13:17–22 Having provided a brief overview of Israel’s exodus from Egypt in 12:31–42, the text now returns to offer further details. First we read the initial route that the Lord leads Israel to follow (13:17–18). The route is greatly debated by scholars.260 The most direct path to Canaan would have been the by the “way of the land of the Philistines,”261 but this would have involved immediate battles, either because the way itself was fortified262 or because it would have led Israel very quickly to Canaan, where the nation would have been forced to fight immediately.263 Either way, the Lord knows his people are not prepared for this (cf. their response in 14:10–12), so he leads them instead “by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea264 . . . equipped for battle” (13:18). Since it is odd to note the Israelites are “equipped for battle” (v. 18) just after noting they are too fearful to engage in it (v. 17), some suggest that this rare term refers more generally to a large group of people moving in an ordered way265 or that it is related to the Hebrew root for “five” and refers to the people’s leaving in groups of fifty.266 What is clear is that they leave and that the Lord guides their journey.

Briefly the text notes that Moses fulfills the oath that Joseph made his sons swear, namely, to take his bones out of Egypt and to the Promised Land (v. 19; cf. Gen. 50:25). This notice ties up a loose end from Genesis and underscores that God has indeed “visited” his people, that is, shown them his special care.267 It is also noted that after Succoth, where the Israelites initially stop after leaving Egypt (Ex. 12:37), they go on to Elam, on the wilderness’ edge (13:20). They will soon turn back from here, giving Pharaoh the false impression that the wilderness has trapped them (cf. comment on 14:1–4).

Finally, this section tells us how the Lord guides his people: “By day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night” (13:21). These are not two different pillars but one, with the Lord lighting up the cloud at night with fire (cf. 14:24; 40:38; cf. Num. 9:15; 14:14), making it a giant “night light” to guide them. By day or night this cloud will assure them of the Lord’s presence all the way to the Promised Land (Ex. 13:22; cf. 40:38).

14:1–4 At this point the narrative takes an unexpected twist. The Lord has just led the people away from the way of the Philistines lest they see war and “return” (Hb. shub) to Egypt (13:17). Now he uses the very same term when he tells them to “turn back” (shub; 14:2), that is, turn back from the wilderness (13:20) toward Egypt (or areas controlled by it).268 Why?

He immediately explains: “For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in’” (14:3), that is, Pharaoh might think they got to the wilderness, thought it was impossible to journey through, turned back, and are now wandering around, distressed269 and trapped!

In reality, however, “it is his armies that were marching into a trap of divine making.”270 The Lord explains, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,” that is, take Pharaoh’s already hardened heart and make it harder still, confirming him in his rebellion and once more displaying God’s sovereign power over him.271 As a result, Pharaoh will “pursue” the Israelites, either to destroy or re-enslave them, but “I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host” by a miracle of divine judgment272 so that “the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord,” the God of sovereign might who is worthy of their honor (14:4a; for “know the Lord” cf. Response section on 7:8–11:10, “What Does It Mean to Know the Lord?”). We are not yet told what this miraculous judgment will be, but the Israelites obey and turn back (14:4b).

14:5–8 Meanwhile, the reality of the Israelites’ departure is sinking in on Pharaoh and his servants, who regret losing their slave labor (v. 5). Preparing his chariot, Pharaoh leads his army after them, including six hundred choice chariots and myriads of others, all commanded by leading officers (vv. 6–7; cf. 15:4). Since chariots were the ancient equivalent of tanks, this is a formidable force. Verse 8 then summarizes: the Lord has hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh has pursued after the Israelites, who are leaving Egypt “with an uplifted hand” (Hb.), that is, a hand lifted either in “defiance” or in “triumph,” or both.273 Clearly their departure is humiliating to Pharaoh, and he cannot leave it unaddressed.

