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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'all');">Exd 15</a> - The Song of Moses</h2>
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<p>A. The Song of Moses.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'1-5');">1-5</a>) First stanza: <b><span class="c3">The <span class="c6">Lord</span> is a man of war</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c2">Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, and spoke, saying:<br>"I will sing to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>,<br>For He has triumphed gloriously!<br>The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!<br>The <span class="c6">Lord</span> <i>is </i>my strength and song,<br>And He has become my salvation;<br>He <i>is </i>my God, and I will praise Him;<br>My father's God, and I will exalt Him.<br>The <span class="c6">Lord</span> <i>is </i>a man of war;<br>The <span class="c6">Lord</span> <i>is </i>His name.<br>Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;<br>His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.<br>The depths have covered them;<br>They sank to the bottom like a stone."</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: This remarkable song is assumed to have come spontaneously as Moses led the nation into the wilderness on the other side of the Red Sea.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. God prizes these spontaneous expressions of praise and worship. This was a <i>new song</i> sung unto the <span class="c6">Lord</span> (as in <a onclick="return mV('Psa',40,3);">Psa 40:3</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">I will sing to the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b><i>:</i> One great principles of worship is that it is unto <b><span class="c3">the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>, not unto man. When we worship God in song, our audience is the <span class="c6">Lord</span> Himself and not the people around us.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! </span></b>They praised God because He did what Israel could not do.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">The <span class="c6">Lord</span> is my strength and song</span></b>: When we let God be our <b><span class="c3">strength</span></b>, He will also be our <b><span class="c3">song</span></b>. We will sing because of the victory won by the great strength of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>. We will have a "singing joy" in our life because His strength will not let us down.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">He has become my salvation</span></b>: This is a glorious phrase. It recognizes that we cannot save ourselves, but God must <b><span class="c3">become</span></b> our salvation.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'6-10');">6-10</a>) Second stanza: <b><span class="c3">You have overthrown those who rose against You</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c2">"Your right hand, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, has become glorious in power;<br>Your right hand, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, has dashed the enemy in pieces.<br>And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You;<br>You sent forth Your wrath;<br>It consumed them like stubble.<br>And with the blast of Your nostrils<br>The waters were gathered together;<br>The floods stood upright like a heap;<br>The depths congealed in the heart of the sea.<br>The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil;<br>My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them.'<br>You blew with Your wind,<br>The sea covered them;<br>They sank like lead in the mighty waters."</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Your right hand, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, has dashed the enemy in pieces</span></b>: Moses and the people described what God did to the Egyptians, and they gloried in the defeat of God's enemies. If we really love the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, we should glory in the defeat of God's enemies.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Your right hand</span></b>: The <b><span class="c3">right hand</span></b> was thought to be the hand of skill and power. When God works with His <b><span class="c3">right hand</span></b>, it is a work of skill and power.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Obviously, this is the use of <i>anthropomorphism</i>, understanding something about God by using a human figure of speech, even though it does not literally apply.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. This idea of the <b><span class="c3">right hand</span></b> is used in the Scriptures more than fifty times, including these passages: </p><ul class="c6"><li><a onclick="return mV('Psa',45,4);">Psa 45:4</a>: God's right hand teaches us</li><li><a onclick="return mV('Psa',48,10);">Psa 48:10</a>: God's right hand is full of righteousness</li><li><a onclick="return mV('Psa',77,10);">Psa 77:10</a>: Remembrance of <i>the years of the right hand of the Most High</i></li><li><a onclick="return mV('Psa',110,1);">Psa 110:1</a>: The Father invites the Son to sit at His right hand</li><li><a onclick="return mV('Hab',2,16);">Hab 2:16</a>: The cup of God's judgment is held in His right hand</li><li><a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,20);">Eph 1:20</a>: Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father</li></ul>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'11-13');">11-13</a>) Third stanza: <b><span class="c3">Who is like You, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, among the gods?</span></b></p>
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<p class="c2">"Who <i>is </i>like You, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, among the gods?<br>Who <i>is </i>like You, glorious in holiness,<br>Fearful in praises, doing wonders?<br>You stretched out Your right hand;<br>The earth swallowed them.<br>You in Your mercy have led forth<br>The people whom You have redeemed;<br>You have guided <i>them </i>in Your strength<br>To Your holy habitation."</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Who is like You, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, among the gods?</span></b> If the people of Egypt still did not know who the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was, the people of Israel did. They knew the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was not like any of the false gods of Egypt or Canaan.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Who is like You</span></b>: Worship should proclaim the superiority of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> God over anything else that claims to be god. Israel soon and often forgot this, but we can remember it.</p>
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<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'14-18');">14-18</a>) Fourth and fifth stanza: <b><span class="c3">The people will hear and be afraid</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c2">"The people will hear <i>and </i>be afraid;<br>Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia.<br>Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed;<br>The mighty men of Moab,<br>Trembling will take hold of them;<br>All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away.<br>Fear and dread will fall on them;<br>By the greatness of Your arm<br>They will be <i>as </i>still as a stone,<br>Till Your people pass over, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>,<br>Till the people pass over<br>Whom You have purchased.<br>You will bring them in and plant them<br>In the mountain of Your inheritance,<br><i>In </i>the place, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, <i>which </i>You have made<br>For Your own dwelling,<br>The sanctuary, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, <i>which </i>Your hands have established.<br>The <span class="c6">Lord</span> shall reign forever and ever."</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away</span></b>: Moses and the children of Israel knew that the victory also said something to the enemies of Israel. They would become afraid when they heard of the great things God did for Israel.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Fear and dread will fall on them</span></b>: Some forty years later Rahab the prostitute from Jericho told the Israeli spies: <i>For we have heard how the <span class="c6">Lord</span> dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Jos',2,10);">Jos 2:10</a>). The people of Canaan <i>did</i> hear of what God did for Israel and some responded with godly fear.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">The <span class="c6">Lord</span> shall reign forever and ever</span></b>: After such a great victory we can sense that Israel really believed this, and they were really ready to let the <span class="c6">Lord</span> <b><span class="c3">reign</span></b> over them. This state of victory and surrender did not last very long.</p>
