Exodus 13-19. The Exodus - From Egypt To Sinai
During the night of the Passover while the Angel of Death stalked the land and the Egyptian first born were being sacrificed in death, the Pharaoh summoned Moses and commanded him to get out of Egypt. The Egyptians had finally had enough - for the moment - of God's judgment on them, and they hastened the Israelites along in their escape lest all of the Egyptians die that night. Whatever the Israelites requested for their flight, the Egyptians gave them just to rid themselves of these people and get them away from their presence. Thus, 12:36, "the Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians." The entire exodus event that dreadful and happy night was so sudden and so fast that the Israelites did not even have time to leaven their dough for the next day's bread. They just picked it up and carried it with them as it was. It became their food for the next seven days on their hasty journey ithrough the wilderness (Exodus 12:39; Exodus 12::14-15). They even remembered in this confusion to take the bones of Joseph with them (Exodus 13:19). The deliverance hour was exactly 430 years TO THE VERY DAY, Exodus 12:40,41, (another reminder to Satan and to God's people of promise that God's program was on time and sure) as the Lord had spoken it in Genesis 15:13, 14. They were now on their way to the land that God had promised them in Genesis 15:16, 18-21, which was a token, picture, and symbol of the entire world that YHWH would give Abraham's Heir, Christ, and those heirs of Christ who were in Him and given to Him by the Father (Romans 4:13).
The way to Canaan was rather short and direct, right up around the Southeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea. But God did not take them that way. They were headed for Canaan, just not yet. Before they arrived in Canaan, God was going to take His people into the wilderness where He would perform the final stage of the deliverance of His people from Egypt. After that dramatic deliverance, He would add a new covenant of grace (Galatians 4:19) to the covenant with Abraham. This new covenant with Moses and Israel would be a precursor to the righteousness of the new order of Eden that would be re-instituted when the Redeemer fulfilled all things and once and for all crushed the Tempter's wicked head. God keeping His promises to Abraham and his descendants with deliverance from oppressive Egyptian masters resulted in new covenant relationships with obligations and stipulations. YHWH was their God and they were His people. So a new perspective of what it meant to be in relationship with a covenant God was about to be revealed, and the Lord was taking them to that place.
In addition to this, Israel had never prepared for what they must do when they got to Canaan, namely engage in warfare with the occupants who presently held the rights of possession. They had been slaves under the rule of another nation for a long time. They had not ruled themselves or fought in battle. They had not followed military leaders. They had not learned to trust, worship, or obey the God who led them and kept promises with them. They had seen His power to deliver them, but they had not yet seen His power to sustain them when there was absolutely no hope whatsoever. Nor had they seen Him go before them in battle. All that was about to be put on display on their behalf. This is basically stated in Exodus 13:17,18, "God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.' So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle."
What Route Did Israel Follow When They Left Egypt?
One of the intriguing questions asked about the Exodus is: What route did the Israelites take when they exited Egypt? There are three maps to view. The first map below tracks the traditional route that they traveled. This basic map is found in the back of nearly every Bible and study Bible. Mt. Sinai is located near the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula, and the Red Sea crossing is very near Egypt itself across the Gulf of Suez. (See link at top to view map 1)
But Bible students disagree on this just as they do on almost everything else the Bible says. The second map below (See link at top to view map 2) shows an alternative route that the Israelites took in escaping Egypt. In this map, Mt. Sinai is located on the east side of the Gulf of Aqaba and the crossing of the Red Sea is in the middle of that Gulf. There is a natural land bridge located at that location around which the Gulf of Aqaba is over one mile deep. This land bridge - approximately 8-10 miles across the Gulf and about one-half mile wide - dips 6 degrees into and up out of the Gulf to a depth of 900 feet and would have accommodated two to four million living things crossing the Red Sea in a single night. There is good topographical, chronological, archeological, and Biblically historical evidence found in the following two web pages for this route to be preferred:
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/bb971126.htm
http://www.specialtyinterests.net/exodus.html#phys
In the third map below (See link at top to view map 3), there is even a third proposed route for the Exodus. It follows the first part of the route charted in Map 1, but it has Israel crossing the Red Sea at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba and locates Mt. Sinai on the east side of the Gulf of Aqaba just like the second map below.
