LESSON IX.--MAY 29.

THE RED SEA.--EXOD. 14:19-31.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.--ISAIAH 43:2.
      TIME.--B. C. 1491, in the month of Abib or Nisan, corresponding to parts of March and April.
      PLACE.--The Red Sea, between Egypt and the wilderness of Arabia. Most think the Red Sea was crossed near the town of Suez, others that it was crossed farther north, it extending at that time to the Bitter Lakes; Brugsch-Bey holds that an arm of the Sea near the Mediterranean was crossed, the name in the Hebrew not being Red Sea, but Sea of Reeds.
      CONNECTING LINKS.--1. The Death of the Firstborn (Exodus 12:29, 30); 2. The Departure of the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 12:31-41); 3. The Pursuit by Pharaoh (Exodus 14:8-18).
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Exod. 12:29-41; Exod. 14:1-18; Exod. 15:1-23; 1 Cor. 10:1, 2.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire; 2. Israel and Egypt in the Sea; 3. Egypt Overthrown.

INTRODUCTION.

      The Israelites had now completed their three days' journey, and at Etham the decisive step would have to be taken whether they would celebrate their intended feast and return, or march onward by the head of the Dead Sea into the desert, with a view to a final departure. They were already on the borders of the desert, and a short march would have placed them beyond the reach of pursuit, as the chariots of Egypt could have made little progress over dry and yielding sand. But at Etham, instead of pursuing their journey eastward with the sea on their right, they were suddenly commanded to diverge to the south, keeping the gulf on their left--a route which not only detained them lingering on the confines of Egypt, but, in adopting it, they actually turned their backs on the land of which they had set out to obtain the possession. A movement so unexpected, and of which the ultimate design was carefully concealed, could not but excite the astonishment of all, even of Moses himself, although, from his implicit faith in the wisdom and power of his heavenly guide, he obeyed. The object was to entice Pharaoh to pursue in order that the moral effect, which the judgments on Egypt had produced in releasing God's people from bondage, might be still further extended over the nations by the awful events.

      THE PLACE OF CROSSING.--Niebuhr, Robinson, Hengstenberg, Tischendorf, Stanley, Winer, and most modern travelers, regard Suez or its immediate vicinity as the scene of the passage. The sea at Suez was wider then than now, and a passage of three or four miles, direct or diagonal, might there have been made from shore to shore, which could have been effected in the specified time, and here would also have been ample room for the overthrow of the Egyptian, army.--F. H. Newhall. [154]

      I. THE PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FIRE.--19. The angel of God. The term is used to denote any kind of an agency by which the divine will is manifested. The pillar of the cloud. This was the mode of manifesting the divine presence as the leader of the host of Israel; a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In this cloud the angel of Jehovah was present and out of it he spoke. There was but one pillar, a pillar which was a cloud by day but shone in brightness at night. When this cloud went before the army of Israel it assumed the shape of a column, a dark column of smoke or cloud, and a column of fire at night. When it moved the camp moved and the army marched; when it stopped the army stopped and encamped. When it separated the Israelites from the Egyptians we must conceive that it spread out like a bank of cloud, forming a dividing wall. As it "stood behind" it was the divine protection of the Israelites from their enemies.

      20. It came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. When it took this position it seemed to the Egyptians like a dark bank of sea fog and had no appearance of being supernatural, but the side turned to Israel was bright and shone with light, so that they could see how to march. Thus it is with the manifestations of God, his word and his presence, dark for impenitent sinners, but full of light and promise for those that obey him.

      21. A strong east wind. It is thus distinctly stated that the agency by which the object was effected was natural. It is clear that Moses takes for granted that a strong east wind blowing through the night under given circumstances would make the passage quite possible.--Canon Cook. A northeast wind, which would be called an "east wind" in Hebrew, would tend to drive the water out of the narrow bay toward the southwest, and if transpiring at the time of an ebb tide, might be strong enough to blow the channel dry. If there were shoals or flats at the place of crossing, as there now are near Suez, [155] and deeper water to the north, as there now is, a pathway might thus be made across the gulf, leaving deep water above and below. It will be noticed that this was soon after the full moon of the vernal equinox, when there would be a very low ebb and a very high flood, and that the tide rises from seven to eight feet opposite Suez, and from eight to nine feet when aided by strong winds, returning with unusual power and suddenness after the ebb.--Newhall. It was the Lord who divided the waters and made the sea bottom dry land, but the "strong east wind" was the agent he employed.

