable occupation for the household than the singing of those hymns which have become dear to us because of the personal experiences which we can read between the lines. But we can do better still than that; for we can set our daily deeds to the music of a grateful heart, and seek to round our lives into a hymn--the melody of which will be recognized by all who come into contact with us, and the power of which shall not be evanescent, like the voice of the singer, but perennial, like the music of the spheres. To this hymnology of life let me incite you; for only they who carry this music in their hearts shall sing at last on the shore of the heavenly land, that song of pure concert for which John could find no better description than that it was the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. But to sing of deliverance, you must accept deliverance. Open your hearts, therefore, for the reception of salvation. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The Lord is my strength and my song.--
The citadel and the temple
I. What the Lord is to his people.
1. The Lord is my strength, sang the enraptured host, when they saw how He had triumphed gloriously for them--and this has ever been the song of Gods people as they have passed through dangers and tribulations in their way to the heavenly Canaan (Isa_26:4).
2. But if the Lord be the strength of His people, it must imply that they themselves are weak.
3. But the Lord is our strength; and if the Church be likened unto things which are weak, the figurative language of the Bible is equally strong in setting forth the Lord as her strength (Pro_28:10; Psa_18:2). The Lord Jesus is called the Captain of her salvation, her Deliverer, Governor, Guide.
4. But the Lord is not only the strength of His people, but also their song. He is a very present help in trouble, and He sometimes raises the head, and cheers the heart, even in the midst of sorrows and trials (Hab_3:17-19).
5. The Lord is also the salvation of His people. He sometimes saves them, in a miraculous manner, from temporal evils.
6. He is their God: and this is everything. Infinite power, wisdom, mercy, goodness, love, pity, truth, justice, are all exerted in their behalf; for, in one delightful word, He is their God--yea, and He will be their God for ever and ever, and their Guide even unto death.
II. The resolutions which a sense of His goodness leads them to make.
1. I will prepare Him an habitation, alluding, probably, to the Temple which the Jews afterwards built. But it is in the humble, contrite heart that the Lord delights to dwell; and we prepare Him a habitation when we open our hearts to receive Him, when we devote them entirely to Him, and when we make Him the principal object of our desires.
2. My fathers God--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of all our pious ancestors--and I will exalt Him. With my tongue will I praise His name, and my soul shall exalt in Him. (B. Bailey.)
My fathers God.--
The pathos of theology
A song is the proper conclusion of a victory. Fasting is the worship of sorrow; singing is the worship of joy. The words specially chosen for meditation show that the victory did not end in itself; it touched the holy past; it consummated the promises and hopes of ages.
I. My fathers God. Then religion was no new thing to them. They were not surprised when they heard the name of God associated with their victory. Religion should not be an originality to us; it should not be a novel sensation; it should be the common breath of our daily life, and the mention of the name of God in the relation of our experience sought to excite no mere amazement.
II. My fathers God. Then their fathers religion was not concealed from them. They knew that their father had a God. It is possible not to suspect that a man has any regard for God until we see his name announced in connection with some religions event. We cannot read this holy book without being impressed with the fact that the men who made the history of the world were men who lived in continual communion with the spiritual and unseen.
III. My fathers God. Yet it does not follow that the father and the child must have the same God. You have power deliberately to serve the connection between yourself and the God of your fathers. It is a terrible power!
IV. My fathers God. Then we are debtors to the religious past. There are some results of goodness we inherit independently of our own will. This age inherits the civilization of the past. The child is the better for his fathers temperance. Mephibosheth received honours for Jonathans sake. The processes of God are not always consummated in the age with which they begin. Generations may pass away, and then the full blessing may come. Practical questions:
1. Your father was a Christian,--are you so much wiser than your father that you can afford to set aside his example? There are some things in which you are bound to improve upon the actions of your father; but are you quite sure that the worship of the God of heaven is one of them?
2. Your father was a holy man--will you undertake to break the line of a holy succession? Ought not the fame of his holiness to awaken your own religious concern?
3. Your father was deeply religious,--will you inherit all he has given you in name, in reputation, in social position, and throw away all the religious elements which made him what he was?
4. Your father could not live without God,--can you? (J. Parker, D. D.)
A noble ancestry and a glorious resolution
I. A noble ancestry. My fathers God. Who are the men who have the most illustrious ancestry? The men who honoured, served, and trusted the one true and living God. The same God does for all ages; His character commends itself to the adoration of all souls. It is natural to value anything our loving fathers love. We value their favourite books, but how much more their God, the totality of goodness, the fountain of all blessedness?
II. A glorious resolution. I will exalt Him. How can we exalt Him? Enthrone Him in our affections as Lord of lords, and King of kings, ruling all thoughts, animating and directing all activities. (Homilist.)
The living God
I. Who was the God of our fathers?
1. A pure Being, not the chance of the atheist.
2. A conscious Being, not the mere law of the deist.
3. A personal Being, not the all of the pantheist.
4. A perfect Being, as revealed in the Bible.
5. An emotional Being, as manifested in Christ.
6. A communicative Being, as imparted by the Holy Spirit.
II. What is it to exalt Him?
1. Not by tall spires.
2. Not by gorgeous ritual.
3. To adore Him as the object of our worship.
4. To give Him the chief place in our affections. (W. W. Wythe.)
My mothers God
At a fashionable party a young physician present spoke of one of his patients, whose case he considered a very critical one. He said he was very sorry to lose him, for be was a noble young man, but very unnecessarily concerned about his soul, and Christians increased his agitation by talking with him and praying for him. He wished Christians would let his patients alone. Death was but an endless sleep, the religion of Christ a delusion, and its followers were not persons of the highest culture or intelligence. A young lady sitting near, and one of the gayest of that company, said, Pardon me, doctor, but I cannot hear you talk thus and remain silent. I am not a professor of religion; I never knew anything about it experimentally, but my mother was a Christian. Times without number she has taken me with her to her room, and with her hand upon my head, she has prayed that God would give her grace to train me for the skies. Two years ago my precious mother died, and the religion she loved through life sustained her in her dying hour. She called us to her bedside, and with her face shining with glory, asked us to meet her in heaven, and I promised to do so. And now, said the young lady, displaying deep emotion, can I believe that this is all a delusion? that my mother sleeps an eternal sleep? that she will never waken again in the morning of the resurrection, and that I shall see her no more? No, I cannot, I will not believe it. Her brother tried to quiet her, for by this time she had the attention of all present. No! said she. Brother, let me alone; I must defend my mothers God, my religion. The physician made no reply, and soon left the room. He was found shortly afterwards pacing the floor of an adjoining room, in great agitation and distress of spirit. What is the matter? a friend inquired. Oh, said he, that young lady is right. Her words have pierced my soul like an arrow. I too must have the religion I have despised, or I am lost for ever. And the result of the convictions thus awakened was that both the young lady and the physician were converted to Christ, and are useful and influential members of the Church of God.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER XV.
THE SONG OF MOSES.
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Exo_15:1-22.
During this halt they prepared that great song of triumph which St. John heard sung by them who had been victorious over the beast, standing by the sea of glass, having the harps of God. For by that calmer sea, triumphant over a deadlier persecution, they still found their adoration and joy expressed in this earliest chant of sacred victory. Because all holy hearts give like thanks to Him Who sitteth upon the throne, therefore "deep answers unto deep," and every great crisis in the history of the Church has legacies for all time and for eternity; and therefore the triumphant song of Moses the servant of God enriches the worship of heaven, as the penitence and hope and joy of David enrich the worship of the Church on earth (Rev_15:3).
Like all great poetry, this song is best enjoyed when it is neither commented upon nor paraphrased, but carefully read and warmly felt. There are circumstances and lines of thought which it is desirable to point out, but only as a preparation, not a substitute, for the submission of a docile mind to the influence of the inspired poem itself. It is unquestionably archaic. The parallelism of Hebrew verse is already here, but the structure is more free and unartificial than that of later poetry; and many ancient words, and words of Egyptian derivation, authenticate its origin. So does the description of Miriam, in the fifteenth verse, as "the prophetess, the sister of Aaron." In what later time would she not rather have been called the sister of Moses? But from the lonely youth who found Aaron and Miriam together as often as he stole from the palace to his real home--the lonely man who regained both together when he returned from forty years of exile, and who sometimes found them united in opposition to his authority (Num_12:1-2)--from Moses alone the epithet is entirely natural.
It is also noteworthy that Philistia is mentioned first among the foes who shall be terrified (Exo_15:14, R.V.), because Moses still expected the invasion to break first on them. But the unbelieving fears of Israel changed the route, so that no later poet would have set them in the forefront of his song. Thus also the terror of the Edomites is anticipated, although in fact they sturdily refused a passage to Israel through their land (Num_20:20). All this authenticates the song, which thereupon establishes the miraculous deliverance that inspired it.
The song is divided into two parts. Up to the end of the twelfth verse it is historical: the remainder expresses the high hopes inspired by this great experience. Nothing now seems impossible: the fiercest tribes of Palestine and the desert may be despised, for their own terror will suffice to "melt" them; and Israel may already reckon itself to be guided into the holy habitation (Exo_15:13).
The former part is again subdivided, by a noble and instinctive art, into two very unequal sections. With amplitude of triumphant adoration, the first ten verses tell the same story which the eleventh and twelfth compress into epigrammatical vigour and terseness. To appreciate the power of the composition, one should read the fourth, fifth, and sixth verses, and turn immediately to the twelfth.
Each of these three divisions closes in praise, and as in the "Israel in Egypt," it was probably at these points that the voices of Miriam and the women broke in, repeating the first verse of the ode as a refrain (Exo_15:1 and Exo_15:21). It is the earliest recognition of the place of women in public worship. And it leads us to remark that the whole service was responsive. Moses and the men are answered by Miriam and the women, bearing timbrels in their hands; for although instrumental music had been sorely misused in Egypt, that was no reason why it should be excluded now. Those who condemn the use of instruments in Christian worship virtually contend that Jesus has, in this respect, narrowed the liberty of the Church, and that a potent method of expression, known to man, must not be consecrated to the honour of God. And they make the present time unlike the past, and also unlike what is revealed of the future state.
Moreover there was movement, as in very many ancient religious services, within and without the pale of revelation.[28] Such dances were generally slow and graceful; yet the motion and the clang of metal, and the vast multitudes congregated, must be taken into account, if we would realise the strange enthusiasm of the emancipated host, looking over the blue sea to Egypt, defeated and twice bereaved, and forward to the desert wilds of freedom.
The poem is steeped in a sense of gratitude. In the great deliverance man has borne no part. It is Jehovah Who has triumphed gloriously, and cast the horse and charioteer--there was no "rider"--into the sea. And this is repeated again and again by the women as their response, in the deepening passion of the ode. "With the breath of His nostrils the waters were piled up.... He blew with His wind and the sea covered them." And such is indeed the only possible explanation of the Exodus, so that whoever rejects the miracle is beset with countless difficulties. One of these is the fact that Moses, their immortal leader, has no martial renown whatever. Hebrew poetry is well able to combine gratitude to God with honour to the men of Zebulun who jeopardised their lives unto the death, to Jael who put her hand to the nail, to Saul and Jonathan who were swifter than eagles and stronger than lions. Joshua and David can win fame without dishonour to God. Why is it that here alone no mention is made of human agency, except that, in fact, at the outset of their national existence, they were shown, once for all, the direct interposition of their God?
