Read
The Song of Moses
1 Moses and the Israelites sang this song in praise of the Lord:
I sing praises to the Lord
for his great victory!
He has thrown the horses
and their riders
into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength,
the reason for my song,
because he has saved me.
I praise and honor the Lord—
he is my God and the God
of my ancestors.
3The Lord is his name,
and he is a warrior!
4He threw the chariots and army
of Egypt's king
into the Red Sea,
and he drowned the best
of the king's officers.
5They sank to the bottom
just like stones.
6With the tremendous force
of your right arm, our Lord,
you crushed your enemies.
7What a great victory was yours,
when you defeated everyone
who opposed you.
Your fiery anger wiped them out,
as though they were straw.
8You were so furious
that the sea piled up
like a wall,
and the ocean depths
curdled like cheese.
9Your enemies boasted
that they would
pursue and capture us,
divide up our possessions,
treat us as they wished,
then take out their swords
and kill us right there.
10But when you got furious,
they sank like lead,
swallowed by ocean waves.
11Our Lord, no other gods
compare with you—
Majestic and holy!
Fearsome and glorious!
Miracle worker!
12When you signaled
with your right hand,
your enemies were swallowed
deep into the earth.
13The people you rescued
were led by your powerful love
to your holy place.
14Nations learned of this
and trembled—
Philistines shook with horror.
15The leaders of Edom and of Moab
were terrified.
Everyone in Canaan fainted,
16struck down by fear.
Our Lord, your powerful arm
kept them still as a rock
until the people you rescued
to be your very own
had marched by.
17You will let your people settle
on your own mountain,
where you chose to live
and to be worshiped.
18Our Lord, you will rule forever!
Reflect
Imagine what it must have been like. Some people think there were as many as two million people who made a camp in the desert within sight of the eastern shores of the Reed Sea (Red Sea).
Each successive generation of slaves had heard the stories of the Promised Land. They knew they were connected by birth back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). They knew they were not Egyptians. They had been in bondage and they had not been happy. Now instantly, their lives were changed—they were no longer slaves.
In Egypt they had no reason to sing and celebrate but now they had reason to rejoice.
Each stanza in the text begins with exalting God as a triumphant mighty Warrior and ends with the supernatural defeat of the Egyptian armies. In contrast to Pharaoh who was defeated in the floods of the sea, Jehovah was able to command the seas and is the ancient God of the ancestors of Israel. He is Jehovah my strength and my song and the God of our fathers. The Lord is our Warrior.
Jehovah is incomparable in the majesty of his holiness, the awesomeness of his glory and the powerful working of His wonders (v 11). Jehovah lovingly redeems and will lead his people to the place of his holy dwelling. Moses begins to predict the future. Jehovah God will take his people safely back to Canaan.
The God who is mighty had also sown terror into the hearts of all future enemies of Israel so the Israelites were free to pass safely into Canaan.
Israel was beginning to grasp the kind of awesome God that they were destined to follow. Their faith was new and fledging but their hopes were high. God was with them.
In the same way our Lord and God is with us no matter what barriers we face. God called us from our slavery to sin to live in victory and in worship of his glorious majesty.
Respond
Father, You are most holy, awesome in your glory and powerful in your wonders. We have so many reasons to sing and to celebrate. Help us to be truly thankful for all that you have given us. We can live in victory because you are the Lord our Warrior.
Bill Fietje
Dr. Bill Fietje became President of the Associated Gospel Churches in July 2008. Prior to this role, Bill served for five years as our Canada East Superintendent. Before joining the AGC team, he was the National Director of OMF International-Canada for eleven years. He and his wife Lois also served for two terms with OMF International in Thailand as church planters and developers. Bill also served as pastor of Forward Baptist Church in Cambridge, Ontario. In 1999, he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Massachusetts. His vision and leadership have helped to birth both MissionFest Toronto and MentorLink Canada. The Fietjes reside in Niagara-On-The-Lake and have four adult children and six grandchildren.