Exodus 15:1-21

¹ Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. ² The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. ³ The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. ⁴  “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. ⁵ The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. ⁶ Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. ⁷ In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. ⁸ At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. ⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ ¹⁰ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. ¹¹ “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? ¹² You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. ¹³  “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. ¹⁴ The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. ¹⁶ Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. ¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. ¹⁸ The Lord will reign forever and ever.” ¹⁹ For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. ²⁰ Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. ²¹ And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Exodus 15 records the great song of Moses that he and the Israelites sang on the far shore of the Red Sea after their miraculous deliverance through it. In 1879, W.M. Taylor had this to say about the song:

It is presumably the oldest poem in the world, and in sublimity of conception and grandeur of expression, it is unsurpassed by anything that has been written since. It might almost be said that poetry here sprang full-grown from the heart of Moses, even as [in] heathen mythology fables Minerva came full-armed from the brain of Jupiter. Long before the ballads of Homer were sung through the streets of the Grecian cities, or the foundation of the seven-hilled metropolis of the ancient world was laid by the banks of the Tiber, this matchless ode, in comparison with which Pindar is tame, was chanted by the leader of the emancipated Hebrews on the Red Sea shore; and yet we have in it no polytheism, no foolish mythological story concerning gods and goddesses, no gilding of immortality, no glorification of mere force; but, instead, the firmest recognition of the personality, the supremacy, the holiness, the retributive rectitude of God…Here is a literary miracle, as great as the physical sign of the parting of the Sea.[1]

Some seventeen years before these words, around 1862, Charles Henry Mackintosh called this “a fine specimen of a song of praise” and contrasted the tone of Exodus 15 with that of Exodus 14.

Up to this moment, we have not heard so much as a single note of praise. We have heard their cry of deep sorrow as they toiled amid the brick-kilns of Egypt, we have hearkened to their cry of unbelief when surrounded by what they deemed insuperable difficulties, but, until now, we have heard no song of praise. It was not until, as a saved people, they found themselves surrounded by the fruits of God’s salvation, that the triumphal hymn burst forth from the whole redeemed assembly. It was when they emerged from their significant baptism “in the cloud and in the sea,” and were able to gaze upon the rich spoils of victory which lay scattered around them, that six hundred thousand voices were heard chanting the song of victory. The waters of the Red Sea rolled between them and Egypt, and they stood on the shore as a fully delivered people, and therefore were able to praise Jehovah.[2]

I share these older statements on Exodus 15 because the beauty and grandeur of Israel’s song deserves the kind of likewise beautiful comments that such older commentators were able to write. It is a moving chapter. It is theology in song.

The army of Pharaoh lies drowned at the bottom of the Red Sea and here we are privileged to see the reaction of God’s people. Tellingly, they react in song. Singing is a special act of worship, at its best it is an overflowing of the grateful hearts of the people of God. This is what we have here. We also have a lesson in theology proper, a powerful exposition on the nature of God.

God is all powerful.

Hanging over this amazing expression of praise is a striking proclamation of the omnipotence and might and sovereign power of God. Take a moment and let the rich imagery of the first ten verses wash over you.

¹ Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. ² The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. ³ The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. ⁴  “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. ⁵ The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. ⁶ Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. ⁷ In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. ⁸ At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. ⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ ¹⁰ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Let us first note how very interesting it is that this astonishing display of divine power led the Israelites to burst into song specifically. Music and theology actually go hand-in-hand. Martin Luther understood this well. In 1538, Luther wrote the following:

I most heartily desire that music, that divine and precious gift, be praised and extolled before all people…Experience proves that, next to the Word of God, only music deserves being extolled as the mistress and governess of the feelings of the human heart….A greater praise than this we cannot imagine.

Again, in a letter to the composer Ludwig Senfl, Luther wrote:

There are, without doubt, in the human heart many seed-grains of virtue which are stirred up by music. All those with whom this is not the case I regard as blockheads and senseless stones. For we know that to the devils music is something altogether hateful and unbearable. I am not ashamed to confess publicly that next to theology there is no art which is the equal of music. For it alone, after theology, can do what otherwise only theology can accomplish, namely, quiet and cheer up the soul of man, which is clear evidence that the devil, the originator of depressing worries and troubled thoughts, flees from the voice of music just as he flees from the words of theology. For this very reason the prophets cultivated no art so much as music in that they attached their theology not to geometry, nor to arithmetic, nor to astronomy, but to music, speaking the truth through psalms and hymns.[3]

That is well said, and said, I might add, as only Luther could say it. Here, in Exodus 15, we have the two arts, theology and music, walking together in a most striking fashion. It would seem that one of the primary reasons for this outburst of song was the jaw-dropping display of power that God revealed in His destruction of the Egyptian army.

