Exodus 14:22 Sermons: The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.

◄ Exodus 14:22 ►

and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.

Sermons

We Walk by Faith, not by Sight	G.A. Goodhart	Exodus 14:22
The Deliverance	J. Orr	Exodus 14:10-23
God Completes the Deliverance of the Israelites from Pharaoh and Removes Their Terror	D. Young	Exodus 14:13-31
The Goodness and Severity of God	J. Urquhart	Exodus 14:19-31
A Treacherous Element	Great Thoughts	Exodus 14:21-25
It is not Always Safe to Follow Those Who are in the Path of Duty	H. C. Trumbull.	Exodus 14:21-25
Safe in the Danger of Duty	H. C. Trumbull.	Exodus 14:21-25
The Destruction of the Egyptians	H. Barnard, B. A.	Exodus 14:21-25
The Sea-Path	Dr. Fowler.	Exodus 14:21-25

Pulpit Commentary Homiletics

We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight

Exodus 14:22

G.A. Goodhart

The great mistake of most people is, that they trust too much to their own eyes. They will not take into consideration anything that lies beyond the field of sensible experiences. Now God and his eternity, though manifested in this field, are practically outside it; the spiritual eyesight is more reliable than the physical, because that which it sees is safer to rely upon. Natural sight shows us obstacles, spiritual sight shows us how they may be surmounted. Try to walk by the one and you must stand still; try to walk by the other and nothing can long keep you standing. Notice here: -

I. FAITH'S SECRET, The story illustrates this; it shows us: -

1. What the Israelites saw. Their position looked bad enough. Behind were the hosts of Pharaoh; before, the sea. They were shut in. Trusting only to their eyes they could hardly do other than despair (Exodus 14:10-13). Better to have been "let alone" in Egypt, than thus delivered, to be destroyed in the wilderness. A clear head, if the heart be faint, is not much help to any man.

2. What Moses saw. He was in the same position as the people whom he led, yet he could see more than they did. He looked not merely before and behind, he looked also up to God. Faith enabled him to ignore sight, and inspired him to encourage his sight-fascinated followers. Soon the word came which justified his faith, obstacles were nothing, let them wait the word of command and then "go forward." Often difficulties seem to surround us - no way of escape anywhere visible. Even so faith can sight the way, for faith can sight God who sees it. Stand still, wait his word; refuse to allow that for those who trust him any difficulties can be insurmountable. Faith would not be of much good were there no obstacles to test it. Faith is not of much good if it cannot learn to ignore obstacles.

II. FAITH'S SUCCESS. The path of faith not merely leads out of danger, it turns dangers into safeguards and transforms them into a protection for those who tread it. When the word came "Go forward," the waters no longer "shut in" the Israelites; instead: -

1. They protected them during their passage. The Egyptians could but follow, they could not circumvent. "The waters were a wall unto them" on either side; no wall could have been more impregnable.

2. They secured them against the fury of their pursuers. Israel once across, the waters returned, overwhelming the armies of the enemy. So too faith, facing the flood, found that waters which drowned the world upheld the ark and floated it in safety. So too faith, facing the waters of death, finds that though they overwhelm the unready they float the faithful into a safe harbour. So too with all difficulties, faced in faith, they are our best helpers. "The hand of the diligent' not only "maketh rich," it cleaves a way for him through the sea of difficulty, and leaves his pursuers, sloth, ignorance, all the deadly sins, overwhelmed and swallowed up behind him.

III. FAITH'S STRENGTH. HOW comes faith to do all this? It is not faith that does it, but the God in whom faith trusts. Nothing is impossible to faith, because nothing is impossible to God. The Egyptians are sure of their prey; the Israelites are sure of destruction; because, whilst reckoning with what sight sees, they fail to reckon with the unseen God. Moses is sure of safety because he is sure of God, and knows that he is more than a match for all the seeming tyranny of circumstances. Application. How many people are shut in, faithless and discouraged before some sea of difficulty! "I cannot do this," "I cannot do that," and yet no progress is possible until I not merely can but do. "O ye of little faith, wherefore will ye doubt!" "I cannot;" no, but God can; and what he bids you do that he will strengthen you to do. Don't stand facing the difficulties, but face the God who is above them and beyond them. "Stand still and wait" until the word comes, but when the word does come, "Go forward" (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10). - G.

I. THE DEED OF VALOUR. Moses walking down the gravelly beach into the sea; Israel following. A lesson to us to come with boldness.

