Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Summary of Israel’s Liberation

Yesterday I considered the different attitudes that Pharaoh, the Israelites, and Moses showed towards God and their faith in the story of the exodus. Today I will conclude my retrospective by examining Israel’s moment of liberation.

The Wonders in Egypt)

In all, the Lord performed 17 miracles in the course of freeing captive Israel. There was turning the staff into the snake and the river into blood; invading the land with the frogs, the lice, the flies, and the grasshoppers; the murrain among the cattle, the boils among the people, the hailstorm, the three days of darkness, and the slaying of every firstborn. Also there was the miraculous dispersal of the frogs, the flies, the grasshoppers, and the hailstorms, which should all be considered as their own wonders. Then there were the pillars of cloud and fire to guide Israel and, finally, the parting of the Red Sea.

All of these wonders cleaved through the land like a sword, with two distinct effects for each miracle. On the one hand they were destructive and damning for the Egyptians, but on the other hand they were liberating and life-saving for the Israelites. God’s miracles often work this way, simultaneously condemning the guilty while redeeming the innocent. Each of us should endeavor to make sure we are on the right side of things before God’s judgment is laid out, that we may be the benefactor of His wonders and not the victims.

The Fall of Pharaoh)

Speaking of being on the wrong side of God’s judgments, Pharaoh already began on the wrong side by continuing his forefathers’ enslavement of the Israelites, and he only made things worse from there. As I’ve mentioned before, his story is a theme of pride and of refusal to submit to the Lord’s will. He continually grinds himself against God’s immovable rock until it completely breaks him. It seems that he even lost his life, all because he was so stubborn as to march himself right into the jaws of death!

It seems feasible that Pharaoh would have initially doubted the Lord’s ability to make good on His promises. Pharaoh probably genuinely trusted in the power of his own gods, attributing to them the great success that Egypt had enjoyed, confident that they would prevail over the God of his measly slaves. But it seems impossible that he could have held this view all the way throughout. Through one defeat after another, he must have known that he was fighting a losing battle. In fact, on multiple occasions he admitted the worthiness and superiority of Israel’s God, so at least a part of him seems to have known that he would only be hurt if he continued to stand in defiance. And he still did anyway. One has to conclude that at some point Pharaoh was not defying the Lord from a place of belief or pragmatism or rationality. Pharaoh persisted in his defiance because his pride was more precious to him than the life of his people, of his firstborn son, and even of himself.

There are many people today who profess to reject God on a strictly practical basis. They claim that they do not believe in Him simply because they do not have sufficient evidence to do so. When pressed, however, many of them will admit that even if they were given sufficient evidence, they still would not become His disciples. It isn’t really about a lack of evidence, but an intense emotional rejection to the idea of submitting oneself to God’s will, even when God’s reality is undeniable. Some people, like Pharaoh, defy God just to defy God, unwilling to comply because they have molded themselves to be His enemy, and they would rather suffer and die than surrender.

The Redemption of God’s People)

On the other side of God’s judgments we have the Israelites. While it is true that they had moments of doubt and gave coarse words to Moses, they were not fundamentally opposed to God like Pharaoh was. The may not have been deeply faithful, but at their core they were aligned with wanting to obey and follow the Lord. So long as a people have that alignment towards rightness God is able to work with them, even while they are imperfect in their execution.

Also, the Israelites were the descendants of a people that had once been free and prospered by the Lord. From the Exodus account, it appears that they lost this status through no trespass of their own, and so the scales of justice required that they be restored to that free state once more. This initial restoration would come freely, though remaining in the Lord’s good graces would depend on their behavior.

Thus, the redemption of the Israelites was a sure thing, the outcome as certain as if it had already happened. It didn’t matter how stubborn Pharaoh might be or how mighty his army was. It didn’t matter whether the Israelites would be helped or hindered by their neighbors. It didn’t even matter whether the Israelites believed in God the whole way through. The purpose of having faith and trusting in God was not so that His plans would come to pass, those would all be fulfilled regardless, but so that the Israelites could be united with the truth and fulfilled in their souls.

Even today, God still has His chosen people and He is still carrying out a plan among them. The final result of that plan is sure and predetermined, and no doubt among the faithful or resistance by the wicked will prevent it from occurring. The purpose of our faith is only that we may be in alignment with God’s will before it consumes the Earth. What is different with today’s scenario is that God’s chosen people are the people that choose Him. His enemies are the people that choose to be His enemies. Each one of us gets to decide for ourselves which side of the story we end up on, and then we will be raised to safety or drowned in the sea according to our choice.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Summary of Pharaoh, Israel, and Moses’s Faith

Yesterday I reviewed some of the broad themes from Egypt conquering Israel, now let us consider what can be gleaned from Moses working miracles for the Lord in Egypt. As I looked back at the account, I saw that there were three different archetypes of faith in this part of the story.

