The Song of Moses - a
Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving
This Chapter, which includes the Song of Moses, is one of the greater chapters
of the Bible in my humble opinion. It sets the tone and tenor for the attitude
of continual prayer in our lives – to include the asking, thanking and
praising, of God. We always ask the Lord to bless the food we eat but, after
the meal, how many return thanks to Him for the gift that He has given?
1 Then
sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake,
saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. (Ex 15:1)
Since Egypt is spiritually the Land (life) of Sin, the horse
could very easily be compared to the world and its power. The rider is Satan.
The Song of Moses is the first recorded song, or of singing, in the Bible.
Moses' hymn, as most hymns do, contains four intertwined elements:
11 It tells the story of salvation,
in this case the exodus, in fairly detailed terms. Hymns tell the story in
poetic fullness of what God has done.
22 In telling the story hymns also
describe the majesty and power of God. God is known because of what God has
done.
33 Glory is ascribed to God for
salvation. God is not just sung about, but actual praise and glory is rendered
unto God.
44 There is a forward looking
element as to what God is going to do. For Moses that entailed being led into
the Promised Land.
In many of our Christian hymns the last verse is either
about heaven or Christ's return. Thus, hymns lyrically spell out what God has
done, who God is, and what God is going to do, and that all glory belongs to
God because of who God is, what God has done, and what God is going to do. The
fullness of the story is important in order to know God and to know one's
salvation. Without the details we do not know why we are singing.
So Moses begins his Song (he is the author of it), which is also a prayer, just
as is every proper hymn of the Church, with praises for the mighty power of
God. He continues, The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my
salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God,
and I will exalt him. (Ex 15:2) This verse introduces a novel
concept, theologically speaking. Of course God is our Salvation, but how do we
prepare for Him “an habitation?” Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the
temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple
ye are. (1 Cor 3:16-17) God’s Temple is pure and free
of sin. He will not abide sin in His Temple. So, if you will be the Temple of
God, you must have your soul washed free of sin by the Blood of that Passover
Lamb of God – Jesus Christ. In a profound way, Moses was a type of Christ in
that God used him to fulfill His will for Israel, and it was the outstretched
arm of Moses over the Sea that stood in the stead of God’s.
3 The
LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. 4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host
hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
5 The depths have covered them:
they sank into the bottom as a stone. 6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is
become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the
enemy. (Ex 15:3-6) Let not the modern, weak-kneed liberal theologian hear
that the Lord is a “Man of War” for it flies in the face of his pacifist
and compromising notions. He prefers to hide under the skirts of the state
claiming that separation to be mandated by God when it truly comes from an
altogether different source. He will stand up for no Godly law that contradicts
the dictates of the state. I am happy to know that our forefathers were of an
altogether different mold.
One amazing point made in verse 4: Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he
cast into the sea. He cast them into the sea by their own volition. Every
man, in rejecting God, is opting for Hell. If we are destined for Hell, we are
destined by our own choices.
And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose
up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
(Ex 15:7)
Pharaoh denied the Children of Israel their freedom. When one opposes the
setting free of the people of God, one rises up in revolt against God Himself.
Forget not that God is a Consuming Fire! For our God is a consuming
fire. (Heb 12:29) The Scriptures tell me that
this same destruction of the wicked will occur again at the last trumpet. And
with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods
stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
(Ex 15:8)
As we learned earlier, that blast was of a strong east wind from across the
eastside of the Red Sea (the Empty Quarter – largest desert in the world whose
air is devoid of moisture). In the path beneath the Sea, God made the dry, hot
wind to dry up the ground over which Israel passed. Yet, on either side, the
waters were frozen erect (congealed). Both fire and ice - treasures of Sun and
treasures of the snow – are bound up in the Hand of God. Moses uses beautiful
imagery, yet his vocabulary is insufficient to describe the full wonders of God
– and so is ours so limited.
The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my
lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy
them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as
lead in the mighty waters. (Ex 15:9-10) The pride of potentates and
empires are crushed in the Hand of an angry God. His plans are spoiled and he
is destroyed by the same wind that saved the people of God – Israel. Weighed
down by their armaments of war which were conceived to destroy others, they
perished with the help of that heavy weight. Pharaoh (a good type of Satan) has
sorrowed at letting God’s people go free, and, like Satan, he cannot rest until
he has reclaimed for Hell the souls he has lost to Heaven. But his very plan
resulted in his own demise. He who walks on the waters of the sea has command
of those waters.
Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy
right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the
people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy
holy habitation. (Ex 15:11-13) The Egyptians considered
Pharaoh to be their greatest god – even greater than their frogs (sorry, had to
point that one out!), yet he fell by his own miserable plan. There is but one
God, and no others. Neither angels, mighty men, nor demons can stand in His
place. The same mercy that saved His people Israel was the obverse side of His
wrath that destroyed a nation’s army in the Red Sea.
