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Home , Tablets of Stone

6 The Waters Were Divided

After the final plague, the death of the firstborn son of every Egyptian family, finally relented and let the go. They packed up that very evening and started out, just as had told them. As they traveled, God went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. But their journey was not to be an easy one.

PHAROAH PURSUES THE ISRAELITES When the king of was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his 68 | THE PATH: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE The Waters Were Divided | 69

chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the into the sea on dry ground, the waters TRAIL CROSSING sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of -zephon. forming a wall for them on their right This is the second time that and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were God has appeared to in and went into the sea after them, all of fire: first in the burning bush the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot and now in a pillar of cloud cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there drivers. At the morning watch the Lord and fire. Read about some of were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in in the pillar of fire and cloud looked the other times God shows the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of down upon the Egyptian army, and up in fire: 1 Kings 18:20-39, 2 Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us threw the Egyptian army into panic. He Kings 2:11, Daniel 3:19-30. alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been clogged their chariot wheels so that they better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the CROSSING OF THE RED SEA SCENIC VIEW sea returned to its normal depth. As the Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to The portions of the Bible Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed that are songs are some of me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your the Egyptians into the sea. The waters the oldest parts of the text. staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that returned and covered the chariots and the Here we are told that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh leads the people in singing harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after that had followed them into the sea; not immediately after their them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all one of them remained. But the Israelites deliverance. In fact, singing his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians walked on dry ground through the sea, and dancing is often the shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for the waters forming a wall for them on biblical response to good news. myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.” their right and on their left. Thus the Lord Check out 2 6:5, saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; Psalm 149:3, and The of God who was going before the Israelite army Luke 1:45-55. moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came seashore. Israel saw the great work that between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. did not come near the other all night. Then the prophet Miriam, ’s sister, took a tambourine in Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went 70 | THE PATH: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE The Waters Were Divided | 71

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, “Let no horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.” one leave any of it over until morning.” But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms The Israelites rejoiced and sang, for God had delivered them from and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by Egypt and miraculously led them across the Red Sea. Moses followed morning they gathered it, as much as each needed; but when God’s command and led the Israelites into the wilderness. Their the sun grew hot, it melted. rejoicing soon turned to complaining, as the people realized that life in the wilderness would not always be easy. In spite of all that they On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers had seen and experienced, the people continued to doubt God’s love apiece. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told and promise of provision. Moses, he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy to the Lord; The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.’ ” “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; assembly with hunger.” today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and none.” So the people rested on the seventh day. gather enough for that day. I have heard the complaining of the The house of Israel called it ; it was like coriander seed, Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with . The morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable that I am the Lord your God.’” land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in of . the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, there for water; and the people complained against Moses and an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our providing for those in their own tents.’” The Israelites did so, children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as 72 | THE PATH: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE The Waters Were Divided | 73

people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made your hand the staff with which you struck the , and go. I heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the consecrated it. people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” You shall not murder. The Israelites journeyed until, finally, they arrived at . You shall not commit adultery. The people of Israel camped at the base of the mountain, and Moses You shall not steal. went up the mountain, and there, God spoke to Moses. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Then God spoke all these words: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other or anything that belongs to your neighbor. before me. When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the You shall not make for yourself an idol, POINT OF INTEREST sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were whether in the form of anything that is Commandments are afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, in heaven above, or that is on the earth so important that they are “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak beneath, or that is in the water under the described twice. The list here to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be earth. You shall not bow down to them or is from Exodus 20; they appear afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of again in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. worship them; for I the Lord your God him upon you so that you do not sin.” Then the people stood at The wording and order of am a jealous God, punishing children for a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where the commandments is the iniquity of parents, to the third and God was. slightly different in the two the fourth generation of those who reject accounts. Read them both me, but showing steadfast love to the God gave Moses far more than the ; God and see what you notice. thousandth generation of those who love continued to speak to Moses, and gave him many other laws and me and keep my commandments. statutes for the people: laws about what to eat and what to wear, laws about how to treat people and how to worship; laws about You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your offerings and tithes, laws about and social responsibility. God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Some of the laws seemed obvious, like: “You shall not abuse any Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall widow or orphan.” Others seemed more arcane, like: “You shall be labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to people consecrated to me; therefore you shall not eat any meat that the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son is mangled by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.” or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or But at the heart, all the laws were about how to live holy lives, lives 74 | THE PATH: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE The Waters Were Divided | 75

