Day 21. Exodus 13-15

Exodus 13-15

Exodus 13

³And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.

What an interesting statement.

REMEMBER THIS DAY, IN WHICH YE CAME OUT OF EGYPT!!!

Don't eat leavened bread.

It's like at the original woodstock.

Brown Acid Warning sound bite Big Bucket O' Random sound bites

⁴This day came ye out in the month Abib.

Abib means barley. It is another name for the month of Nisan.

⁵And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.

⁶Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.

There's a whole lot of grains going on here. It's the month of grain, and they are told to not let their grain be corrupted by yeast.

⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.

⁸And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

Moses is sure giving orders for far in the future. Except he doesn't know it's going to be far in the future. He thinks it'll be like when Jacob and his went into Egypt. That it was just a simple little trek. He thinks they'll probably be in the promised land in about a week.

¹⁷And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

¹⁸But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.

God didn't let them go directly into the land. He knew it was occupied, he knew the people who lived there wouldn't just give it up to this new horde of people. He knew that these weak willed people would turn and run back to their bondage at the first sign of trouble. So, to make them want it more... he put them on a little journey.

¹⁹And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

Remember, Joseph died in Egypt and was embalmed there.

²¹And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

²²He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The people were personally being led around by god. He was a cloud during the day and fire by night.

Exodus 14

²Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

There are 42 stations where the people stopped on their journey. The first was Raamses, the second was Sukkoth, the third is Etham. We are now at Pi-Hahiroth. No one is exactly sure where this place is.

³For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

We are to believe that pharaoh believes the people are coming back. This must have been about a week into the journey. Pharaoh expected them back by now. Three days out, three days back, a day or more to do the sacrifices.

⁴And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

⁵And 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?

God again hardens pharaoh's heart. Then someone told him that the people weren't coming back.

⁶And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:

⁷And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.

So Pharaoh took pretty much his entire army to get the slaves back.

¹⁰And 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.

The people were afraid. They had their god there in a cloud, and they were still afraid. They wondered why they left Egypt to go die in the wilderness.

¹³And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

¹⁴The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

If the LORD was going to fight for them, why didn't he just take them into Canaan then?

God tells Moses to lift up his magic stick and part the sea.

¹⁹And 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:

The cloud got in between the people and the Egyptians. That's why they didn't overtake them right there at the shore.

²¹And 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.

²²And 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.

Some people will argue that the ground was completely dry. That the people never even touched a drop of water on their trip across.

²³And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

That was a mistake.

God then removed the wheels from the chariots, so that they got stuck in the muck... that was there for the Egyptians, but not the Israelites.

²⁷And 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.

²⁸And 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.

If the entire army of Egypt was destroyed, why didn't they take over Egypt? Why didn't any other country invade and take over Egypt. Why is there no record of Egypt suddenly becoming completely weak.

³¹And 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.

It won't last.

Exodus 15

The first part of this chapter is the song the people made up when they saw that all the Egyptians were dead. Here's some highlights.

³The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

...

⁴Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
...

¹⁰Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
...

¹³Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.
...
¹⁶Fear 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.


I like how verse 13 talks about his mercy. While the rest of the song talks about drowning the Egyptians. I guess it depends upon perspective. God was merciful to his people, to the Egyptians, not so much. Don't forget, he caused Pharaoh to chase the people. Pharaoh had no choice in the matter, whenever he was going to let the people go, god hardened his heart. Then god killed all the people. That is mercy.

²⁰And 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.

Moses had a sister. This is the first mention of her.

²²So 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.

They are now coming to the next station.

²³And 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.

Was it named Marah before, or did the people name it? Marah means bitter.

²⁵And 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,

This was apparently barberry, which has the ability to sweeten brackish water.
²⁷And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

Next stop, Elim. Elim probably means trees. There were 70 of them there. Are 70 trees enough to feed 600,000 people? Apparently it is.

Points to ponder:

1. Mercy is all based on perspective. In order to receive mercy, there also has to be the ability for the merciful to perform destruction. If a child with a magnifying glass only starts a couple of ants on fire, he was merciful to the ones he didn't ignite.

2. Do you believe the parting of the waters story?

3. Why didn't some other country overthrow Egypt after the entire army was destroyed?