Class Notes, Exodus 13:17-15:21

Ex 13:17-22 (NIV) When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.

19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place."

20 After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

· There were actually three routes to Canaan

o The Via Maria (the way of the sea) went along the Mediterranean sea

o The two other routes (probably one being the Kings Highway) took a lot longer

· Why does God choose the longer route instead of the most direct route?

o The people were not ready

o The Egyptian Army still posed a threat to their rear

o The route was easier and faster, but God chose the slower, longer, and harder route

· APPLICATION:

o Where in life is God taking us through the harder, longer, and more difficult route?

· The actual location for many of these places is unknown. Many were just a slope on a hill or an oasis. A famous theologian, Kaiser, stated that "everyone is guessing"

Ex 14:1-9 (NIV) Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 "Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' 4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." So the Israelites did this.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, "What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!" 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians — all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops — pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

· God says he will harden the heart of Pharaoh, but who takes the first step?

o Pharaoh changes his mind

o In the plagues, the same pattern emerges. Pharaoh hardens his heart and then God in response to his disobedience, hardens Pharaoh's heart

· APPLICATION: Disobedience hardens our heart to sin

· What causes the Egyptians to consider going after Israel?

o Various locations for the place where the Israelites are trapped

o They looked confused and vulnerable

o They turned back from the Wilderness of Shur

o Again, not exactly sure on locations. [Show on map my guess]

Ex 14:10-18 (NIV) As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"

13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen."

· What is the disconnect in the story in the story with the people?

o They had just seen ten incredible miracles by Moses

o But they are now complaining (this is the first of ten complaints)

· What do they want?

o Serve the Egyptians in slavery

o Die in Egypt in slavery as opposed to the desert

· What is the disconnect with Moses?

o Has a great speech

o But then cries to God as if he does not believe what he just said

· I don’t think God is rebuking Moses for crying out, but for not believing what he just told the people

· What is the typology of the story?

o Redeem from the bondage to sin (slavery)

o Passing through the waters represents our baptism into Christ

o The trip through the desert represents our time in the world

o The entry in the promise land is our reward in heaven achieved after our journey through the desert -- and also, the degree of our reward is based on our life of faith in the desert

Ex 14:21-31 (NIV) Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt."

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen." 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen — the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

· If the opening is approximately 1/2 mile wide, then it is entirely reasonable for 2 million Israelites to travel through in the time frame described

· Nothing in the text precludes a literal wall. The normal meaning of the text would be a literal wall

· The Hebrew phrase yam sup that Moses used to describe the body of water through which the Israelites passed miraculously means "Red Sea," not "Reed Sea."

o In the article quoted ..., the writer explained that the word sup did not originate in the Egyptian language but in Hebrew. Many scholars have claimed it came from an Egyptian root word meaning "reed." He showed that it came from a Hebrew root word meaning "end." Yam is also a Hebrew word that means "sea." The yam sup is then the sea at the end. The ancients used the name yam sup to describe the body of water that lay beyond the farthest lands known to them. It meant the sea at the end of the world. It clearly refers to the Red Sea often in the Old Testament. The Greeks later used the same term, translated into Greek, to refer to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The translation of yam sup as Reed Sea is evidently both inaccurate and misleading. It implies that the Israelites simply crossed some shallow marsh when they left Egypt. Such an interpretation lacks support in the inspired record of Israel's Exodus. (Davis, pp. 168-71, or Hyatt, pp. 156-61)

· Verse 31 is a key verse in Exodus, why?

o The people fear God and put their trust in him. Like Abraham who believed God and it was credited him as righteousness

o For the first time, Moses is called "His servant"

· The highest praise a person can received is to be called God's servant

Ex 15:9-10 (NIV) "The enemy boasted,

'I will pursue, I will overtake them.

I will divide the spoils;

I will gorge myself on them.

I will draw my sword

and my hand will destroy them.'

10 But you blew with your breath,

and the sea covered them.

They sank like lead

in the mighty waters.

· Today, many scoff at Christianity. Some are blatantly opposed to the ideas of Christianity, interestingly more so than other religious ideas

· They imagine how wonderful life would be without the trappings of religion -- some of which I might agree, ie, the religious who just go through the motions without any real faith

· Like the Egyptian Army referenced in this verse, the boast and talk a lot, but ultimately all people will stand before God to give an account

o There is no fancy speech or overpowering argument that will cause God to reconsider His judgment. How dumb our intellectual elites are-- to think that the infinite God might get jousted in an argument by a finite mind, not matter how smart it is

Ex 15:14-18 (NIV) The nations will hear and tremble;

anguish will grip the people of Philistia.

15 The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,

the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,

the people of Canaan will melt away;

16 terror and dread will fall upon them.

By the power of your arm

they will be as still as a stone —

until your people pass by, O Lord,

until the people you bought pass by.

17 You will bring them in and plant them

on the mountain of your inheritance —

the place, O Lord, you made for your dwelling,

the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established.

18 The Lord will reign

for ever and ever."

· There is tremendous irony is this verse, do you see it?

o The song of Moses having looked backwards at God's mighty hand now looks forward. It announces, with supreme confidence, what will happen to the nations ahead of them. In an ironic twist, when the time came to take the land, when the spies returned from spying out the land, it is Israel who trembles, who terror and dread fall upon.

o Again, it is so easy after a mountain top experience to think that one can conquer anything with God. And that actually is the truth; but when reality strikes, our faith melts away quickly. Instead of an attitude of victory, we expect defeat. Instead of seeing God in something, we just see ourselves failing. Father, protect me from own fears and rationalizations. I want to trust you and your power to carry me on to victory.