Regardless of which way was the correct one, the Bible identifies the names of the locations on Israel's route, and we know that in exactly 46 days after the Passover, the Israelites were sitting before Mount Sinai in the wilderness of the Sinai Desert. In those 46 days, they saw incredible demonstrations of God's power to protect them and the Seed of Eve that they transported and protected as a nation.
Rarely will one hear about what was really going on behind the scenes in this part of Scripture. The route that Israel took out of Egypt, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the destruction of Egypt's army, and a number of other phenomenal things the children of Israel endured are all given attention. But how this relates to the great story of redemption and Satan's relentless hunt and attempt to destroy his promised Conqueror - which is what gives meaning to all these events - is not so much as mentioned.
Egypt to Sinai
Israel was now free and on the run from Egypt. Satan had heard all of God's promises in Genesis 12, 13, and 15, and he knew where Israel was headed - back to Canaan - to the symbol of all that was to be realized in God's Seed through Abraham. So Satan's sinister objective was clear: prevent Israel from getting back to Canaan, or, if they did get there, unleash a torrent of violence upon Israel to wipe them and their Redeemer out lest God's promise be fulfilled and Satan have his heads crushed. If they did get to Canaan, Satan was already well-positioned there already. The Philistines, tough customers, were already dug in. Satan had been thinking ahead. He had had several hundred years to get ready and be established in the token land of promise. He had a firm grip on that territory. Sin was well developed there in the inhabitants of that land, and they would be waiting for Israel's arrival at the front door when and if they ever showed up. Hopefully, he could prevent that. He was going to cut them off long before they set foot in Canaan by using the wrath of the still existent Pharaoh and his overwhelming army to overtake the Jews in the desert where there was no protection, favoritism, water, or food to sustain their strength or lives. He would back Israel into a corner and then ruthlessly exterminate them and the Redeemer at the same time. The wilderness was hostile and unforgiving to Israel in every way and was a perfect place for Satan to isolate his prey and crush them.
But as Israel and the Lord's Redeemer trekked across the Sinai Peninsula, they were adequately shepherded, led, and protected by YHWH, the covenant keeping God and Lord of Egypt and all other nations. By following a continuously visible pillar of cloud by day or a brilliant pillar of fire by night, the Lord walked ahead of Israel for six days and nearly 200 miles as He guided them across the desert. No matter the time of day or night, there was constant assurance that the God of the universe was leading and lighting their way. He did not leave them or cease to remind them of this (Exodus 13:20-22).
However, the Lord not only set Israel's path; He was also laying carpet that would completely and utterly remove Egypt once and for all as a threat to Israel's rear flank. If the second map above is correct, then the Lord had brought Israel to the wall of the Red Sea. They were hemmed in by the desert on their north, west, and south side and the Sea on their east side. In Exodus 14:1-5, the Lord directed Israel back towards Egypt as a ruse to make Egypt think that Israel was trapped. Trackers and spies probably followed Israel. There were no doubt other Egyptian presences and fortification towers (known as migdols) for observation purposes in the surrounding desert that could warn Egypt of approaching enemies and could see the mass exodus of humans and herds of out of Egypt. So signals were sent and word was brought back to the Pharaoh about this populace and the predicament it was facing. It was this situation that made the Egyptians come to their senses. The Israelites were responsible for Egypt's ruin, devastation, and sorrows, and the Egyptians realized they had just released their SLAVES and all their services to put Egypt back in order - and they wanted them back (Exodus 14:5). In Exodus 14:4,8, the Lord said, "I will hardenPharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am YHWH...YHWH hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites…" So Egypt was pulled into their own destruction by the sovereign will of God, which determined to bring retribution and the end upon them. It was another reminder to Israel that God's power was not obstructed by a desert that was bereft of defenses or food and water. It would also be a warning to every nation in Israel's path on the way to Canaan that their God would terrorize any nation who stood in their way. Time and again Satan was reminded that his pursuit of the Redeemer was in vain. The promise of God to crush his head would roll to its final conclusion eventually.
It is estimated that the journey from the Passover in Goshen to the shore of the Red Sea was six days, or about 200 miles. The unleavened bread that Israel brought with them was enough to cover their physical needs to this point. Resting only to eat, they arrived at the Red Sea with no apparent way to cross it. As Israel sat in the desert waiting for the Lord to lead them further on to Canaan, behind Israel charged the entirearmy of the Pharaoh, an enormous force of 251,000 foot soldiers. This daunting force overtook Israel in Exodus 14:9.