From gratitude springs trust: the great lesson is learned that man has an interest in the Divine power. "My strength and song is Jah," says the second verse, using that abbreviated form of the covenant name Jehovah, which David also frequently associated with his victories. "And He is become my salvation." It is the same word as when, a little while ago, the trembling people were bidden to stand still and see the salvation of God. They have seen it now. Now they give the word Salvation for the first time to the Lord as an appellation, and as such it is destined to endure. The Psalmist learns to call Him so, not only when he reproduces this verse word for word (Psa_118:14), but also when he says, "He only is my rock and my salvation" (Psa_62:2), and prays, "Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, come for salvation to us" (Psa_80:2).
And the same title is known also to Isaiah, who says, "Behold God is my salvation," and "Be Thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble" (Isa_12:2, Isa_33:2).
The progress is natural from experience of goodness to appropriation: He has helped me: He gives Himself to me; and from that again to love and trust, for He has always been the same: "my father," not my ancestors in general, but he whom I knew best and remember most tenderly, found Him the same Helper. And then love prompts to some return. My goodness extendeth not to Him, yet my voice can honour Him; I will praise Him, I will exalt His name. Now, this is the very spirit of evangelical obedience, the life-blood of the new dispensation racing in the veins of the old.
Where praise and exaltation are a spontaneous instinct, there is loyal service and every good work, not rendered by a hireling but a child. Had He not said, "Israel is My son"?
From exultant gratitude and trust, what is next to spring? That which is reproachfully called anthropomorphism, something which indeed easily degenerates into unworthy notions of a God limited by such restraints or warped by such passions as our own, yet which is after all a great advance towards true and holy thoughts of Him Who made man after His image and in His likeness.
Human affection cannot go forth to God without believing that like affection meets and responds to it. If He is indeed the best and purest, we must think of Him as sharing all that is best and purest in our souls, all that we owe to His inspiring Spirit.
"So through the thunder comes a human voice, Saying 'O heart I made, a heart beats here.'"
If ever any religion was sternly jealous of the Divine prerogatives, profoundly conscious of the incommunicable dignity of the Lord our God Who is one Lord, it was the Jewish religion. Yet when Jesus was charged with making Himself God, He could appeal to the doctrine of their own Scripture--that the judges of the people exercised so divine a function, and could claim such divine support, that God Himself spoke through them, and found representatives in them. "Is it not written in your law, I said Ye are gods?" (Joh_10:34). Not in vain did He appeal to such scriptures--and there are many such--to vindicate His doctrine. For man is never lifted above himself, but God in the same degree stoops towards us, and identifies Himself with us and our concerns. Who then shall limit His condescension? What ground in reason or revelation can be taken up for denying that it may be perfect, that it may develop into a permanent union of God with the creature whom He inspired with His own breath? It is by such steps that the Old Testament prepared Israel for the Incarnation. Since the Incarnation we have actually needed help from the other side, to prevent us from humanising our conceptions over-much. And this has been provided in the ever-expanding views of His creation given to us by science, which tell us that if He draws nigh to us it is from heights formerly undreamed of. Now, such a step as we have been considering is taken unawares in the bold phrase "Jehovah is a man of war." For in the original, as in the English, this includes the assertion "Jehovah is a man." Of course it is only a bold figure. But such a figure prepares the mind for new light, suggesting more than it logically asserts.
The phrase is more striking when we remember that remarkable peculiarity of the Exodus and its revelations which has been already pointed out. Elsewhere God appears in human likeness. To Abraham it was so, just before, and to Manoah soon afterwards. Ezekiel saw upon the likeness of the throne the likeness of the appearance of a man (Eze_1:26). But Israel saw no similitude, only he heard a voice. This was obviously a safeguard against idolatry. And it makes the words more noteworthy, "Jehovah is a man of war," marching with us, our champion, into the battle. And we know Him as our fathers knew Him not,--"Jehovah is His name."
* * * * *
The poem next describes the overthrow of the enemy: the heavy plunge of men in armour into the deeps, the arm of the Lord dashing them in pieces, His "fire" consuming them, while the blast of His nostrils is the storm which "piles up" the waters, solid as a wall of ice, "congealed in the heart of the sea." Then the singers exultantly rehearse the short panting eager phrases, full of greedy expectation, of the enemy breathless in pursuit--a passage well remembered by Deborah, when her triumphant song closed by an insulting repetition of the vain calculations of the mother of Sisera and "her wise ladies."
The eleventh verse is remarkable as being the first announcement of the holiness of God. "Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness?" And what does holiness mean? The Hebrew word is apparently suggestive of "brightness," and the two ideas are coupled by Isaiah (Isa_10:17): "The Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame." There is indeed something in the purity of light, in its absolute immunity from stain--no passive cleanness, as of the sand upon the shore, but intense and vital--and in its remoteness from the conditions of common material substances, that well expresses and typifies the lofty and awful quality which separates holiness from mere virtue. "God is called the Holy One because He is altogether pure, the clear and spotless Light; so that in the idea of the holiness of God there are embodied the absolute moral purity and perfection of the Divine nature, and His unclouded glory" (Keil, Pent., ii. 99). In this thought there is already involved separation, a lofty remoteness.
And when holiness is attributed to man, it never means innocence, nor even virtue, merely as such. It is always a derived attribute: it is reflected upon us, like light upon our planet; and like consecration, it speaks not of man in himself, but in his relation to God. It expresses a kind of separation to God, and thus it can reach to lifeless things which bear a true relation to the Divine. The seventh day is thus "hallowed." It is the very name of the "Holy Place," the "Sanctuary." And the ground where Moses was to stand unshod beside the burning bush was pronounced "holy," not by any concession to human weakness, but by the direct teaching of God. Very inseparable from all true holiness is separation from what is common and unclean. Holy men may be involved in the duties of active life; but only on condition that in their bosom shall be some inner shrine, whither the din of worldliness never penetrates, and where the lamp of God does not go out.
It is a solemn truth that a kind of inverted holiness is known to Scripture. Men "sanctify themselves" (it is this very word), "and purify themselves to go into the gardens, ... eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse" (Isa_66:17). The same word is also used to declare that the whole fruit of a vineyard sown with two kinds of fruit shall be forfeited (Deu_22:9), although the notion there is of something unnatural and therefore interdicted, which notion is carried to the utmost extreme in another derivative from the same root, expressing the most depraved of human beings.
Just so, the Greek word "anathema" means both "consecrated" and "marked out for wrath" (Luk_21:5; 1Co_16:22 the difference in form is insignificant.) And so again our own tongue calls the saints "devoted," and speaks of the "devoted" head of the doomed sinner, being aware that there is a "separation" in sin as really as in purity. The gods of the heathen, like Jehovah, claimed an appropriate "holiness," sometimes unspeakably degraded. They too were separated, and it was through long lines of sphinxes, and many successive chambers, that the Egyptian worshipper attained the shrine of some contemptible or hateful deity. The religion which does not elevate depresses. But the holiness of Jehovah is noble as that of light, incapable of defilement. "Who among the gods is like Thee ... glorious in holiness?" And Israel soon learned that the worshipper must become assimilated to his Ideal: "Ye shall be holy men unto Me" (Exo_22:31). It is so with us. Jesus is separated from sinners. And we are to go forth unto Him out of the camp, bearing His reproach (Heb_7:26, Heb_13:13).
The remainder of the song is remarkable chiefly for the confidence with which the future is inferred from the past. And the same argument runs through all Scripture. As Moses sang, "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance," because "Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand, the earth[29] swallowed" their enemies, so David was sure that goodness and mercy should follow him all the days of his life, because God was already leading him in green pastures and beside still waters. And so St. Paul, knowing in Whom he had believed, was persuaded that He was able to keep his deposit until that day (2Ti_1:12).
So should pardon and Scripture and the means of grace reassure every doubting heart; for "if the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have ... showed us all these things" (Jdg_13:23). And in theory, and in good hours, we confess that this is so. But after our song of triumph, if we come upon bitter waters we murmur; and if our bread fail, we expect only to die in the wilderness.
SHUR.
Exo_15:22-27.
From the Red Sea the Israelites marched into the wilderness of Shur--a general name, of Egyptian origin, for the district between Egypt and Palestine, of which Etham, given as their route in Numbers (Num_33:8), is a subdivision. The rugged way led over stone and sand, with little vegetation and no water. And the "three days' journey" to Marah, a distance of thirty-three miles, was their first experience of absolute hardship, for not even the curtain of miraculous cloud could prevent them from suffering keenly by heat and thirst.
It was a period of disillusion. Fond dreams of ease and triumphant progress, with every trouble miraculously smoothed away, had naturally been excited by their late adventure. Their song had exulted in the prospect that their enemies should melt away, and be as still as a stone. But their difficulties did not melt away. The road was weary. They found no water. They were still too much impressed by the miracle at the Red Sea, and by the mysterious Presence overhead, for open complaining to be heard along the route; but we may be sure that reaction had set in, and there was many a sinking heart, as the dreary route stretched on and on, and they realised that, however romantic the main plan of their journey, the details might still be prosaic and exacting. They sang praises unto Him. They soon forgat His works. Aching with such disappointments, at last they reached the waters of Marah, and they could not drink, for they were bitter.
And if Marah be indeed Huwara, as seems to be agreed, the waters are still the worst in all the district. It was when the relief, so confidently expected, failed, and the term of their sufferings appeared to be indefinitely prolonged, that their self-control gave way, and they "murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?" And we may be sure that wherever discontent and unbelief are working secret mischief to the soul, some event, some disappointment or temptation, will find the weak point, and the favourable moment of attack, just as the seeds of disease find out the morbid constitution, and assail it.
Now, all this is profoundly instructive, because it is true to the universal facts of human nature. When a man is promoted to unexpected rank, or suddenly becomes rich, or reaches any other unlooked-for elevation, he is apt to forget that life cannot, in any position, be a romance throughout, a long thrill, a whole song at the top note of the voice. Affection itself has a dangerous moment, when two united lives begin to realise that even their union cannot banish aches and anxieties, weariness and business cares. Well for them if they are content with the power of love to sweeten what it cannot remove, as loyal soldiers gladly sacrifice all things for the cause, and as Israel should have been proud to endure forced marches under the cloudy banner of its emancipating God.
As neither rank nor affection exempts men from the dust and tedium of life, or from its disappointments, so neither does religion. When one is "made happy" he expects life to be only a triumphal procession towards Paradise, and he is startled when "now for a season, if need be, he is in heaviness through manifold temptations." Yet Christ prayed not that we should be taken out of the world. We are bidden to endure hardness as good soldiers, and to run with patience the race which is set before us; and these phrases indicate our need of the very qualities wherein Israel failed. As yet the people murmured not ostensibly against God, but only against Moses. But the estrangement of their hearts is plain, since they made no appeal to God for relief, but assailed His agent and representative. Yet they had not because they asked not, and relief was found when Moses cried unto the Lord. Their leader was "faithful in all his house"; and instead of upbraiding his followers with their ingratitude, or bewailing the hard lot of all leaders of the multitude, whose popularity neither merit nor service can long preserve unclouded, he was content to look for sympathy and help where we too may find it.
We read that the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. In this we discern the same union of Divine grace with human energy and use of means, as in all medicine, and indeed all uses of the divinely enlightened intellect of man. It would have been easy to argue that the waters could only be healed by miracle, and if God wrought a miracle what need was there of human labour? There was need of obedience, and of the co-operation of the human will with the divine. We shall see, in the case of the artificers of the tabernacle, that God inspires even handicraftsmen as well as theologians--being indeed the universal Light, the Giver of all good, not only of Bibles, but of rain and fruitful seasons. But the artisan must labour, and the farmer improve the soil.