The Unyielding Pharaoh)

First we have Pharaoh, who was repeatedly commanded to let Israel go but resisted at every turn. As the pressure from God grew increasingly more severe, Pharaoh would momentarily buckle, saying that he consented to God’s demands, only to recant as soon as the latest curse had been removed. Pharaoh would also try to compromise with God, trying to remove or modify some of His terms, but that approach never worked, and ultimately Pharaoh had to fully surrender to God’s will.

Unfortunately, I can absolutely relate to Pharaoh’s shifting loyalties. Though my circumstances are nowhere near as extreme as his, my attitude is very similar. I am full of moments were I partially relent to God’s will, then mostly relent, then fully relent, then take it all back and go back to my old ways. I may not be enslaving God’s people, but I am holding back a part of my heart, struggling to fully surrender.

I think Pharaoh’s example shows us how it is easy for us to have moments of conviction, but that moments are insufficient. We need to have our faith baked into our character, have it as our default mode of operation.

The Blessed Israelites)

The Israelites represent a different sort of attitude towards faith. While they did struggle when things were difficult, they basically desired all the same things that God wanted. And, when things were relatively easy, they did comply with all of God’s commands.

The Israelites were not self-sustaining in their faith. They needed a Moses to lead them, guide them, and bring out the best of them. In many ways they were blessed by association, better off for being allied with such a great man of faith.

At some point, each one of us is similarly blessed by association with those of greater faith. We lean on the testimony of parents, teachers, or friends who have already walked the way that we want. By their encouragement and direction we participate in good patterns that give us good rewards. I think of my parents who took me to church and read me the scriptures, which things I would not have chosen to do on my own, but which still opened my mind and heart to the spiritual dimension. Of course, we are all meant to develop a more self-sustaining faith, but there is nothing shameful in requiring spiritual training wheels for a time.

The Stalwart Moses)

Of all the qualities that we saw from Moses, I am so grateful that we saw that he, too, had his doubts and insecurities at first. His hesitation and half-compliant attitude at the burning bush should give hope to all of us who identify more with the Israelites and Pharaoh. If Moses, too, once struggled to fully devote himself to the Lord, but he was able to grow past that, then so can we.

Admittedly, it isn’t abundantly clear how and when he fully gave himself over to the Lord’s will. Somehow and somewhere, though, it is clear that he just stopped worrying about social norms or the expectations of others. He came to have no regard for the opinion of the Israelites or Pharaoh, and whether they would believe in him, He only did what God commanded him to do.

I do wish we had more details on how and why Moses made this transformation. From my own experiences, I believe that this sort of transformation involves a simple, honest surrender, where we just let go of all our own ideas about what we need to get out of life and who we are supposed to be. It does not have to be a grand gesture of surrender, in fact I think more often than not it isn’t, but that simple, total surrender to God will always change the course of an entire life.

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I will continue with my retrospect of Israel’s liberation from Egypt tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Summary of Israel Subjugated by Egypt

I just finished the first fourteen chapters of Exodus, which covers the enslavement of Israel, the wonders performed by Moses in Egypt, and the eventual redemption of God’s chosen people. I wanted to pause at this moment to reflect on some of the themes and lessons from these stories. I will do this over the next few days, then I will briefly pause my scriptural analysis as I publish one or two spiritual studies that I have been wanting to do, after which I will resume my scripture study with Exodus 15.

Forgetting God)

At the beginning of Exodus we heard how a new Pharaoh arose “which knew not Joseph.” Looking back, I believe the phrase “which knew not” has been a theme throughout all this story of Egypt. The Egyptians forgot both the debt of gratitude that they owed to the Israelite prince who saved them during the famine, and also his God who had proven Himself to be Lord and Master over all.

By forgetting who the Israelites were and who their God was, the Egyptians felt emboldened to take extreme liberties on the chosen people, which in turn would bring terrible retribution on their own heads. Whenever a people forget God and His fundamental laws of good they inevitably come to dabble in matters that they don’t understand. They start digging out the foundation of a wall, completely ignorant of how it supports the great edifice that hangs overhead. When they are crushed, they will be completely surprised but also completely culpable.

An Unexpected Protection)

At certain points in their history, the Israelites were conquered because they had abandoned God and had to be chastened back into faithfulness. In the case of their subjugation to Egypt, though, we are not told that such was the case. We are given reasons for the conquering, and none of them are morally justified, so as far as we know the Israelites were still an innocent and faithful people, and Egypt wronged them without cause.

