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How do we relate to Israel’s flight out of Egypt to the Red Sea, as recorded in Exodus? We weren’t there. We know that this was a long, arduous journey. It was a seven-day walk — day and night — without sleep or respite. A likely reason God wants us of the Commonwealth of Israel to remember the Israel’s deliverance from both the lure of Egypt and the might of Egypt on the first and seventh days of the Festival of Unleavened Bread they are picture of the full release God gives us through the Great Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah.
Exodus 14 gives us some clues.
“Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.” Look at the phrase “you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon.” A more literal translation would be “in the face of Baal-zephon.” (Ex. 14:1-2)
God had a final lesson to teach the Egyptians as He revealed to Moses.
“For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” (Ex. 14:3-4)
We wonder how the Egyptians, could have been so brazen at this point. Every one of the members of the Egyptian army had lost a family member in the last plague of the firstborn.
When the children of Israel saw this headstrong angry army coming at them, they started complaining and whining to Moses:
“Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘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.” (Ex. 14:11-12)
But Moses rebuked them lack of faith in strong terms:
“Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.” (Ex. 14:13-14)
Salvation through the sea
God freed them from bondage but they weren’t quite free. They received their salvation after they crossed the Red Sea.
Try to put yourself in their shoes. They were scared to death, no earthly hope or salvation. There was no going forward or going back. You entire family, parents, children, everyone will die with you.
The Israelites traveled all night through the sea. The Egyptians couldn’t see this because God used the cloud to block their view. The next morning, the Lord allowed them to see the path. The Egyptians falsely assumed that the Baal cleared the way for them. They figured out when it was too late that it was the Creator God who did it. Satan as no power or jurisdiction over us.
After the children of Israel were saved from the Egyptians, that was not the end of their story but only the beginning. They have received their salvation but they didn’t have smooth sailing from there.
After they left the Red Sea, they journeyed for three days without water. Then they reached a place called Marah, which had water that was bitter and undrinkable. God lead them there because He wanted them to understand that walking with God is not based on a moment but on a process, a journey.
God the Healer
The first lesson God wanted to teach them is that He is their Healer. When we first came to Yeshua, we eventually had to face our first trial. For many, having faith in healing is the first trial. God lead them to a place that made them sick, but He healed them as well. He also wanted to show them His power to bless them.
In their continued grumbling and complaining, He also gave them difficult trials and tested their obedience. He would alternate between taking them to places that had a lot of bounty and blessing and barren places. They didn’t choose these places, God did. They followed His cloud and fire, when it moved, they moved, when it stopped, they stopped.
When we accept Yeshua, we become a part of God’s world and we are live our lives as though we are in His world, but God has to teach us how to live in His world and we have to be open to His instruction. God doesn’t test us and train us because we are strong but because we are weak without Him.
God gave them the manna to teach them about the Sabbath and to listen to Him exactly, and many of them didn’t pass the test. They either tried to save up extra manna on the other days and it stank and turned to worms or they went out on the Sabbath to gather manna even though they were told to gather extra on Friday and that it would keep on the Sabbath.
Throughout the time of the Exodus, you notice a pattern where the people complain and threaten Moses and Aaron during these tough times even though it was God who controlled the cloud and fire that guided them from place to place. God had told Moses that he would be an Elohim in the eyes of the people and that Aaron would be his prophet. Why did God set Moses as a profound figure over these centuries?
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.’ Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.” (Ex. 19:9)
There are those who believe that Yeshua’s death on the cross nullified and did away with Moses, yet Moses is highly regarded throughout the New Testament all the way to the book of Revelation.
Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.