II. THE MIRACULOUS WAY. We walk in new and unseen ways.

III. THE OVERTHROW OF THE ENEMY.

1. His wrath.

2. His foolhardiness; forgetting the plagues. All sin is irrational.

3. His sudden destruction. Death surprises the impenitent.

IV. THE SAME INSTRUMENTS BOTH DEFENDING AND DESTROYING.

1. The cloud.

2. The water.

3. The gospel.

V. WHAT ISRAEL FOUND IN THE SEA-PATH.

1. Rebuke for the murmuring.

2. Filial fear.

3. Trust in God.

4. Trust in Moses.

5. Nationality; before, they were all slaves, then free men, now a nation.Learn:

1. All people must struggle and dare.

2. Our characters come from soul-struggles where self is abandoned, and trust is put in God.

3. Man's extremity is God's opportunity.

4. God will, out of every temptation, make a way of escape.

(Dr. Fowler.)

A treacherous element

Great Thoughts.

"An easy conquest!" said the eagle, attracted by the glittering scales of a large fish, which shone through the clear, deep waters of the lake. "An easy conquest!" As he dashed into the water, it was as if lightning had smitten the cliff and a fragment of it had fallen into the lake. There was a struggle; the fish dived, and drew the eagle with it. "Ah!" exclaimed the drowning king of birds, "had I been in the air, who would have dared to measure strength with me? But in this strange and treacherous element, I am overcome by one whom elsewhere I should have despised."

(Great Thoughts.)

Safe in the danger of duty

H. C. Trumbull.

"The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left." It is amazing what a blessing the things that we dreaded most become to us, when we go straight toward them at the call of God! The sea of business troubles, which looked as if it never could be crossed, but which we had no choice but to enter, how it opened right and left as we came to it, and then became to us a wall against competitors on either side, because we had ventured into its very depths when it was our clear duty to do that and nothing else! That desert life of danger which we entered with fear and trembling, at the call of our country, or of some loved one of our family, or of some dear friend, how its very exposures and trying experiences toughened us and trained us, and made us stronger and manlier and happier, so that its results to-day — its physical and mental and moral results-are as a wall of protection to us on our right hand and on our left! There is no place in all the world so safe for us as the place of danger, when danger is a duty. The best way of caring for ourselves is not to care for ourselves. If we want to walk dry shod, with a wall shielding us on either hand, the better way is to plunge right overboard into a sea of work or of trial or of peril, when God says Go forward.

(H. C. Trumbull.)

Overthrew the Egyptians

The destruction of the Egyptians

H. Barnard, B. A.

Consider this destruction of Pharaoh and his host as —

I. A JUDGMENT. It was —

1. Sudden in its execution. No warning given.

2. Terrible in its nature. Involving the destruction of a whole army, the picked men of the most powerful nation in the world.

3. Well merited by the subjects of it. Repeated warnings were conveyed in the plagues, yet all were now disregarded.

II. A DELIVERANCE. Israel delivered from Pharaoh —

1. Out of a perilous situation.

2. Notwithstanding their want of faith.

3. By a glorious miracle.

III. A LESSON to —

1. The sinner. Beware lest your end be like Pharaoh's; heed the warnings given to you.

2. The Christian. Learn to know the greatness of your deliverance from the host of Satan.

(H. Barnard, B. A.)

It is not always safe to follow those who are in the path of duty

H. C. Trumbull.

A place that is the safest in the world for one man may be the most dangerous in the world for the next man. The portcullis which comes down to shut in the endangered refugee, may crush to death his close pursuer. Because another man actually saves his life and acquires new strength by exposing himself in some sea of battle, or pestilence, or perils of search for a lost one, it is no reason why you should venture in that same line. II God told him to go there, the very waves of danger were a shield to him; but if you have no call there, those waves may overwhelm you. His risks in business prove his safety, because he made them in faith, when God commanded them. They would be your ruin if you presumed on them without a command from God, The question for you is not, Is that other man safe in that sea? but, Do I belong there? The call of God settles the question of your place of duty and your place of safety. God gives the walls of protection to His children when they are where He tells them to be. God throws down those very walls on those who have no business to be there.

(H. C. Trumbull. .)