If that was the case, then it occurs to me that one reason why God may have permitted this travesty was that it actually served the purpose of protecting the Israelites during a vulnerable period. We know that while they were in Egypt the Israelites grew from 70 souls to approximately 2 million. We also know that there were various hostile tribes and kingdoms growing to power in Canaan while they were being held captive in Egypt. It may be that if the Israelites had stayed in Canaan and multiplied there, that one of the other kingdoms would have seen them as a growing threat and just wiped them out. Being enslaved meant that they would have been protected from all the other worldly powers, guarded by the mighty armies of Egypt, allowing them to develop to the point that they could face those other powers as equals.

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This concludes my retrospect on the enslavement of Israel in Egypt, tomorrow I will continue with a summary of Moses’s miracles and the liberation of Israel.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:30-31

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.

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.

Today’s verses find the Israelites safe on the other side of the sea, and the Egyptians dead, their bodies strewn across the shore. This image of the Israelites safe above the waterline and the Egyptians having been drowned in its depths has a strong similarly to that of Noah and his family safe above the water in the ark while all the world was smothered down below. The Israelites and the Egyptians had just carried out a sort of reenactment of that scene, reinforcing its lessons. Lessons that too much of the world, especially Egypt, had forgotten.

I also want to note how verse 31 stresses the faith and trust that the people had in the Lord and Moses at this moment. Just a few verses before we had heard of their despair and doubt when the Egyptian horde came charging into view, but now they have a moment of perfect belief, trusting not only in the Lord, but also in His prophet and mouthpiece, Moses.

I believe that sometimes we are saved by God, not because of who we are, but because of what He knows we can become. Pharaoh had proven that in spite of miracles he would still not believe, and so he had been destroyed. The Israelites, though they had disbelieved before the miracle, would believe after it, and so they were preserved. We will see how the Lord would continue to test the Israelites with future hardships, and they would not see the Promised Land until they showed that they were ready to start believing before the miracle.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:29

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.

Verse 29 describes a most awe-inspiring situation for the Israelites. “The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” Thus, they went forward with the potential for absolute destruction raised on either side of them! It must have taken great faith to put themselves in such a situation. Of course, faith in a safe crossing would be strengthened by the fact that God had already proved He could part the sea in the first place, so He should be able to keep it parted for as long as needed to reach the other side. The God who brings us into the path by a miracle will also be able to sustain the path by continual miracles.

Recently, I observed how some of the symbolic expressions in the Judeo-Christian theology were literally manifested among the ancient Israelites. There is another example of this in today’s verses, too. Here, in the image of the Israelites walking down the parted sea we have the literal manifestation of the straight and narrow way “which leadeth unto life,” a way that is marked by God and provided to us by His grace and power. Meanwhile, on either side of the narrow path stood the broad expanse of the sea that led unto destruction.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:26-28

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.

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.

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 done of them.

Now the Egyptians were bogged down in the middle of the channel and the Israelites were clear on the other side. There was no need to keep the passage open any longer, and God commanded Moses to seal the way shut. Notice how in a single action, the closing of the sea, God both saved His people and destroyed His enemies. The same act can be both salvation and damnation.

Verse 27 once again makes reference to the time of day, stating that the sea returned to its proper place “when the morning appeared.” Pharaoh’s army, it would seem, first came into the view of the Israelites in the evening, causing them to despair as the sun set on them, literally and figuratively . But then, in the night, when they were their most powerless, God worked a miracle for their salvation, and in the rising of the sun their future was made hopeful once more. A new dawn, once again both literal and figurative.

And so the sea’s walls cascaded together in a sudden, dramatic flood. The Egyptians, we are told, tried to flee, but they could not outrun the rush of water. All the army was covered. The chariots, the horsemen, the host, none of them survived.

Note that verse 28 specifies that “all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea” were destroyed. The phrase “that came into the sea” might suggest that not all of Pharaoh’s army charged between the waves and that some of them could have been spared. This is what fuels hypotheses that Pharaoh might have actually survived that day. Given the arc of his story, and his stubbornness thus far, and God’s prior comments about gaining honor upon Pharaoh specifically, and verse 23’s declaration that “all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen” charged into the sea, I am inclined to believe that Pharaoh did not survive. Indeed, I find it most likely that verse 28 is merely saying that the Lord destroyed “all Pharaoh’s army, which army came into the sea,” and thus there were no survivors whatsoever.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:23-25

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.

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,

25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

Eventually the Egyptians were able to get around the fiery, cloudy pillar and gave chase to the Israelites. Verse 24 makes it clear that the pillar did not vanish, but perhaps by the light of rising sun, during “the morning watch,” they were able to see well enough to navigate around it and follow their quarry into the sea.

