Crossing the Red Sea

Story:  Crossing the Red Sea

Passage: Exodus 14:1-31

Characters:  God, Israel, Egypt

Summary: The Lord told Israel to camp by the Red Sea.  Pharaoh’s heart would harden and he would pursue them.  This is exactly what happened!  Pharaoh pursued Israel.  When the Israelites saw the Egyptians, they were afraid and cried to God.  God told Moses to lift up his staff and divide the sea.  The pillar of fire and cloud moved behind the people and blocked the Egyptians from reaching them.  The sea divided overnight and the Hebrews crossed the sea on dry ground.  The Egyptians pursued, but God confused them and broke their chariots.  God then returned the sea to normal, drowning all of the Egyptians who had been pursuing them.  The people of Israel feared the Lord when they saw His power. 

  

Notes: This is obviously a well known story of God’s miracles and wonders.  I see it as the first story showing the Israelites idiocy!  Now before I continue, here’s a disclaimer.  I’m as much of an idiot as they were, but still.  God just showed His power in Egypt, killed all of the firstborn but showed the Hebrews He would save them, led them out of Egypt with all the riches they wanted, visibly led them by day and night, and warned them that Pharaoh would pursue them, but he would end up losing and God would be glorified.  So when the people saw Pharaoh pursuing them, they got excited to see what God would do right? Wrong! They freaked out and complained to Moses!  They even said it would be better to be slaves in Egypt than to die in the wilderness!  What were these people thinking!  Moses however showed faith and told them to stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord.  Moses knew better.  God still scolds Moses for Israel’s attitude though.  God says, “Why do you cry to me?”  In other words God wants to know why Moses acts surprised that God is doing what He said He would do?  It’s a valid question!  Now I wonder what the Egyptians thought when this cloud moved between them and the Israelites!  Honestly, the Egyptians were stupider than Israel, but to be fair, their hearts had been hardened by God!  Also, they were motivated by the loss of their work force!  I always picture the parting of the Red Sea happening quickly, but it is described as taking all night and being caused by an east wind.  I assume that means the wind was so strong that it was the wind which held up the water on each side!  That is incredible!  I wonder what was going through the people’s minds!  There had to have been a wind!  If there had been no wind, the ground would have been soaking wet and muddy!  But the Israelites crossed on dry ground.  Pharaoh pursued, which was a really stupid idea!  At some point, he should have realized that God was working against him, but no, he didn’t accept that God was more powerful than he was!  His pride would be his undoing!  The Lord finally threw them into a panic and clogged their wheels.  I don’t know what that means, but apparently, they were going at a pace where they could have caught the people so God slowed them down.  Finally, Moses stretched out his hand and the sea returned to normal, drowning the Egyptians.  This whole process appears to have taken about 24 hours.  This was probably a very very stressful 24 hours for everyone involved.  The passage says that the people saw God’s power and they feared the Lord and believed in Him.  It is incredible that they did not already believe in Him!  Israel was incredibly stubborn and hard headed!  And they will only get worse!  It is also interesting to note that when the sea returned to normal, the Egyptians were fleeing.  Apparently, once their wheels stopped working, they realized that the Lord was fighting for Israel.  The pillar of cloud and the parting of the Red Sea weren’t convincing enough!

Questions:  How could the Israelites not trust God?  How could the Egyptians not see that they were doomed?  Did Pharaoh survive this?  It isn’t specifically stated that he died as well.  What does it mean that God clogged the chariot wheels?

Lessons:  God is powerful and is capable of doing anything!  He did these wonders to bring glory to Himself, and we see that that is exactly what happened!  When God makes a promise, we need to trust He will keep it!  When we feel surrounded with our backs against a wall/sea, God is capable of delivering you!