      II. ISRAEL AND EGYPT IN THE SEA.--22. The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea. Moses and Aaron probably led the way, and then all Israel followed, in the night, without moon, lighted only by the pillar of fire. So it is God's light alone that leads us when we flee from Egypt and are baptized, not "unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," but into Christ. If the Israelites marched over in a column half a mile wide it would require about two hours to pass the narrow strait. The waters were a wall. Not perpendicular cliffs, as they are sometimes pictured, but a defense. That is the idea alone. The waters on each side were a protection from attack upon their flanks, while the cloud was in the rear. God could make the water stand in precipices if he should so choose, and such a conception is more impressive to the imagination, but it is certain that the language of the text may mean simply that the water was a protection on the right and on the left flanks of the host. Thus, in Nahum 3:8, No (Thebes) is said to have the sea (the broad Nile) for a rampart and wall; that is, a defense, a protection against enemies. It is true that in poetical passages the waters are said to have stood "as a heap" (Exod. 15:8; Ps. 78:13); but so they are also, in the same style, said to have been "congealed in the heart of the sea," and the peaks of the trembling Horeb are said to have "skipped like rams" and the "little hills like lambs" (Ps. 114:4). Of course these expressions are not to be literally and prosaically interpreted. Different minds will assign different degrees of the supernatural to the transaction. But (1) the movements of Israel by divine order were prescribed, and to these the blowings of the wind were precisely timed, measured, and even changed from east to west. (2) The two armies were long in such proximity that Israel could easily, have been destroyed had not Pharaoh been deterred and blinded by the "pillar." (3) The ordinary tidal action of the sea must have been better known to Pharaoh and his generals than to Israel. That the whole should have been so executed as to save all Israel and to destroy all the Egyptians is unaccountable on merely natural assumptions.--F. H. Newhall. [156]

      23. Egyptian pursued. It is by no means clear that the Egyptians knew or thought they were following the Israelites into the bed of the sea. Considering the darkness, additional to that of the night, which had been superinduced between the pursuers and the pursued, it is not probable that they had any clear perception of the course in which they were moving, and least of all, that they imagined themselves traveling on the bared bed of the divided waters.--Bush. To the midst of the sea. The Egyptians naturally followed close upon the Israelites, from whom they were only divided by the pillar of cloud and fire; and when the rear of the Israelites had reached the opposite shore they were in the midst of the sea.

      24. In the morning watch. Before the captivity the night (between sunset and sunrise) was divided by the Israelites into three watches, the first watch, the middle watch, and the morning watch. It appears that the Israelites had the space of two watches at least, or eight hours, for effecting their passage.--Murphy. The Lord looked. The original word for "looked," as applied to God, denotes not a simple and bare act of ocular inspection, but also a positive putting forth of some demonstration of wrath or mercy corresponding with the occasion.--Bush. An unwonted darting of the lightning flash and rumbling of the awful thunder was the probable accompaniment of this look.--Murphy. It was, then, after two o'clock in the morning, when the cloud that had hung like a black curtain over and before the Egyptians opened, and Jehovah "looked upon them" through his lightnings. Thus the Psalmist describes the scene (Ps. 77:17, 18). To appreciate its awfulness to the Egyptians we must remember that thunder and lightning are extremely rare in Egypt, and that the fearful grandeur of our thunder-storms is there wholly unknown.--F. H. Newhall. Troubled the host. Threw them into confusion, or a panic.

      25. Took off their chariot wheels. Their chariots were entangled with each other, bemired, broken, and overturned in the awful confusion that ensued [157] from the pouring rains, blinding lightnings and appalling thunders. Chariots were the principal strength of an ancient Egyptian army, as we learn from the testimony of the monuments, which exhibit no kind of military force but war-chariots and infantry, no cavalry, properly so-called, that is, warriors on horseback; but few horsemen are at all represented on the monuments, and these are not Egyptians, but foreigners. In a hot pursuit like this, the infantry could, from the nature of the case, take no part, and there being no mounted cavalry, the matter was left entirely to the chariot-warriors.--Kitto.

EGYPTIAN CHARIOT (FROM WILKINSON).

The Septuagint renders the word "took off" "bound" or clogged, a probable meaning, and perhaps more suited to the context.--Canon Cook. The Egyptians said. "Egypt," or "the Egyptians, said, Let us flee;" indicating that they were as unanimous in making this declaration as if they had been one man. They were thoroughly alarmed.

      III. EGYPT OVERTHROWN.--26. Stretch out thine hand. To exalt Moses in the sight of Israel the Lord makes him prominent in the phenomena of this night. His hand is stretched out when the waters depart and when they return. [158]

      27. And the sea returned. A sudden cessation of the wind at sunrise, coinciding with the spring-tide, would immediately convert the low flat sand-banks, into quicksand first, and then into a mass of waters, in a far less time than would suffice for the escape of a single chariot or horseman.--Canon Cook. The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. There can be no doubt that the king and host perished in the midst of the sea. The blow so crippled the Egyptians that no more pursuit was made of the fugitives. Egyptian history seems to point out, as gathered from the monuments, that it was seventeen years after the death of this king before any attempt was made to recover the lost ascendency of Egypt in Arabia and Syria.

