26 NO WAY OUT

EXODUS 14:10-20

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

I do not want to make any move unless I know the glory cloud is going before me, because if I get in an impossible place where there is no way out, I want to always know I am in the right place, in the will of God. According to Exodus 14:2-3, the Israelites had turned back at God’s command. If this was intended to entice Pharaoh to chase them, the choice to have the Israelites encamp specifically near the Egyptian lookout posts certainly heightens the enticing effect. The fact that the Israelites are in near both Pi-Hahiroth and Baal-Zephon and between Migdol and the sea is meant by the writer to convey the idea of being surrounded on all sides. Just before one of the most outstanding miracles recorded in the Bible occurs, we first see the horrible plight and fright the children of Israel were in when they realized Pharaoh was pursuing them, “As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord” (10). They knew very well the strength and rage of the enemy, and their own weakness and helplessness. The slaves with their women and children and livestock were numerous, but all on foot, unarmed, untrained in warfare and distressed by having lived in slavery. They were completely vulnerable and probably, what was worst of all, they now were trapped between Pharaoh’s approaching army behind them, the Red Sea in front of them, a range of craggy impassable mountains on one side of them and on the other were Migdol and Baal-Zephon which were Egyptian, possibly forts and garrisons on the frontier. The only way out was up and that is where some of them looked. We may be exactly and precisely in the will of God for our lives, following God and His plan and yet experience 2 Corinthians 4:8, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.” In this distress, no marvel that the children of Israel were sorely afraid. Their father Jacob was also afraid in a similar situation according to Genesis 32:7, “In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well.” Fear was understandable, but not exemplary. When fightings are on the outside, fears are on the inside. The important question is what did they do? What was the result of this fear? Some of them cried out to the Lord; their fear got them started praying, and that was a good result. God brings us into tight spots that He may bring us to our knees. Others of them, however, cried out against Moses; their fear set them to complaining as verses 11 and 12 say, “They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” They give themselves up for lost as if God’s arm were shortened all of a sudden and He were not as able to work miracles today as He had been yesterday. They despair of deliverance and can see nothing ahead but dying in the wilderness. How inexcusable was their distrust! Did they not see themselves under the guidance and protection of a pillar from heaven? And can almighty power fail them, or infinite goodness be false to them? Yet this was not the worst; they quarrel with Moses for bringing them out of Egypt. In quarreling with him, they fly in the face of God Himself, and might have provoked Him to anger whose favor was now the only hope to which they could flee. As the Egyptians were angry with themselves for the best deed they ever did, so the Israelites were angry with God for the greatest kindness that was ever done for them. Oh, what foolishness humans are capable of thinking!

They display an absurd contempt of liberty, preferring slavery over it just because they were experiencing some difficulties. A generous spirit would have said, “If worst comes to worst, it is still better to die in the field of honor than to live in the chains of slavery.” It would be better to think, “Better to live free in the open air of a wilderness than to remain the Egyptians’ slaves in the smoke of the brick-kilns.” They are angry that they were not left behind buried alive in their house of bondage. What? This was base ingratitude to Moses who had been the faithful instrument of their deliverance. They condemn him, as if he had dealt harshly and unkindly with them, whereas it was abundantly evident, that whatever he did, and however it turned out or seemed to be turning out, it was by direction from their God, and with design for their good. They repeat and justify what they had said in Egypt in a former time of anguish of spirit, “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’?” Yes, they had said that back then, before, they had seen all the recent miracles and maybe that was excusable, but now they had seen God’s wonderful appearances in their favor. They had as soon forgotten the miracles of God’s merciful deliverance as the Egyptians had forgotten the miracles of God’s anger displayed in the plagues. So we have now the Egyptians hardening their hearts, at last, to their own complete and final ruin and some of the slaves still complaining against Moses. Later in Numbers 13:22, when many of the Israelites believed the negative report of ten of the spies who complained about not being able to go up against the Canaanites, what did Moses say to them? “. . . not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.” God is not pleased when we doubt and complain after He has so clearly demonstrated His power, love and wisdom.

