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Exodus 14 — Stand Still, and See the Salvation of the Lord

Summary

Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues. Israel is trapped between mountains and sea, terrified. Moses commands them to stand still and see. The Lord divides the waters; Israel passes through on dry ground. The Egyptians follow into the sea. The waters return and cover the army. Not one of them remained.

Key verse

“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day.”

— Exodus 14:13

Outline
  1. v.1-9 Pharaoh pursues; Israel terrified
  2. v.10-14 Moses' charge — stand still and see
  3. v.15-22 The waters divided; Israel passes through
  4. v.23-29 The Egyptians drowned; not one remained
  5. v.30-31 Israel saw the Lord's great work and believed
Verse-by-verse
3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

God deliberately led Israel into a position from which there was no escape — to demonstrate that escape would be His doing, not theirs. Entangled. Shut in. Both terms describe what looks like a disaster.

God sometimes leads His people into apparent dead-ends on purpose. The position that looks like failure to human eyes is set up for the glory of divine deliverance. The deeper the entanglement, the greater the manifest power required to deliver.

Cross-references 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 · Romans 11:33 · Psalm 78:13 · Isaiah 43:16
10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.

The first response is fear. But notice — they cried out unto the Lord. The same people who would shortly grumble (verse 11) at first turn to God. Fear is not faithlessness if it drives the soul to prayer.

There is a fear that hides from God and a fear that runs to Him. Israel here did the second. The believer's rule in panic: cry out to God first, complain later if you must — never the reverse.

Cross-references Psalm 50:15 · Psalm 91:15 · Psalm 107:6 · Hebrews 4:16
13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

Three commands in one breath. Fear not. Stand still. See. The believer's posture in front of an apparent crisis. Stop reacting. Stop panicking. Watch.

The Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The sins that have hunted you, the past that has chased you, the bondage you fled — God can put them at your back permanently. The line is drawn at this Red Sea moment.

Cross-references Psalm 46:10 · Isaiah 30:15 · 2 Chronicles 20:17 · Romans 6:6
14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Eight words to memorize. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. The battles God fights are not won by our striving but by our stillness.

Hold your peace. Not just stop fighting — stop talking. There are moments when even speech is unbelief. The deliverance is His to bring; the silence is your assignment.

Cross-references 2 Chronicles 20:17 · Isaiah 41:13 · Romans 8:31 · 1 Samuel 17:47
15 And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.

A surprising rebuke to praying. There are moments when prayer becomes a substitute for obedience. Wherefore criest thou unto me? — at this point, the praying was settled. The next required step was action.

Go forward. The sea was still there. The command came before the division of the waters. Faith moves before the path is visible.

Cross-references James 2:17 · Hebrews 11:8 · Matthew 14:28-29 · Joshua 3:13-16
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

God used a wind — natural means for a supernatural purpose. The miracle was not less divine because He used the wind; He created the wind. The point is the timing and effect.

God still works this way. The healing through medicine, the deliverance through human helpers, the door opened by ordinary means — these are not less the hand of God for being mediated through what He made.

Cross-references Psalm 78:13 · Joshua 3:13-17 · Isaiah 51:10 · Psalm 106:9
22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

A walled corridor through the sea. Two million people walked between walls of water. The image is staggering — and is treated by the New Testament as historical fact.

1 Corinthians 10:1-2 says Israel were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The crossing was an Old Testament baptism — the people leaving their old life behind in water, emerging on the other side a new nation.

Cross-references 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 · Hebrews 11:29 · Romans 6:3-4 · Psalm 77:19-20
28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

There remained not so much as one of them. Total destruction. The Egyptian army that had pursued Israel for four hundred years of slavery and a final week of plagues was gone in a single morning.

Pharaoh himself almost certainly perished, though the text does not explicitly name him. Psalm 136:15 — overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea. The most powerful man in the world drowned alongside his army.

Cross-references Psalm 136:15 · Hebrews 11:29 · Nehemiah 9:11 · Psalm 106:11
Key doctrines
God's Deliverance from Impossible Positions
Exodus 14:3,13 · 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 · Psalm 50:15 · Daniel 3:17
Faith Requires Movement Before Visible Provision
Exodus 14:15 · James 2:17 · Hebrews 11:8 · Matthew 14:28-29
The Red Sea Crossing as Baptism
Exodus 14:22 · 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 · Romans 6:3-4 · Colossians 2:12
Complete Destruction of Pursuers
Exodus 14:28 · Psalm 136:15 · Hebrews 11:29 · Revelation 19:21
Application

There is something that has been chasing you. A habit, a fear, a memory, a relational pattern, a financial dread. Bring it to the Red Sea God of Exodus 14. The Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. He can put them at your back permanently. Stand still and watch. Go forward when He says. The pursuer drowns in the same waters you cross dry.

Christ in this chapter

1 Corinthians 10:2 says Israel were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The Red Sea is a Christian baptism in seed form. The greater Moses (Acts 7:37) leads the greater Israel through the greater waters — death and resurrection — and out into the wilderness of the present age, on the way to the greater promised land. The old life with its pursuers is left buried in the sea.

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