God alone is The Miracle Maker…
“There was never miracle wrought by God to convert an atheist, because the light of nature might have led him to confess a God: but miracles have been wrought to convert idolaters and the superstitious, because no light of nature extendeth to declare the will and true worship of God.”
— Sir Francis Bacon
Freedom at last
The people of Israel are now only a few months into their journey and reach a dead end.
Worse yet, Pharaoh has again changed his mind and is coming after them.
These chapters show us the power of God as the Red Sea is parted and the people again rejoice over God’s victory over the enemy. But bitter waters are ahead.
Read Exodus 14
Crossing the Red Sea (Chap. 14)
14:1–9 Chapter 14 is one of the most dramatic in the whole Bible. The Lord directed the children of Israel southward to Pi Hahiroth, somewhere west of the Red Sea.
This made escape seem impossible, but made the subsequent miracle more marvelous.
Pharaoh thought they were trapped and set out after them with his army of six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them.
Pharaoh’s overtaking the two million apparently helpless Israelites camping by the sea and shut in between the two is probably the origin of the popular idiom for a terrible dilemma:
“Between the devil (Pharaoh) and the deep blue (Red!) sea.”
14:10–14 When the children of Israel raised their eyes and saw the Egyptian army marching after them they were naturally petrified, but wisely cried out to the LORD.
Yet they quickly complained to the Lord’s leader, Moses, as they had once before (5:21), saying it would have been better for them to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.
This was sheer unbelief on their part, and not the last instance, by any means.
Moses then tells them in verse 14,
“The LORD will fight for you, and you will keep silent.”
No longer timid, Moses told them to “stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD.”
14:15–18 One of the greatest miracles in all history was about to occur:
The LORD said to Moses, …
“Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”
Regarding God’s hardening of the hearts of the Egyptians, and gaining honor over Pharaoh and over all his military might, Matthew Henry writes:
“It is a righteous thing with God to put those under the impressions of His wrath who have long resisted the influences of His grace.”
It is spoken in a way of triumph over this obstinate and presumptuous rebel.
14:19–28 The Angel of God took His place as a pillar of cloud at the rear of the host of Israel, protecting them from the Egyptians.
The pillar of cloud provided light for the Israelites and darkness for the Egyptians.
At Moses’ bidding the Red Sea parted, forming two walls of water with a path of dry land between.
The Israelites passed through safely, but when Pharaoh’s army tried to follow, the LORD … troubled them and disabled their chariots so that they drove them with difficulty.
Before they could retreat, the sea closed in on them at Moses’ command.
Not so much as one of them remained.
The same faith that opened up the Red Sea enables us to do the impossible when we are moving forward in the will of God.
14:29–31 The crossing of the Red Sea is set forth as the greatest display of God’s power in the OT, but the greatest power of all time is that which raised Christ from the dead.
Note that the same Pharaoh who had said that Moses would never again see his face and live (see 10:28) now asked for Moses to come and see him.
Just as God had predicted, Pharaoh then ordered the Israelites to leave his land.
Israel . . . believed in the LORD.
The same wording is used of Abraham’s saving faith in Genesis 15:6 (see also Ro 4).
The people were transformed spiritually even as they were delivered physically.
Pharaoh implicitly recognized the Lord’s power as he asked Moses to bless him.
However he never formally admitted that the Lord is God and that he, Pharaoh, was not.
Life Application
Do you sometimes get impatient with God when He takes you the longer route?
Accept the path He has placed you on and be content with God’s purpose in your life.
Encourage others who are dissatisfied in their own circumstances to do the same—even if it all seems wet and wild right now!
Remember that God oversees and knows of every detail in our life – and that includes The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!
And His promise, in Romans 8:28, is that He will work EVERY DETAIL together for our good, to all those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Worthy Brief
BEHOLD THE GOD OF BREAD AND WAR!
“The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
— Exodus 14:14
The Hebrew language contains numerous words that have the same root yet vast differences in meaning.
On deeper examination however, these words can be related in illuminating ways.
For example, the three Hebrew letters –“Lamed”, “Chet”, and “Mem”– which spell, “lechem”, or “bread” in English, are also the root letters for “fight” (lehilachem) and “war” (milchama).
For centuries Rabbis have discussed and debated the connection between these three words.
Some Rabbis wrote that ancient wars were primarily fought over bread (economic/sustenance).
Others wrote that in order to make bread, you have to beat or kneed the dough.
Still others suggested that man first has to sweat and struggle for his daily bread from the ground [Genesis 3:19], and then again, struggle with his fellow man to keep it.
These explanations begin to establish a possible connection…
Interestingly, the book of Exodus contains these root-related words within a span of three chapters.
As the children of Israel were leaving Egypt they found themselves surrounded, with the Red Sea before them and the army of Egypt behind.
At this critical point Exodus 14:14 declares,
“YHVH will fight for you (yilachem lachem); and you will be silent.”
Then, Moses and Miriam’s victory song in chapter 15 exults,
“YHVH is a man of war,” “YHVH Milchama.”
Further on in Exodus 16, we read that God provided bread (lechem) from heaven!
We can begin to observe that the root letters of words in the Hebrew language are not haphazard or accidental.
And while it may seem obscure, what we find in these chapters in Exodus, words derived from the the same root,
(“lamed”, “chet”, “mem”) actually foreshadow a New Testament reality in the life, identity and work of Yeshua the Messiah, who is the perfect image and expression of YHVH.
John 6:48 reveals Yeshua’s (Jesus’) identity as our bread (“lechem”) of life; then, Revelation 19:11 reveals a “rider… called Faithful and True.
With justice he judges and wages war (milchama”).
Know that the Lord has you covered in every way!
He is the one who FIGHTS for you, and the one who PROVIDES for your every need.
The “root connection” between these two words can be no accident when we realize that the Living Word Himself gave them as a testimony to these essential aspects of His love and care for us.
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George, Baht Rivka, Obadiah and Elianna (Dallas, TX)
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
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