In a way, the final victory over Pharaoh was not the Passover. Yes, that’s what got him to relent and say the people could go - but as we’re going to see this time - Pharaoh once again changes his mind and goes out after the children of Israel. But what we’re going to see also is God purposefully placing His people in the line of fire so that He can totally destroy the forces of Pharaoh - there are lessons here for us in living our lives in obedience to God.
But first - God stakes His claim over the firstborn. Remember how Pharaoh had wanted all males killed among the Hebrews - God retaliated by killing every firstborn among the Egyptians - sparing the Israelites who applied the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and lintels of their houses.
Even though God "passed over" them - He now claims ownership of them. Just as when death "passes over" us when we apply the blood of Jesus to our lives - God owns us as well. Right now the children of Israel are in Succoth, just a little southeast of Rameses - just outside of, but very close to Egypt.
Chapter 13
Verses 1 - 2
We’ll find out later in the chapter that the Lord exempted females from this - so it is the firstborn male of animal and human that are "set apart" - which is what consecrate means. God takes ownership - "it is mine."
So now Moses gives the people instruction about a festival marking this day of escape - in conjunction with the consecration of the first born.
Verses 3 - 7
Do you remember the day God brought you out of the land of slavery to sin? I don’t remember the exact day, but it was in September of 1976 when I knelt by my bed and gave my heart to Jesus Christ. While it’s not important whether or not you know the exact day - it is important to remember that it did happen - it was an important point in time. Sometimes the trials of life can make our salvation seem far away and a long time ago - did it really happen at all? Remember it - it happened.
God also wants them to remember and celebrate because He is not going to repeat it - just as He is not going to repeat the cross - He did it, and now we have His Word on it. When we think we haven’t heard from God in a while we need to remember what He has already done for us.
For the Israelites they were to remember the day by not eating any leavened bread for 7 days - in fact to go around the find all the leaven in their houses and do away with it. The reminder is that they didn’t have time to raise their bread they left so fast.
Notice that God is already talking about "when" I bring you into the land - a land promised to you but inhabited by all these "ites." This becomes important as their journey progresses and they come to the edge of the land and get cold feet. They are to remember that God promised they would go in.
Verses 8 - 10
Passing on the faith is always very important. God has no grandchildren and every one must make a decision of whether to trust God or not on their own. But if they are not told, how can they make a decision - if they don’t see faith modeled by their parents and relatives, how will they see the importance of it?
We used to go on road trips when my family was younger. We’d get in the car and drive for many hours. I’ve always had this thing for geography, so as we’d go along I’d try to guess what this or that landmark or mountain was. I didn’t really think much about it until recently.
My daughter was driving back with a friend from California. She called and left a message - what she wanted to know was which mountain she happened to be driving by at the time. We talked about it for a while and realized it was Mount Shasta - a large volcano in Northern California. Without me even knowing it, she had picked up on this same interest in geography.
Is your faith and walk with the Lord something that interests you so much that you talk about it with your kids and relatives and friends? It doesn’t have to be a sit down lecture - but it is so much a part of you that it comes out of your pores. It’s amazing how much this will be picked up by others.
This is really what’s meant by "a sign on your hand, and as a memorial between your eyes." It’s not that they were to make a little box and hang it from their forehead - or strap it to their hand - but what the Lord did for them should influence everything they do, and be "top of mind" and "at the tip of their tongue."
Verses 11 - 12
Again - he "shall" give it to you. Here God clarifies that He is talking about the firstborn males. They belong to the Lord - He can do with them as He pleases. We’ll see in a second that means they are to be put to death unless "redeemed" or purchased back.
Verses 13 - 16
Later on the price for redemption of a human first born male was set at 5 shekels (Numbers 18:16). The donkey was unclean so they couldn’t sacrifice it - so they used a lamb instead. If someone refused to sacrifice the lamb, then the donkey’s neck would be broken.
Notice how many times he says "with a strong hand." The Hebrew root of this word is: khaw-zak’ which means "to fasten on to" "to bind."
When God saves someone - it isn’t half heartedly - it isn’t half way. And our God never lets go.
John 10:28-29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ESV
So now we return to the narrative and see that the escape from Egypt is not yet complete.
Verses 17 - 18
You don’t get this from just reading it - but God actually led Israel into a trap. Had they gone the "normal" route - they would have headed east from Succoth towards Gaza. Instead God had them go due north - to a place where they would be hemmed in on all sides. They were going totally the wrong direction from where logic or military planning would say to go.
God says He did it because of fear that His people would see war too quickly and turn back. Well, they wanted to turn back anyway - but God had some things to tell and teach His people first. The route up through Gaza was heavily fortified by the way.
As I’ve said - Exodus is a book of rescues and re-introductions. God has rescued his people once - He’s about to do it again - but then He is going to introduce Himself more fully to them - they need to know Him more so they can make a choice as to whether to serve Him - and just what belonging to God really means. He has preparation to do. Just as with us, God prepares us for things we must face - looking back on my life I could never have faced the challenges I face now, had God not properly prepared me. Now you might say "I feel totally inadequate to face what I’m facing now" - well, so do I - but God is the one doing the preparing, not I.
It says that they were "equipped for battle." Yet God wanted to avoid war. Just because we think we are ready doesn’t mean we are in God’s eyes. We may not be ready, but we are always prepared for when God says "now!"
Verse 19
Moses made good on the promise made to Joseph in Genesis 50.
Verses 20 - 22
So they go to Etham, which was a junction - if they went east they’d go towards Gaza. God is going to have them turn back in a second - but notice that’s happening here - this is the first we hear of this pillar of cloud or smoke by day, and fire by night - probably the same cloud, but you could see fire at night.