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<p class="c1">5. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'19-21');">19-21</a>) Miriam, Moses' sister, leads the women in worship.</p>
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<p class="c2">For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the <span class="c6">Lord</span> brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel went on dry <i>land </i>in the midst of the sea. Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them:<br>"Sing to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>,<br>For He has triumphed gloriously!<br>The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!"</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron</span></b>: This is the first mention of <b><span class="c3">Miriam</span></b> by name, and she is described as <b><span class="c3">the sister of Aaron</span></b>, so she is therefore also the sister of Moses (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,14);">Exd 4:14</a>).</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <a onclick="return mV('Num',26,59);">Num 26:59</a> seems to indicate that Moses had only one sister. We do know that it was his sister who supervised the launching of the basket onto the Nile River to preserve his life (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',2,14);">Exd 2:14</a>) and arranged the hiring of Moses' mother as his nurse. Based on <a onclick="return mV('Num',26,59);">Num 26:59</a>, we can say this was probably - almost certainly - Miriam. She was the older sister of Moses. </p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Miriam the prophetess</span></b>: We also see that Miriam had some kind of prophetic gift. Later she used her leadership position in an unwise and ungodly way - to challenge the authority of Moses (<a onclick="return mV('Num',12,'all');">Num 12</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">All the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances</span></b>: On this occasion Miriam led the "women's choir."</p>
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<p>B. The bitter water is made drinkable.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,22);">22</a>) Three days into the wilderness.</p>
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<p class="c2">So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Moses brought Israel...they went out into the Wilderness of Shur</span></b>: God's man led them, but he led them an unusual way. Into <b><span class="c3">the Wilderness of Shur</span></b> was outside the major trade route along the sea. </p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">They went three days in the wilderness and found no water</span></b>: Three days is not a very long time. But it is long enough to forget the great victory and power of God. Now Israel faced a long trip through difficult and dry desert. </p>
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<p class="c5">i. "Three days is the maximum time the human body can go without water in the desert." (Buckingham)</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'23-25');">23-25a</a>) Bitter waters made sweet at Marah.</p>
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<p class="c2">Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they <i>were </i>bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" So he cried out to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, <span>and the <span class="c6">Lord</span> showed him a tree. When he cast <i>it </i>into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">They could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter</span></b>: It must have seemed like a cruel joke - after three waterless days, they finally came upon water - and found that water undrinkable.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">So he cried out to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, and the <span class="c6">Lord</span> showed him a tree</span></b>: By following God's direction, Moses made the waters drinkable and Israel found water in the wilderness.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. How did the tree work? In his work on the Exodus journey, Buckingham thinks the chemicals in the sap of the broken limb drew the mineral content down to the bottom of the pools, and left only good water on top. </p>
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<p class="c5">ii. He further speculates that even though the waters were now drinkable, there was still a significant magnesium and calcium content in the water. The laxative effect of this would clean out the digestive systems of the children of Israel, cleansing them of common Egyptian ailments such as amoebic dysentery and bilharzia, a weakening disease common among Egyptian peasants. In addition, calcium and magnesium together form the basis of a drug called dolomite - used by some athletes as a performance enhancer in hot weather conditions. At Marah, God provided the right medicine to both clean out their systems, and prepare them for a long, hot march to Sinai.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. We can say that God was not only interested in getting the children of Israel out of Egypt, He also wanted to get Egypt out of the children of Israel - both physically and spiritually.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'25-27');">25b-27</a>) The testing of Israel.</p>
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<p class="c2">And there He tested them, and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I <i>am </i>the <span class="c6">Lord</span> who heals you." Then they came to Elim, where there <i>were </i>twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">And there He tested them</span></b>: God <b><span class="c3">tested</span></b> Israel by giving them a command to obey. When God tells us what to do, He really gives us a test. Our obedience determines if we pass the test or not.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. It had yet to be demonstrated by a test whether the children of Israel were worshipping people who occasionally murmured, or if they were a murmuring people who occasionally worshipped. Their true nature would be revealed in times of testing.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">I will </span></b><b><span class="c3">put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians</span></b>: This was God's promise to an obedient Israel. In many ways, their physical health was directly connected to their obedience.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Dr. S.I. McMillen in his book <i>None of These Diseases</i> notes that many of God's laws to Israel had a direct impact of hygiene and health. Practices such as circumcision, quarantine, washing in running water, and eating kosher made a real medical difference in keeping Israel free from disease.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Beyond the direct medical implications, obedience also means we are at peace with God - and free from a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in life. This has an obvious benefit to the health of any person. </p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Then they came to Elim, <span>where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees</span></span></b>: After the time of testing God had a time of refreshing for the people of Israel. He knew exactly what they needed, and He knew when to test them and when to rest them.</p>
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