      Thus the Israelites "were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," for "they all were under the cloud and passed through the sea" (1 Cor. 10:1, 2). The Red Sea of their baptism was rolled between them and Egypt, idolatry, their enemies and their past life, as baptism comes between the penitent sinner and the thraldom of his Egypt of bondage.

      28. The waters . . covered . . . all the host of Pharaoh. This is explicit concerning the entire destruction of the host of Pharaoh, including chariots and horsemen.

      29. The children of Israel walked upon dry land. This presents the contrast between the fate of the children of Israel, protected by the Lord, and the Egyptians who were under his displeasure.

      30. Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. There could be no mistake concerning their fate, for they were washed up out of the sea upon the shore. [159]

      31. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did. One principal object that the Lord had in view in choosing his methods of delivering the Israelites from Egypt was to establish their faith in Jehovah. This result followed, for "the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses."

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      God's people find his presence most manifest when danger is the greatest and trouble the deepest. Ver. 19.

      God's people find light and comfort when his enemies find darkness and terror. Ver. 20.

      God's people find a path of safety cleft for them through the seas of trouble and danger. Ver. 21.

      Personal redemption is not unlike this national redemption. Both proceed under God's direction, and both turn upon the shed blood. Both require a baptism of both soul and body. And when the pilgrim state is entered both have their places of rest and of peril, and their interpositions of God.

      From Africa to Asia; from bondage to freedom; from terror to trust; from Pharaoh to Jehovah; such was the transition wrought when Israel crossed the Red Sea. It was a great national emancipation, typical of many such which the world has seen since, and typical of the emancipation of the redeemed saints from the sway of Satan.

      CRISES.--There are moments in the life both of men and nations, both of the world and of the Church, when vast blessings are gained, vast dangers averted, through our own exertions--by the sword of the conqueror, by the genius of the statesman, by the holiness of the saint. Such, in Jewish history, were the conquest of Palestine by Joshua, the deliverances wrought by Gideon, by Samson, and by David. Such, in Christian history, was the revolution effected by Clovis, by Charlemagne, by Alfred, by Bernard, and by Luther. But there are moments of still higher interest, of still more solemn feeling, when deliverance is brought about, not by human energy, but by causes beyond Our own control. Such, in Christian history, are the raising of the siege of Leyden by the waters in Holland, and the overthrow of the Spanish Armada, and such, above all, was the passage of the Red Sea.--A. P. Stanley.

      NAPOLEON'S EXPERMENT.--My next object was to find out the exact spot where Napoleon was overtaken by the waves near Suez. Actuated by latent rationalism, and desirous to contradict the miracle, or at any rate to render it easy of belief to unbelievers by proving that It was conformable to the ordinary laws of nature, he one day waited for the ebb of the tide, [160] and made an attempt to follow what he supposed were the footsteps of Moses in passing the creek. In regard to his effort in this way, it has been remarked by the author of Eothen, that he and his horsemen managed the matter in a manner more resembling the failure of the Egyptians than the success of the Israelites. The tide came up regardless of him and his staff, and it was with great difficulty that any of them reached the land. Some of the people at Suez told me that Napoleon fell from his horse into the sea, and was only dragged out by the assistance of the natives on shore. Others said that he spurred his horse through the waters, breast high, back to the beach in front of the English hotel, and that his faithful stood manifested more firmness and sagacity than its rider.--Dr. Aiton.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Review the events since the last lesson; the night of terror in Egypt; the consent of the king; the flight of Israel; the pursuit of the Egyptians. 2. Consider the critical condition of Israel; the sea before; the Egyptians breathing vengeance behind. 3. Point out the strength of Israel; obeying the Lord and therefore the Lord their defender. They see no way, but faith understands that the Lord will point out a way. 4. Consider the means; the sea parted; the cloud conceals them from the Egyptians; the pillar of fire lights them. God the only light and the only safety. 5. Israel's march; Moses leads; on dry land; the waters a wall of defence; the Lord the defender; so always when his people are in the strict line of duty. 6. Point to the Egyptians; following blindly, rashly, as rashly as sinners plunge into sin; thoughtless of danger till It comes and then too late; the waters roll back, confusion, death. 7. Consider the type; all sinners in Egypt of thraldom to sin; flee by repentance led by faith and lighted by the pillar of God's truth under Christ as leader: then baptized into Christ, and baptism, baptism into death, stands between them and the old Egypt of their sins. From thence forward they are bound for Canaan.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: