exodus – jeffersonvann

Exodus 15

Exodus 15:1 At that time, Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to Yahveh, and this is what he sang, “I will sing to Yahveh, for victoriously he has achieved victory; the horse and his rider he has shot into the sea.

Exodus 15:2 Yahveh is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Exodus 15:3 Yahveh is a man of war; Yahveh is his name.

Exodus 15:4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he shot into the sea, and his elite officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

Exodus 15:5 The depths covered them; they went down into the deep sea like a stone.

Exodus 15:6 Your right hand, LORD, made glorious by power, your right hand, LORD, smashes the enemy.

Exodus 15:7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your burning anger; it consumes them like stubble.

Exodus 15:8 At the breath of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the depths solidified in the heart of the sea.

Exodus 15:9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my throat will be satisfied over them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’

Exodus 15:10 You puffed your breath; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the grand waters.

Exodus 15:11 “Who is like you, LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, great in holiness, awesome in praiseworthy deeds, doing miracles?

Exodus 15:12 You stretched out your right hand; the land swallowed them.

Exodus 15:13 “You have led by your covenant faithfulness[1] these people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your sacred dwelling.

Exodus 15:14 The peoples have heard; they shudder; anguish has taken hold of the those who dwell in Philistia.

Exodus 15:15 At that time the chiefs of Edom became disturbed; trembling has taken hold of the leaders of Moab; all who live in Canaan have melted.

Exodus 15:16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they keep still as a stone, till your people, Yahveh, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have bought.

Exodus 15:17 You will bring them in and place them on your own mountain, the place, LORD, which you have made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have set up.

Exodus 15:18 Yahveh will reign permanently and continually.”

Exodus 15:19 Because when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, Yahveh brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.

Exodus 15:20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out behind her with tambourines and dancing.

Exodus 15:21 And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to Yahveh, because he has achieved victory; the horse and his rider he has shot into the sea.”

Exodus 15:22 Then Moses pulled up Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the Shur open country. They went three days in the open country and could not find water.

Exodus 15:23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore, it was named Marah.

Exodus 15:24 And the people complained about Moses, and this is what they said, “What will we drink?”

Exodus 15:25 And he cried out to Yahveh, and Yahveh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There Yahveh made for them a prescribed task and a judgment,[2] and there he tested them,

Exodus 15:26 saying, “If you will carefully listen to the voice of Yahveh your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his prescribed tasks, I will put none of the maladies on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am Yahveh, your healer.”

Exodus 15:27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they set up camp there by the water.

[1] חֶסֶד = covenant faithfulness. Exodus 15:13; 20:6; 34:6, 7.

[2] מִשְׁפָּט = judgment, justice, justly. Exodus 15:25; 21:1, 9, 31; 23:6; 24:3; 26:30; 28:15, 29, 30.

Exodus 15 quotes:

“This poem is a lyrical outpouring of emotional praise of the God who had delivered them. It enters that praise assuming that we know the story, and tells it from an alternative point of view. Rather than focusing on the human side of the story, it focuses on the spiritual and heavenly side and it does so with evocative language that has God at its centre. So, where Exodus 14:21 told us that the sea parted when a strong east wind blew through the night, Exodus 15:8 tells us that it was by the blast of God’s nostrils that the waters piled up.”

Reid, Andrew. Out of Darkness : Exodus 1- 18. Matthias Media, 2005. p. 56.

“Miriam’s Song appears at the end of a Hebrew poem about God’s deliverance at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1-21). The entire poem is known in Judaism as Shirat ha-Yam, “The Song of the Sea.”? John I. Durham proposes that this song was “stimulated by an exceptional moment in Israel’s history.” * Israel had just witnessed God’s power through the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, walked across the seabed on dry land, and watched the complete destruction of Egypt’s pursuing army (14:21-29). Their response is summarized in verse 31: “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.””

Guy, Cynthia Dianne. Struggle Seek Grow: How 12 Women in Scripture Sought Spiritual Maturity. Gospel Advocate Company, 2011. p. 136.

“So here is a hymn that looks back to a miraculous event fresh in the minds of all the Israelites, and yet looks forward to a promise of a land the people have not yet seen (Exodus 15: 17). It is a song both of experience and of faith, of proof and yet of trust. Most of all it is a people’s song, expressing praise to their God, Yahweh, the Lord, who was leading them — by displays of great power where necessary— every step of their journey.”

Stuart, Douglas K. Favorite Old Testament Passages : A Popular Commentary for Today. 1st ed, Westminster Press, 1985. p. 27.

Exodus 15 links:

ACST 2 The Promise
bitter water test
Exodus- grace to the grumbling
Exodus- inspiration
Gender Equality in Ministry
introducing the breath of God
victory songs

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – Saturday, July 29, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, July 27, 2017

EXODUS in Jeff’s library

TWO LAMBS

Exodus 29:38-46 NET.