The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the
inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty
men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan
shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine
arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till
the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. (Ex
15:14-16) That same
fear that is the “beginning of knowledge” to the people of God is that which
obsesses the wicked world and its peoples. The fear that possesses an
unbeliever drives him further and further from God. That which thrives in the
heart of the believer draws him nearer and nearer to God. How did the Old
Testament saints gain their salvation and acquire the privileges of the
Passover (Christ)? Though the Redeemer had yet to suffer at Calvary, the deed
was as good as done, for God had mandated the same. These were purchased by the
same Blood of the Lamb as were you and I. God uses the fear instilled in the
heart of the wicked of the land to prepare the way for His people to take hold
of the Promised Land. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the
mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for
thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
(Ex 15:17)
The Mountain of God is the destiny of all who are received by Grace. The
Sanctuary of the Lord is not made by human hands, but by the Hand of God. (This
may disappoint some of the empire builders of our day in evangelism).
The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went
in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought
again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry
land in the midst of the sea. (Ex 15:18-19) Lucifer, too, fell like
lightning from Heaven along with his angels. He was cast down in the same way
as his type and symbol, personified in Pharaoh, went down into the depths of
the Sea.
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand;
and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam
answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. (Ex
15:20-21)
Antiphonal singing being an ancient and traditional trademark of Anglicanism, I
lay claim that Moses was an Anglican (smile)! Miriam and the ladies answer to
the Son of Moses in the same way hymns were sung in the Reformation Church of
England. When we join our own voices of ascent to truth and praise, the greater
is the faith made whole.
So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the
wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no
water. (Ex 15:22) Who led Israel in this
direction? It was that Pillar of Cloud by Day and Fire by Night (Jesus Christ).
So why were they led to a place where there was no water? Because God never
fails to provide, and He desires His people to know this by faith! And when
they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were
bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. (Ex
15:23) You will
recall from our study of the Book of Ruth that the women of Bethlehem called
Naomi by her name (Pleasant) but she scolded them and told them to call her
Mara (Bitter), for the Lord had dealt bitterly with her. The water will always
be bitter (Marah) when we are not in the Way of the Lord. Impure waters must be
made pure. The Water of Life does just that! And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he cried unto the LORD; and
the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters
were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there
he proved them.
(Ex 15:24-25)
It was the Lord Himself, not Moses who had brought the Children to this place.
Yet, they find a man to murmur against when, in truth, it is the Lord against
whom they raise their voices. The same is true today of ministers who preach
courageously the whole counsel of God rather than the choice cuts of meat.
The voices of the people will rise against that minister, but are really raised
against God.
That Sweet Tree prefigures the Cross of Christ, in my opinion. Read what Dr.
Gill says: “. . .whether these bitter waters are considered as an emblem of
the bitter curses of the law, for that bitter thing sin, which makes work for
bitter repentance; and for which the law writes bitter things against the
sinner, which, if not prevented, would issue in the bitterness of death; so
that a sensible sinner can have nothing to do with it, nor can it yield him any
peace or comfort: but Christ, the tree of life, being made under the law, and
immersed in sufferings, the penalty of it, and made a curse, the law is
fulfilled, the curse and wrath of God removed, the sinner can look upon it with
pleasure and obey it with delight: or whether these may be thought to represent
the afflictions of God's people, comparable to water for their multitude, and
for their overflowing and overwhelming nature, and to bitter ones, being
grievous to the flesh; especially when God hides his face and they are thought
to be in wrath: but these are sweetened through the presence of Christ, the
shedding abroad of his love in the heart, the gracious promises he makes and
applies, and especially through his bitter sufferings and death, and the fruits
and effects thereof, which support, refresh, and cheer” Gill, John
(2012-01-29). Gill's Bible Commentary.
The passage today ends with a promise that is given to all of faith: And
said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and
wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his
commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth
thee. And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore
and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters. (Ex
15:26-27) Twelve is
a number of perfection. That perfection, or completeness, was illustrated by
the selection of the Twelve Apostles. Obedience to the Commandments of God
dispenses with the plagues and diseases of the world. God gave them not as
shackles, but as healing anchors of the soul. The diseases of promiscuity are
not found among those who keep the Commandment on not committing adultery. The
body is made healthy by the 7th day of rest. The confused heart is
settled by the belief in One God and not a multitude of gods – all of whom
demand perfect obedience. Society and government is made perfect by keeping God’s
Commandments against lying, stealing, coveting, etc. God gave us His Law for
our good and not our hurt.
