Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Exodus chapter
13 as we continue our study through the Word of God. In our study
last time we saw the tenth plague – the death of the firstborn
come upon Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. For the children of
Back in Exodus 10:28-29, before the tenth plague and after
the plague of darkness that came upon the land for 3 days, the
ninth plague, we are told, “Then Pharaoh said to him,
‘Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face
no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!’ So
Moses said, ‘You have spoken well. I will never see your
face again.’” But, as midnight went by
and death permeated the
That seems to contradict what we read back in chapter 10, doesn’t it? It may be as simple as this. In Exodus 11:8 we are told, “‘And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, “Get out, and all the people who follow you!” After that I will go out.’ Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.” I believe that is what we are seeing here in Exodus chapter 12, Pharaoh is mourning over the death of his firstborn and he sends his officers to Moses and Aaron telling them to get out of town. That seems to fit the picture of what we read in Exodus 11:8 and thus, Moses did not see the face of Pharaoh again!
The Exodus of the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt has begun as they gather in Succoth, some 2 to 3 million people, on their journey to the Promise Land, the land of Canaan. With that said, let’s begin reading in Exodus chapter 13, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word.
VERSES 1-2
The firstborn was to be dedicated or consecrated to the Lord and I think the idea here was this. Initially the firstborn was to be the priests representing God before the people. But, because of idolatry, because of the golden calf incident with all the tribes of Israel, except for one, the tribe of Levi who stood on the Lord’s side and they would become the priests for the nation. So the firstborn of man were to be His ministers, the firstborn of the animals were His sacrifice.
VERSES 3-7
The Feast of Passover, which began on the 14th of Nisan, speaks of salvation, deliverance. Jesus is our Passover Lamb and it is only through Him that we find salvation; it is only through Him that we have deliverance from the bondage of sin!
Then, on the 15th of Nisan and running for seven days was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which speaks of our purity. Leaven in the Scriptures speaks of sin and thus, unleavened bread speaks of purity. Thus, as we come to Christ we need to walk in holiness. Paul put it like this in I Corinthians 5:7-8, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” After we have been delivered by the blood of the Lamb, shed upon the cross of Calvary for our sins, we are to walk in purity. And the reality is, it is only after we have been saved that we can!
On the Sunday following the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the Feast of Firstfruits as they would give to the Lord the firstfruits from their harvest. For us today, Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15:23, “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.” It speaks of the resurrection and because Christ rose from the grave we too will be raised in glory, a picture of the harvest to come!
VERSES 8-10
God wanted them to remember their deliverance from Egypt by His mighty hand and to pass this on to future generations. Now verse 9 is interesting to me. It says, “It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.” The Jews developed these phylacteries, or small boxes tied to the forehead or the hand by a leather strap and in these boxes were strips of parchment containing these four Scriptures: Exodus 13:1-10; Exodus 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; and Deuteronomy 11:13-21. By doing this they believed and the Orthodox Jew still believes they are obeying the Words of the Lord that are spoken of here.
In Matthew 23:5 Jesus rebukes the religious leaders of His day. He said, “But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.” In other words, the bigger the boxes the more spiritual they thought they were and that is not true. Then what is being spoken of here in Exodus? I believe the Lord is saying that your hands, the work that you do should reflect the salvation that has come into your life and others should take notice. Between your eyes I think speaks of them looking at people, remembering the salvation that God has brought to them so that they can share it with others. And, of course, they didn’t put a phylactery over their mouth, but the idea here is to speak forth the salvation that God has brought into your life.
As Christians, it is not the Christian tee shirts we wear, or the Christian bumper stickers we have on our cars, or even the Bible we carry with us, which can all become phylacteries in our lives. It truly is working with our hands, seeing others in need of Jesus and sharing our faith, just as the Lord instructed the children of Israel to do – PASS IT ON!
VERSES 11-16
Here we have a few more details of what they were to do regarding the law of the firstborn when they entered the land. The clean animals, the firstborn was to be given to the Lord. Of the unclean animals, like the donkey, either its neck was broken or a substitute, a lamb would be sacrificed instead. For their sons, the substitute was money according to Numbers 3:47, 5 shekels.
VERSES 17-18
We don’t know how long Pharaoh waited before he decided to go after his slaves and bring them back to Egypt. I’m sure Pharaoh, along with his people were mourning their dead and burying them. Maybe he thought they would only go out a three days journey and they are not returning, they are moving father away. It could have been 3 days or more before he decided to go and get them, we don’t know for sure.