Meanwhile, God watched all of the Egyptians’ doings from within the pillar. He watched as they stubbornly continued in their efforts to molest His people, and so He took away their chief advantage: their chariots. It says that He “took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily.” This might mean that the wheels became sloughed down in the wet sand or mud that had been saturated by the Red Sea. No matter how hard they drove their horses, the dragging sludge was apparently too great, even to the point of breaking the wheels under the stress.

Now, at last, a panic fell upon the Egyptians. They were on foot, deprived of their speed, and caught between two great walls of water. Perhaps the Israelites had still been finishing their journey through the channel, and they had judged that they would be able to catch them before they were all out, thus God would not be able to close the channel without destroying His own people. But then, by getting partway through before losing their chariot wheels, they may have suddenly found themselves not able to reach one side or the other before the Israelites would fully vacate the chasm and God could close the channel with no friendly casualties.

They had stepped willfully into the trap, practically daring the Lord to destroy them, and finally they could see with their own eyes the manner of their destruction. They attempted to flee, acknowledging that God, Himself, was at war with them. It was, however, too late.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:21-22

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.

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.

Here is the last wonder that the Egyptians would see, though not at all the last for the Israelites. Moses stretched out his hand, and a powerful wind blew from the east, the direction of Israel’s Promised Land, parting the sea. Notice that the parting of the Red Sea was not an instantaneous effect, though, but rather that it occurred over “all that night.” This was why the pillar of fire-on-one-side-and-cloud-on-the-other had been necessary. The Egyptians needed to be held in place for hours as the parting was accomplished.

Interestingly, the story becomes all the more incredulous by its the usage of natural phenomenon. When all the Egyptian firstborn were slain there was not any reference to a natural cause, and so we assume that an unseen heavenly figure from another plane of existence must have been responsible. But with the parting of the Red Sea, we are told it was effected by something as basic and familiar as the wind. The wind we are perfectly familiar with, and its behavior in this instance defies our typical experience.

Of course, in our everyday experience wind does move water, but enough to carve a channel through it? That might seem a stretch, though it does occur to me that we are never told the layout of the sea at that point. It seems like the most far-fetched thing would be if the wind was carving a channel through a large, convex shape, like an oval, but what if the sea in that area was bent and twisted, passing in front of the Israelites in a narrow channel? To me it seems like it might be possible that a strong enough wind could create a temporary bubble through that sort of narrow body, with the water pressed down on either side of the sustained air pressure.

Or perhaps there is some other physical phenomenon that can make such a thing possible, or perhaps there actually was a supernatural element to the parting. In either case, the way had been opened for the Israelites’ escape, though it would certainly require a step of faith and courage to take it!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:19-20

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:

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.

The Lord had been leading Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. That pillar was still present when Pharaoh and his army arrived, and it moved to stand between the Israelites and the Egyptians. In later years, Isaiah would assure the Israelites that “the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward” (Isaiah 52:12). Here we see that these words were not only figurative, for in this moment God had literally been both a guide ahead of Israel and a guard behind. Every promise of the Lord is fulfilled in many figurative ways, but I believe that there is always a literal realization of them as well.

Note, also, that the pillar now shifted to take on two distinct faces at the same time. It was a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians, which obscured their way forward and forced them to hold until the new day. Meanwhile, to the Israelites it was a burning fire, illuminating the way ahead as Moses worked God’s miracle upon the Red Sea and the Israelites made their escape.

Thus, once again, God was able to make a division, showing one wonder to the Egyptians and another to the Israelites. One wonder of darkness, one of light. One to hinder, one to push forward. The same God will judge, divide, and separate, like a sword cleaving good from evil.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:17-18

17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

The Egyptians had already come to commit a slaughter, so why would their hearts have to be further hardened to continue with what they already intended to do? Perhaps because God was about to work another miracle in their sight, one that would pose an obvious danger. To venture into the maw of the parted sea would require a hatred or an arrogance sufficient to override the most extreme sense of self-preservation!

Only this time it was not Pharaoh’s heart alone that would harden, but that of the entire army. God meant to slay the entire horde and that could only happen if they did not mutiny and leave Pharaoh to his own devices. They all needed to charge forward as one.

This is the last instance of God being said to harden the heart of Pharaoh and his people. Frankly, it wouldn’t even concern me if in this instance He really did. At this point, Pharaoh had already shown himself willing to commit a horrible genocide, even after being given so many reasons to stand down. He was already more than worthy of death, and the God who rules over every life would be justified in guiding Pharaoh and his men to their death sentence.

Of course, there has been some speculation as to whether Pharaoh himself died in the depths of the sea. Did he lead the charge after the Israelites, or did he command from the rear, ordering his men ahead while he remained on the banks of the sea? The fact that God specifically mentions that He would “get me honour upon Pharaoh” strongly suggests that the ruler received the exact same fate as his soldiers. I think it is pretty explicit language that Pharaoh did, indeed, die in this wonder.