Shall we say with the fathers that the tree cast into the waters represents the cross of Christ? At least it is a type of the sweetening and assuaging influences of religion--a new element, entering life, and as well fitted to combine with it as medicinal bark with water, making all wholesome and refreshing to the disappointed wayfarer, who found it so bitter hitherto.
The Lord was not content with removing the grievance of the hour; He drew closer the bonds between His people and Himself, to guard them against another transgression of the kind: "there He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them." It is pure assumption to pretend that this refers to another account of the giving of the Jewish law, inconsistent with that in the twentieth chapter, and placed at Marah instead of Sinai.[30] It is a transaction which resembles much rather the promises given (and at various times, although confusion and repetition cannot be inferred) to Abraham and Jacob (Gen_12:1-3, Gen_15:1, Gen_15:18-21, Gen_17:1-14, Gen_22:15-18, Gen_28:13-15, Gen_35:10-12). He said, "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His eyes, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and wilt keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee which I have put upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord which healeth thee." It is a compact of obedient trust on one side, and protection on the other. If they felt their own sinfulness, it asserted that He who had just healed the waters could also heal their hearts. From the connection between these is perhaps derived the comparison between human hearts and a fountain of sweet water or bitter (Jam_3:11).
But certainly the promised protection takes an unexpected shape. What in their circumstances leads to this specific offer of exemption from certain foul diseases--"the boil of Egypt, and the emerods, and the scurvy, and the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed" (Deu_28:27)? How does this meet the case? Doubtless by reminding them that there are better exemptions than from hardship, and worse evils than privations. If they do not realise this at the spiritual level, at least they can appreciate the threat that "He will bring upon thee again all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of" (Deu_28:60). To be even a luxurious and imperial race, but infected by repulsive and hopeless ailments, is not a desirable alternative. Now, such evils, though certainly not in each individual, yet in a race, are the punishments of non-natural conditions of life, such as make the blood run slowly and unhealthily, and charge it with impure deposits. It was God who put them upon the Egyptians.
If Israel would follow His guidance, and accept a somewhat austere destiny, then the desert air and exercise, and even its privations, would become the efficacious means for their exemption from the scourges of indulgence. A time arrived when they looked back with remorse upon crimes which forfeited their immunity, when the Lord said, "I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword" (Amo_4:10).
But it is a significant fact that at this day, after eighteen hundred years of oppression, hardship, and persecution, of the ghetto and the old-clothes trade, the Hebrew race is proverbially exempt from repulsive and contagious disease. They also "certainly do enjoy immunity from the ravages of cholera, fever and smallpox in a remarkable degree. Their blood seems to be in a different condition from that of other people.... They seem less receptive of disease caused by blood poisoning than others" (Journal of Victoria Institute, xxi. 307). Imperfect as was their obedience, this covenant at least has been literally fulfilled to them.
It is by such means that God is wont to reward His children. Most commonly the seal of blessing from the skies is not rich fare, but bread and fish by the lake side with the blessing of Christ upon them; not removal from the desert, but a closer sense of the protection and acceptance of Heaven, the nearness of a loving God, and with this, an elevation and purification of the life, and of the body as well as of the soul. Not in vain has St. Paul written "The Lord for the body." Nor was there ever yet a race of men who accepted the covenant of God, and lived in soberness, temperance and chastity, without a signal improvement of the national physique, no longer unduly stimulated by passion, jaded by indulgence, or relaxed by the satiety which resembles but is not repose.
From Marah and its agitations there was a journey of but a few hours to Elim, with its twelve fountains and seventy palm trees--a fair oasis, by which they encamped and rested, while their flocks spread far and wide over a grassy and luxuriant valley.
The picture is still true to the Christian life, with the Palace Beautiful just beyond the lions, and the Delectable Mountains next after Doubting Castle.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] There is no warrant in the use of Scripture for Stanley's assertion that the word translated "dances" should be rendered "guitars." (Smith's Dict. of Bible, Article Miriam.)
[29] This is to be taken literally; it does not mean the waves, but the quicksands in which they "drave heavily," and which, when steeped in the returning waters, engulfed them.
[30] Wellhausen, Israel, p. 439.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 23 Exo_15:1. This Song.]—In order fully to appreciate the exquisite…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exo_15:1. This Song.]—In order fully to appreciate the exquisite beauties of this Song, several conditions must be observed; among them we may name the following:—
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(1.) The existence of parallelisms should be made evident to the eye:—(Exo_15:6.)
THY RIGHT HAND, Jehovah!
THY RIGHT HAND, Jehovah!
has become famous in vigour:
dashes in pieces the foe.
(2.) The vivid sequence of the two Hebrew tenses, the Perfect and the Imperfect, should be noticed:—(Exo_15:5.)
ROARING DEEPS cover1 them.
They have gone down2 into the raging depths like a stone.
(1Imp. the act of covering passes before the eye.)
(2Perfect: result, they are not to be found.)
(Exo_15:12.)
Thou hast stretched forth thine hand.
Earth swallows them up.
(Completed act.)
(Sequel: abruptly thrown in, as next following.)
(Exo_15:14.)
Peoples have heard,—they tremble.
(How much vividness in a single line.)
(3.) Rapid changes of arrangement, adding immensely to the life and movement of the poem, should be observed:—(Exo_15:15.)
| Then have been amazed || the chiefs of Edom.
| The mighty ones of Moab || there has seized them—a quaking!
| They have melted away || all the dwellers in Canaan.
(Verb first: then nominative.
(Object first, abruptly set alone, with great boldness; then verb, with objective pronoun; then subject last.
(Same as first line.)
(4.) The force of particular terms, giving a poetical colouring to the composition, should be noted; as, Exo_15:5. תהמת, “roaring deeps;” מצולת, “raging depths;” Exo_15:10, “they sank,” rather, צללו, “they rolled, like lead,” they were bowled in from the Egyptian side, clean down into the sea, the verb tzalal strikes the ear with the roll.
(5.) Special beauties remain, too numerous to be named. Conspicuous among them is the breathless haste with which stroke follows stroke in Exo_15:9.
Said the foe: I will pursue! overtake! divide spoil!
(6.) The prophetic element of the poem fitly crowns the whole. “It has always appeared to me,” says Dr. Margoliouth, on Exo_15:17 (“Poetry of the Hebrew Pentateuch,” p. 72), “that this is the verse from which we may most clearly discover the inspiration of the ode. Very splendid and very striking is the description of the past scene, but this vision of the future it is which stamps the composition as Divine. I know of nothing equal to it in the whole range of poetry. The contrast is so beautiful and yet so natural. Amidst the outpouring of gratitude and triumph, hope and faith are kept in view. And from the consideration of what had been achieved, the poet feels assured that the Holy One would not ‘suffer his truth to fail.’ ” No wonder that determined rationalism should stumble against this prophetic rock. “The language implies,” says Dr. S. Davidson (“On a Fresh Revision of the English Old Testament,” pp. 120–1), “that the passage across the Jordan had taken place, that Jerusalem was occupied by the Israelites, and Solomon’s Temple built. The verbs refer to things done; and the poem, Jehovistic in its present form, is much later than Moses.” Alas! that “weak faith” should “choose the harder side!” With sad satisfaction we leave our English scholar to the German-Jewish scholar Kalisch, who says—“We must call attention to the prophetic instinct, with which the poet, just at this moment, when the Israelitish nation happened to be between Egypt and Palestine, both as regards time and place, when they left the land of their ignominy with mixed feelings of joy and apprehension, and impatiently longed to reach the promised abode of their future glory, that he just then described that double relation with so firm a hand and such characteristic traits. And thus has that which many critics consider as a historical anticipation, carrying us into the times of David and Solomon, been enobled into a poetic beauty by the sanctity of prophetic inspiration.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_15:1-22
THE SONG OF THE SOUL AFTER A TIMELY DELIVERANCE FROM DANGER
We can almost realise the scene which this chapter brings before us. There are warriors and their horses struggling in the midst of the returning waters. But soon all is over. The dead are washed by the swelling tide to the feet of the rejoicing Israelites. God is victorious. His people are free. They sing His praise. The mercy of God should always awaken the soul to jubilant song.
I. The Deliverance of Israel. The Israelites had been in great and alarming danger. They were encamped against Pi-hahiroth. Mountains were on each side of them. The Egyptians were pursuing behind them. The sea was before them. They had, humanly speaking, no method of escape. The foe was proud and determined. They had not courage or the means of war. God came to their aid in this extremity, and delivered them in wondrous fashion. He is the best Helper of the good in the hour of perplexity. His mercy is rich. His power is great. It is not the way of God to leave His people to their fate when they are exposed to terrible dangers. He might have told the Israelites to give battle to their enemies. He might have intimated that they should help themselves out of their difficulty. He had brought them out of Egypt, and was it not right that henceforth they should protect themselves? It is ever the way of Heaven to help the defenceless out of the hand of their fierce foe. This deliverance was wondrous. The Israelites were brought on dry land through the midst of the sea. This was the last way of escape they would have expected. They would as soon have expected to see the mountains levelled to a plain, to have seen the hosts of Pharaoh vanish into air. God is never at a loss for a method whereby to deliver the good out of the hand of their enemies. He can do it in the most unexpected manner. All the agencies of nature are ready to aid His Divine purpose. Has He not many times in your life made a way for your feet through the sea? This deliverance was joyous. Who can imagine the feelings of the Israelites as they went down into the path opened for them in the waters. Their first steps would probably be taken in fear, but they would soon gain courage, and each heart would feel the presence of God. And when they saw their enemies dead on the banks of the river a sense of glad relief would rise in each heart. We all know the joy of deliverance from a great danger. This deliverance was effective. “Pharaoh’s chariots and his hosts hath He cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank into the bottom as a stone.” God never works for His people a questionable deliverance. Their foes shall never trouble them again if He takes them in hand. This deliverance was awe-inspiring. When the Israelites reflected on their march through the sea, and on the scene of panic and death which they had witnessed, we can conceive how reverent would be their feeling; they would fear that God who had wrought all this destruction. They would feel that if He had been merciful to them He had likewise treated His enemies with terrible justice. Surely Israel would learn a lesson here never to be forgotten. And all our deliverances from danger should tend to give us clear views of the character of God, and should lead us to reverence the Divine name.
