Exodus 15:1-11, Thoughts from Exodus (9)

1431 “Believed the LORD and His servant Moses.”  Hebrew for believed is  “aman” meaning “to support, confirm, to prop, be firm/unshaken, to lean on.”  The first use of the word was in Gen. 15:6, the faith of Abraham who “believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”  It is used over 100X in the OT.  But let me call attention to two:

·       Num. 14:11: At Kadesh Barnea, when the people refused to go in to the land, the LORD said to Moses: How long will these people reject Me?  And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?

·       Num. 20:12: When Moses struck the rock rather than speaking to it, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.

1503   The LORD is a man of war.  There is no way around this.  A concept of God must include the fact of His anger, His fighting for His people.

1513   God’s fighting is His mercy to His people in bondage.

1514   Yes!  This happened with the people of Canaan (e.g. Jericho, Josh. 2:9).  Also years later, the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:8).

1518   The conclusion is: The LORD Reigns Forever!  Certainly I see why so many think of this (Ex. 15) as “Moses’ Song” in Rev. 15.  A Jewish believer in Jerusalem told us that serious Jews recite that part of the song in 15:1 daily.  But still, Deut. 32 fits the subject and time of Revelation perfectly.  In Ex. 15 there is no praise offered by Gentiles, which is called for in Rev. 15 and is the conclusion of Deut. 32 (v43). 

1522   15:22-26: The first complaint after the Red Sea begets a “statute and an ordinance” for Israel.  God uses the situation to teach them.  If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight … I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians.  For I am the LORD who heals you.

1601   It’s a month since leaving Egypt (the Passover Lamb was killed the 14^th of the first month. In the middle of that night they left.)

1604   16:4-5: Again, after the second complaint, God again instructs them, using the manna to teach them the holiness of the Sabbath.

1608   Complaints are never just against people.  They are always against God.  If we believe He is leading us, and is good to those who seek Him, then when people “do us wrong” we ought not complain but rather must hear God’s message to us in the situation.