For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, 'They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.' Sermons
I. THE MYSTERIOUS TURN IN THE ROUTE. The command was to turn to the south, and encamp between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-Zephon (ver. 2). This route was - 1. Not necessarily an arbitrary one. We need not suppose that God brought the Israelites into this perplexity - shutting them up between the sea and the mountains, simply for the purpose of showing how easily he could again extricate them. The choice of routes was not great. (1) The way of the Philistines was blocked (Exodus 13:17). (2) The way by the north of the Red Sea - between it and the Bitter Lakes - probably did not then exist. The Red Sea seems at that time to have extended much further north than it does at present. (3) To go round by the upper end of the Lakes would have been to take the host far out of its way, besides exposing it to the risk of collision with outlying tribes. (4) The remaining alternative was to march southwards, and ford the Red Sea. The route was, nevertheless - 2. A mysterious and perplexing one. Pharaoh at once pronounced it a strategic blunder (ver. 3). Supposing the intention to be to cross the Red Sea, no one could hazard a conjecture as to how this was to be accomplished. Ordinary fords were out of the question for so vast a multitude. Hemmed in by the mountains, with an impassable stretch of water in front, and no way of escape from an enemy bearing down upon them from behind, the Egyptian king mighty, well judge their, situation to be a hopeless, one. Yet how strangely like the straits of life into which God's people are sometimes led by following faithfully the guiding pillar of their duty; or into which, irrespective of their choice, God's providence sometimes brings them! Observe, further, 3. No hint was given of how the difficulty was to be solved. This is God's way. Thus does he test his people's faith, and form them to habits of obedience. He does not show them everything at once. Light is given for present duty, but for nothing beyond. Fain would we know, when difficulties crowd upon us, how our path is to be opened; but this God does not reveal. He would have us leave the future to him, and think only of the duty of the moment. Time enough, when the first command has been obeyed, to say what is to be done next. "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). II. GOD'S ENDS IN LEADING THEM BY THIS ROUTE. God had ends. He was not guiding the children of Israel blindly. His knowledge, his purpose, no less than his presence, go before his saints, as guiding pillars, to prepare places for them. God had a definite purpose, not only in leading the people by this route, but in planting them down at this particular spot - between Migdol and the sea. His ends embraced - 1. The humiliation of Pharaoh. That unhappy monarch was still hard in heart. He was torn with vain regrets at having let the people go. He had a disposition to pursue them. God would permit him to gratify that disposition. He would so arrange his providence as even to seem to invite him to do it. He would lure him into the snare he had prepared for him, and so would complete the judgment which the iniquity of Pharaoh and of his servants had moved him to visit upon Egypt. This was God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart (ver. 4). Note (1) If God is not honoured by men, he will be honoured upon them (Scott). (2) Retributive providence frequently acts by snaring men through the evil of their own hearts. Situations are prepared for them in which they fall a prey to the evil principles or dispositions which, in spite of warnings and of their own better knowledge, they have persisted in cherishing. They wish for something, and the opportunity is presented to them of gratifying their wish. They harbour an evil disposition (say lust, or dishonesty), when suddenly they find themselves in a situation in which, like a wild beast leaping from its covert, their evil nature springs out upon them and devours them. It was in this way that God spread his net for Pharaoh, and brought upon him "swift destruction." 2. The education of Israel. The extremity of peril through which Israel was permitted to pass - coupled with the sudden and marvellous deliverance which so unexpectedly turned their "shadow of death into the morning" (Amos 5:8), filling their mouth with laughter and their tongue with singing (Psalm 126:1) - while their pursuers were overwhelmed in the Red Sea, was fitted to leave a profound and lasting impression on their minds. It taught them (1) That all creatures and agencies are at God's disposal, and that his resources for the help of his Church, and for the discomfiture of his enemies, are absolutely unlimited. As said of Christ, "even the winds and the sea obey him" (Matthew 8:27). (2) That the Lord knoweth, not only "how to deliver the godly out of temptations," but also how "to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished" (2 Peter 2:9). It was thus (3) A rebuke to distrust, and a Powerful encouragement to faith. 3. The complete separation of Israel as a people to himself. Paul says - "all our fathers Were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Corinthians 10:2). Connect this with the spiritual significance of baptism. Baptism, especially as administered by immersion, figures dying to sin, and rising again to righteousness (Romans 6:4). It is thus the analogue of the passage through the Red Sea, which was a symbolic death and resurrection of the hosts of Israel. By saving the people from the waves which engulfed their enemies, Jehovah had, as it were, purchased the nation a second time for himself, giving them "life from the, dead." The baptism of the sea was thus a sort of "outward and visible sign" of the final termination of the connection with Egypt. Its waters were thereafter "a silver streak" between the Israelites and the land of their former bondage, telling of a pursuer from whom their had been delivered, and of a new life on which they had entered. - J.O.
. 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.) 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.) (H. C. Trumbull.) Overthrew the Egyptians 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.) 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, ZephonPlaces Baal-zephon, Egypt, Etham, Migdol, Pi-hahiroth, Red SeaTopics Aimlessly, Confusion, Desert, Direction, Entangled, Hemmed, Israelites, Pharaoh, Shut, Sons, Wandering, Waste, WildernessOutline 1. God instructs the Israelites in their journey5. 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 13:17-22 1449 signs, purposes 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 Epistle Lxiii. To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks. They who have not Been Promoted to that Office. ... The Personality of Power. The Faults Committed in this Degree --Distractions, Temptations --The Course to be Pursued Respecting Them. Answer to Mr. W's Sixth Objection. The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture. Blessed are they that Mourn Epistle iv. To Cyriacus, Bishop. The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation Of the Necessity of Divine Influences to Produce Regeneration in the Soul. Exodus Links Exodus 14:3 NIVExodus 14:3 NLT Exodus 14:3 ESV Exodus 14:3 NASB Exodus 14:3 KJV Exodus 14:3 Bible Apps Exodus 14:3 Parallel Exodus 14:3 Biblia Paralela Exodus 14:3 Chinese Bible Exodus 14:3 French Bible Exodus 14:3 German Bible Exodus 14:3 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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