II. The Song of Israel. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song.” This song was dictated by the Infinite Spirit. It was not only sung to the Lord, but it was composed by the Lord. The grandeur and beauty of its construction exceed beyond comparison the greatest intellect of man. The song is descriptive. It is historic. It is prophetic. It will never die away from human lips; the Song of Moses and the Lamb will continue in heaven. It is the first of inspired celebrations, and it will be the last. How sweet will be the heavenly song when all the foes of the soul are for ever defeated! This song is composed of many parts; it combines vengeance and grace, destruction and deliverance. It sets forth God’s final victory over all enemies. His power shall triumph over the pride and presumption of man. This victory shall be celebrated by all the redeemed. The world sings not hymns like these It is well to express gratitude in song. The Israelites did not thanklessly or indolently receive the deliverance which God had wronght out for them. They gave thanks for it (Gen_14:18; Jdg_5:2). The healed cripple praised God (Act_3:8). It is well for the soul to sing the praises of God. It is well to celebrate His name in verse. Verse is more expressive. It is more inspiring. It embodies deeper pathos. It is better remembered. It is more tuneful. The mercy of God fills the soul with poetic emotion. It renders song spontaneous. The Israelites sang this hymn immediately after their deliverance. They permitted no delay. In this they acted wisely. There should be no delay in praising God. The song should go up to Him while the deliverance is had in lively remembrance, and when the heart is hot with gratitude. We should sing quickly after mercy. Delay will render the music of the soul less sweet. The individuality of the song, “I will sing unto the Lord.” Each Israelite sang this hymn, he did not loose his sense of individuality in the great congregation. Each heart uttered its own gratitude. Others cannot give thanks to God for me. The reality of the song. The Israelites did not merely utter the words here recorded, but intensely felt them. They sang with the spirit. They felt the gratitude they expressed. This song ascribes all the praise to God for the wondrous deliverance wrought for Israel. “I will sing unto the Lord.” This is the chief feature of the hymn. God is the best theme of spiritual song. The Israelites did not praise Moses their noble leader; they did not celebrate their own energy or fortune; but God alone. All our praise is due to the Divine name. They celebrated the holiness, power, glory, mercy, and supremacy of God. This song is expressive of love to God. “The Lord is my strength,” “my salvation,” “my God,” “my father’s God.” Here is faith, relationship, hope, love, pathos; these elements should be found in all the songs of the soul. This song recognises the duties of the soul. “I will prepare him a habitation.” “I will exalt him.” Song is not enough; it must be followed by activity and by a holy life. We must exalt God in the life as well as in the hymn. LESSONS:—
1. Let no deliverance pass without praise.
2. Let all the praise of the soul be directed to God.
3. The Divine character should be celebrated by the Church.
4. Make life a constant hymn.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exo_15:1. The ministers of God should lead the praise of the Church.
Permanent resolutions of praising Jehovah are becoming His Church.
The exceeding excellency of God in Himself is the true subject of praise.
The judgment of God on persecuting powers must be celebrated by the Church.
Exo_15:2-3. The Living God.
“My Father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
I. Who was the God of our Fathers?
1. A pure Being—not the “chance” of the atheist.
2. A conscious Being, not the “mere law” of the deist.
3. A personal Being, not “the all” of the pantheist.
4. A perfect Being, as revealed in the Bible.
5. An emotional
Being, as manifested in Christ.
6. A communicative Being, as imparted by the Holy Spirit.
II. What is it to exalt Him?
1. Not by tall spires.
2. Not by gorgeous ritual.
3. To adore Him as the object of our worship.
4. To give Him the chief place in our affections.
(W. W. Wythe.)
THE PATHOS OF THEOLOGY
“My Father’s God.”
I. “My Father’s God.”—Then religion was no new thing to them. They were not surprised when they heard the name of God associated with their victory. Religion should not be an originality to us; it should not be a novel sensation; it should be the common breath of our daily life, and the mention of the name of God ought to excite no amazement.
II. “My Father’s God.”—Then their fathers’ religion was not concealed from them. They knew that their fathers had a God. We know nothing of the religion of some men until we are informed of it by public advertisement. We cannot read this book without being impressed with the fact that the men who made the world’s history were men who lived in communion with the Unseen. Is it possible that your child is unaware that you have a God?
III. “My Father’s God.”—Yet it does not follow that the father and the child must have the same God. Religion is not hereditary. You have the power to sever the connection between yourself and the God of your fathers. You may shut God out from your heart.
IV. “My Father’s God.”—Then we are debtors to the religion past. There are some results of goodness we inherit independently of our own will. The age inherits the civilisation of the past. The child is the better for his father’s temperance. To-day we are inheriting the results of martyrdoms, which stretch far back into the grey past of history. (City Temple.)
Jehovah’s relation to the good:—
1. Near.
2. Sweet.
3. Joyful.
4. Saving.
5. Faithful.
Praise to God:—
1. Cheerful.
2. Grateful.
3. Mighty.
4. United.
The best answer of Israel’s relation to God is to make a habitation for Him.
High praises from the Church to Jehovah are suitable to His exalted mercies.
Jehovah alone is the mighty warrior for His Church in the world.
Exo_15:4-8. The right hand of Jehovah is glorious in saving Israel.
The same enemies that rise against Israel rise against God.
Wicked persecutors are as stubble, God’s wrath as fire.
Such great things hath God done and will do for Israel’s deliverance.
Exo_15:9-10. The pride of persecutors makes them utter their boastings in defiance of God.
Madness and folly makes wicked enemies to threaten what they cannot do.
The blast of God’s mouth defeats all the boastings of enemies.
Irrecoverably can God destroy all enemies that seek to destroy His Israel.
Exo_15:11-13. God’s future providence as well as past deliverance is matter of praise.
Mercy is the rule of all God’s conduct to His Church here below.
God has saved and will redeem His Israel out of all their troubles.
God’s holy habitation is the destiny of all providential guidance.
God’s strength secures the conduct of the Church to His holy habitation.
Exo_15:14-16. Tidings of God’s appearance for His Church against enemies will make nations fear.
Princes and powers shall be astonished at God’s vindicating His Israel.
Trembling shall hold fast mighty enemies when God sends word of vengeance.
God’s possession of His Church is the ground of all His appearance against enemies for them.
Exo_15:17. Israel’s Lord alone makes and establishes their place of rest for them.
Israel’s last rest is God’s mountain of inheritance, His own sanctuary.
God’s mercy is to make His dwelling with Israel.
Exo_15:18-19. The eternity of Jehovah’s kingdom in Christ is a most undoubted truth.
The everlastingness of Christ’s Government must be the burden of the song of the Church.
God, by His judgments, makes known His kinghood.
Exo_15:20. Women also have their place and work in the spiritual worship of God.
The Old Testament had its peculiar rites in service not to be followed now.
Exo_15:21-22. After worship done in memory of mercies, the Church must go on in its pilgrimage.
From Red Sea deliverances to wilderness travels is Israel’s motion.
Hard travels and piercing thirst is sometimes the lot of the Church.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Red Sea! Exo_15:1-22. One dark and stormy night, a vessel was wrecked on a rocky island off the coast of Scotland. The crew had watched with terror the white waves as they dashed on the stately cliffs, and felt that to be driven upon those rocks was to seal their doom. The cabin was filled with water, and the captain’s wife was drowned. The sailors climbed into the rigging and prayed as they never had before, that God would have mercy upon them. But the cruel waves drove the vessel on and on, till the very foot of the awful cliff was reached. Oh! if they could only reach its top! There would be safety, and, no doubt, friendly hands to help them. But how was the top to be gained. Alas! there they were—fated and doomed to perish. Despair had fastened hard upon them—their escape was hopeless. See! their attention has been aroused to something on the face of the cliff. It is a slender rope ladder, up which they climbed in succession as rapidly as their benumbed fingers would permit. Israel’s escape seemed as hopeless: when the Lord showed them the path through a crystal gallery with a blood-red gate.
“With limbs that falter, and with hearts that swell,
Down, down they pass, a steep and slippery dell.”
Pathway! Exo_15:19. Israel’s way through the Red Sea has been called a crystal gallery with a blood-red gate. The gate was the Paschal Feast. It is through the gateway of the Lamb of God’s bleeding sacrifice that believers pass ere they can enter upon the crystal pathway of spiritual baptism. Both are supernatural—Divine. Some have supposed that Israel crossed the fords near the head waters of the sea at low tide, and that Pharaoh and his hosts were overwhelmed by the returning tide. But this is untrue. An English gentleman and author who had committed himself publicly to the defence of this theory, on examining the ground, abandoned it as utterly untenable and absurd. Dr. Aiton says that Napoleon at Suez attempted to establish this by crossing the waters at ebb tide. In regard to his effort in this way, it has been remarked by the author of “Eothen” that Napoleon and his horsemen managed the matter more after the failure of the Egyptians than the success of the Israelites. It is said that Napoleon fell from his horse into the sea, and was only dragged out by the assistance of the natives on shore. True or untrue, it is clear that Napoleon was wrong. No ebb tide was this “dividing of the waters;” but, as in 15:31, “the power of the Great Hand.” It was the Great Hand of God which had done this; as the dukes of Edom and the mighty men of Moab, and all the inhabitants of Canaan realised, as—
“Far over the sea,
In its melody,
The shout of the free
Sounded merrily!”
Freedom! Exo_15:2. I have seen the caged eagle boating violently against the iron bare of his prison—his plumes soiled and torn, his strong wings drooping, the light of his glorious eye dammed, the pulse of his proud heart panting in vain for conflict with the careering clouds and mountain blasts. At first Israel demurred to freedom when Jehovah proffered it by Moses, but gradually longings for freedom sprang up, and they struggled hard to be free. And as the eagle when the bars are broken, or the links are shivered, springs into the air, rejoicing in the freedom of his mountain home, so Israel was glad when their hosts marched forth from Egyptian bondage,—like the proud denizen of the air
“Clasping the crag with hooked hands,
Close to the sun in lonely lands.”
Sea! Exo_15:10. Some idea—faint, we admit—may be formed of the effect of the sea suddenly plunging back into a channel ten or twelve miles broad, by comparing it with that of the stupendous Falls of Niagara,—one of the wonders of the world. This cataract, whose name signifies “the thunder of the waters,” is divided by an island into two distinct falls; and more than 113,000,000 of gallons of water are precipitated down these falls in one minute. Little in comparison with this mighty waterfall upon Pharaoh. Never had such a scene been witnessed since that awful time when all the fountains of the great deep were broken up at the Deluge! Down on the warriors of Egypt—down upon chariots and horsemen—fell the accumulated heaps of crushing waters, foaming, roaring, sweeping away the pomp and pride of the mighty, as straws are swept whirling down the rushing cascade. The magnificent display of power more than justifies Exo_15:10-11.
“Lord! list to the voice
Of those that rejoice,
Ascribing to Thee
All the victory!”
Chariots! Exo_15:9-10. What a contrast between the gilded car of Pharaoh and the golden chariot of Elijah. Its circling wheels woke no echos amongst the rocks, and left no impression on the sands. It came from heaven, and heaven was its bourne. Not a drop of the chilly waters of the grave dimmed its brilliant surface. It was the chariot of devotion, as was Pharaoh’s that of ambition. The spirit of devotion descends from heaven; it is sent by our God to bear His servants upwards towards Him. Not all the waters of death shall quench or dim its glory. His people are safe.
“They onward tread; the circling waves retreat,
In hoarse deep murmurs from their holy feet.”
Deliverance—Joy! Exo_15:11-13. On the last day of April 1687, ten thousand French and twelve thousand Sardinian troops pursued the Vaudois of the Valleys until they had hemmed them, to all appearances hopelessly, in the Balsille. The French General De Catinat burned to revenge previous defeats of his troops, and vowed complete extermination of the fugitives:—“Every one of them shall be hanged in the evening.” So burned Pharaoh as he pursued after Israel, and hemmed their host in upon the sea. But by and by came to Pignerol the tidings that twenty thousand of the choicest chivalry of France and Sardinia, with their destructive artillery, had been unable to injure as much as one of the Vandois fugitives. Whilst the broken and shattered columns fled,—their labours frustrated, their schemes disconcerted, their valour mocked and insulted; the little band of Waldensians, with heads uncovered and hands clasped towards heaven, chaunted in strains of deep and thrilling melody their triumph of praise. Every rock and mountain echoed back the wild glad chorus—
“Supported by our living Head,
And by the God of battles led
To life and victory!”
