टीका वर्तमान में केवल अंग्रेज़ी में उपलब्ध है। हिन्दी अनुवाद प्रगति पर है।
Exodus 15 — I Will Sing Unto the Lord
Moses and the children of Israel sing a song of triumph at the Red Sea. The horse and his rider thrown into the sea. The Lord is a man of war. Three days into the wilderness, the bitter waters of Marah are made sweet by a tree. They come to Elim, where there are twelve wells and seventy palm trees.
“The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.”
— Exodus 15:2
- v.1-18 The Song of Moses — celebrating the Red Sea victory
- v.19-21 Miriam leads the women in dance
- v.22-25 The bitter waters of Marah made sweet
- v.26 The Lord that healeth thee
- v.27 Elim — twelve wells and seventy palm trees
Quoted by Psalm 118:14 and Isaiah 12:2. One of the great covenant declarations of the Old Testament, recurring at the turning points of redemption history.
He is my God. Personal possession. Not just the God of the fathers, not just the God of Israel as a nation — my God. True faith always crosses over into personal claim.
An attribute of God modern sentimentality avoids — a man of war. He fights for His people. He destroys His enemies. Christ in Revelation 19:11-15 is the consummation of this — riding to make war.
The same God is the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). Both names are His. The one who comforts His own is the one who fights against those who oppress them. Both faces serve His glory.
The doxological climax of the song. Who is like unto thee? The question that defines God's incomparability. Yahweh has no competitor in the universe.
Micah 7:18 picks up the same question — Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity? The same incomparability that judged Egypt pardons sinners. Both are uniquely His.
The destination is thy holy habitation — the dwelling place of God. Israel is being led not just out of Egypt but into God's presence. Redemption is always inward and upward, not just outward.
For the believer the same applies. Salvation is not just escape from hell; it is entrance into the household of God. He hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son (Colossians 1:13).
Three days after the song. The triumph of chapter 15 verses 1-21 is followed by the trial of verses 22-26. Spiritual highs do not protect against immediate testing.
Marah means bitter. The first stop in the wilderness is a place named for the disappointment found there. God's training of His people begins almost immediately with a bitter cup.
A tree — cast into the bitter waters, sweetening them. The image is unmistakable. The cross of Christ, cast into the bitter waters of fallen human life, sweetens them.
No human technology turns truly bitter water sweet. The miracle is divine. So with the bitter waters of life — only Christ's cross applied to them makes them drinkable.
Jehovah-Rapha — the Lord that healeth thee. The first revealed name of God's healing character. Healing is woven into the covenant from its beginning.
The healing here is contingent on obedience. God's healing has always been linked to relationship with Him. Modern theology sometimes detaches healing from holiness; the Bible does not.
Twelve wells — one for each tribe. Seventy palms — one for each elder (Numbers 11:16). God's rest stops are precisely sized to His people's need.
After Marah, Elim. After the bitter, the bountiful. The same God who tests at Marah refreshes at Elim. The wilderness has both, in the timing God appoints.
After every great deliverance comes the next Marah. Do not be surprised when the bitter waters appear three days after the song. The tree God showed Moses is the cross of Christ. Cast it into the bitter waters of your life — and watch them become drinkable. Many a believer drinks daily from waters that were once unbearable, because the tree has been thrown in.
The tree cast into bitter waters is one of the clearest Old Testament types of the cross. Galatians 3:13 — Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. The tree of cursing became the tree of sweetening. Every Marah of human existence — disease, sorrow, death — is met by the same tree, and the waters that could not be drunk become living water.
The first recorded song of Israel in the wilderness. Salvation produces song. The Old Testament saints sang; the New Testament saints sang; the redeemed in heaven sing (Revelation 5:9, 15:3).
Revelation 15:3 calls the redeemed at the sea of glass singers of the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. The song of Exodus 15 is still being sung at the consummation of all things.