People

Egyptians, Israelites, Moses, Pharaoh, Zephon

Places

Baal-zephon, Egypt, Etham, Migdol, Pi-hahiroth, Red Sea

Topics

Dry, Ground, Midst, Sons, Wall, Waters

Outline

1. God instructs the Israelites in their journey
5. Pharaoh pursues after them
10. The Israelites murmur
13. Moses comforts them
15. God instructs Moses
19. The cloud removes behind the camp
21. The Israelites pass through the Red sea, which drowns the Egyptians

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Exodus 14:10-31

4819 dryness

Exodus 14:15-22

1416 miracles, nature of

Exodus 14:19-24

7908 baptism, significance

Exodus 14:21-22

4860 wind

Exodus 14:21-23

1320 God, as Saviour

Exodus 14:21-28

5300 drowning

Library

A Path in the Sea
'And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. 21. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Entangled in the Land
"For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in."--Exodus 14:3. ISRAEL WAS CLEAN escaped from Egypt. Not a hoof of their cattle was left behind; nor foot of child or aged man remained in the house of bondage. But though they were gone, they were not forgotten by the tyrant who had enslaved them. They had been a very useful body of workers; for they had built treasure cities and storehouses for Pharaoh. Compelled to work without wages, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Epistle Lxiii. To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks.
To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks. Gregory to Brunichild, &c. What good gifts have been conferred on you from above, and with what piety heavenly grace has filled you, this, among all the other proofs of your merits, intimates evidently to all that you both govern the savage hearts of barbarians with the skill of prudent counsel, and (what is still more to your praise), adorn your royal power with wisdom. And since, as you are above many nations in both these respects, so also you excel them in …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

They who have not Been Promoted to that Office. ...
They who have not been promoted [to that office] by the bishop, ought not to adjure, either in churches or in private houses. Notes. Ancient Epitome of Canon XXVI. No one shall adjure without the bishop's promotion to that office. Balsamon. Some were in the habit of "adjuring," that is catechising the unbelievers, who had never received the imposition of the bishop's hands for that purpose; and when they were accused of doing so, contended that as they did not do it in church but only at home, they …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

The Personality of Power.
A Personally Conducted Journey. Everyone enjoys the pleasure of travel; but nearly all shrink back from its tiresomeness and drudgery. The transportation companies are constantly scheming to overcome this disagreeable side for both pleasure and business travel. One of the popular ways of pleasure travel of late is by means of personally conducted tours. A party is formed, often by the railroad company, and is accompanied by a special agent to attend to all the business matters of the trip. A variation …
S.D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on Power

The Faults Committed in this Degree --Distractions, Temptations --The Course to be Pursued Respecting Them.
As soon as we fall into a fault, or have wandered, we must turn again within ourselves; because this fault having turned us from God, we should as soon as possible turn towards Him, and suffer the penitence which He Himself will give. It is of great importance that we should not be anxious about these faults, because the anxiety only springs from a secret pride and a love of our own excellence. We are troubled at feeling what we are. If we become discouraged, we shall grow weaker yet; and reflection …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

Answer to Mr. W's Sixth Objection.
6. and lastly, Let us consider the intrinsick absurdities, and incredibilities of the several stories of these three miracles, p. 36.--As to Jairus's daughter, and her resurrection from the dead, St. Hilary [13] hints, that there was no such person as Jairus;--and he gives this reason, and a good reason it is, why he thought so, because it is elsewhere intimated in the gospel that none of the rulers of the synagogues confessedly believ'd on Jesus, John vii. 48. and xii. 42. St. John's words in the …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Blessed are they that Mourn
Blessed are they that mourn. Matthew 5:4 Here are eight steps leading to true blessedness. They may be compared to Jacob's Ladder, the top whereof reached to heaven. We have already gone over one step, and now let us proceed to the second: Blessed are they that mourn'. We must go through the valley of tears to paradise. Mourning were a sad and unpleasant subject to treat on, were it not that it has blessedness going before, and comfort coming after. Mourning is put here for repentance. It implies …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Epistle iv. To Cyriacus, Bishop.
To Cyriacus, Bishop. Gregory to Cyriacus, Bishop of Constantinople. We have received with becoming charity our common sons, George the presbyter and Theodore your deacon; and we rejoice that you have passed from the care of ecclesiastical business to the government of souls, since, according to the voice of the Truth, He that is faithful in a little will be faithful also in much (Luke xvi. 10). And to the servant who administers well it is said, Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation
"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God" (Rom. 11:22). In the last chapter when treating of the Sovereignty of God the Father in Salvation, we examined seven passages which represent Him as making a choice from among the children of men, and predestinating certain ones to be conformed to the image of His Son. The thoughtful reader will naturally ask, And what of those who were not "ordained to eternal life?" The answer which is usually returned to this question, even by those who profess …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

Of the Necessity of Divine Influences to Produce Regeneration in the Soul.
Titus iii. 5, 6. Titus iii. 5, 6. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. IF my business were to explain and illustrate this scripture at large, it would yield an ample field for accurate criticism and useful discourse, and more especially would lead us into a variety of practical remarks, on which it would be pleasant …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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