What is this? We’ll hear a lot about this pillar in the chapters to come - but I believe it is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ giving the light and direction on their journey. (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-4)
Now comes the final victory over Pharaoh and the final rescue of Israel.
Chapter 14
Verses 1 - 4
Now let me get this straight - the Lord wants us to turn away from the escape route and get ourselves penned in with mountains and sea on all sides because Pharaoh is going to come after us and - that’s a good thing, why?
I think it’s pretty amazing that the people didn’t revolt right then - but just wait, they will.
Verses 5 - 9
"What was I thinking?" Pharaoh asks. It was almost like they were in a trance or something and woke up and realized what they had done. God, of course, will do anything He wants - even to making Pharaoh do and say stuff and not even realize it.
But once he does he sends 600 special chariots and other chariots and horsemen. Chariots were like the tanks of today - they could wreak havoc as they sped around, running over people and the guy driving it using his sword. So this is no small threat - even though we’re talking about 2 million people.
The Children of Israel went out "defiantly" - they were not sneaking out, but walking out as a conquering army. We do not need to feel shamed when God frees us from the slavery of sin either.
Verses 10 - 12
The people lift up their human eyes and see the human armies approaching and react on human terms. Trapped + oncoming army = death. How often do we interpret our world based on our human eyes and perceptions?
They don’t yet realize how powerful a God they serve. You know - sometimes we forget what it was like in the world we came from - being slaves to sin - just as the Israelites were slaves to Pharaoh. Slavery can even seem safe in a way - you might not be happy, but at least you knew what to expect.
Serving God is not a safe thing. He calls you to get hemmed in on both sides with Pharaoh’s army approaching - and then sits back and waits for your reaction. Is He really planning to spend months bringing them out only to let them die now? Is God out of control in your life? No way. What He wants is for them to 1-trust Him and 2-show how great He really is.
Verses 13 - 15
What an awesome verse. "Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord." If only we would do the same thing. But we quake with fear at trials, and want to run as fast as we can - even blame God for getting us in the mess. What we don’t realize is that He purposefully brings us into trouble so that in the rescue we can learn to trust Him more - in preparation for the next greater battle.
The NIV renders verse 14: "Be still," where the ESV says "be quiet." These two translations come from different traditions. The problem comes in verse 15 where God tells the people to break camp and move - which causes a contradiction if you use "be still."
I think the idea conveyed is that as far as fighting the battle - it is God who will fight - not them.
Verses 16 - 18
So God reveals his plan. Moses couldn’t have come up with that on his own in a million years. God’s answers are not our answers. We pray for a solution - "God - here’s what I want You to do." And that’s okay - but we should always leave room for God to move in a way we never would have considered. He is very creative.
So watch how this plays out.
Verses 19 - 20
The angel and the pillar move between the Israelis and the Egyptians - forming a barrier. Verse 20 is actually pretty difficult to translate - so different translations try different things. Literally the Hebrew reads:
"…and the cloud was, and the darkness." Then "and it lit up the night."
The ESV comes closest to the original - and I think the point is that the cloud, whether dark or light on one side or the other - kept the two groups apart.
So it’s still night as they move through the sea.
Verses 21 - 23
We always picture this wall of water on one side and the other - like high rise buildings that they walked through. The text uses the word "wall" like a city wall. Here’s how it could have happened - by a strong wind. Wind can really move water if it’s strong enough. We know that wind is caused by low and high atmospheric pressure interacting, so God made a high pressure system in the middle of the sea and super low pressure on either side and the resulting wind moved the water out of the way. That’s my idea anyway - and it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Yes, it was a miracle - but God could have also just made the water disappear - but He has other plans with that water - a change in the weather pattern is coming.
This brings up a good point - God can work through ordinary ways to do extraordinary things. Just because something seems natural doesn’t mean God isn’t the one working it.
Verses 24 - 25
It would have taken them some time to walk 2 million people across the sea - so by morning they are all across.
Perhaps the cloud barrier lifted some or they could see through it or just decided they’d ride on through the fog knowing that the Israelites were on the other side.
I love this how God looked down messed with their chariots like little toy soldiers. Both KJ and NIV say the wheels came off. ESV says "clogged." The Hebrew actually reads "removing their chariot wheels." The ESV follows the Greek Septuagint. But that’s probably right in that the rest of verse 25 indicates that they could still move - but not very well.
They soon realized that Yahweh was not going to let them get away with this so they high tail it out of their. It’s not going to work.
In the heat of the pursuit Pharaoh makes a strategic error in following the Israelis into the dry seabed.
Verses 26 - 29
Literally it says that the Lord "shook off" the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.
Verses 30 - 31
Israel goes from rebellious and unbelieving to worshipping and believing. There’s no denying this one. They can still see the mud on their shoes from walking through the water - and can see the dead Egyptians washed up on the shore where the water went back.
Next time Moses is going to write a song about the wonderful thing that God did.
Conclusions
Does God own you?
Ch 13 v1 - all the firstborn are mine
Is God so much a part of your life that it seeps out your pores?
Ch 13 v9 - sign on your hand and frontlets for your eyes
Why does God strip us before bringing us into battle?
Ch 13 v17 - "change their minds when they see war"
Remember Gideon in Judges ch 6? He started out with 30,000 and ended up with 300 men to fight the Midianites.
We may not have a pillar, but God is still with us - leading us too
Ch 13 v22 the pillar did not depart. Jesus said "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Do you ever fill hemmed in on all sides?
Instead of griping about how God got you into this mess - try looking for Him to rescue you in a very creative way.
