A Journey through the Bible with Tiglath

14. Exodus Chapter 14 to 16.

At the beginning of Chapter 14 God spoke to Moses and instructed him to

tell the Israelites to camp in difficult country near the Red Sea. Meanwhile, back

in Egypt, there had been a change of heart. Pharaoh and his courtiers realised

that in freeing the Israelites they had lost a very valuable source of free labour.

All would not be lost if they could chase the Hebrews, recapture them and

bring them back to Egypt.

Read verses 5 to 20 to see what the Lord did when the Hebrews panicked at the

approach of the Egyptians. The Egyptians' six hundred chariots must have

terrified the Israelites. At this juncture Moses stretched his hand over the Red

Sea whose waters parted leaving a pathway. A wind dried this pathway and

across went the Israelites with a wall of water on either side of them.

Without a thought, the Egyptians chased after them and, when they were far

from land, Moses again stretched out his hand and the waters flowed back to

their usual place drowning Pharaoh and his army. The result of this famous

episode was that the Israelites put their faith in God and in his servant Moses, for

the time being, that is.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the people found something else to

grumble about, and one could hardly blame them, as, thirsty and hot, they

were looking forward to obtaining a supply of water at a place called Marah. They found the water, but were unable to drink it, as it was so bitter. When they

asked Moses what they should drink he asked the Lord who told Moses to cast

a certain log into the pool to sweeten the water.

Chapter 15, verse 26 is a marvellous guide for Christians and the last part

of the last sentence makes a wonderful text for a sermon – ‘for I the Lord

am your healer’. As a footnote to this part of our journey, do read the

wonderful poem that is Moses' song of triumph after the death of the

Egyptians (Ch 15 vv 1-21). This work has been described as a fine example of

ancient Semitic poetry.

Next month in our journey through Chapters 16 and 17 we shall discover how

the Lord provides food and drink for his people in one of the harshest

environments in the world.