If you have trouble sleeping, just go to Google Images and type in “Pihahiroth Red Sea crossing location.” You can look at maps til your eyelids feel like lead, then nod off like I did. 😏

No one knows definitively where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea or the Sea of Reeds – no matter what their website claims.

Two things stand out most to me in this section:

1. The Almighty has set them up. The Cloud leads them into a situation where they are camped between mountains and sea.
2. The purpose of this whole thing is so that Yahweh will be “honored through Pharaoh and his army and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

There is a lot of heart language at the beginning. Pharaoh lets Israel go but then he has “a change of heart.” And we see again, the Lord hardens (makes strong) the heart of Pharaoh and he sends all the chariots of Egypt after them.

Remember going over the Hebrew words translated “harden,” as in God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Well, there’s a play on words right off the bat.

“And I will harden (chazaq) Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored (kabad) through Pharaoh and all his army…” Ex. 14:4.

Pharaoh had made his heart kabad (heavy, honored). And even God kabad Pharaoh’s heart when He gave him what he wanted. Now, God will be kabad when He triumphs over Pharaoh and all his army, all his chariots and horses.

…which makes me think “all the kings horses and all the kings men” 🤭

God has set them up. He has brought them between a rock and a hard place on purpose- not for their destruction, but for the destruction of the ones who would drag them back into slavery.

If you are living between a rock and a hard place right now, it’s very likely that the Lord is setting you up for a sea-parting miracle. Let’s not react like this:

“They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭14‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I don’t recall them ever telling Moses “Leave us alone. We’re fine being slaves to the Egyptians.” After 4 centuries they had developed a slave-mentality. A free man would rather die free in a wilderness than live as a slave in a palace. I think the slave-mentality is probably fairly common; even in a “free” country. Put your head down. Do as your told. Don’t question the authority. Don’t make waves.

Well, it’s time to make some waves.

The Lord tells Moses to have the people move forward and, “Then the Angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with (or and) the darkness, yet it gave light at night.”

Look at that real close. Are we seeing two? The Angel and the Cloud? Or perhaps it’s like Ezekiel’s Wheels – when the Lord moves, the wheels move. Or cloud. Whichever it is, this cloud stops the Egyptians all night while the children of Israel cross the sea on dry land with walls of water on either side.

I love it. It’s an outside the box answer to an impossible problem. (Which is typical God in my experience.) Can’t go over it or under it. Can’t go around it. We’ll just go right through the middle of it!

We’re all familiar with this story. Probably too familiar. We’ve seen the movie and maybe even the cartoons.

Ok- you know how there are those expert flavor-tasting people? Like a fancy chocolate expert, “The vanilla notes are very forward, with hints of caramel and a complex smokiness that lingers on the palate.” (I just made that up cuz I thought it sounded good.)

In the sea-parting story I taste notes of the Noah’s Ark narrative. God gives directions to the leader. The leader obeys though it seems to be crazy. God’s people are in the middle of supernaturally-stirred-up water but safe. God uses water to drown the wicked and separate the survivors forever from their prior existence. And though they aren’t two-by-two, even the animals are saved. It’s a defining moment that changes the world.

“And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭14‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When the Lord delivers people from slavery to self and sin, it is decisive and permanent. Let’s apply this to ourselves as we wrap up.

A person “turning over a new leaf” or making a resolution to do better is not the same as the presence of God showing up in supernatural power to thrown down the spiritual forces and destroy the soul-bondage we cannot see. God does all the heavy lifting here. He has to. We are powerless. We have only to be silent, quiet, calm. Trust.

And as we grow in faith and sanctification, we may have to escape from many tyrants that have enslaved parts of us.

When we get serious with God about escaping and renouncing the bondage in our life it’s an all-in commitment.

A Red Sea moment is an utter abandonment of the past; sins, habits, your old identity- everything we’ve grasped at to satisfy and fulfill. It is renunciation of the sinful nature. I come out of agreement with it. I no longer agree with the slavery arrangement.

Following the Lord through a Red Sea moment means letting go of being in control. He said to walk into this thing that looks like certain death? Ok. Here I go. It is throwing ourselves totally upon the grace and leadership of the Lord and walking with Him in the light of His pillar of Fire.

There may be other enemies you face down the road, but the Egyptians you see today? Those ones you will never see again.

Whatever sin or stronghold you may be battling in your own life, may today be the day that you cross the sea and are parted from that bondage forever.