A reading from the book of Exodus (14:15-15:1)
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. You are to raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the Israelites will walk through the sea on dry ground, while I, for my part, shall harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will follow them, and I shall win glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, chariots and horsemen. And when I win glory for myself over Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.’
Then the angel of God, who was going before the army of Israel, changed station and followed behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from their front and took up position behind them. It came between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel. The cloud was dark, and the night passed without the one drawing any closer to the other the whole night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back with a strong easterly wind all night and made the sea into dry land. The waters were divided and the Israelites went on dry ground right through the sea, with walls of water to the right and left of them. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea after them. In the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud and threw the Egyptian army into confusion. He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly make progress. So the Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians!’
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters flow back on the Egyptians and on their chariots and their horsemen.’ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and, as day broke, the sea returned to its normal state. The fleeing Egyptians ran straight into it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and horsemen of Pharaoh’s entire army, which had followed the Israelites into the sea; not a single one of them was left. The Israelites, however, had marched through the sea on dry ground, and the waters formed a wall to the right and to the left of them. That day, the Lord rescued Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the mighty deed that the Lord had performed against the Egyptians, the people revered the Lord and put their faith in the Lord and in Moses, his servant.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord.
This text, with the canticle which follows directly in chapter 15, is the conclusion of the story of the ten plagues and the permission given by Pharaoh to let the people go. Though liberated from Egypt, they are now trapped between the Sea and the pursuing Egyptians, for Pharaoh’s heart has been hardened again. When they complain bitterly to Moses, he reassures them. The Lord will intervene and be ‘glorified’, and the Egyptians will come to know the Lord.
The two speeches of God in this passage, which is the high point of this great story of liberation, contain two commands to Moses to stretch out his staff over the sea. The pillar of cloud, representing the presence of God, stands between Israelites and Egyptians. The power of the staff of Moses separating the waters is accompanied by a wind (ruah) from the Lord (cf. Gen 1:2), which turns the sea into dry ground and creates ‘walls of water’ on each side. A dramatic night of salvation is followed by the morning when the Lord impedes the Egyptians’ pursuit. The second command that Moses should stretch out his staff brings the waters back to drown the Egyptian army.
As the text draws to an end, we are told that, when the people saw the mighty ‘hand’ by which God had ‘saved’ them, they ‘feared’ (yara’) and they ‘believed’ (’aman) in God and in Moses. The verb ’aman is used to speak of Abraham, who ‘believed in God’ (Gen 15:6). It is the people who now accept that their one support is the Lord, for this is what biblical faith is.
Whatever the reality and the causality of the crossing of the ‘Sea of Reeds’, which may well have been a tragic accident caused when the army of Egypt risked crossing swampy ground, it forms the heart of an epic story of God’s liberation. This text narrates the primary ‘night of salvation’, on the basis of which Targum Jonathan’s reflection on the ‘four nights’ developed.
For Paul it is an image of baptism with its transition from the dark waters of death to the light of life: ‘Our ancestors passed through the sea. All were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.’ (1 Cor 10:1-2). The exodus prefigures salvation in Christian catechesis. A new people emerges from the waters of baptism.
Exodus 15
This ancient ‘song’ naturally serves as a response to the reading, and expresses the joy of the people and the glory of God, who is described, not only as ‘my strength’, ‘my song’, and ‘my salvation’, but also as ‘man of war’, who hurled Pharaoh’s forces into the sea. The image of a violent and xenophobic god will evolve in time into a loving God who gathers humanity together. The concluding verses of the song strike the positive tone of reaching the ‘mountain of your possession’, the ‘place of your dwelling’, and the ‘sanctuary your hands made’. The true destination of the journey is the place where God is to be found by all.