What happened next is a dramatic story that we can in some way visualize because of the movie "The Ten Commandments" that Cecil B. DeMille produced in 1956. The actual story is in Exodus 14:10-31. In daylight, Moses raised his staff and the Red Sea waters rolled back like a scroll as high walls of water stood on each side of a dry highway between the western and eastern shores across the Red Sea. It was not a narrow corridor as seen in Sunday School lessons. It was wide enough to take a nation of two million-plus people and all their livestock across in one night. To prevent the Egyptians from closing in, the Cloud that always stood in front of Israel moved ominously to Israel's rear position and stood between them and the Egyptians. The Cloud shrouded Egypt in complete darkness, fear, and confusion on one side so that they could not move while brilliant light lit Israel's way on the other side.
As the night progressed and Israel moved the last of her people into the dry highway with multistory walls of water standing over them, at some point the Cloud departed or withdrew its blinding effect from Egypt's army. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 14:17,18), and Egypt tore after Israel down into the Red Sea bed. When they were all within the confines of the Sea's walls, the Lord brought confusion upon Egypt's mighty war machine by making the wheels come off their chariots so that they could not move. It was then that Egypt realized too late that the Lord was once again manipulating them as He had done under the 10 plagues. But this was the final judgment. As no doubt many frantically scrambled back to the safety of the western shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, at daybreak the Lord liquefied the frozen walls of water that came back together like cymbals and slammed all of Pharaoh's army with giant, powerful waves like a tsunami into a watery grave. No one survived. An army of 251,000 soldiers, chariots, and horsemen drowned. The proposed murderers of the Seed of Eve were "...lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him…" (Exodus 14:31). Thus ended the lesson. As an immediate response in Exodus 15, Moses and Miriam, Moses' sister, worshiped the Lord in song and awed the infinite power, terrifying wrath, holiness, glory, and faithfulness of their wonder-working God of covenant promise. This was the exact reason that Moses told Pharaoh the Lord had sent him to take the people from Egypt - "Let my people go, so they can WORSHIP ME in the wilderness." This reason for the release of Israel from Egypt is repeated in Exodus 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, and 10:3, It was just the beginning of infinite, unparalleled, and humbling reasons to worship and serve YHWH and would culminate in the most comprehensive catalogue of the worship of God that the world has ever seen at Sinai.
Israel was now safe at last and once and for all from Egypt, and though they were in a desert with their provisions from Egypt virtually at an end, the Lord took over three days east of the Red Sea and provisioned His people abundantly from His storehouse in a barren desert. First came the most needed commodity of all, sweet water at Marah from a bitter source in the Desert of Shur. More water was provided at Elim (Exodus 15). And the water kept coming. It poured from later still from a bone dry rock (Exodus 17). Then came the cuisine. An endless supply of food for the Redeemer's cradle of millions of people was miraculously laid out on the desolate table of the desert every morning and night for the next forty years in the form of manna and quail (Exodus 16).
Satan left the spent and broken carcasses of his Egyptian peons on the shores of the Red Sea and quickly entered into league with the Amalekites who "was the first among the nations" (Numbers 24:20) to make war with Israel. They would be long-standing enemies of the Israeli nation. Unfortunately for the Amalekites, as a tool in Satan's hands against the Redeemer, the Lord said, "I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven...the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation." (Exodus 17:14,15). The Amalekites were not Philistines. Unbelievably, It appears they were descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. The Promise to Abraham bypassed Esau and absorbed the seed of Jacob's family. Though closely related to the Promise, Esau took foreign wives. His generations descended into idolatry and stood against the Promise. But their attack was ineffectual and came to nothing.
Sinai
At last Israel came to the mountain of God, Sinai (Exodus 19), a month and a half after the last plague in Egypt. The Lord said to Moses in 19:4, "I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." This is a reference to the speediness and precise logistics of the trip to this spot by having been led and protected by a pillar of cloud and fire and having sustained nearly 4 million living things with drink, meat, and manna IN A WILDERNESS WHERE THERE WAS NOTHING while being chased by a quarter of a million murderers who were completely wiped out. It was also reference to a successful miraculous crossing of the Gulf of Aqaba BY LIGHT in the middle of the night, a short WAR with the Amalekites just days later, and all this accomplished in spite of endless complaint and obstinacy to Moses' leadership. All this in 46 days. Without the Lord, Israel would not now be encamped safely at the foot of Sinai.