The beginning of the song is filled with wonder at the power of God: “He has triumphed,” “the horse and the rider He has cast into the sea,” “the Lord is my strength,” “the Lord is a man of war,” “He cast [them] into the sea,” “Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy,” “the greatness of your majesty,” “you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.” Then we see the amazing metaphor, “at the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up…the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.” “You blew with your wind…they sank like lead.”

This is a picture not only of the strength and power of God, but also of the devastating totality of His victory over Egypt. Terence Fretheim summarized this latter thought with the memorable phrase, “the defeat of the Hitlerian horde is total.”[4]

Let us be sure of this: there is none that matches the Lord God in power and strength.

Do you remember the scene in the film “Forrest Gump” when Lt. Dan hoists himself to the top of the mast of Forrest’s shrimping boat and angrily shouts at God in the midst of the storm? As he screams defiantly toward heaven, Lt. Dan asks, “Is that the best you’ve got?!”

It is a memorable scene, but the answer to the question is, “Of course not.” If the Lord God of heaven and earth were to unleash the best He’s got, we would all be instantaneously obliterated. His might is complete and without weakness!

God is unparalleled.

This was the conclusion the Israelites drew from God’s display of power: there is none like God. He is unparalleled. He is matchless.

¹¹ “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? ¹² You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. ¹³  “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

It is a wonderful rhetorical question, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?” None! None are like our great God!

In Psalm 113:5, the Psalmist asks, “Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high?” In Jeremiah 10, the prophet said:

⁶ No one is like you, Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. ⁷ Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.

There was even a name in the ancient world that meant, “Who is like God?” That name is Michael, which is a transliteration of the Hebrew question, “Who is like God?” In Latin that is, “Quis ut Deus,” and it is sometimes associated with the archangel Michael in Christian art, iconography, and statuary.

It is a question that is worthy of being asked, and the answer must never be forgotten: “No one.” “No one is like our God.”

¹¹ “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? ¹² You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. ¹³  “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

His is matchless, the Israelites sang, in His majesty, holiness, glorious deeds, and works of wonder. Furthermore, He is matchless in His steadfast love, His redemption, and His provision for His people.

There is no one like our God!

God is terrifying in His wrath.

Furthermore, He is terrifying in His wrath. The song moves on to the trembling responses of the people who observe the might of God.

¹⁴ The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. ¹⁶ Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

Notice the reactions of the people: trembling, pangs of terror, dismay, the leaders tremble, the pagan peoples melt away, terror, dread, and the people are frozen in horror like stone. Let us make no mistake: when God reveals His wrath, it is a horrifying thing to see.

“In the holy war,” writes Douglas Stuart, “one of God’s weapons is psychological affliction, the creation of fear and cowardice in an enemy that might otherwise pose a formidable obstacle to the well-being of his people.”[5] That is true, but it would be better to say that God simple reveals His awesome power and holiness and the psychological affliction comes naturally. God does not have to aim to terrify. He simply has to pull back the curtain just enough for those who oppose Him and His people to see who He is.

In his novel Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy has an old Mennonite give this warning to the murderous soldiers who had entered Mexico to hunt marauding bands of Apache Indians:

The wrath of God lies sleeping. It was hid a million years before men were and only men have power to wake it. Hell aint half full. Hear me. Ye carry war of a madman’s making onto a foreign land. Ye’ll wake more than the dogs.[6]

“Ye’ll wake more than the dogs.” It is a terrifying thing to “wake” (to use McCarthy’s metaphor) a wrathful God with one’s wickedness and evil!

We are not in a Church age that appreciates the reality of the wrath of God. We are in a Church age that rather elevates God’s tenderness and gentleness to the exclusion of His wrath. Richard John Neuhaus offered a troubling example of this some years back, in this case concerning God’s flooding of the earth in Genesis.

