Notes on
Exodus 14
Exo 14:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
Exo 14:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth,
between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp
by the sea.
Exo 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in
the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Remember what Pharaoh had to give up. The Israelites did all the hard work. They
build the buildings, and did the work the Egyptians did not want to do. They
were brilliant in all they did and good at it. That is how Jews have always
been. A country that takes its Jewish population lightly is absolutely crazy.
They are good at whatever they attempt. They were letting their way of live go.
It meant that Pharaoh would have to rely on untalented, lazy Egyptians. For if
we do not learn to work hard, and let everyone else do our working, thinking and
learning for us, we will get lazy and unfruitful. Yet he failed to remember that
Israel was not his in the first place. He had no rights to them. Just as the
southerners in the early years of the United States had no right to enslave
black people against their will. No one has a right to own another human being.
I believe God prefers that we come to this realization on our own but when we
are stubborn and refuse to listen to God, death and destruction comes.
In the case of the United States, it cost us a war and the threat of dividing
the union. Many lives were unnecessarily lost. When it came to Pharaoh, it cost
him the destruction of Egypt and the loss of all the firstborn. Even this did
not stop him from regretting that he let the people go. He chased after them not
ever expecting God to open up the sea before them.
Exo 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them;
and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians
may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
Exo 14:5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart
of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why
have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
Exo 14:6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
Exo 14:7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt,
and captains over every one of them.
Exo 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he
pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with a
high hand.
Exo 14:9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of
Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea,
beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.
Exo 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their
eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid:
and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Fear gripped the heart of the Israelites as they saw the approaching armies.
Lest we criticize them for their unbelief, we must remember that in the same
circumstances we would probably do the same thing.
Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt,
hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us
alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve
the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Exo 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the
salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom
ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
They were in a place where there was absolutely nothing they could do to save
themselves. They could not swim across, they could not fight, they could do
nothing. The salvation had to come from God Himself.
This is a picture of a lost sinner before God. He is in the depths of sin bound
by drugs, alcohol, fornication, hate, lust, envy, greed, idolatry and many other
things that is destroying him spiritually and physically. There is no way out of
the mess he had gotten himself into. There is no hope.
Yet there is one who died for his sins. There is one who came just to lift up
that one sinner from his mess and set his feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ
the Son of God. He is God's way of salvation given freely to any and all who
would believe.
As only God could save them from the Egyptians, only God can save mankind from
his lost condition and make them new creatures in Christ and fill them with the
gift of the Holy Spirit.
Exo 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Exo 14:15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak
unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
Exo 14:16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and
divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst
of the sea.
Exo 14:17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they
shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host,
upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
Exo 14:18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me
honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
Exo 14:19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed
and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face,
and stood behind them:
Christ Himself may have been this angel. In that case it would not have been an
ordinary angel. Even when that cloud separated Israel from the Egyptians that
should have been enough to cause them to go back to Egypt and not pursue after
them.
Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of
Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to
these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
Exo 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the
sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land,
and the waters were divided.
I would have loved to have seen that. To those that do not believe in miracles,
a greater miracle than that happens when just one soul is saved from sin and
granted eternal life through His faith in Jesus Christ.
Exo 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the
dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on
their left.
Exo 14:23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the
sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Exo 14:24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto
the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and
troubled the host of the Egyptians,
Exo 14:25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily: so
that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD
fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
Exo 14:26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea,
that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon
their horsemen.
Exo 14:27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned
to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it;
and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen,
and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained
not so much as one of them.
Exo 14:29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the
sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their
left.
Exo 14:30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians;
and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
Exo 14:31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians:
and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.
This is awesome. I believe every word. I also believe in the latter days when
there shall be false signs and wonders because Satan had limited power,
that there will also be great miracles of deliverance to those that believe and
trust in God. Yet even if we do not see the visible miracles it is still a
miracle that we do not see signs and still believe by the witness of the Holy
Spirit. God has given us a few visible signs but some of us reject them. One
visible sign is the evidence of speaking in tongues when God baptizes people in
the Holy Spirit. When that happens we do have proof of the supernatural presence
of God.
This happened to me when I wasn't even at church. I wasn't praying and no one
laid any hands upon me to receive. I was in the back seat of a car driven by my
dad when I was thinking about God and just simply started to say something like
praise the Lord. I might have said it but I might not have said anything at
first, I don't remember that part. Then, the Holy Spirit began to speak through
me a beautiful language I had never heard or spoken before. At first it came out
a little stifled until I yielded my tongue to the Lord and then I heard a
beautiful language. I knew the Holy Spirit baptism had come. My dad and step
mother knew immediately what occurred and they began to praise the Lord with
joy.
God is still doing miracles if we would only start believing in His word.