14:9–14 The story resumes, and Pharaoh and his vast army overtake Israel (v. 9), that is, draw within sight of the Israelites (v. 10).274 The Israelites are trapped, with an advancing wall of soldiers before them and an impassable wall of water behind them. Annihilation looks certain, and it is no surprise that they cry out to the Lord in great fear. The Lord certainly welcomes fearful cries as much as parents do when their little ones cry out during a storm. The problem here is that the Israelites are crying out with fear but no faith (vv. 11–12). Children who cry out during a storm believe their parents can defend them. The Israelites lack such childlike faith. Repeatedly they respond to difficulties with temper tantrums of unbelief (15:24; 16:1–3; 17:1–3; Num. 11:1; 14:1–3; etc.). This is especially ironic here. “God has just stressed the importance of passing on memories [of his deliverance] (ch. 13), but already the people have completely forgotten his spectacular actions on their behalf.”275

But Moses has not forgotten, and his response is filled with faith (14:13–14). He does not know how the Lord will deliver them, but he knows he will (cf. v. 4). His faith is sure of what his eyes cannot see. He assures the Israelites they will not need to fight. The Lord will fight on their behalf, as he did while they were in Egypt. They could remain “silent”—a word that can refer to silence with the sense of inaction (Gen. 24:21; Judg. 16:2; Est. 4:14)—and “see” the Lord’s salvation. The word “see” is used three times for emphasis,276 as though to say, “As you trust in the Lord, what you will see is his salvation, and what you will never ever see again are your enemies!”277

14:15–18 The Lord now explains in broad terms how his deliverance will occur. His opening question—“Why do you cry to me?” (Ex. 14:15)—is best understood as being spoken to Moses in his role as the people’s representative, the sense being, “Why is Israel crying out to me in fear with no faith? Do they not trust I can deliver them?”278 The solution is for Moses to speak to the people, explaining what the Lord will do so they can move forward. The Lord’s plan is twofold.

First, Moses is to lift his staff—the same “staff of God” that has already produced so many signs (4:17, 20; 7:19; 8:5, 16; 9:23; 10:13)—so that the sea will divide and the Israelites can march through on dry land (14:16). In short the Lord will create a miraculous escape route, though we are not told how.

Second, he will harden the Egyptians’ hearts so they will chase the Israelites and then come to “know [he is] the Lord” when he has “gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen” (v. 18). The implication is that he will judge Pharaoh and the Egyptians in a miraculous way that will show his sovereign power and make clear he is worthy of honor and praise (cf. v. 4). Again, the Lord does not explain how he will do so. The general plan is clear, but suspense is created in terms of the details.

14:19–22 For this plan to work time will be needed, so the angel of God who has been leading the Israelites moves from the camp’s front to its rear, between the Israelites and the Egyptians. This is the first mention of an angel since 3:2, where it was noted that angels can speak and act on the Lord’s behalf, like a king’s messenger. In this case the text seems to assume that, just as this angel appeared on the Lord’s behalf in the burning bush (3:2), he has been appearing on the Lord’s behalf in the pillar of cloud (cf. 14:19 with 13:21 and 14:24), which now moves with the angel and forms a protective barrier between the camps.279

With this barrier in place Moses carries out the Lord’s command and stretches out his hand, lifting his rod over the sea. As before, this is like an enacted prayer (cf. comment on 9:22–25), which the Lord answers by sending an east wind to drive the sea back, dividing it in two and making the seafloor dry (14:21). This allows the Israelites to walk right through the sea during the night (cf. v. 24), the water standing like a wall on either side (v. 22).280

14:23–28 With the Israelites safely through, the angel and cloud apparently move out of the way, allowing the massive Egyptian army to pursue, rushing right into the heart of the sea (v. 23). It is a death trap. The time is the morning watch (v. 24), just as day is breaking (cf. v. 27), meaning the final victory will be seen by all. The Lord—that is, the angel acting on his behalf (cf. comment on 14:19–22; compare 3:4 with 3:2)—looks down from the pillar of fire and cloud and throws the “Egyptian forces into a panic” (14:24). This is something the Lord often does on his people’s behalf when fighting for them (23:27; Josh. 10:10; 1 Sam. 7:10). He does so here by crippling their chariots in some way “so that they drove heavily,” that is, with difficulty (Ex. 14:25). This is a punishment corresponding to the crime: the word for “heavily” is built on the same root as one of the words that describes the Egyptians’ hardened hearts (v. 4), so that those with heavy/difficult hearts are now having heaviness/difficulty driving their chariots.281 They have been stripped of their most powerful weapon and quickly realize Israel’s God is involved: “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians!” (v. 25). As the Lord said, they have come to understand just how powerful he is (cf. v. 4).

