Exodus 15 – June 5

When we last saw the Israelites, they had just made their way through the Red Sea and had turned around to see the Egyptians pursuing them with all deliberate speed. Once every Israelite had safely made it above the water line, the Lord closed the waters in, destroying Pharaoh and his entire army. Proverbs 11:10 tells us that, “when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.” The same people that had enslaved the Jews and committed a genocidal extermination of their children were now all floating dead on the surface of the sea. They were now truly free. How did the people of Israel respond? They sang! 

Exodus 15 provides us with the very first recorded song in the Scripture. It is no coincidence that singing is what immediately follows deliverance. This truth continues to be seen throughout the entirety of Scripture. The redeemed of the Lord say so (Psalm 107:2), and the format for our rejoicing is often through singing. Singing has the ability to bring together our heart, soul, mind, and strength into a unified effort to proclaim what we believe to be true. If you have been delivered, in you have been set free from the bondage of guilt and slavery to sin, then you should respond just like Moses and the people did in Exodus 15 – with exuberant worship. 

There are three things in this song that I want you to notice today.

The Lord Conquers Idols

Every single ‘god’ of Egypt was humiliated in the eyes of the Egyptians as the one and only true God of the universe revealed just how weak and pathetic their objects of worship are. Moses led the people in singing, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.” Obviously, there are no other gods that exist in the universe. This was a direct rebuke of the system of idolatry that had been the cornerstone of Egyptian society for centuries. God is committed to crushing idols. If you harbor any worship of anything other than God Himself, He will zealously snuff it out. This is a cause for us to elevate the Lord in our sight and put everything else in its proper order beneath Him.

The Lord is a Warrior

Verse 3 makes a powerful illustration – “The Lord is a man of war.” When I think of God in my mind’s eye, I rarely ever picture Him as a soldier arrayed in battle armor. However, the majority of the imagery in this song is dedicated to the depiction of God brutally defeating the enemies of God’s people. The fact that God is a “man of war” should cause every enemy to tremble. Who can stand before the might of God? No opponent could ever harm Him. The worst position that we could possibly find ourselves in is the role of God’s enemy. He is a Warrior who masterfully and thoroughly destroys those that stand against Him. Which makes the next point all the more amazing.

The Lord has Purchased a People

Verse 16 describes the nation of Israel as “the people whom you have purchased.” That should raise the question, in what way did the Lord purchase them? What was the payment? How should we even go about answering that question? First, let’s consider what losses have been experienced. Pharaoh and his armies are dead. Before that, it was the firstborn son of all of the families of Egypt. Before that, it was the livestock of the fields and the fish of the Nile. Are these the costs that were paid? Obviously not. That leaves just one loss that is unaccounted for – the Lamb that was slain to provide a blood covering for the people of God. That was the event that both saved them from the wrath of God, and resulted in them being expelled from slavery in Egypt. This is a clear foreshadowing that the heavenly Lamb of God would one day come to offer His own blood as a payment to purchase a people for Himself. This is amazing grace.