The Song of Moses, Exodus 15:1-21

[This is a poetic retelling of the chronological prose account above. It is a hymn of praise and victory probably composed immediately after the crossing and set to music to help the people remember. Both accounts must be read together to obtain the full story and its rich implications.]

1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,

“I will sing [or “I must sing” or “Let me sing”] to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength [human strength is inadequate for the really important challenges of life] and my song [because true thoughts of God should inspire in us expressions of the happiest, most joyous praise we can express], and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war [“a warrior,” asserting his willingness to fight for his people against their foes, the one who will lead them into battle]; the Lord is his name.

4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers [the best of Egypt] were sunk in the Red Sea. [Neither this verse or any other in the overall narrative indicates that Pharaoh was with his troops when they drowned. It is likely that although he began the pursuit, he turned back when the pillar of cloud prevented immediate capture of the Israelites.] 5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths [further evidence of a large, deep body of water] like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. 7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. [This verse has an important theological truth. God’s eventual destruction of those who oppose him and his anger against evil are not opposed to God’s majesty but are in fact inherent aspects of it. Modern sentimentality wants God to be ever-tolerant and always softhearted. However, the just God revealed in Scripture will not tolerate evil and plans for its eventual elimination. People who insist on being part of that evil will be eliminated as well.] 8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘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.’ 10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? [God is unique.] 12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth [meaning the underworld or hell] swallowed them.

13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. [God has come at various times and in various ways—most fully in Christ—to the place where we live. It has always been God’s plan that his people should, because of the work of Christ, eventually join him where he lives. God called Israel out of Egypt, bound them to himself in a covenant at Sinai, and then led them to his holy dwelling (Israel/Jerusalem/the temple). The same thing happens in Jesus, yet on a larger, more lasting scale. God calls those who believe in him out of where they are living, binds them to himself in a new covenant by believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord, and then leads them to his holy dwelling as Christ dwells in us and we in him.] 14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. [The nations have been impacted by God’s actions. This section is written in the perfect tense as if entry into the Promised Land is a foregone conclusion, which it is!] 15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16 Terror and dread fall upon them [God uses psychological warfare]; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. [This phrase is perhaps better translated as “the people whom you created.” God was not finished with creation in Genesis but continues with the creation of Israel, which finds its ultimate meaning in the new creation that comes through the work of Christ and the great re-creation that will happen at the end of the present age.] 17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain [Zion/Mount Moriah], the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. [It is clear that God leads his people to the place he has selected, not that he blesses the place they choose.] 18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.” [God is supreme in all things.]

19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. [Why not call her Moses’ sister? Most likely because Aaron is the older brother (by three years). She is called a prophetess because she teaches the women, conveying the word of God through song.] 21 And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”