There Is More To That Red Sea Crossing Story Than You Think!

There is so much more to that Red Sea crossing than the average telling of that story. If you haven’t read it lately take time to read Exodus 14 now before you read the rest of this. Most of us when we think about this story probably think about that dramatic scene in Cecile De DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments when Charlton Heston, playing the part of Moses holds up his staff over the Red Sea and it parts. I know it was made in 1956 and there may be some reading this that have never seen it, if you haven’t seen it you should. But my point is that that is usually the picture most people get in their mind. It set the standard and that is usually how it is portrayed in any movie account of this amazing story. But there is so much more to this story…

Most of you know the story how the Children of Israel lived in slavery in Egypt. They were slaves for 430 years! They cried out for a deliverer and God answered their prayers by sending them Moses who had been raised in Pharaoh’s court and under God’s edict defied the Pharoah and commanded the Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Pharaoh wasn’t about to let go of slave labor he was used to having and refused. So God had to convince him by sending ten devastating plagues which eventually led to Pharaoh’s decision to let the Children of Israel go free. It was not long after they left though that Pharaoh realized he had made a mistake losing all that free labor and so he took 600 of his best chariots and went after them. Now the children of Israel at this time had no army. They were just beaten down slaves so you can imagine how they all reacted when they saw Pharaoh’s army in the distance headed their way. Egypt was a superpower in that time. They had a well-trained army and the latest weapons of that time. The Israelites had lived among the Egyptians 430 years they were well aware of what they were capable of. They were afraid although God was leading them with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. They knew no comfort in the desert journey compared to the housing and food that Egypt furnished the slaves with and many turned on Moses reminding him of this and railed against Moses saying, ‘You have just brought us out here to die why couldn’t you have just left us in Egypt?’ (Exodus 14:10-12). It didn’t look good for by now they were literally between a rock and a hard place. Pharaoh’s army was bearing down on them and they had the impassable Red Sea before them. It looked like certain doom. Even Moses’ reply sounded hollow “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14). Now most teaching and preaching this usually berate the Israelites for their lack of faith and trust in God and Moses but try to picture this situation and put yourself in their place. Pretty scary. A bunch of men, women and children with no fighting skills and no weapons and an angry Pharaoh about to come down hard on them to either kill them or put them all in chains and make slaves of them again.

Now I don’t believe God does anything by chance or stuff just happens and God has to react to it. I doubt God was sitting up in heaven scratching his head and wondering ‘What am I going to do now?’ No, God had big plans for these people and little did they know they were being schooled and trained for what he had in mind. And this situation was no exception. Even the place he had them stop and camp was no coincidence. In Exodus 14:2 he directed them to “camp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-Zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.” Little did they realize that God was setting the trap for Pharoah. He wanted to make them appear to be trapped to lure Pharoah in (Exodus 14:3). The Hebrews were known for naming places and people with meanings that were significant. The place they camped at now was named long ago and at the time of its naming they had no idea what would be taking place on this day. Let’s look at the names and meaning of these places. Pi-Hahiroth meant ‘the mouth of freedom’. It was a valley between two high rocks. Symbolically God was telling them this was their place and moment of freedom. Migdol literally meant ‘fortress or strong tower’. Symbolically God was telling them he was with them and would be their fortress and shield. Baal-Zephon literally meant ‘Baal of the north. Lord of darkness and hidden things’. Symbolically God was telling them he had them shielded from the enemy and even in the shadow Baal-Zephon and the enemy bearing down upon them that he would be their strong tower and defense. They were focused on the enemy and their sure destruction. They were focused on the hopelessness of how this situation appeared. They surely were not taking time to see the symbolic meaning of this place but Moses saw it and reminded them “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” It was far from being a coincidence that God chose this place for the Israelites to camp. God placed them in an impossible situation so that he could prove he was with them even in the seemingly impossible. Impossible is what God does best!

I have found in my walk with the Lord that that doesn’t always mean the easy way when he moves. I believe from experience and his Word that God wants to show us we are stronger than we think we are. He is always trying to grow and mature us. In fact when Jesus said “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). He did not mean perfect in the sense that we usually think of perfect and we certainly cannot be as perfect as God. In the original language this passage was written in, Greek, the word Teleios is used which describes ‘being mature’. God doesn’t expect perfection of us but he does expect us to be learning, growing and maturing.

Alright, now I am really going to blow away the stereotypical picture of this crossing of the Red Sea. It is straight from the scriptures (Exodus 14) though. I am a very visual person and I want you to join me on picturing this scene in your mind. It wasn’t in broad daylight this happened and it wasn’t an immediate parting of the Red Sea. Picture this now. It was nighttime. God had been leading them by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud during the day. This cloud and pillar of fire began to move from leading them to a place behind them and became a wall of fire between the Israelites and Pharaoh’s army. Moses held up his staff over the waters and the scriptures record that there was a wind that built up and blew all night (Exodus 14:21). So, imagine this like it was you. You and your children are huddled up in the dark, you just know the Egyptians are going to descend upon you anytime and you sit there wondering what will happen next. You hear the sound of wind howling and the sound of waters churning about and this was happening all night not instantly like you see depicted in the movies. The pillar of fire gives then light to see while at the same time putting the Egyptians in the dark, probably a darkness darker than it already was to them (Exodus 14:20). And then the children of Israel look and the Red Sea is parted like walls of water on the right and the left and dry land in between for them to walk on (Exodus 14:22). And as they are crossing God is up to even more, for he loosens all the wheels on their chariots (Exodus 14:25). I can just picture angels loosening the nuts on their wheels and laughing! Then God lowers the wall of fire and the Egyptians see what has happened and they decide to follow them. God waits till all the Israelites are safely across and all of Pharaoh’s chariots are all in the middle of the Red Sea. By now their wheels are about to fall off and some of them realize they are in trouble. Well by now it is becoming morning so the Israelites have plenty of light to see what God does and as Moses stretches out his staff once again the walls of water collapse and every single Egyptian is drowned (Exodus 14:28)! The children of Israel stand there in awe as bodies begin to wash up on shore (Exodus 14:30). “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” (Exodus 14:30-31). Can you picture that? Does it take your breath away? It does me.

So much can be learned from this story that applies to our modern-day times. Yes, there is suffering in this life, most of it we bring on ourselves. And like the children of Israel we allow it and before long accept it as normal until before we know it we are under oppression and wonder how did we ever get in the mess we are in. But there is always a remnant crying out to God and he hears every cry and brings forth our deliverance in time after we have learned what he wants us to learn from our situation and consequences to our choices. Deliverance doesn’t always come in a form we imagine though but he provides a safe camp in the shadow of his strong tower and though our back is to the wall he makes a way where there was no way. Life is a journey, my friend. Walking with God isn’t always easy but he is walking with us till we reach his promised land and then it will be worth it all.