Right from the start of the Israelites’ journey out of Egypt, Yahweh gave a reason for the often strange and scary things he had them go through. How strange and scary, for instance, that instead of telling them to scurry off as fast as they could on the shortest and most direct route out of Egypt, he had them stop and “turn back” in Exodus 14:1.
Because, verse 3, “Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert,’” and with his heart then purposely hardened by Yahweh, he’ll gather his troops with murderous intent to slaughter the Israelites – so that, and here’s Yahweh’s reason, verse 4 – “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
But how exactly was Yahweh going to do that? It was all well and good saying it, but defeat “six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt,” and all his foot soldiers too (7-9)? True, the Israelites “went up out of Egypt armed for battle” (13:18), but what possible hope of winning did they have against the greatest, most powerful nation at the time? They didn’t, and they knew it, because they were “terrified” on sighting the Egyptians, Exodus 14:10.
But with Yahweh, “always a reason, always a way,” or as Moses put it in verse 14, “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still,” so sit back and relax, Yahweh will find a way – which he did by drowning the entire Egyptian army (28). “And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (31).
Right before their eyes, then, they witnessed the truth of “always a reason, always a way.” Yahweh had a clear reason for this scary incident, and he provided a way to fulfill it. Not only did he get his point through to the Egyptians, he set up a pattern for the Israelites in future too. And for a brief moment they got it, as they stood on the far shore looking back on the utter destruction of their formidable enemy, having not lifted a weapon in self-defence. So they sang out loud in Exodus 15:2, “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation,” and in verse 11, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?” – the same point Yahweh got across to the Egyptians.
But what did it take on Yahweh’s part to transform them from being whimpering scaredy-cats to bubbling over with confidence? According to Exodus 14:31, it was “A display of great power”….(next blog)
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