Second or Fourth or Tenth: Exodus 14:19-31

A text – Exodus 14:19-31

¹⁹ The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. ²⁰ It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. ²² The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ²³ The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. ²⁴ At the morning watch the Lord, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into a panic. ²⁵ He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. ²⁸ The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. ²⁹ But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

³⁰ Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

A reflection:

This story of the drowning of Pharoah’s army is the climax of the foundational story of the Jewish faith, say many Old Testament scholars. The calling of Moses to bring his people out of slavery in Egypt is the start of the formation of Israel as a nation and not just a family descended from a man whom God had named Israel. The people Moses was leading had seen the signs (plagues) God had sent upon Egypt to get Pharoah to let them go, they had followed the instructions for Passover and had seen the result – that they were spared but everything else alive in Egypt lost their firstborn. They had fled, following God’s instructions and following their leader, Moses, and had crossed a sea on its dry bed, and they had seen the soldiers of the Pharoah die under God’s hand.

And then Exodus 14:31 says “³¹ Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” The people saw, and they experienced being delivered, and then they believed. During their wandering in the wilderness, they often failed to believe again, but then God would save them and they would believe. I wonder whether, when Jesus would tease the disciples with, “Oh ye of little faith,” if he wasn’t maybe calling out the whole people of Israel’s tendency to forget all that God had done for them, to have little enduring faith. They needed immediate signs, and more and more of them. The whole people of Israel. All us humans.

If that is true, what does that say about humans’ short memories and their continual need for proof rather than reliance on faith? What does it say about my own habit of complaining first and being grateful second or fourth or even tenth? The Lord God of Creation does miracles in the life of the world and we forget so quickly. Better to start each day from the position of gratitude for the signs and wonders of God’s love and ask for favors second. Or fourth. Or tenth. 

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for all the things you did for the Israelites and for us. Help us always to remember first your gracious goodness to us, and to be thankful to you and merciful to our neighbors. Amen.