But it is too late. The Lord instructs Moses to stretch out his hand once more over the sea, and its waters return to their normal state (vv. 26–27). For the Egyptians there is no escape. The Lord picks up their chariots with his waves and throws them into the heart of the sea, where they sink like a stone (v. 27; cf. Neh. 9:11). The army’s devastation is total; all who have pursued after Israel are drowned. As with the army of locusts that the Lord drove into the sea (Ex. 10:19), so too with Egypt’s army: “Not one of them remained” (14:28).282

14:29–31 The chapter concludes with a summary. As Moses had promised (vv. 13–14), the Lord has saved Israel from the Egyptians, whom the Israelites now see dead, washed up on the shore (vv. 29–30). The Lord’s display of power is undeniable. The beginning of verse 31 could be woodenly translated, “When Israel saw the powerful hand with which the Lord acted in Egypt.” As God had promised, he had delivered them from “the hand of the Egyptians” (v. 30) by means of his own much more powerful hand (v. 31; cf. 3:8, 19). As a result, the Israelites “feared the Lord” (14:31), an expression often accompanied by phrases emphasizing obedience, loyalty, and love for God and his commands (Deut. 5:29; 6:2; 10:12; 13:4; etc.). In these contexts the word could also be translated as “revere,” with a focus on worshipful love and obedience flowing from reverence and awe. Seeing the Lord’s signs, the Israelites understand that reverential obedience and love are the proper response toward him. The signs also made clear they can trust the Lord and his promises (cf. Gen. 15:1–6) and trust that he has appointed Moses as his spokesman (Ex. 14:31; for the latter cf. 4:1–5, 30–31; 19:9).

Israel’s nightmare of slavery in Egypt is now over. The Egyptians have been well and fully defeated and the Israelites well and fully freed. Their response of joyful song therefore comes as no surprise (15:1–21).

15:1–19 At various points in the biblical story God’s people break out in spontaneous songs of praise to the Lord when he saves them (cf. Num. 21:16–18; 2 Sam. 22:1; cf. also Judges 4 with Judges 5). This is appropriate. The Lord’s salvation is so marvelous that everyday speech can feel inadequate to describe it. We need songs, which are open fields of space for our hearts to run free, giving voice to the breadth and depth of our emotions.

So Moses and the Israelites sing, exchanging prose and simple speech for poetry and joyful song. The song focuses on the Lord’s rescue of Israel. It does not even mention Moses, focusing instead on how the Lord himself and the Lord alone has accomplished salvation for his people.283

Great debate surrounds the song’s structure,284 which is unsurprising, since poetry does not always evince a crisp logical flow. Compared to prose, poetry is far more likely to make its points by repeated and overlapping waves of expression. In this case those waves focus on the Lord’s defeat of Pharaoh and his forces, describing this from a first- and third-person perspective (Ex. 15:1–5) and then from a second-person one (vv. 6–12). Remaining in the second person,285 the song then shifts and focuses on the Lord’s leading of his people safely to the place where he himself will dwell (vv. 13–17). It then concludes with a third-person burst of praise affirming the Lord’s enduring kingship (v. 18). The song could be paraphrased as follows:286

I will sing to the Lord, who has abundantly shown his majesty and strength by defeating Egypt’s forces, picking up each horse and rider as easily as an archer does an arrow and then shooting them into the heart of the sea (v. 1b). The Lord has exercised his saving strength on my behalf, and because of him I can sing with joy, rejoicing in the salvation he has accomplished for me (v. 2a). I give allegiance to him as my God and will describe the beauty of who he is; indeed, my ancestors gave their allegiance to him, and I will lift his name on high as the one worthy of praise (v. 2b). By defeating the Egyptians in war, he has made known that he, Yahweh, is the sovereign God of power in the earth (v. 3). He hurled Pharaoh’s chariots and army into the sea where they sank, they and the very best of Egypt’s officers (v. 4). The watery depths covered them like a blanket, and they sank like a stone into the heart of the sea (v. 5).