dedicated to God; the people should be holy because God, their God, speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two is holy. The people were being called to live as a witness of God’s tablets of the covenant, tablets of stone, written with the finger holiness to the world. of God. In particular, God talked to Moses about how and when the people While God was speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, the people of God should worship. God established a priesthood, setting aside below grew restless. They approached Aaron and asked him to make the , the descendants of Aaron, to serve as . God a god for them. Aaron took the people’s gold rings and earrings and appointed the sacrifices and festivals that the people should observe. formed them in a mold and made an image of a calf. The people And God gave Moses specific instructions for building the ark of the built an altar before the calf and began to bring it offerings, to covenant, a chest to carry the tablets of the law, and the , worship it, and to drink and revel. Moses was so angered when a movable tent of dwelling for God. Since Moses and the people he came down the mountain that he threw down the tablets that were nomads, God would travel with them, present and real in the God had made, breaking them in the process. Moses destroyed the midst of them in this movable dwelling. God described the ark and calf, and called the people to repent and return to God. The people the tabernacle down to the most intimate detail: from the fifty loops received God’s forgiveness, but their disobedience was not without that should be on the edge of the curtain of the tabernacle to the cost. The stiff-necked people of God still had a to learn, but God exact spices that should be used to make the incense. Every detail was not ready to abandon them. was accounted for. So Moses cut two tablets of stone like TRAIL CROSSING After receiving these laws, Moses went down the former ones; and he rose early in the TRAIL CROSSING Moses is changed after his from the mountain and shared them with morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as The promises exchanged encounter with God; from this between God and Moses on the leaders. Then God summoned Moses to the Lord had commanded him, and took point onward, the skin of his Mount Sinai are the third the highest part of the mountain, to receive in his hand the two tablets of stone. The face shines. Compare this covenant in the Bible, the the tablets of stone, with the law and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood to ’s encounter with Mosaic covenant. The earlier commandments God had given to the people. with him there, and proclaimed the name, God in Genesis 32:22-32. covenants are the Noahic “The Lord.” The Lord passed before him, Then Moses went up on the mountain, covenant (Genesis 9:8-17) and proclaimed, and the cloud covered the mountain. The and the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12-17). In the Mosaic glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, “The Lord, the Lord, covenant God gives people and the cloud covered it for six days; on a God merciful and gracious, the Ten Commandments and the seventh day he called to Moses out slow to anger, other laws to follow and calls of the cloud. Now the appearance of the and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, them to be holy as God is holy glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, (Leviticus 19:2). In return, on the top of the mountain in the sight forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, God promises that Israel will of the people of Israel. Moses entered the yet by no means clearing the guilty, be God’s treasured possession cloud, and went up on the mountain. but visiting the iniquity of the parents and a kingdom of priests Moses was on the mountain for forty days upon the children (Exodus 19:5-6). and forty nights. When God finished and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 76 | THE PATH: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE The Waters Were Divided | 77