Up to this point, there have been remarkable events in the Bible. Some of the most foundational interpretive truths that will be carried forth to the end of Scripture have been presented. Unknowingly, Israel now stood at the door of what might be the most significant event in all the Bible, second only to the revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. This spot and what happened here would be one of the most referred to and difficult interpretive sections of the Bible by Christians and Jews alike. There is no doubt that it is the second major fork in the Biblical road past the Covenant with Abraham. We are talking about the soon giving of the Law at Sinai. The account of the giving of the Law stretches from Exodus 20 through Leviticus 27. It is a large section that contains what we call the Ten Commandments, the civil laws, and the ceremonial laws for the worship of God. It is dominated primarily by the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Words, which were engraved permanently by God's own finger on cold tablets of stone. These Ten Words summarize all the will of God. The laws that follow are merely applications and worship principles based on the Ten Commandments.
However, before these laws were given, there is an incredibly dramatic preamble of events leading up to the Ten Words that emphasized the magnitude, significance, and seriousness of what God is about to present to His people and the whole earth. Those events are found in Exodus 19. Explicit instructions are given to the people on how to prepare for what was coming. And for good reason. Awe-inspiring, frightening phenomena would follow. What was coming was a full revelation of the will of God to be obeyed by man.
To read Exodus 19 is to read what it is like to come into the presence of the God of this world, the Creator, the Holy One. Anyone you read about in Scripture who has ever had this experience invariably meets face to face with trauma. No less here when Israel herself faced the Creator and Judge of the world. To prepare for the occasion, the people were told to consecrate themselves by washing their clothes, abstaining from sexual relations, and constructing barriers around the base of the mountain where God would show Himself. They were warned severely that curiosity by any living thing to cross the line and approach God would be visited with death by being shot with arrows or stoned. This judgment was to be carried out by Israel upon the people who transgressed that line. What followed after three days of preparation would have preempted any attempt by anyone or anything to cross that line anyway.
On the third day, tongues of lightning began to lick Sinai. This was accompanied by ominous peals and claps of ear-splitting thunder. A dense, dark cloud came down and shrouded Sinai. Smoke belched off the summit. A violent earthquake shook land and hearts, loosing falling rock. A deafening, shrill trumpet blast that steadily intensified in decibels signaled God's approach as He descended in fire. The effect was predictable. Deep fear and trembling gripped the people, many of whom no doubt attempted to withdraw and flee or shudder under cover. This was the introduction to God and His Law. That Law was holy, inviolable, and to be obeyed in every detail, and God Himself accompanied it with His own presence to accent that point.
Lesson 12 will investigate the purpose of the Law and how it relates to the Covenant promise to Eve in the Garden of Eden and to the Covenant promise to Abraham. Understanding the Law rightly is to comprehend one of the largest interpretive concepts of the Bible, a major covenant in the history of redemption, the worship of God, and one's personal relationship to Him.
The way to Canaan was rather short and direct, right up around the Southeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea. But God did not take them that way. They were headed for Canaan, just not yet. Before they arrived in Canaan, God was going to take His people into the wilderness where He would perform the final stage of the deliverance of His people from Egypt. After that dramatic deliverance, He would add a new covenant of grace (Galatians 4:19) to the covenant with Abraham. This new covenant with Moses and Israel would be a precursor to the righteousness of the new order of Eden that would be re-instituted when the Redeemer fulfilled all things and once and for all crushed the Tempter's wicked head. God keeping His promises to Abraham and his descendants with deliverance from oppressive Egyptian masters resulted in new covenant relationships with obligations and stipulations. YHWH was their God and they were His people. So a new perspective of what it meant to be in relationship with a covenant God was about to be revealed, and the Lord was taking them to that place.
In addition to this, Israel had never prepared for what they must do when they got to Canaan, namely engage in warfare with the occupants who presently held the rights of possession. They had been slaves under the rule of another nation for a long time. They had not ruled themselves or fought in battle. They had not followed military leaders. They had not learned to trust, worship, or obey the God who led them and kept promises with them. They had seen His power to deliver them, but they had not yet seen His power to sustain them when there was absolutely no hope whatsoever. Nor had they seen Him go before them in battle. All that was about to be put on display on their behalf. This is basically stated in Exodus 13:17,18, "God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.' So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle."
What Route Did Israel Follow When They Left Egypt?
