Exodus 14:21-31 – God is well able to save us

The opening and closing of the Red Sea were two of the highlights of Old Testament accounts of God’s deliverance. When the Israelites left Egypt, they did not anticipate that Pharaoh would be hot on their heels so soon. For in every household in Egypt there was death, both of their firstborn son or beast, to contend with. But with Pharaoh’s hardened and rebellious heart, it was not a surprise that before long he would pursue the children of Israel again. And he did. He followed the Israelites with his trained soldiers. All geared up in chariots they went after the Israelites, who made their way into the wilderness to offer their worship to Yahweh. As the pursuing chariots of Pharaoh and his combatant warriors drew nearer, the Israelites must have felt the tremor and the rumbling sounds of the chariots that came rushing toward them. They probably looked behind them and saw the dust rising up in a distance as a sandstorm, created by the hastening approach of the throngs of Pharaoh’s soldiers. Caught in the wilderness between the army of Pharaoh and the Red Sea, the people of Israel cried out in desperation to God and Moses. In their panic, as we have discovered, they accused the leaders, blaming Moses and Aaron for leading them to their grave in the desert.   

In those terrifying moment, Moses’ faith in Yahweh stood the test. He assured the people and told them to stand still, stay silent and watch the delivering hand of God. While he was still praying the LORD abruptly told him to stretch out his hand to begin the wonder. Twice Moses was told to stretch out his hand and twice he did and each time something miraculous happened. At the first stretch of his hand, the Red Sea parted. As he did that, Exodus 14:21-22 tell us that the Lord brought a strong east wind all night, swept the sea back and turned the sea into dry land. The water of the sea parted and created a path for the children of Israel to walk across on dry land. The water of the sea even rolled up and formed like a wall on the right and on the left of them. It was nothing short of phenomenal. In the book of Joshua, there was the parting of another body of water, the River Jordan. The second time was to allow the people to cross into the Promised land. This shows us that our God is a specialist in dealing with our dead-end situation. Praise the Lord!

We learn from Exodus 14:23-25 that unwittingly Pharaoh's hardened heart, blinded by rage, couldn’t see the sign of his impending doom. Foolishly he and his hordes of angry soldiers went in hot pursuit of the Israelites. They couldn’t see that they were up against God. Finally, they had to admit it when the LORD resisted them from advancing toward His people. They tried as rapidly as they could to turn back. Verses 24-25 describe it this way, “At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

In verse 26 we see Moses raised up his hand a second time as he was told. And without any notice, the walled-up water of the Red Sea returned to flow as it usually did. When that happened, the water overwhelmed the pursuing force of Pharaoh, drowning the soldiers and destroying every chariot that came after the children of Israel in hot pursuit. None of the Egyptians survived, their bodies laid dead and strewn on the seashore motionless. It was a great triumph for God and His people. It left such an indelible mark in their heart that it was said that, “…the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.”

The whole episode has only one ultimate purpose i.e. to bring glory to God. Through the account, there is no denying that we serve a glorious God. In Exodus 14:4 He had explicitly said so. His exact words are, “…I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” For us Christians, Israel’s great escape from the hand of Pharaoh and Egypt formed the history of our own redemption. Like theirs, our salvation is also initiated by God. More immediately, perhaps, there are some of us who are trapped in between situations of drastic consequences. This account is a timely reminder that God still has the power to deliver and He will do it to glorify His name. So stay confident, trust God and experience His mighty deliverance.