³⁸ “Now this is what you are to prepare on the altar every day continually: two lambs a year old. ³⁹ The first lamb you are to prepare in the morning, and the second lamb you are to prepare around sundown. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. ⁴¹ The second lamb you are to offer around sundown; you are to prepare for it the same meal offering as for the morning and the same drink offering, for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. ⁴² “This will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you to speak to you there. ⁴³ There I will meet with the Israelites, and it will be set apart as holy by my glory. ⁴⁴ “So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me. ⁴⁵ I will reside among the Israelites, and I will be their God, ⁴⁶ and they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the LORD their God.

We need to do some things regularly.

The Lord instructs the children of Israel here that when they set up the Tabernacle they are to prepare a particular offering to him every day, continually. Every morning they were to sacrifice a lamb and every evening another lamb. Most of us are creatures of habit. We have things that we do every day. Nobody has to check up on us and make sure we are doing those things. We get into the habit of doing those things perpetually so that they are instinctual.

For me, Bible study is like that. For years now, I have followed a regular ritual that begins with translating a biblical text each day, followed by a devotional from that text. I have gone through the Bible several times that way. People wonder how I can publish so many books every year, and that habit is the reason. Because I have studied and written so many articles, devotionals, and theological posts, it is relatively easy to put them together in book form.

I’m also methodical about the medicines I take. I know which meds to take in the morning and which to take in the evening. I take them first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I label my medicine bottles with a big “M” for my morning meds and a big “E” for my evening meds.

My sermon preparation follows a pattern as well. I usually do my research for the next week’s message on Monday, write the sermon presentation, and record the video on Tuesday. That leaves Wednesday for visitation, Thursday for Food Bank, and Friday and Saturday for my weekends. It’s all habitual. It’s how I function. The pattern helps me get everything accomplished that is important to me.

I’m not one of these “last minute” people. If I came to a Saturday night and had done no preparation for my sermon, I would be a basket case. In fact, if I had to wait until Wednesday to write my sermon, I would be nervous and anxious. I don’t mind deadlines, but I feel better if I can finish a project a month before the deadline.

Now, I am saying all this to clue you in on how I do things. But it seems to me from today’s text that God wanted to establish some habits for the children of Israel, too. He wanted them to get used to doing certain things at certain times every day, to doing the things that really matter on a regular schedule.

We need to worship God regularly.

According to today’s passage, the most important thing on God’s list for his people to do regularly was worship him. The offerings that he prescribed for them were the way they would show their appreciation for God, and he told them to sacrifice those offerings every morning and every evening at sundown. That is why he told them to offer two lambs every day. These were not family offerings. These were not for individuals. They were national offerings. The priests would offer them for the whole nation.

But notice the nature of these morning and evening sacrifices. They consisted of the meat of a lamb, oil, flour, wine… everything that would be part of a fine meal. Why did God want them to prepare a meal for him twice a day? He did not need to consume any food. That is not it. But in every tent, every family would prepare a meal for themselves every day. They did this to sustain themselves, but it was also a way of coming together and enjoying each other’s company. It was a time of fellowship for each family.

The sacrifices that God prescribed for his people were to take place at a place called the tent of meeting. They symbolized God’s desire to get together with his people regularly, consistently, and habitually. From the standpoint of what God wanted, he was prescribing a unique form of worship: a symbolic meal shared with the Almighty twice a day.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus tells the church in Laodicea, “Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me” (3:20). That is what God wants of his people. He wants them to worship him by showing their appreciation for him the same way they would do for a family member.

It makes sense if you remember that these are all former slaves. They were not used to being able to show their appreciation for anyone. The only way they knew how to commune with anyone was over a nice meal. That was the height of their gift-giving. Now, they have been rescued from Egypt, but they have not been automatically transformed culturally. They still have minimal experience with divine worship. But they do know how to show their appreciation by sharing a meal. That is what God asks of them.

He gave them their freedom. He could have asked for much more, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to stay close to them. When he smelled the aroma of those meals cooking, it was soothing for him. He could overlook many offenses as long as his people wanted to please him. Just two meals a day was all it took for that.

God will meet with us regularly.

Today’s passage also tells us about the other side of the bargain. It outlines what the Israelites are going to get for regularly communing with the LORD. He promises to meet with the people and speak with them at the entrance to the tent of the meeting. The pagans all around them had their rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices that they used to manipulate their gods. But the worship of the Israelites was not to be like that. They were not trying to appease an angry God. They were trying to stay close to a compassionate God. He was not just going to be there for the meal. He was going to be there for the people themselves. He was going to speak to them there.

He was also going to share himself. He would pass on his holiness to the place, to the priests, and to the people. They would become different people because God himself would transfer his holiness to them. He would be their God, and they would be his people. Ten chapters earlier, he told them that they were to him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (19:6).

That is what New Testament Christianity is supposed to be as well. Peter tells believers, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Just as the Israelites were called out of slavery into holiness, so we—the church—are called out of the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of God’s holiness.

Now, the point is not that we have to be holy in order to experience God’s presence. It is the other way around. We become holy as we experience God’s presence in our lives through regular, consistent, perpetual worship. We don’t change for him. We change by staying close to him. Once we are saved by grace through the shed blood of Christ, we can come into the presence of God and commune with him regularly. Nothing we can do for him comes close to what his regular presence can do for us.

Devotions from Exodus:

The book is 296 pages long and was released on May 17, 2024.