One of the intriguing questions asked about the Exodus is: What route did the Israelites take when they exited Egypt? There are three maps to view. The first map below tracks the traditional route that they traveled. This basic map is found in the back of nearly every Bible and study Bible. Mt. Sinai is located near the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula, and the Red Sea crossing is very near Egypt itself across the Gulf of Suez. (See link at top to view map 1)
But Bible students disagree on this just as they do on almost everything else the Bible says. The second map below (See link at top to view map 2) shows an alternative route that the Israelites took in escaping Egypt. In this map, Mt. Sinai is located on the east side of the Gulf of Aqaba and the crossing of the Red Sea is in the middle of that Gulf. There is a natural land bridge located at that location around which the Gulf of Aqaba is over one mile deep. This land bridge - approximately 8-10 miles across the Gulf and about one-half mile wide - dips 6 degrees into and up out of the Gulf to a depth of 900 feet and would have accommodated two to four million living things crossing the Red Sea in a single night. There is good topographical, chronological, archeological, and Biblically historical evidence found in the following two web pages for this route to be preferred:
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/bb971126.htm
http://www.specialtyinterests.net/exodus.html#phys
In the third map below (See link at top to view map 3), there is even a third proposed route for the Exodus. It follows the first part of the route charted in Map 1, but it has Israel crossing the Red Sea at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba and locates Mt. Sinai on the east side of the Gulf of Aqaba just like the second map below.
Regardless of which way was the correct one, the Bible identifies the names of the locations on Israel's route, and we know that in exactly 46 days after the Passover, the Israelites were sitting before Mount Sinai in the wilderness of the Sinai Desert. In those 46 days, they saw incredible demonstrations of God's power to protect them and the Seed of Eve that they transported and protected as a nation.
Rarely will one hear about what was really going on behind the scenes in this part of Scripture. The route that Israel took out of Egypt, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the destruction of Egypt's army, and a number of other phenomenal things the children of Israel endured are all given attention. But how this relates to the great story of redemption and Satan's relentless hunt and attempt to destroy his promised Conqueror - which is what gives meaning to all these events - is not so much as mentioned.
Egypt to Sinai
Israel was now free and on the run from Egypt. Satan had heard all of God's promises in Genesis 12, 13, and 15, and he knew where Israel was headed - back to Canaan - to the symbol of all that was to be realized in God's Seed through Abraham. So Satan's sinister objective was clear: prevent Israel from getting back to Canaan, or, if they did get there, unleash a torrent of violence upon Israel to wipe them and their Redeemer out lest God's promise be fulfilled and Satan have his heads crushed. If they did get to Canaan, Satan was already well-positioned there already. The Philistines, tough customers, were already dug in. Satan had been thinking ahead. He had had several hundred years to get ready and be established in the token land of promise. He had a firm grip on that territory. Sin was well developed there in the inhabitants of that land, and they would be waiting for Israel's arrival at the front door when and if they ever showed up. Hopefully, he could prevent that. He was going to cut them off long before they set foot in Canaan by using the wrath of the still existent Pharaoh and his overwhelming army to overtake the Jews in the desert where there was no protection, favoritism, water, or food to sustain their strength or lives. He would back Israel into a corner and then ruthlessly exterminate them and the Redeemer at the same time. The wilderness was hostile and unforgiving to Israel in every way and was a perfect place for Satan to isolate his prey and crush them.
But as Israel and the Lord's Redeemer trekked across the Sinai Peninsula, they were adequately shepherded, led, and protected by YHWH, the covenant keeping God and Lord of Egypt and all other nations. By following a continuously visible pillar of cloud by day or a brilliant pillar of fire by night, the Lord walked ahead of Israel for six days and nearly 200 miles as He guided them across the desert. No matter the time of day or night, there was constant assurance that the God of the universe was leading and lighting their way. He did not leave them or cease to remind them of this (Exodus 13:20-22).