Timbrels! Exo_15:20. These were a kind of tambourine, called by Kalisch, “hand-drums.” It consists of a hoop of wood or metal, of about one handsbreadth, and covered over with leather. It is still a very favourite instrument in the East on festive and sacred occasions. Dancing invariably accompanied their use. Miriam seems to have been the leader; as appears to have been the case with David hundreds of years afterwards. M‘Cheyne mentions that this is done in Poland to this day; and he himself witnessed, on one occasion, a venerable Jewish Rabbi lead off a whole company of Jewish devotees in this fashion in the “procession of the law.” He began his dance with the words, “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” Lady Montague, in her letters, mentions the same of Jewish females, stating that the great lady leads the dance, and is followed by a troop of young girls who imitate her steps. If she sings, they make up the chorus. And, as Hamilton remarks, perhaps there never was a gush of purer gratitude than poured from the lips of all as Miriam’s timbrel led the dance. As one after another the swell bore helpless to their feet the steed in gorgeous hausings, or his stiff and stalwart panoplied rider, the exultation leaped up a-new, “Shout, Israel! for the Lord hath triumphed.”
“How solemn and sweet,
As the waters meet,
Was pealing along
The triumphing song!”
Music-influences! Exo_15:21. Despondent soldiers on the march have been known to stop and listen to music stealing far over the waters. and to be aroused to vigorous effort in the march. Travellers, hearing strains floating from the windows of some palace or mansion, have been cheered to increase their pace homeward. So, saints, as they war or journey, listen to the exultant symphonies poured over the walls and battlements of heaven, and, setting their feet to the measure of the eternal hymn, press onwards towards the city, within whose fadeless palace halls shall be sung the everlasting jubilee.
“Hark! how th’ adoring hosts above
With songs surround the throne,
Ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
But all their hearts are one.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 These words are part of an outburst of national…
Exo 15:3
These words are part of an outburst of national song, the triumphant song of God’s chosen people when they, by God’s strength, escaped from the tyranny of Egypt, and found themselves a redeemed, free, delivered people. The Lord has continued to exercise His triumphant power in the Christian Church. The standard of spiritual life in individual Christians at the present day warrants the expectations which have been awakened by the first promises of the Gospel. It is possible to look at this in two or three aspects.
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I. The thought of God’s triumphs as a man of war seems to be valuable as giving in its degree a proof of the truth of Holy Writ. The moral expectations raised by our Lord’s first sermon on the Mount are being actually realized in many separate souls now. The prayer for strength to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh is becoming daily more visibly proved in the triumph of the Spirit, in the individual lives of the redeemed.
II. The triumphs of the Lord in the individual hearts among us give an increasing hope for unity throughout Christendom. We cannot deny the debt we owe to the labours of Nonconformists in the days of the Church’s lethargy and neglect. We cannot join them now, but we are preparing for a more close and lasting union, in God’s own time, by the individual progress in spiritual things.
III. We must do our part to set our seal to the triumphant power of Divine grace. It is the half-lives of Christians which are such a poor proof of the truth of our Lord’s words. They do not begin early enough; they do not work thoroughly enough. We have the promise that this song shall be at last on the lips of all who prevail, for St. John tells us in the Revelation that he saw those who had overcome standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
Bishop King, Penny Pulpit, No. 569.
Reference: Exo 15:6.—J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Easter to Ascension Day, p. 34.
Exo 15:9-11
Israel was, in the first place, delivered from the hand of God, and then, as the result of this, Israel was delivered from the hand of Pharaoh.
Consider:—
I. The state of the Israelites when Moses came to them. (1) They were in bondage. (2) They were so far conscious of the misery of their position that they had a strong desire for liberty. (3) They were by no means ready at first to accept the message of God’s deliverance. (4) They had their comforts even in slavery. In all these things we have a picture of ourselves.
II. The deliverance. (1) The moment the Passover is observed, that moment Pharaoh’s power is broken. The moment that all is right between us and God, that moment Satan’s power is broken, and he can no longer hold us in bondage. (2) The waters of judgment which saved the Israelites were the means of destroying the vast host of Egypt. The power of Satan is broken by the very means by which he intended to destroy. (3) It is our privilege to take our stand on the other side of the Red Sea and see ourselves "raised up with Christ" into a new life.
W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, 1st series, p. 121.
Reference: Exo 15:22-27.—Parker, vol. ii., p. 113.
Exo 15:23-27
From the story of Marah we learn these lessons:—
I. The water was deleterious, not distasteful only. Had the people drunk it, it would have wrought disease, but it was healed by the obedience of Moses to God’s directions. So if we are attentive and obedient to His voice He will find us remedies from all things that might hurt us.
II. It was not possible, perhaps, that the children of Israel should, by persevering in the unwholesome draught which is there typical of sin, have vitiated their taste till they delighted in it. But it is too possible in the antitype.
III. Though we are compelled by God’s providence to pass through difficulty and temptation, we are not doomed to dwell there. If we are faithful, it is but in passing that we shall be endangered. If we use the remedy of obedience to God’s word to-day, to-morrow we shall be beside the twelve ever-springing fountains, and under the shade of the palm-trees of Elim.
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 197.
We have in our text a parable of the deep things of Christ.
I. Israel was in those days fresh from their glorious deliverance out of Egypt; they had sung their first national song of victory; they had breathed the air of liberty. This was their first disappointment, and it was a very sharp one; from the height of exultation they fell almost at once to the depths of despair. Such disappointments we have all experienced, especially in the outset of our actual march, after the first conscious sense of spiritual triumph and freedom.
II. Of us also it is true that God hath showed us a certain tree, and that tree is the once accursed tree on which Christ died. This is the tree of life to us, although of death to Him.
III. It was God who showed this tree unto Moses. And it was God who showed it to us in the Gospel. Applied by our faith to the bitter waters of disappointment and distress, it will surely heal them and make them sweet. Two things there are about the tree of scorn which will never lose their healing power—the lesson of the Cross and the consolation of the Cross; the example and the companionship of Christ crucified.
IV. The life which found its fitting close upon the Cross was not a life of suffering only, but emphatically a life of disappointment. Here there is comfort for us. Our dying Lord must certainly have reflected that He, the Son of God, was leaving the world rather worse than He found it in all human appearance.
V. Whatever our trials and disappointments, let us use this remedy; it will not fail us even at the worst.
R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 46.
References: Exo 15:23-25.—S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 20; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 540; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 987. Exo 15:23-27.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 453; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 275. 15:23-16:36.—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 128. 15-18.—J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 61. Exo 15:24, Exo 15:25.—J. Burns, Sketches of Sermons on the Parables, p. 257. Exo 15:25.—J. Hamilton, Works, vol. v., p. 177; J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii., p. 185. Exo 15:26.—A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 161; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1664; J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 394; Parker, vol. ii., p. 319. Exo 15:27.—T. Kelly, Pulpit Trees, p. 314. Exo 16:1-8.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 459.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v22 Subdivision 4. (Exo 15:22-27; Exo 16:1-36; Exo 17:1-16; Exo…
Subdivision 4. (Exo 15:22-27; Exo 16:1-36; Exo 17:1-16; Exo 18:1-27.)
Wilderness-grace.
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Israel is, however, as yet but brought into the wilderness. We have now, therefore, -not the proper history of the wilderness (that we find in Numbers), but -the grace which meets the need of the wilderness, -how their bread is given them and their water is made sure. The meaning of their being brought here is evidently to wean them from all other dependencies, and to cast them upon God; to manifest His truth and trustworthiness in all the minutiae of daily care. His was the responsibility of bringing this multitude through to the land He had promised them, and He charges Himself with it, that we, no less than they, may learn to find Him in the smallest details, and most familiar and homely matters of common life. In the deliverance from Egypt He had shown Himself for them on a great occasion; and there are many who seem only to look for His interference upon great occasions. But our life is not made up of such, and from how much of it must He be banished if we are only to find Him there! Thank God, it is not so: He is about our path and about our bed, serving us ever in the perpetual need we have of Him.
But again, as types, what happened to them reveals to us deeper than physical needs, and a much more marvelous provision. As types, they must have anti-types greater than themselves; and with these, therefore, must be our main occupation, as continually through these books.
1. To be in the wilderness is not failure, but the consequence of redemption. The world is not for sense a wilderness: it is Egypt, -fruitful and fair enough, though storms may sweep through it. But for faith, yearning after the inheritance beyond, all is changed. He who learns to glory in the cross of Christ has to say, "By which the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world." The place of Christ’s cross can be but barren ground -a wilderness.
But this truth of the wilderness is not in itself a pleasant, but a bitter, thing. The good of it is in the necessity which brings God in. A place of the most wonderful display of divine power and love, it is the necessity of the people which occasions this display. Had the desert brought forth bread for them, there would have been no bread from heaven. Had it produced water, there would have been no need for the water from the rock. God’s supplies are, we must not say, proportioned to the necessity (they are over-abundant), but they are occasioned by it.
Marah, as the introduction to the desert, is just the symbol of what the desert is. It was its proximity to the sea that made the waters bitter. Lying low by the shore, the saltness of the sea made (and still makes) the waters brackish. If the sea speak of death, then Marah shows the wilderness as the place of death, where not merely is nothing given for our thirst, but what is there is the very provocative of thirst.
Naturally, we shrink from this. Marah, in itself, is never pleasant. The Christian spirit with regard to all the sorrow and sin that are in the world is never apathy, -never indifference. It is as redeemed we come to Marah; redemption places in the very position in which to feel the bitterness of the world. Brought dry-shod through the sea, we are then made to drink of it.
But if the flesh shrinks from Marah, God has a remedy, and though we do not know the tree which God showed Moses, we know its antitype. It is the cross of Christ, -the fellowship of His sufferings, and the knowledge of its being that, what suffering can it not sweeten? We are sharing His experiences who gives us therein to realize the wonderful place which He has taken for us, -the path in which divine love led Him for our sakes. We have communion with Himself in such a way as we could not else enjoy; and nothing brings hearts together like sharing a common lot of toil and sorrow.
Atonement was Christ’s work alone: here none could be with Him. But in other aspects even of the cross itself we may find that which, linking itself with the glory at the end, characterizes our path. We follow a rejected Master, and are made partakers of His sufferings. This bitterness of death in the wilderness is not the experience which falls to the common lot of men. It is not simply, as in the body, enduring the ills which they say flesh is heir to. It is what results from being linked with Christ in His path of suffering, and in spirit with Him to whom the spirit of the world was only that. "If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him." But if with Him we suffer, Marah is no longer Marah; "the valley of Baca (of tears) becomes a well;" the tree is in the waters.
And here is God’s standing ordinance for us, and by which He proves us. God. is our Healer; He maketh whole and from the diseases of Egypt He will exempt us, if only we endure the test. If we will accept of the path of sorrow and trial which the Lord gives us here, we shall escape the afflictions which are His judgments on the world, and which come on those also who take their place with the world. Those who do not suffer for Christ, or with Christ, do not by their unfaithfulness escape suffering. They only suffer with the Egyptians.