O Lord, your strong right hand towers in majestic strength and shatters the enemy in defeat (v. 6). In the greatness of your majesty and strength you tear down those who rise up against you; you release your burning wrath on them, and it consumes them like stubble in the fire (v. 7). Your nostrils flared with anger, and at their blast the waters were heaped up like grain, forming into tall piles, becoming like two solid walls (v. 8). After we left Egypt and were escaping through the channel you made in the sea the enemy said, “I will pursue and overtake them! I will plunder their goods! I will feast myself full on them! I will empty my sword out of its sheath and will drive them away with no land to dwell in!” (v. 9). But you, O Lord, blew the waters back into place and covered them so that they sank like lead in the mighty waters (v. 10). Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? No one! What god is there whose utter uniqueness is so majestic, who is so worthy of reverential awe when being praised, who is able to do such miraculous wonders? None (v. 11)! You stretched out your right hand like a warrior in battle and caused the earth to swallow up the enemy in the sea (v. 12).

As for your people, Israel, you not only rescued them from difficulty; you are leading them in your gracious steadfast love, protecting them like a strong shepherd as you bring them like sheep to your holy pasture land in Canaan (v. 13). The other nations who hear of all you have done will quake with dread (v. 14a), including four of Israel’s archenemies: Philistia’s inhabitants will writhe in anguish like a woman in childbirth (v. 14b), Edom’s chiefs will be paralyzed with terror (v. 15a), Moab’s leaders will tremble with fear (v. 15b), and Canaan’s inhabitants will melt away in dread (v. 15c). Yes, terror and dread will fall on them! When they see how great and powerful your miraculous acts of redemption prove you to be, they will be petrified, as still as stone, letting your people, whom you have redeemed and acquired as your servant, pass by unharmed (v. 16). You will then bring your people and plant them like a vine so they can take root and flourish in your land, which is like a majestic mountain, one that you are preparing, O Lord, to be the very place in which you dwell, a holy place, O Lord, that your own hands will establish (v. 17).

The Lord, he is the one who will reign as eternal King (v. 18)!

After the song a summary of its main theme is provided: this is the story of the Lord’s defeating Pharaoh’s forces in the sea and leading Israel safely through it (v. 19; cf. 14:28–29).

15:20–21 Miriam now enters the picture. We are told she is a prophetess and Aaron’s sister (v. 20). Since Moses and Aaron are brothers (6:20), it is not clear why she is described simply as Aaron’s sister (cf. Num. 26:59). This perhaps reflects an emphasis on the authority associated with the oldest male child.287 Whatever the reason, by calling her a prophetess the text identifies her role within Israel and suggests that the song she is about to sing is divinely inspired.

Holding a tambourine, Miriam leads the women of Israel in singing and dancing (15:20b), a response we see from women elsewhere in the Bible who celebrate an Israelite victory (Judg. 11:34; 1 Sam. 18:6). The text notes she sings “to them” (Ex. 15:21). Since the word “them” is masculine here, many plausibly suggest that some form of antiphonal singing is going on, with the women singing the shorter chorus and the rest of Israel singing the larger song.288 Whatever the case may be, Miriam’s song focuses on the larger song’s main theme, exhorting the Israelites to give praise to God for his victory and deliverance (15:21b; cf. comment on 15:1–19 [at v. 1]). In this way this section closes with a scene of utter jubilation: the women are playing music and dancing, and all Israel is raising its voices in a joyful song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.