Scripture Reference: Exodus 15:1-21
Deliverance always leads to praise! God’s people praise Him because He has redeemed them; worthy of all praise as our Creator, He is especially to be worshipped as our Redeemer and Savior.
The display of God’s power and might, enabling Israel to cross the Red Sea, is celebrated in the song which Moses and the people sang. It is a vivid and unique celebration of what God did for them when they were powerless to do anything for themselves.
The Song of Moses
Several features of this song are worth noting.
First, it reveals some of the attributes of God. In fact, this song is one of the most important pieces of explicit theology in the Scriptures. Let’s note, in reverse order, some of the statements of the opening stanzas of the song. Moses tells about the name of God: the Lord is His name. Here there are clear echoes of chapter 3, where God revealed His name to Moses, and vindicated His character in the subsequent history of God’s people.
Moses also tells us about the character of God. He is “a man of war.” This does not contradict the Bible’s statement that God is not a man (1 Samuel 15:29). Moses is using a powerful figure of speech, in which God is compared to a mighty warrior, engaged in battle against enemy forces. The reality is that God’s people are not simply embroiled in a political conflict, but a deeply spiritual one. They can only overcome through the power of God assisting them.
Moses reminds us of the covenant nature of God. He describes Him as “my father’s God.” Just as God demonstrated His power and glory in the past, so He does now; nothing shows the reality of the unchanging God whose name is “I Am” quite like the historical record of His work for His people in every age and generation.
But the song begins on a supremely individual note, as Moses reminds us that God is his personal God, the one who enables him to sing, to exult and to praise. “The Lord is my strength and my song,” he says, “and He has become my salvation.” That, at last, is the beauty of all God’s great works and wonders in the Bible: they become personal to all those who experience His power and grace.
Second, it gives an insight into the pride and folly of Pharaoh. Look at how vividly this song portrays not only the collapse of Pharaoh’s army in the depths of the sea, but how it builds up the picture of Pharaoh and his men scheming to overthrow God and His people, saying, “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.” One can almost hear the plans whirling round Pharaoh’s head as the chariot wheels pummel the ground, gathering speed, recklessly chasing after the covenant people of God.
Yet all it takes is for God to blow with His wind, and the Egyptian armies are no more. All the plans of men and gods come to nothing when God acts in judgement over his enemies. “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?” Moses asks, with words echoed in Psalms 86:8 and 89:6. The revelation we have here of God is of one who is without peer, who is incomparable and utterly unique.
Third, the song highlights the purpose of God’s salvation. God is not acting arbitrarily in all of this; He is working out His sovereign purposes, leading out His people, in covenant love and mercy, according to His plan to guide them to His holy abode. And all the kings of the nations are pictured as standing silent and open-mouthed as God brings His purchased, redeemed Israel to the sanctuary He has established. He alone reigns eternally.
The song, therefore, is important within the context of Exodus as a theological reflection on who God is, what God has done, and what He has purposed to do for His redeemed people. And for that reason, it takes on added significance as John the Apostle hears God’s people in heaven singing “the song of Moses . . . and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:3), a song which is new, and yet which is as old as the exodus itself.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
You must be logged in to post a comment.