However, the Lord not only set Israel's path; He was also laying carpet that would completely and utterly remove Egypt once and for all as a threat to Israel's rear flank. If the second map above is correct, then the Lord had brought Israel to the wall of the Red Sea. They were hemmed in by the desert on their north, west, and south side and the Sea on their east side. In Exodus 14:1-5, the Lord directed Israel back towards Egypt as a ruse to make Egypt think that Israel was trapped. Trackers and spies probably followed Israel. There were no doubt other Egyptian presences and fortification towers (known as migdols) for observation purposes in the surrounding desert that could warn Egypt of approaching enemies and could see the mass exodus of humans and herds of out of Egypt. So signals were sent and word was brought back to the Pharaoh about this populace and the predicament it was facing. It was this situation that made the Egyptians come to their senses. The Israelites were responsible for Egypt's ruin, devastation, and sorrows, and the Egyptians realized they had just released their SLAVES and all their services to put Egypt back in order - and they wanted them back (Exodus 14:5). In Exodus 14:4,8, the Lord said, "I will hardenPharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am YHWH...YHWH hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites…" So Egypt was pulled into their own destruction by the sovereign will of God, which determined to bring retribution and the end upon them. It was another reminder to Israel that God's power was not obstructed by a desert that was bereft of defenses or food and water. It would also be a warning to every nation in Israel's path on the way to Canaan that their God would terrorize any nation who stood in their way. Time and again Satan was reminded that his pursuit of the Redeemer was in vain. The promise of God to crush his head would roll to its final conclusion eventually.
It is estimated that the journey from the Passover in Goshen to the shore of the Red Sea was six days, or about 200 miles. The unleavened bread that Israel brought with them was enough to cover their physical needs to this point. Resting only to eat, they arrived at the Red Sea with no apparent way to cross it. As Israel sat in the desert waiting for the Lord to lead them further on to Canaan, behind Israel charged the entirearmy of the Pharaoh, an enormous force of 251,000 foot soldiers. This daunting force overtook Israel in Exodus 14:9.
What happened next is a dramatic story that we can in some way visualize because of the movie "The Ten Commandments" that Cecil B. DeMille produced in 1956. The actual story is in Exodus 14:10-31. In daylight, Moses raised his staff and the Red Sea waters rolled back like a scroll as high walls of water stood on each side of a dry highway between the western and eastern shores across the Red Sea. It was not a narrow corridor as seen in Sunday School lessons. It was wide enough to take a nation of two million-plus people and all their livestock across in one night. To prevent the Egyptians from closing in, the Cloud that always stood in front of Israel moved ominously to Israel's rear position and stood between them and the Egyptians. The Cloud shrouded Egypt in complete darkness, fear, and confusion on one side so that they could not move while brilliant light lit Israel's way on the other side.
As the night progressed and Israel moved the last of her people into the dry highway with multistory walls of water standing over them, at some point the Cloud departed or withdrew its blinding effect from Egypt's army. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 14:17,18), and Egypt tore after Israel down into the Red Sea bed. When they were all within the confines of the Sea's walls, the Lord brought confusion upon Egypt's mighty war machine by making the wheels come off their chariots so that they could not move. It was then that Egypt realized too late that the Lord was once again manipulating them as He had done under the 10 plagues. But this was the final judgment. As no doubt many frantically scrambled back to the safety of the western shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, at daybreak the Lord liquefied the frozen walls of water that came back together like cymbals and slammed all of Pharaoh's army with giant, powerful waves like a tsunami into a watery grave. No one survived. An army of 251,000 soldiers, chariots, and horsemen drowned. The proposed murderers of the Seed of Eve were "...lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him…" (Exodus 14:31). Thus ended the lesson. As an immediate response in Exodus 15, Moses and Miriam, Moses' sister, worshiped the Lord in song and awed the infinite power, terrifying wrath, holiness, glory, and faithfulness of their wonder-working God of covenant promise. This was the exact reason that Moses told Pharaoh the Lord had sent him to take the people from Egypt - "Let my people go, so they can WORSHIP ME in the wilderness." This reason for the release of Israel from Egypt is repeated in Exodus 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, and 10:3, It was just the beginning of infinite, unparalleled, and humbling reasons to worship and serve YHWH and would culminate in the most comprehensive catalogue of the worship of God that the world has ever seen at Sinai.
Israel was now safe at last and once and for all from Egypt, and though they were in a desert with their provisions from Egypt virtually at an end, the Lord took over three days east of the Red Sea and provisioned His people abundantly from His storehouse in a barren desert. First came the most needed commodity of all, sweet water at Marah from a bitter source in the Desert of Shur. More water was provided at Elim (Exodus 15). And the water kept coming. It poured from later still from a bone dry rock (Exodus 17). Then came the cuisine. An endless supply of food for the Redeemer's cradle of millions of people was miraculously laid out on the desolate table of the desert every morning and night for the next forty years in the form of manna and quail (Exodus 16).
