Year 7, Day 63: Exodus 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Once more we have a chapter that properly places the focus where it should be.  Several times in this chapter we hear correctly that it was the hand of the Lord that saved the Hebrew people.  It was the act of God that parted the waters.  It was the act of God that brought the waters together again.  It was an act of God that put fear into the hearts of the Egyptians.  The Hebrew people did not save themselves.  Moses did not save them.  God saved the Hebrew people.

Having said that, let’s look at the people.  Then let’s look at Moses.  I find it interesting to see the reactions of the people within the story.  We definitely have a return to humanity within this chapter.

We shall start with the Hebrew people.  Remember that God has already send plagues among Egypt to demonstrate His power.  Furthermore, God has already shown His ability to spare the Hebrew people from His wrath while simultaneously consuming the Egyptians.  God has made demonstration after demonstration of His will upon the world around the Hebrew people.  Yet they still fear!  They still doubt God’s ability to provide for them.  They still doubt God’s ability to lift them up from the midst of calamity and spare them.  They fear.  They turn to Moses and cry out.  They even get angry with Moses for being their advocate before God.

Is this not human nature?  Don’t we want people to make our life better?  Yet, any time we seek to make our life better, it implies change.  Change implies difficulty, usually.  So when we cry out, and things get a little worse before they get better, why do we so easily grumble against those who are trying to spare us and bring us to a better place?  It’s human nature, and I’m as guilty of it as the next person.

Now, let’s look at Moses.  I was fascinated by Exodus 14:15. The people come to Moses and grumble against Him.  Yet look at what verse 15 says.  In this verse, God states His case against Moses.  It isn’t against the people; it is against Moses!  “Why do you cry to me?” God says.  Moses does what most of us do.  When we are faced with a problem, we turn to other people and pass the buck.  We aren’t told how Moses does it, but we do know that Moses came to God and pretty much told God to do something about the people.  From other places in scripture where God and Moses talk, I’m pretty sure Moses’ words were something like this: “God, I’m just following your orders.  The people are mad at me, and I’m just the messenger of your will.  Do something about it.”

God turns to Moses and says, “Why are you crying out to me?  Take your staff, stretch it over the waters, and do the impossible.”  There’s the catch.  You see, Moses’ perspective is that salvation is impossible.  They are stuck between Egypt’s army and a sea off water.  But from God’s perspective, the solution is easy.  Move the water, dry the ground, and get going on your journey!  I personally can’t fault Moses for not seeing God’s solution.  I would have missed it, too.  From the human perspective, it’s just not possible.  But from God’s perspective, it is.  Here is the difference between us and God.  We only see possibility in terms of what we can do.  God sees possibility in what He can do.  We see our limitations.  God sees no limitation.

I do want to give Moses a little credit, though.  Even though he misses the obvious – yet humanly impossible – solution, Moses does act once he figures it out.  He is obedient.  He does get the people across the sea.  He does listen to God and trap the Egyptian army after God confuses them.  He is willing to be the pawn in the fingers of God’s hand.

Lastly, I had a side note as I read though these words.  In my third paragraph, as I was writing about God simultaneously sparing the Hebrew people while inflicting the Egyptian people with His wrath, I had another random thought.  Why is it that people will assume that God will save everyone?  Where in the Bible do we have such an example?  In the flood, God saves some while condemning others.  In the plagues, God saves some while condemning others.  When the Hebrew people conquer Canaan, God saves some while condemning others.  When Babylon and Assyria come to take over Israel and Judah, God saves some while condemning others.  In fact, in all of those cases those who are saved are the minority while those who are condemned are the majority.  If the Old Testament is about teaching us who God is and foreshadowing what God will do in Christ, why should we ignore this pattern as well?  Yes, there will be those who are saved.  That number will be a great number, even!  But there will be those who are condemned, unfortunately.  I find this to be the witness of God’s Word.

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