The quickest way into the Promise Land was the coastal route known as “the way of Horus.” It would have only taken them some 10 days to get into the Promise Land going this route, but there was a problem. Along this route were Egyptian military outposts and they could not fight against them. Besides, the Philistines were also in their way on the coast. So God sent them a longer way.
Here we see the Red Sea mentioned and many people feel this is the area north of the modern day Gulf of Suez. I tend to think this is wrong and when we get to chapter 14 of Exodus I will show you why. But for now, keep in mind that they went “out of the land of Egypt.” This area was still in the land of Egypt, so they could not have crossed in this area. In fact, here is a quote from "Life in Ancient Egypt" by Adolf Erman (28, 537):
"The isthmus of Suez was of the greatest consequence also from a military point of view - it was doubtless fortified in very early times. Probably here stood the great fortress of T'aru, often spoken of as the starting-point for the expeditions into Syria. . ."
"The line of fortifications which was intended to keep back these Bedouins of the Delta, is met with as early as the Middle Empire, and is still standing. It consists of a wall strengthened by small towers... this formed an obstruction which the slaves who tried to escape from Egypt, and Bedouins who wanted to pasture their cattle on the fields of the Delta, found difficult to pass.
“At this time we also meet with a defensive work of another kind, namely a broad canal, which presumably connected the lakes of the isthmus together. At the point where a bridge crossed this canal were strong fortresses on both sides... The great fortress which defended this bridge was the fortress of T'aru', which is so often mentioned as the starting point of the military expeditions.”
So I don’t believe the traditional sight is correct, it doesn’t seem to fit the Biblical text. And we will look at this a little closer as we move on in our study.
VERSE 19
In Genesis 50:25-26 we are told, “Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.’ So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” Now, over 400 years later, his bones were brought out of Egypt and in Joshua 24:32 we are told, “The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph.” Here’s the thing. Joseph’s body was not buried but placed in a coffin above ground and for those 400 years or so they could see a silent witness of faith speaking from the grave to them that God would one day bring them out of Egypt and when it came to pass, they took the bones of Joseph with them!
VERSES 20-22
Etham means, “with them” and that is what we see here. The Shekinah glory is with them, the Lord is leading them, guiding them, shielding them by a cloud by day and a fire lighting their path at night. And as you read this it would seem that the children of Israel did not rest much, they were on the move, even at night, which could explain the distance they traveled, as we shall see. Why were they in such a hurry? Maybe to put distance between them and Egypt but maybe to get to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God as Moses was instructed to do.
VERSES 1-4
Keep in mind that most of these place names have never been located and the reason they are even on maps is because of traditions that have been passed on, many began in the fourth century A.D.
They started their journey in Succoth, then they traveled not through the Red Sea yet, but they traveled through by the “way of the wilderness of the Red Sea” (Exodus 13:18), which is a large wilderness area and they headed toward the Gulf of Aqaba by Arabia and not the Gulf of Suez. You see, if Moses had led the children of Israel across the Gulf of Suez, they would have still been in Egyptian-controlled territory. But, in Saudi Arabia there is no evidence of Egyptian’s occupying this area and thus, the crossing seems to be in this area of the Gulf of Aqaba.
Now if you don’t agree with me, great. I don’t think we can say with 100% confidence the exact location of the crossing but as you will see as we move on, there seems to be very good evidence that points to this location. And in either case, a miracle is about to take place!
God is leading Moses and the children of Israel to a place that is a dead end and Pharaoh, filled with anger, is more than eager to go out and get them and pay them back for what they did to him and his people, or what God did to him and his people.
VERSES 5-9
Pharaoh and his army of 600 of the best chariots, with 250,000 soldiers according to Josephus, were closing in on the children of Israel. The Red Sea was in front of them, mountains on either side, and coming up from behind was Pharaoh and the Egyptian army!
Now the children of Israel are “high-fiving” each other, they are bold, proud, rejoicing in what God has done and then, as they look at the horizon they see the dust rising up and the Egyptian army getting closer to them. But they are bold in the Lord, right? Let’s read on and see.