Satan left the spent and broken carcasses of his Egyptian peons on the shores of the Red Sea and quickly entered into league with the Amalekites who "was the first among the nations" (Numbers 24:20) to make war with Israel. They would be long-standing enemies of the Israeli nation. Unfortunately for the Amalekites, as a tool in Satan's hands against the Redeemer, the Lord said, "I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven...the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation." (Exodus 17:14,15). The Amalekites were not Philistines. Unbelievably, It appears they were descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. The Promise to Abraham bypassed Esau and absorbed the seed of Jacob's family. Though closely related to the Promise, Esau took foreign wives. His generations descended into idolatry and stood against the Promise. But their attack was ineffectual and came to nothing.
Sinai
At last Israel came to the mountain of God, Sinai (Exodus 19), a month and a half after the last plague in Egypt. The Lord said to Moses in 19:4, "I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." This is a reference to the speediness and precise logistics of the trip to this spot by having been led and protected by a pillar of cloud and fire and having sustained nearly 4 million living things with drink, meat, and manna IN A WILDERNESS WHERE THERE WAS NOTHING while being chased by a quarter of a million murderers who were completely wiped out. It was also reference to a successful miraculous crossing of the Gulf of Aqaba BY LIGHT in the middle of the night, a short WAR with the Amalekites just days later, and all this accomplished in spite of endless complaint and obstinacy to Moses' leadership. All this in 46 days. Without the Lord, Israel would not now be encamped safely at the foot of Sinai.
Up to this point, there have been remarkable events in the Bible. Some of the most foundational interpretive truths that will be carried forth to the end of Scripture have been presented. Unknowingly, Israel now stood at the door of what might be the most significant event in all the Bible, second only to the revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. This spot and what happened here would be one of the most referred to and difficult interpretive sections of the Bible by Christians and Jews alike. There is no doubt that it is the second major fork in the Biblical road past the Covenant with Abraham. We are talking about the soon giving of the Law at Sinai. The account of the giving of the Law stretches from Exodus 20 through Leviticus 27. It is a large section that contains what we call the Ten Commandments, the civil laws, and the ceremonial laws for the worship of God. It is dominated primarily by the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Words, which were engraved permanently by God's own finger on cold tablets of stone. These Ten Words summarize all the will of God. The laws that follow are merely applications and worship principles based on the Ten Commandments.
However, before these laws were given, there is an incredibly dramatic preamble of events leading up to the Ten Words that emphasized the magnitude, significance, and seriousness of what God is about to present to His people and the whole earth. Those events are found in Exodus 19. Explicit instructions are given to the people on how to prepare for what was coming. And for good reason. Awe-inspiring, frightening phenomena would follow. What was coming was a full revelation of the will of God to be obeyed by man.
To read Exodus 19 is to read what it is like to come into the presence of the God of this world, the Creator, the Holy One. Anyone you read about in Scripture who has ever had this experience invariably meets face to face with trauma. No less here when Israel herself faced the Creator and Judge of the world. To prepare for the occasion, the people were told to consecrate themselves by washing their clothes, abstaining from sexual relations, and constructing barriers around the base of the mountain where God would show Himself. They were warned severely that curiosity by any living thing to cross the line and approach God would be visited with death by being shot with arrows or stoned. This judgment was to be carried out by Israel upon the people who transgressed that line. What followed after three days of preparation would have preempted any attempt by anyone or anything to cross that line anyway.
On the third day, tongues of lightning began to lick Sinai. This was accompanied by ominous peals and claps of ear-splitting thunder. A dense, dark cloud came down and shrouded Sinai. Smoke belched off the summit. A violent earthquake shook land and hearts, loosing falling rock. A deafening, shrill trumpet blast that steadily intensified in decibels signaled God's approach as He descended in fire. The effect was predictable. Deep fear and trembling gripped the people, many of whom no doubt attempted to withdraw and flee or shudder under cover. This was the introduction to God and His Law. That Law was holy, inviolable, and to be obeyed in every detail, and God Himself accompanied it with His own presence to accent that point.
Lesson 12 will investigate the purpose of the Law and how it relates to the Covenant promise to Eve in the Garden of Eden and to the Covenant promise to Abraham. Understanding the Law rightly is to comprehend one of the largest interpretive concepts of the Bible, a major covenant in the history of redemption, the worship of God, and one's personal relationship to Him.