Exodus 13-15

Exodus 13-15

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey! Please, if you have questions or comments... let me know! 

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 13: Leaving Egypt

                The Lord speaks to Moses and tells him that all the first born of the Hebrews needs to be sanctified to him, and that they need to continue the tradition of not eating leavened bread for seven days. On the seventh day a feast to the Lord would occur.

                Moses takes Joseph's bones out from Egypt and the Lord follows the Israelites by day in a cloud and night by a pillar of fire. 

Chapter 14: The Red Sea Divided

                The Lord speaks to Moses and tells him that he needs to lead his people to encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and Baal-zephon by the sea. He also tells him that he will harden the heart of Pharaoh and cause him to pursue after the Hebrews.

                Back in Egypt the Pharaoh is kind of sitting around and then thinks to himself; "...why have we done this, that we let Israel go from serving us?" (Exodus 14:5). So Pharaoh has his chariot made ready and commands an army of 600 chosen chariots (essentially he called his best men and equipment) and put captains over each one. Pharaoh and his army are on the horizon of the encamped Israelites, when they see the Egyptians coming the Hebrews cry out to God in fear, they yell at Moses "...Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?" (Exodus 14:11), then they go on to say that they had told Moses to just leave them alone and not try to save them, because "...it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness" (Exodus 14:12).

                Moses calls out to the Israelites and tells them to not be fearful, for God will save them this day and that after today the people of Israel shall no longer see the Egyptians.

                From what I understood next, a cloud separated the Egyptians and the Hebrews so that they Hebrews could get to the shore of the Red Sea. This all happening at night, and to the Egyptians it was night, but to the Hebrews it was as if it was day. Essentially buying the Israelites more time to make their escape. Moses stretches forth his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind, which made the sea turn to dry land and the waters of the Red Sear became divided.

                Just a side note: I always thought it would be interesting to try and explain (scientifically) how Moses with the Lord's power separated the Red Sea. I always thought that it could have been like a Tsunami, that caused the waters to really back down from the shore, but in verse 22; it says that the waters "...were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left".

                In the morning the Egyptians pursue after them and the Lord causes the waters to return again to their original state, ultimately closing the waters in on the Egyptians, killing them. The Lord saved his people that day, and that day the people of Israel feared the Lord, and believed in him and his servant Moses.

Chapter 15: Israel Sings With Moses

The Israelites or just Israel, sings songs of praises with Moses to the Lord. They rejoice in a God that would deliver them from their bondage to the Egyptians. Israel however runs out of power, and all the water they could find was bitter. So they murmur/complain to Moses that there is no water. So the Lord tells Moses to tell the people that they must do as the Lord commands and if they do this, they will not be diseased like the Egyptians. The Lord leads them to an oasis of ten palm trees and 12 wells of water.