Mr. Miles reportedly approves of Episcopal Church guidelines for teaching the flood in Sunday School. Harold O. J. Brown is of a different view: “Because children love pets, it could be extremely disagreeable to them to hear that God destroyed all of the animals (not to mention the people, of course). For this reason, this destructive, vengeful aspect is to be played down, and the totally unrelated Twenty-third Psalm, with God as the Good Shepherd, is to be introduced as a kind of counterpoint. The rainbow after the Flood, rather than the destructive Deluge itself, is to be emphasized, and each child given a card with a little rainbow on it. The message, of course, is that God is Very Nice and would not do anything mean or nasty. This is all quite sweet, of course, but it does totally obfuscate one essential part of the Deluge account, namely, that God is not willing to tolerate human depravity indefinitely and that human evil will bring destruction upon nature and upon innocent bystanders as well as on the evildoers themselves-a message that might seem particularly appropriate in an age of terrorism and environmental pollution.”[7]

I daresay the Israelites did not wish to shield their children from the reality of the awful wrath of God against wickedness and evil. Remember, their children presumably joined with them in singing this song. The people of God, like the people of the world, dare not forget God’s wrath. For the people of the world, it leads to fear and trembling. For the people of God, it leads ultimately to deeper love for our God. F.W. Faber rightly wrote:

They love thee, little, if at all,

Who do not fear thee much

If love is thine attraction, Lord!

Fear is thy very touch.[8]

Yes, God is perfect in His wrath just as He is in His love, but His people are the objects of His love. The Lord Jesus has satisfied the wrath of God on the cross and opened the door to the loving heart of the Father.

God is faithful to His people.

The song concludes with a beautiful proclamation of the faithfulness of God.

¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. ¹⁸ The Lord will reign forever and ever.” ¹⁹ For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. ²⁰ Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. ²¹ And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

The conclusion of the song contrasts with the beginning of the song: the army of Egypt is destroyed by the awesome power of God, but that same power saved the Israelites. The walls of water collapsed on Pharaoh like a cataract of death, but not until God’s people walked through on dry land. The Egyptian horde would never again return to their homeland, but the people of God would ultimately be delivered to theirs.

The power that destroys is the power that saves, for it all emanates from the wise hand of God. He is perfect in wrath and perfect in mercy. He is perfect in justice and perfect in grace. He is strong and He is tender. He is ferocious and He is gentle. He thunders and He whispers.

He is not schizophrenic in His properties and attributes. Rather, our minds cannot conceive of the perfect harmony of His own holiness and totality.

He is the thundering Lord over the Red Sea…and He is the crying baby of Bethlehem. He is the God who crushes the wicked. He is the God who offers salvation and forgiveness to the wicked.

He is God. See Him as He is.

We occasionally sing the hymn, “Behold Our God,” interestingly subtitled, “Who Has Held the Oceans.” Its lyrics will be our conclusion.

Who has held the oceans in His hands?

Who has numbered every grain of sand?

Kings and nations tremble at His voice

All creation rises to rejoice

Behold our God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him

Behold our King nothing can compare

Come let us adore Him!

Who has given counsel to the Lord?

Who can question any of His Words?

Who can teach the One who knows all things?

Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds?

Behold our God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him

Behold our King nothing can compare

Come let us adore Him!

Who has felt the nails upon His hands

Bearing all the guilt of sinful man?

God eternal humbled to the grave

Jesus, Savior risen now to reign!

Behold our God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him

Behold our King nothing can compare

Come let us adore Him!

Men: You will reign forever!

Women: Let Your glory fill the earth

Behold our God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him

Behold our King nothing can compare

Come let us adore Him! [9]

Amen. And Amen.

  

[1] Quoted in Arthur W. Pink, Gleanings in Exodus. (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1981), p.113.

[2] Charles Henry Mackintosh, Notes on the Book of Exodus. (New York, NY: Loizeaux Brothers, 1862), 195,192.

[3] Quoted in https://www.wlsessays.net/files/EggertLuther.pdf

[4] Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus. Interpretation (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), p.169.

[5] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus. The New American Commentary. Vol 2. Gen. Ed., E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2006), p.359.

[6] McCarthy, Cormac (2010-08-11). Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West (Vintage International) (p. 39). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[7] RJN, “While We’re At It,” First Things. December 1996.

[8] Calvin Miller, The Path of Celtic Prayer: An Ancient Way to Everyday Joy (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Books, 2007), p.155.

[9] https://www.sovereigngracemusic.org/Songs/Behold_Our_God_(Who_has_held_the_oceans)/1