Verses 13 and 14 tell us that the patient, great and exemplary leader Moses, instead of criticizing them for doubting, gave the Israelites encouragement. “Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’” Moses did not answer these fools according to their folly. God evidently now bore with the grumblings of the Israelites and did not bring their fears on them. So therefore Moses could afford to pass by the complaint they put on him. Instead of chiding them, he comforts them, and with an admirable presence and composure of mind, not disheartened either by the threatenings of Egypt or the tremblings of Israel. He stills their murmuring, with the assurance of a speedy and complete deliverance saying “Do not be afraid.” A faithful Christian leader will consider it his or her duty and interest, that when we cannot get out of our troubles, yet to get above our fears, so that those very fears may only serve to motivate our prayers and efforts and not silence our faith and hope. Moses assures them that God would deliver them, that He would undertake their deliverance, and that He would effect it in the utter ruin of their pursuers. Verse 13 continues, “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.” Moses too was growing in his faith. He was confident in God and also himself, and wanted them to be so, even though he did not know how or which way it would happen. God had assured him that Pharaoh and his host would be ruined, and he comforts them with the same comfort with which he had been comforted. He directs them to leave it to God, in a silent expectation of the event as though to say, Stand still, and don’t think you can save yourselves either by fighting or fleeing. “Wait for God’s orders, and observe them. Do not contrive what course to take, but follow your leader; wait for and obey God’s orders and you will see how foolish you are to distrust them. Compose yourselves by complete confidence in God. Hold your peace.” You need not so much as give a shout against the enemy, as the armies of Joshua will do later at Jericho as recorded in Joshua 6:16, “The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” The work will be done without any effort of yours. If God Himself intentionally brings His people into difficulties, as is clear here since the glory cloud led them there, He will Himself bring them out again. In times of great difficulty and great expectation, it is the wisdom of a Christian leader to keep his or her spirits calm and quiet for then we are best able to partner with God, doing our own part directing people’s attention to God, and appreciating God as He does His.


God shows leaders what they are to do. Many places the Bible says to pray, but in this case, Moses must, for the present, stop praying, and give himself to his business as verse 15 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.’” Though he was assured of a good result in the present distress, yet Moses, did not neglect prayer. We do not read how he prayed or what he said, but we know he lifted his heart up to God, a language which God well understood and noticed. Moses’ prayers of faith prevailed more with God than Israel’s loud outcries of fear. Praying, if of the right kind, is crying to God, which means it is the language both of a real need and of a strong desire. To further intensify his earnestness in prayer, Moses had something else to do besides praying; he was to command the hosts of Israel. It was now necessary that he be at his post as the leader. Everything is beautiful in its season, a time to pray and a time to lead.


What is Moses to do? He is to speak to them, that they go forward. It is possible that Moses, the intercessor, had prayed, not so much for their deliverance, (he evidently felt confident of that), as for forgiveness for their murmurings. If so, God’s ordering them to go forward was an indication of the pardon. There is no going forward with any comfort or confidence unless we know God is in it. Moses had told them to stand still, and expect orders from God. Now orders are given. They thought they must have been directed either to the right hand or to the left. “No,” says God, “speak to them to go forward, directly to the sea-side as if there were a fleet of transport-ships ready for them. When we are doing the work of the Lord, though we meet with difficulties, we must go forward. We must do the present work and leave the result to God. We use means and trust Him with the issue. There is nothing provided in the Christian’s armor to protect the back, only our front side is protected. We must go forward.

What should Moses expect that God would do? Let the children of Israel go as far as they can on dry ground, and then God will divide the sea opening a passage for them through it. God plans, not only to deliver the Israelites, but also to destroy the Egyptians. The Israelites needed to go through the sea, enticing the Egyptians to follow, in order for this plan to work. God will show favor to Israel; the waters will be divided for them to pass through, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground” (16). Isaiah was  both a prophet and a poet. He said this in Isaiah 63: 13, 14 about that event: “. . . who led them through the depths? Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name.” God will get for Himself even more honor upon Pharaoh. In order for this to happen God says, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.” We may not contribute to the hardening of any man’s heart, nor withhold anything we can do to soften it. But with God, His grace is His own. He has the right to harden someone’s heart and the right to harden the hearts of others. If we have a problem with this we can ask Him about it when we get to heaven. Meanwhile, let us be glad if He graciously softens our hearts. Indeed we can even respectfully ask Him to kindly soften it or to make it more soft. I do not understand it, (Theology is the Queen of Sciences and I do not understand it fully and neither can you), but from Scripture we take it that God has the right to soften and harden hearts. Isaiah 1:24 said, “Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: ‘Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies.’” God will break those who will not bend. God exercises the right to duly punish those who obstinately and presumptuously resist Him. This is a hard truth, but Christian leaders need to accept it even if we do to understand it. It is in the Bible.


God now promises to set a guard over Israel’s camp where it was most exposed—in the rear. Verses 19 and 20 tell us of this wonderful and effective protection. “Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.” The Israelites no longer needed the angel of the Lord to be in front of them guiding them, they needed the angel to be behind them protecting them. God knows how to give the right kind of help. Some peoples’ help helps and some people’s help hinders, but God’s help always helps. He knows just what to do. 


The cloud not only protected them but gave them light while, at the same time, it confounded the Egyptians so that they lost sight of their prey just when they were ready to lay hands on it. This was not the first time that He who in the beginning divided between light and darkness still forms both and simultaneously gave darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites. This is but an example of the distinction that will be made between the inheritance of the saints in light and the utter darkness which forever will accompany those who reject God. God will separate the precious from the sinful.


We are learning leadership principles. In this lesson we learned that Moses held steady through a difficulty with the added problem of complaining people. After hearing from God he did not scold them, he comforted, encouraged and led them. Let’s do that.