This is what divine love -what He who has redeemed us to Himself says to us as His redeemed. Love itself cannot give us escape from the necessity of conforming to these conditions. It would not be love to do so. We shall find at last how in fact we have entered in this way, -as only by it we could enter, -into some of the deepest secrets of the heart of God. It is here in this scene of sin and sorrow that we are learning Christ -the Christ we are to enjoy forever. Even in the glory we could not learn what we learn here on earth. But to learn the Man of Sorrows, we must learn sorrow which yet is lost in the infinite joy of being made like Him, and linked with Him, and in Him learning that which is to be our possession forever.
From Marah now, too, we reach Elim, and here is divine and abundant refreshment for a thirsty people. When we are conformed to God’s conditions we find that the water is not always and merely water that must be sweetened for us. There is water which is in itself sweet, -pure, unalloyed satisfaction and joy, which has no sorrow in it.
The twelve springs answering to the twelve tribes, seem to point to a provision for those under the manifest government of God -an obedient people. We must have been at Marah to find Elim. The sweet water must be tasted after the bitter. When we have stooped to drink the bitter water we shall have the sweet.
Elim means "trees," implying strong trees, clearly referring to the growth nourished by its flowing springs. The living water of the Spirit nourishes the "trees of the Lord," which "are full of sap" and the palm-tree is the figure of the righteous, -upright, and every way profitable, -bringing forth fruit still in old age (Psa 92:12; Psa 92:14) perennial as the streams that nourish them.
2. And now we come to the manna, -the bread with which God sustains His people in the wilderness. Here we cannot be at a loss for the interpretation. Christ is the true bread from heaven, given of the Father, the food of His people, -the meat which, though we find it in the wilderness of this world, nevertheless endures unto eternal life. It is Christ in His humiliation "coming down from heaven," but which will be the sustenance of the soul in heaven itself. The story is told in eight subsections, which carry us on, therefore, to the land of promise.
(1) It is in the wilderness of Sin where the manna falls for the first time, and the numerical stamp seems to emphasize its meaning. "Sin" is connected with seneh, a "thorn-bush," the word used for that in which God revealed Himself to Moses. We are familiar already with the thorn as the sign of the ground cursed for man’s sake, and we must not surely forget it here. Yet here both the numerical place and the lesson of the whole chapter seem to insist upon another character of a "wilderness of thorn." Of Palestine in its present state Tristram says, "The combined heat and dryness of the climate seem to develop a tendency to form thorns, even in groups like the astragalus, where we should least expect them. All plants become more spiny in rocky and parched situations, the expansive effort which under moister conditions would develop a bough with leaf or blossom being arrested, and forming merely a barren thorn or spine. "No picture could be more striking than this: the sun smiting, the genial heavenly influence become a scorching heat, water -the type of the Spirit -withheld, the barren soil with its vegetation running into weapons of offense: such is the world as the place of need into which the Son of God came as Son of man.
(2) The people again break out into murmuring: an unhumbled spirit can take God’s grace as a thing of course, but resents whatever reminds it that God is not its debtor. How beautiful the grace that can meet this return for so mighty a deliverance with the assurance of new and continual mercy! Heaven will bestow what no labor of their own can get; giving, indeed, in such a way ("the day’s portion in its day") that dependence shall be maintained; for thus the blessing is more than doubled; and providing also that human activity shall be required in its place, for what is given them they must gather. On the sixth day the amount is twice as much as usual; for the sixth day is the day of discipline which is also the day of spiritual harvest.
(3) In the manna, Jehovah manifests Himself afresh as the Deliverer out of Egypt, and His glory appears in the cloud as they look toward the wilderness. There is little need to interpret this: it is by Christ we believe in God (1Pe 1:21); and it would be loss indeed to stop short of this. "I and my Father are one" leads into the innermost sanctuary of wonder and worship. There is no hidden God any more, save as in the light, -not darkness, -in which He dwells, there are, indeed, inaccessible depths of glory (1Ti 6:16). This is only to say that the God who is perfectly revealed is of course God.
(4) Now we are made to see what the manna is like. A flight of quails precedes it in the evening, which furnish the people with the flesh that had been promised them. And as we know abundantly what this death as the food of life means, we can have no difficulty as to it here. The Lord Himself, in His sermon on this text of manna (Joh 6:1-71), assures us that we must not only eat His flesh, but drink His blood, or we have no life in us. His person and His work are both necessary to us; and in fact His sacrifice must precede, as in the blood-sprinkled house alone they could feed on the lamb. So the quails come first, and in the evening. In the morning, the dew exhales and leaves the manna, as the Spirit of God ministers Christ.
It is upon the ground, so that they must stoop to gather it, -on the face of the wilderness, -something fine, as if pounded to pieces, -fine as the hoar-frost on the ground. This is as the people see it, who have not yet tasted it, and know not what it is. It evidently does not look much, -has upon it marks as if of rough usage; it reminds us of the prophet’s words, "No beauty in Him that we should desire Him." "What is it?" they say; for they wist not what it was. "The world knew Him not."
There is a natural manna which on account of its likeness to this has been used to discredit the miracle. But it is not properly a food, but a drug, -an exudation from a tree that an insect has pierced, wholly impossible to confound, one would say, with the divine gift: yet men do often confound it. And there are multitudes who confound Christ with common men: but who else could say and prove it, "He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me"?
(5) As to the gathering of the manna, we have a striking and solemn thing. Every man, it was found, gathered according to his eating. There was no lack for any: each got what he wanted, and not more than he wanted. Does not Christ meet the need we really have of Him? He does: but how much, then, is that need with each of us?
(6) The manna was not to be hoarded, but gathered (with one exception) morning by morning, and eaten on the day it fell. Hoarded, it bred worms, and stank. So must a living faith draw continually for continual need. We cannot live to-day upon yesterday’s enjoyment! Our past experiences will in this case only turn into corruption: they will feed pride; they will be knowledge that puffs up.
(7) And now, along with the manna, the Sabbath appears. In the double measure of the sixth day, it is provided for before it is enjoined: they rest not as mere duty, but as privilege; and in the gospels we find this rest connected in the most striking way with the reception of the Lord Himself. He is Lord of the Sabbath. They could not reject Him and have a Sabbath. With Christ known and fed upon, rest follows necessarily; found as we realize a love which has stooped so low as to give us the joy of companionship with Himself, and to bring us near, in Himself, to God. Away from God, Cainlike, we are but fugitives and vagabonds upon the earth. Nor can circumstances make peace for us; nay, while He says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation," He adds directly, "but in Me ye shall have peace."
In connection with this, we find for the first time what the manna is really like, for those who had tasted it. "It was like coriander-seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafer-cakes with honey." It was white -absolute purity, and more: of the color which speaks of the reflection of the full ray of light, and God is light. Its taste was like honey. Honey is the type of natural sweetness, able to yield refreshment if tasted by the way, as with Jonathan in the wood, but needing the wise man’s caution in its use (Pro 25:16), and unfit for the fire which tries the offering of the Lord. But the manna only resembles honey in its sweetness: it can abide the fire; and the fire prepares it for the people’s food. In Christ is all the sweetness of human affection, -of a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother; but a nature pure, unfallen, incorruptible: the reality of manhood which invites us to intimacy, yet upon which God can put the seal of His Spirit in perfect approbation of it all.
(7) Thus of necessity this food "endureth to eternal life," as Christ Himself has told us. The enjoyment of it is not for the present only. And so the manna, though it could not be kept for one day’s need in the wilderness, could be kept for the land. The golden pot speaks of how God is glorified in what is here made ours, and perhaps of that glorified One Himself who retains forever the memory of the past, and the gracious heart of the Son of Man also. And we shall not only "see," as Israel might, but "eat" of the "hidden manna" (Rev 2:17), in the heavenly land to which He is bringing us. It is then in fact, when we come to be there, that we shall have the full enjoyment, -knowing as we are known, -of all the experiences which though they be of the wilderness, yet wait for the land to which we are hastening to find their full interpretation and blessing. The meat endures to everlasting life. We are now enjoying that which we shall enjoy for eternity. We feed on that which shall he eternally our food.
3. We have now a familiar type of the Spirit -the living water from the smitten rock; and, as an appendix to it, a necessary one, but still only that, in Amalek, the picture of the fleshly lusts which, in opposition to the Spirit, war against the soul. The numerical structure is here peculiarly significant: for the number of the section, while it is plainly that of the Spirit, says nothing of the strife that follows; nor could it come in very well as a fourth section, which the first part of the eighteenth chapter, moreover, plainly is. On the other hand, the number characterizes it exactly, if coming in as an appendix merely to the third section, unnoticed in the designation of the section itself, and yet finding its prepared place in connection with it. How clearly the spiritual meaning reigns in all this! and how it is brought out by the very arrangement! What connection has the conflict with Amalek with the water from the rock, other than a spiritual one? It comes in the historical order, no doubt. Yes, because "all these things happened unto them for types." The connection is spiritual, it is grounded on this, that if we have the Spirit, "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit." And yet this is but incidental, not to be put upon a level with the glorious reality of the gift of the Holy Ghost itself, which is permanent and eternal blessing. Moreover, as the meaning of all this subdivision is to show the divine furnishing in grace for the wilderness, the struggle with Amalek necessarily could only have a subordinate place.
(1) "Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure," says the prophet of salvation. We have seen how the first part of this was fulfilled to delivered Israel; we are now to see the fulfillment of the rest. Again, as sent in answer to the murmuring of the people, the stamp of divine grace is upon the gift. Grace is a mightier triumph over sin than judgment. If the sixth chapter of John’s gospel interprets the manna for us, the seventh chapter interprets here. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, ’If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
Thus, if the manna shows forth the Lord upon earth in humiliation and rejection, the living water as a gift depends upon His exaltation and glory. If men are to be the recipients of the Holy Ghost, the work must be accomplished for them which alone can enable them to receive or God to give this unspeakable gift. In view of this, the scene in Exodus becomes easy enough to interpret. Horeb is "the dry place," but it now yields water. Against nature, "contrary to nature," is the Lord’s working; and the Lord -it is specially noted -is Himself there. He stands upon the rock which is to display at once His power and His grace. The rod which had smitten the river smites it, -the rod of power in behalf of the people; and the streams gush out, an abundant supply for all the thirsty multitude. The smiting of the Rock for us has created a spring of refreshment and satisfaction as inexhaustible as the eternal source from which it comes; and its source is in God Himself -in the love of Him whose name is Love.
The type of water is pregnant with instruction, as it is that which supplies one of man’s deepest cravings and strongest necessities. Thirst unsatisfied kills sooner far than hunger, nor can hunger itself be really satisfied where thirst is not, at least in measure, really met. A glance at the need to which water ministers will enable us to understand this.
The soil otherwise most fruitful, without water, is unable to yield nourishment to the rootlets of the plant, which will die of drought in the midst of abundance. Water alone dissolves the nutriment, and supplies it in a shape suited to be taken up and assimilated into sap and juice. In the plant, and in the animal body, every constituent part is saturated with water, which alone enables it to fulfill its function and take its place in living relation to the whole. How perfect and beautiful an expression of that constant ministry of the Spirit with which for due and healthy life we must be "filled," and by which alone we are enabled to absorb and digest all spiritual food!
Every one who has preceded us upon the path of faith has been sustained of the Spirit, as born of the Spirit at first. This is not, of course, peculiar to Christian times. But the streams from the smitten Rock have in them that which is peculiar. All streams carry with them the witness of the soil through which they flow, -of the fountain-head in which they originate. The Spirit of God, come down to us as the fruit of accomplished redemption and of Christ’s accepted work, is to our hearts the witness of our acceptance and the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, Abba, Father. A new and settled relationship to God, in and through His Beloved, such as before could not have been known or dreamt of is now made consciously our own.