And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is worshiped. He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, today. Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff- be stubborn any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who your inheritance.” is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing On Mount Sinai, God renewed his covenant with the people in them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you spite of their unfaithfulness. God called the people once again to were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your holiness of life and gave the law again to Moses, on two tablets of God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, stone. When he came down from encountering God on the holy and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your mountain, the skin of Moses’ face shone, and the people were afraid God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that to come near him. So Moses would cover his face with a veil, when your own eyes have seen. he stood before the people. Moses came before them to remind them of the essence of God’s laws, and call them to obedience. For forty years, Moses led the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert. In spite of God’s promise and presence with them, the Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Israelites struggled to trust and obey God. Though God provided SCENIC VIEW Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your them with manna from heaven, they grew tired of eating it, This passage is called the God with all your heart, and with all Shema, the Hebrew word for weeping and complaining that they wanted meat. So God provided your soul, and with all your might. Keep hear. Many recite this quail for them to eat as well. The people’s complaints and rebellion these words that I am commanding you prayer day and night, grew so extreme that God became angry and Moses had to intercede today in your heart. Recite them to your and have prayer practices for for the people yet again. God relented and promised forgiveness, children and talk about them when you binding it to their foreheads but as a consequence for their faithlessness, God said that none of are at home and when you are away, when with tefillin and putting it the people who had seen God’s glory in the escape from Egypt or the you lie down and when you rise. Bind on their doorposts with wilderness would enter the promised land; only their descendants . calls this the them as a sign on your hand, fix them as would receive that promise. As the people neared the end of their greatest commandment an emblem on your forehead, and write journey and Moses neared the end of his life, he cautioned the in Matthew 22:34-40. them on the doorposts of your house and people not to forget God in prosperity and to remember God, even on your gates. when life became easier and they reached the land of promise. So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite , and the Lord him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the own well-being. Although heaven and the heaven of heavens valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. The Lord belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to , to the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose , and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; 78 | THE PATH: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE The Waters Were Divided | 79

I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over quarreling, and fighting against God and one another. Why do there.” Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the you think that is? When have you struggled to trust God? How land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. Moses was one hundred might you focus on the glorious things that God has done rather twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and than complain about the things you don’t have? his vigor had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the 3. When God rains down manna from heaven, the people are plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for instructed to only take enough for food each day, and nothing Moses was ended. more, but they find it difficult to do. Why do you think God asks them to do that? Why do you think it’s so difficult? Compare this son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because to Matthew 6:9-13. What might these passages say to us today? Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses. Never since has there 4. In Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, God is very specific, arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face describing in great detail the tabernacle and vestments and to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that what to eat and what to wear. What might God be saying to us about our lives by listing the laws so specifically? Even the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against though we live in a different time, how might those laws Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the speak to us today? mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. 5. Moses leads the people for forty years, sticking with them even when they grumble, complain, and sin. Yet he doesn’t get to see the people make it all the way into the promised land. What do you think about that? What might that say to us about our own Scripture Citations service to God? Exodus 14:5-31 | 15:20-21 | 16:2-4a, 12-26, 30-31, 35 | 6. The Bible retells the story of Moses and the people in the 17:1-7 | 20:1-21 | 22:22, 31 | 24:15-18 | 31:18 | 34: 4-9 wilderness again and again; it becomes a touchstone for the Deuteronomy 6:4-9 | 10:12-21 | 34:1-5, 7-12 story of the people of God. Look at the way the story is told in Psalm 78. How does it compare with the story in this chapter? What do you notice about that version of the story? QUESTIONS FOR THE JOURNEY 1. The journey of the people of God features amazing deliverance, NEXT STEPS but it also involves wandering in the wilderness for forty years. • Again and again in this chapter, Moses pleads with God on When has your journey with God felt more like wandering? How behalf of the people who have sinned. What might this say to has the experience of wandering impacted your faith? us about how we are called to pray and relate to one another? 2. In spite of God’s presence and promise to them, the people Make a list of some people you are called to pray for or ask struggle to trust God, and it doesn’t take long after their someone else to pray for you. miraculous deliverance for the people to begin complaining, 80 | THE PATH: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE

• Many of the Ten Commandments seem straightforward and obvious, if not easy. But one of the most overlooked is the command to remember the sabbath. Read that commandment closely; what do you notice? Why do you think God commanded, rather than requested, sabbath observance? How do you— or could you—observe sabbath in your life? Set a goal for observing the sabbath in your coming week.