Êxodo 15

Êxodo 15

Phillips writes "Stand for a moment with Israel on the shores of the Red Sea. What do you hear? You hear the people sing! The Egyptian army has been swept away, and never again will Egypt hold Israel captive. "Thus the LORD saved Israel.... Then sang Moses and the children of Israel" (Exodus 14; 15)." "Such "gladness," as the Bible describes, is not a mere fleshly emotion—a worked-up excitement and so effervescent that it quickly evaporates. It is a gladness from, and in, the Lord." (Lockyer) Unfortunately and sadly the joy of the Israelites lasted at most only 3 days (cf Ex 15:22ff). And said, "I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted - The Lord is praised for His redemption. Notice the for (term of explanation) which gives us the reason to sing. And the reason is because "He has triumphed gloriously." (NLT) His great accomplishment over a great human foe, serves to emphasize His greatness and glory over all creation. The Hebrew verb used here (and again in Miriam's repetition in Ex 15:21) for hurled (ramah) meant to throw or even to shoot an arrow. The Septuagint translates hurled with the verb ripto which Jesus used in Lk 17:2 to describe "a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble." The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea - Note that Jehovah's defeat of Israel's enemy is repeatedly exclaimed and extolled (Read Ex 15:1, 4-5, 7-10, 12, 19). The translation "hurled" gives a great picture for hurl means to throw or propel with great force, this word even picturing the chariots and riders tumbling down as the weight of the water and turbulence of the waves engulfed them! This grabs your attention! THOUGHT - There is a message for all of us who have redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We need to sing songs that remind us of the victory of Jehovah-Jesus over our strong, oppressive enemies - Sin, Satan and Seduction of this passing world. We are not to focus on the darkness and oppression in which we were once enslaved but on our ONCE FOR ALL TIME DELIVERANCE from our mortal enemies. Unlike the Egyptians who the Israelites would never again see, our mortal enemies remain to harass and seduce us, and so our need is to remember that they are UTTERLY DEFEATED ENEMIES and we no longer have to obey them. This is simply another way of saying what Paul said in Romans 6:11-14+ (where he focused on Sin but applicable to all our enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil) - "Even so consider (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign (present imperative with a negative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting (present imperative with a negative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Comment - Notice the command "Consider," which is a call to do this continually, to continually recall to mind that in Christ, we have victory over Sin (as well as the godless world and the devil). Then based on this truth, our death to Sin and our new life in Christ, enabled by His Spirit in us, we are to say "no" to the seductive temptations and instead continually, daily present ourselves to God as His instruments. And I would suggest that this mindset is energized by being in His Word each morning and then singing a song (hymn, spiritual song) like Moses' song and recalling that our mortal enemies have been forever defeated at the Cross of Jesus Christ. I suggest making this a daily practice because we forget so easily and so quickly even as we see Israel do in this same chapter. Their song is followed by their sulking! Exodus 15:22-27. Play this catchy tune with a great video on the Red Sea deliverance for Israel and death for Egypt. This would be great to show on full screen to your entire family and would allow you to explain some of the Scriptural background of the Greatest Deliverance in the History of the World which would in turn allow you to discuss the greatest deliverance in all eternity, the deliverance from sin, Satan, this godless world and eternal death, the glorious Cross of Jesus Christ! The Horse And Rider (I Will Sing unto the Lord) Exodus 15 The prophet Isaiah alludes to Israel's past redemption from Egypt in his description of Israel's future redemption, one that will not come until the end of the Great Tribulation when Messiah returns and establishes Zion as His capital and earthly habitation for 1000 years. And so we read... Was it not You (JEHOVAH) Who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; Who made the depths of the sea a pathway For the redeemed to cross over? So the ransomed (Heb = padah same verb used in Passover - Ex 13:13, 15; Lxx = lutroo used in 1 Pe 1:18+ and Titus 2:14+ of the ransom payment!) of the LORD will return (PROPHETIC PROMISE TO ISRAEL NOT YET FULFILLED) And come with joyful shouting to Zion, And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 51:10,11) John