At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." Thus the Spirit ministers Christ, and with Him the knowledge of the Father; communion with the Father and the Son becomes our portion, and herein fullness of joy.
(2) The appendix to this has how different a tale to tell! Amalek is the grandson of profane Esau, whose name Edom, earned by his actions, is almost identical with Adam. Amalek’s own name has no determined significance. It has been thought to be composed of am and laq, and thus to mean "a people that licks up," or "exhausts." This would be appropriate enough, but Scripture points rather to a derivation from Amal and laq, which would give us the thought of "labor that exhausts." The first of these words is found in Balaam’s blessing of the people the second time, as Amalek appears in the third and fourth. "He hath not seen
perverseness in Israel is literally, "He hath not seen amal," -the wearisome labor which one’s own will involves; that "labor" from which the Lord calls men off to the "rest" of His easy yoke. Amal is thus connected with the will or lust of the flesh, and Amalek may well be the offspring of the old man, Edom. Amalek appears plainly in the third blessing: "His king shall be higher than Agag" -king of the Amalekites. And in the fourth, where the star rises out of Jacob -where Christ’s coming is seen, -then it is that Amalek perishes forever.
Put these together, and they read consistently enough as typical of the old nature and its fruits. The first thing for blessing is, "God hath not seen it"-it is not imputed. Next, Christ, Israel’s king, is strong above Agag: we are delivered from its actual supremacy. Thirdly, when Christ comes, Amalek perishes forever.
Again, if we compare the present chapter with the twentieth of Numbers, we shall find a strikingly similar scene in the first part of each: -the murmuring of the people in their thirst, the name "Meribah" given in each case to the place, the water brought from the rock to supply their thirst; and while here the conflict with Amalek follows, in Numbers follows correspondingly a scene with Edom.
Amalek thus seems to represent the flesh’s will or lust, and the apostle Peter may well refer to this very place when he speaks of "fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."
"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye should not do the things that ye would." (Gal 5:17.) It is not "cannot" do, as in the common version: the tendency of the constant opposition between "flesh" and "Spirit," essential in their very natures, is, to hinder the man who has the Spirit from doing what he would. If it said "cannot," this would deny the power of the Spirit to control the flesh. On the contrary, the apostle says, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." But the flesh is there as this implies, and ready ever to assert itself. How solemn to find, in this way, after the water from the rock, the conflict with Amalek!
Yet though it is all right, and needful to assert in this connection, we must mark just how Scripture connects this attack of the foe. "He called the name of the place ’Massah’ and ’Meribah, ’ on account of the striving of the children of Israel, and on account of their tempting Jehovah, saying, ’Is Jehovah in the midst of us, or not?’ Then came Amalek." That is, the moral link, as given thus, seems to be, not between the gift of the water and Amalek’s onset, but between the unbelief of the people and this attack.
Another thing which is very evident, let us at the same time particularly note: that Amalek assaults Israel, not Israel Amalek. God did not call to this conflict. He did not say, Seek out and destroy Amalek; it is Amalek seeks out Israel; and Israel’s unbelief exposes them to the attack.
And so the apostle: he does not say, "Fight against fleshly lusts," but "abstain," "hold off from," them, -which if it were done, no war were possible. This sort of conflict is not a necessity of God’s imposing, but the result of faith not having been in due exercise. Did we "hold off from" the lusts of the flesh by the whole length of being dead with Christ to sin, -were we always reckoning ourselves dead, as we are entitled and bound to do, conflict of this kind would be impossible: dead men no more fight than they are allured. And this is no undue insisting upon the Scripture term; for the apostle similarly presses the force of it, where he urges "for he that is dead is freed (or rather, justified) from sin." (Rom 6:7.) That is, you cannot charge lusts, for instance, on a dead man: he has none. This, of course, is only faith’s reckoning; but it is true, or it could not be faith’s, and just as simple for the argument here as in the very similar one that the apostle urges. He who, because Christ died to sin for him once, reckons himself dead, cannot be seduced, nor even fight with seduction. But are we always practically in the faith of this? Would that we were! But when we are not, we are shorn Samsons, most accessible, and without strength.
Conflict of this kind, then, comes from faith’s failure; and when entangled -if our eyes have been upon the world, and have affected our hearts, then we must indeed fight in order to be free.
Note, then, that in the field Joshua is the leader. Joshua is Jesus: the names are the same, and Christ acting by the Spirit is distinctly what he represents to us, -the Captain of our salvation, who leads us into practical apprehension of the heavenly places into which He is gone. We want, as this means, the positive enjoyment of what is ours in the heavenlies, in order to be free from entanglement, and really pilgrims and strangers on the earth.
But even Joshua’s success is dependent, as we see directly, upon Moses being on the hill-top before God, and the holding up of the rod of power before Him. If Moses’ hands are up, Israel prevails; but if Moses’ hands are down, Amalek prevails. Moses is here another type of Christ, but as gone in to God, presenting before Him the value of that work in which, on the part of His people, divine power has acted. And the supporters of Moses’ hands figure, surely, that in Him (not, of course, external to Him,) which keeps Him, so to speak, in the place He has taken for us. On the one hand, Aaron seems to represent His priestly character, as touched with the feeling of our infirmities, gracious and compassionate; on the other, Hur, "white," speaks as the manna did, of One who fully reflects the light which God is. Here, then, is mercy toward man, righteousness toward God, -an "Advocate with the Father;" and also "Jesus Christ the righteous."
Real dependence on the one hand, thorough subjection to the word of God on the other -for it is by the edge of the sword that Joshua discomfits their enemies, -these things, with one who knows redemption and acceptance in the Beloved, are what will carry him safe and victorious through all opposition and hindrances. But though Amalek is beaten off, Amalek is not destroyed. Israel has gained nothing by the conflict; and by the victory, only a free and unobstructed road. The battle with Amalek was but an episode in their history, not, as so many find the inward struggle, a daily experience. In the epistle to the Philippians, -the rehearsal of Christian experience, -the flesh is only mentioned to say we have no confidence in it: and these are "the true circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." May we be more fully such!
4. The deliverance is complete: the grace which begins perfects the work. Nothing more is needed as to this. But the effect of the work is yet to be seen, for God’s way is ever to make the blessing of one the means of blessing to others also. Thus it will be when the final salvation of Israel is accomplished, it will be to the world, says the apostle, "as life from the dead." (Rom 11:15.)
In the present time, God is making the recipients of His salvation a testimony by which He works on others, -a thing that needs no insisting on, and which we find illustrated in the case of Jethro in a way so clear that it may be left to speak for itself.
5. The fifth and last section has more difficulty, and yet there need not be much doubt as to the general meaning. According to the number we have before us, as it would seem, those governmental ways of God, by which the "way" leads to the "end," an end which is its righteous (while it may be gracious) recompense. In the history, we find Moses acting under the counsel of his father-in-law, sharing with chosen men of ability in Israel the service of rule over the people. It can scarcely fail to connect itself in our thoughts with that of which it may well be typical, -the day on which Christ (of whom all through Moses speaks to us) shall give according to the will of His Father (Mat 20:23) His people to share His throne as Son of Man (Rev 3:21). This is surely a fitting and beautiful close of this series of types, which has given us thus in wonderful completeness and reality the history of redemption. Grace ends not with us till the reward of grace is given, and it shines at last in glory. Beyond this these types could not go, and a new series must begin with that which follows.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv2, 13, 17, 23
Exodus
‘MY STRENGTH AND SONG’
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Exo 15:2.
These words occur three times in the Bible: here, in Isa 12:2, and in Psa 18:14.
I. The lessons from the various instances of their occurrence. The first and second teach that the Mosaic deliverance is a picture-prophecy of the redemption in Christ. The third {Psa 18:14}, long after, and the utterance of some private person, teaches that each age and each soul has the same mighty Hand working for it. ‘As we have heard, so have we seen.’
II. The lessons from the words themselves.
{a} True faith appropriates God’s universal mercy as a personal possession. ‘My Lord and my God!’ ‘He loved me, and gave Himself for me.’
{b} Each single act of mercy should reveal God more clearly as ‘My strength.’ The ‘and’ in the second clause is substantially equivalent to ‘for.’ It assigns the reason for the assurance expressed in the first. Because of the experienced deliverance and God’s manifestation of Himself in it as the author of ‘salvation,’ my faith wins happy increase of confidence that He ‘is the strength of my heart.’ Blessed they who bring that treasure out of all the sorrows of life!
{c} The end of His deliverances is ‘praise.’ ‘He is my song.’ This is true for earth and for heaven. The ‘Song of Moses and the Lamb.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Song of Moses
The Song of Moses
On the further shore of the Red Sea the Israelites celebrate their deliverance in a magnificent hymn of praise. It consists of three strophes or stanzas of increasing length, viz. Exo_15:2-5, Exo_15:6-10, Exo_15:11-18. The first v. is introductory and may have been repeated as a chorus after each stanza: see on Exo_15:21. On the structure of Hebrew poetry see Introduction to the Psalms. In language and style the song bears many marks of high antiquity. There can be little objection to attributing the first two stanzas at least to Moses. The third presupposes the conquest and settlement in Canaan: see on Exo_15:13-19. The original song may have been modified and expanded at a later date, with a view to being used as a festal song at the Passover when the deliverance from Egypt was celebrated.
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1. The Lord] Jehovah—so throughout the song, in which the might of Israel's God is contrasted with the powerlessness of the Egyptian idols: see e.g. Exo_15:3, Exo_15:6-7, Exo_15:11.
2. I will prepare him an habitation] RV 'praise him.'
8. Blast of thy nostrils] referring to the east wind (Exo_14:21). The whole v. is figurative and highly poetical.
10. See on Exo_14:27.
11. The gods] see on Exo_15:1, and on Exo_7:4, Exo_7:5. At this period the gods of other nations might be conceived as real beings, though infinitely inferior to Jehovah. Gradually, however, the Hebrews rose to the truth of one God, the so-called gods of the nations being nonentities: see on Exo_20:3; Exo_32:1, and Psa_96:5; Psa_115:4.; Isa_41:29.
12. The earth] a general term including the sea.
13. Thy holy habitation] The land of Canaan is meant, or perhaps more particularly Mt. Moriah, where the Temple was erected. This is an indication that the Song assumed its present form after the occupation of Canaan.
14. The people] heathen nations dwelling in the wilderness and in Canaan. Palestina] properly the land of the Philistines. The name was afterwards extended to the whole land of Canaan.
15. Dukes] leaders, princes, rulers.
16. Purchased] Jehovah's proprietorship in them was secured by redemption. Hence His claim upon their gratitude and obedience: cp. e.g. Deu_4:34-40 and the ground on which the Ten Commandments are based, Exo_20:2, where see note: cp. also 2Co_5:14-15; 1Pe_1:18, 1Pe_1:19.
17. Mountain of thine inheritance] The highlands of Canaan: cp. Jer_2:7. In the place in the Sanctuary] The fixed abode of the ark is meant here, perhaps Shiloh its first resting-place: see Jos_18:1.
19. This v. is a later addition indicating the occasion on which the Song was composed. Its insertion here suggests that the Song had a separate existence prior to its incorporation in the book of Exodus. It is unnecessary where it now stands.
20. Miriam the prophetess] the sister of Moses: see on Exo_2:1. As Aaron was the elder of the two brothers, she is here described as his sister. On the meaning of the term 'prophet' see on Exo_7:1; Num_11:25. Timbrel] i.e. tambourine, still used by Eastern women to accompany their singing and dancing.
21. Answered them] The pronoun is masculine. Miriam and the women sang the refrain to the stanzas sung by the men. With these triumphal strains the first part of the book of Exodus closes.
Part 2.
(Exo_15:22 to Exo_18:27) March from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai
Leaving the shore of the Red Sea, the Israelites enter the peninsula of Sinai, the triangular area lying between the two northern arms of the Red Sea. The centre of the peninsula is a vast limestone plateau of an average elevation of 2,000 ft. above the sea level. It is almost waterless, and bare of vegetation save in the 'wadies,' or watercourses, at certain seasons. To the south the point of the peninsula is occupied by the exceedingly rugged mountain district of Sinai. To the north stretches the wilderness of Paran, lying between the peninsula and the southern part of Canaan, and having on its western side the wilderness of Shur, and on its eastern the wilderness of Sin. The peninsula of Sinai was inhabited from very early times by various wandering tribes. During their sojourn there, the Israelites fell in with the Amalekites and the Kenites. The Egyptians are known to have worked copper mines in certain districts, and to have maintained fortresses for the protection of the miners. Recent travellers assert that the present barrenness of the peninsula is due largely to neglect, and that there are evidences of its having at one time supported a considerable population. This fact has an important bearing on the credibility of the Scripture narrative, according to which the Israelites spent some forty years in the peninsula. See intro. to Numbers 1.
22. Wilderness of Shur] Between the coast of the Gulf of Suez and the high central table-land is a strip of level country. The northern half is part of the wilderness of Shur. The southern part is called the wilderness of Sin in Exo_16:1. The Israelites march southwards along this narrow maritime plain.
23. Marah] lit. 'bitterness': cp. Rth_1:20. This station is by some identified with Ain Suweirah, 30 m. S. of the present head of the Gulf of Suez. The bitterness of the springs in this district is attested by all travellers. It is caused by the abundance of natron in the soil.
25. The Lord shewed him a tree] There are certain plants whose bark and leaves are employed to sweeten bitter water. Lesseps mentions a kind of thorn found in the desert possessing anti-saline properties. Here, as in the case of the Plagues in Egypt, the miracle was effected by means of a natural agent. The miracle consisted in God's directing Moses at this particular juncture to the use of the right means. The tree would not have been employed had it not possessed the property required. He made for them a statute] The subject is most probably God, not Moses. God used this occasion to teach the people that such troubles as the present were intended to 'prove' them, i.e. to test their loyalty to Him, and that if they stood the test He would protect and provide for them.
26. That healeth thee] lit. 'thy physician.' The term is employed with reference to the 'healing' of the noxious waters: cp. Psa_103:8; Psa_107:19, Psa_107:20.
27. Elim] The word means 'trees.' Elim is probably the modern Wady Ghurundel, 'where there is a good deal of vegetation, especially stunted palms, acacias, and tamarisks, and a number of water-holes in the sand.' The minuteness of the description in this v. suggests the testimony of an eye-witness. There would be no occasion for it in a fictitious narrative.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 13, 25 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
feared
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On vv1, 22 7. The Song of Redemption
7. The Song of Redemption
CHAPTER 15:1-21
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1. Jehovah acknowledged and praised (Exo 15:1-2)
2. The victory celebrated as His victory (Exo 15:3-10)
3. His holiness praised (Exo 15:11-13)
4. His enemies tremble (Exo 15:14-16)
5. Thou shalt bring them in (Exo 15:17-18)
6. The judgment and salvation (Exo 15:19)
7. The women’s chorus (Exo 15:20-21)
This is a great chapter. It is the first song in the Bible. In Egypt was no singing for Israel but only weeping and groaning. Nor did they sing in Babylon (Psa 137:2-4). There is to be a future song for Israel in connection with their coming great deliverance (Isaiah 12). Moses sang this song. It is his first song; his last song is that great prophetic outburst recorded by him in Deut. 32. The song of Moses, the servant of God, is mentioned in Rev 15:3. This whole song breathes the spirit of praise and worship. The destructive criticism has not left this song unchallenged. They object to it on account of the prophetic utterance in verses 17 and 18, as if this were impossible to say at that time, thus ruling out the inspiration by the Holy Spirit. A closer study of this song will be very profitable. Note the expression “Jehovah is a man of war.” This foreshadows His incarnation and His coming as the mighty King, who conquers his enemies (Psa 45:3; Psa 46:8-9; Isa 63:1-7, Rev 19:11). The whole song is prophetic. What Jehovah has done in the judgment of His enemies and the complete deliverance of His people that He will do again. It is interesting to compare this outburst of praise in which Miriam* (Mary) and the women joined with the song of praise of Hannah (1Sa 2:1-10), the praise of the mother of our Lord, Mary, in Luk 1:46-55, and Zechariah’s words in Luk 1:68-79. The whole atmosphere of Exo 15:1-21 is that of praise and adoration, joy and victory; such is yet in store for the earth and for Israel , when that goal is reached, of which Exo 15:18 speaks, “Jehovah shall reign forever and ever. (* Miriam is significantly called “Aaron’s sister,” not Moses’. She could not rank with Moses. Leadership did not belong to her. She was subordinate to Moses, as Aaron was.)
Exodus 12 foreshadows our deliverance from the guilt of sins (Romans 1-5:11). Chapter 13 teaches God’s claim on those He has delivered, which is separation unto Himself Chapter 14 tells in type of our deliverance from the power of sin. The song of redemption contained in chapter 15 points us to the beautiful ending of Romans 8, the song which every delivered believer can sing (Rom 8:31-39).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 9, 19, 22 The Song of Triumph
The Song of Triumph
v. 1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for deliverance from their mighty enemies, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously, He has set forth His great majesty; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea, all the host in which Pharaoh placed his trust was overcome and destroyed in a few moments by the almighty power of God.
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v. 2. The Lord is my Strength and Song, the great might of Jehovah, or Jah, as the poet here abbreviates the name, is the inspiration of his song, and He is become my Salvation; to those that are His, He has granted deliverance from the dangers that threatened them. He is my God, emphatically: such a one is my God, for the true God is elevated and magnified beyond all idols; and I will prepare Him an habitation, I will glorify and praise Him highly; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. What God had promised to the patriarchs, especially Abraham, regarding deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, had now been fulfilled, for the overthrow of Pharaoh’s host marked the beginning of Israel’s existence as a free people.
v. 3. The Lord is a man of war, able to wage war successfully and to subdue all enemies; the Lord, Jehovah, is His name.
v. 4. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea; his chosen captains, the choice of his officers, also are drowned in the Red Sea, being submerged in the water.
v. 5. The depths have covered them, the great masses of water, part of the mighty ocean; they sank into the bottom as a stone, without a chance of being saved. That is the first verse of this great hymn. —
v. 6. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power, has glorified itself in strength; Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy, utterly annihilated them.
v. 7. And in the greatness of Thine excellency, of Thy majesty, Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee, destroyed Thine adversaries; Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. The breath of God’s glowing anger, which ate the opponents like straw, may have reference to the look of wrath which struck terror to the hearts of the Egyptians.
v. 8. And with the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, for thus Moses regarded the strong east wind which the Lord sent, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea; for the walls of water stood up like frozen masses on either side as the Israelites marched through the sea.
v. 9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them, my soul will get its fill of them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. The short sentences, hardly more than exclamations, vividly paint the certainty of victory which possessed the hearts of the Egyptians as they went forth in the overweening pride of confidence.
v. 10. Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters, they sank from view like a plummet, and the rushing billows of the great sea bore witness to the glory of the Creator. Thus the second stanza of the hymn is concluded. —
v. 11. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods, among all those to whom men apply the name gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Jehovah, who performed such great miracles, which men could contemplate. only with fear and trembling, had thereby given the guarantee that He would carry the deliverance of His people to a successful issue.
v. 12. Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. The miracles which the Lord had performed in Egypt and upon the host of the Egyptians showed that a similar fate awaits all the enemies of the Lord, that no man can stand before Him as His opponent.
v. 13. Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed. The deliverance out of Egypt was a proof of the fact that Israel was the Lord’s people, the people of His redemption, but also that this miracle was due to His mercy alone, and not to any worthiness in them. Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation. The past experience was a pledge of further mercies, and the prophet even now sees the people established in their inheritance, where the Lord would live in their midst in the beauty of His holiness.
v. 14. The people shall hear and be afraid, be filled with restlessness and distress; that was even now the effect which the report of the mighty deliverance had upon the heathen nations; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina, they would tremble with mournful fear.
v. 15. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed, will lose heart and courage; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them, take a firm grip upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away in dread and terror.
v. 16. Fear and dread shall fall upon them, a horror which would render them helpless; by the greatness of Thine arm they shall be as still as a stone, mute, unable to utter a word, to raise a single objection; till Thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over which Thou hast purchased. The final entry into the Land of Promise was assured and could not be hindered by any attempts of their enemies to render it futile. By His mighty deeds God had purchased this people for Himself, and He intended to hold His property against all adversaries.
v. 17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. In the eyes of the prophet all these things were even now accomplished; he saw his people living in Canaan, in the place which the Lord had chosen for them; he saw the Temple of. the Lord erected in the midst of His people, as a place of worship to His holiness and mercy.
v. 18. The Lord shall reign forever and ever. The singer here rises to the greatest heights of exultation and looks even beyond the temporal kingdom of Israel in the Land of Promise, to the eternal reign of the Messiah.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27 General Information:
General Information:
This is a song about the events that happened in Exodus 14:26-28.
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he has triumphed gloriously
It can be stated explicitly over whom Yahweh triumphed. AT: "he has achieved a glorious victory over the army of Egypt" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea
Moses sang about God causing the sea to cover and drown the horse and rider as if God had thrown them into the sea. AT: "he has made the sea cover over the horse and rider" or "he has made the horse and rider drown in the sea" (See: Metaphor)
the horse and its rider
This refers to all or many of the Egyptian horses and riders that were chasing the Israelites. AT: "the horses and their riders" (See: Generic Noun Phrases)
rider
This is a person who sits on a horse or travels in a chariot that a horse is pulling.
translationWords
Moses
Israel
glory
horse
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 15:1-18 Scholars believe this song of rescue to be…
15:1-18 Scholars believe this song of rescue to be one of the oldest preserved examples of the Hebrew language, attesting to its importance in Israel’s thought and faith. It is divided into three stanzas: 15:1-5, 6-12, 13-18. The first stanza rejoices in the Lord’s personal rescue of Moses and his people (note the recurrence of the first-person pronouns). The second exults in the great contrast between the Lord and the Egyptians. The third stanza reflects on what these events would mean for the future.
15:1-5 God’s salvation and rescue had implications for personal faith.
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15:1 Moses and the people: In this triumphant moment there was no division between them; they sang as one. • I will sing: The highly personal declarations of the first two verses emphasize the personal nature of God’s relation to humans. He is not an impersonal force, but relates to us as one person relates to another. The songs of thanks and hymns of praise in the Bible characteristically give the reason for the thanks or praise early in the piece (see Ps 95:1-3; 96:1-4). The reason for the song is that the Lord . . . has triumphed gloriously. The community’s faith in God through the dark night had been dramatically vindicated.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.