VERSES 10-12
Were they in trouble? Absolutely. Thus, the cried out to the Lord, that is good. When that didn’t work they complained to Moses that they would have been better off in Egypt then to die in the wilderness. Again, if they were by the Gulf of Suez, they would not be in the wilderness, but at the Gulf of Aqaba, they are! How quickly they moved from victory to defeat and then to distortion, thinking it was better for them in Egypt! Don’t let the tribulations you face drive you back to the world because the world doesn’t love you, Jesus does! It is as Peter said after many left the Lord because it was too difficult for them, “But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” John 6:68-69. May we say the same.
For us as Christians, we need to toughen up. David told his son Solomon as he was to be the new king, “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man.” I Kings 2:2. Yes, it is a battle but the Lord does not leave us without the resources to fight this battle. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11-13, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
Thus, don’t fear; don’t distort the picture, but look to the Lord to be the strength of your life and the one who will deliver you. It is as Paul said in I Corinthians 10:11-13, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” No matter what comes our way, we need to look to the Lord for He is our way of escape, we can rest in Him!
VERSES 13-14
Did Moses, at this point, know how God was going to deliver them? Absolutely not, all he knew was that God was going to do it, that is faith! And he wants the children of Israel to look to the Lord and to trust in the Lord as he was doing. He wanted to be an example to them to encourage them.
I like this because this is how the Lord works. First He tells them to STOP. If you let things cause you to DESPAIR, it will cast you down, it will keep you from standing. If you let things cause you to FEAR, it will cause you to retreat. If you become IMPATIENT, it may cause you to jump into the Red Sea before it is parted. But the Lord tells them through Moses to STAND STILL and He will reveal His plan to them!
What is interesting is that Moses tells the children of Israel, “ . . . ‘Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.’” Exodus 14:13. I don’t think this is just speaking of the physical death that the Egyptians were soon to face but also the spiritual death as they will be cast into Hell and finally into the Lake of Fire for eternity, separated from God while the children of Israel would be with the Lord!
VERSES 15-18
This is kind of funny but so very true in our own lives many times. Before the people Moses is a rock, a man of faith. But as he gets alone with the Lord, “Oh God, what are we going to do? We are in trouble here!” And the Lord tells Moses, “Why do you cry to me?” In other words, stop crying and start moving!
God was not only going to increase the faith of the children of Israel but it will be a powerful witness to those who don’t know the Lord, showing that He alone is God! The story of the Exodus, the deliverance through the Red Sea continued on to succeeding generations!
VERSES 19-20
This is what we might call God neutralizing the Egyptian army. The pillar of cloud, the Lord stood between the Egyptian army and the children of Israel to protect His people. I wonder how much we truly don’t recognize the times God has delivered us from various situations? And as much as the Egyptians were in the dark and could not move forward, the children of Israel were in the light. How true that is for the unsaved who are in darkness and the saved who are walking in the light of God. It is as Jesus said in John 3:19-21, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” And in Psalm 119:105 we are told, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” May we walk in the light of God!
VERSES 21-22
Now many say they crossed by the Sea of Reeds, which is only a few inches deep and if the wind blew just right, it would push the water aside. Folks, read the text! It says there was a wall of water on either side, a few inches is not a wall unless you’re an ant! In Psalm 106:9 we are told, “He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; So He led them through the depths, As through the wilderness.” In Psalm 66:6, “He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him.” Psalm 74:13, “You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters.”
In Psalm 77:16-20 we are told, “The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were afraid; The depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about. The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters, And Your footsteps were not known. You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.” In Exodus 15:19, “For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.” In Isaiah 43:16-17 we are told, “Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and horse, The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick).” And in Isaiah 51:10 we are told, “Are You not the One who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; That made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over?” Deep means deep, great waters are not a few inches deep, I think you get the idea!
The journey from Succoth to Pi-hahiroth on the western coast of the Gulf of Aqaba was about 200 miles, and according to Josephus:
"Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them, and by their multitude they drove them into a narrow place; for the number that pursued after them was six hundred chariots, with fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand footmen, all armed. They also seized on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting them up between inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was on each side mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight; wherefore they there pressed upon the Hebrews with their army, where the ridges of the mountains were closed with the sea; which army they placed at the gaps of the mountains, that so they might deprive them of any passage into the plain."
There is a wide sandy beach on the Gulf of Aqaba at Nuweiba that is some 4.25 miles long by 2 miles wide and it was large enough for Israel to “encamp by the sea.” At this site, the Nuweiba beach, there is a sandbar almost a mile wide at its summit and it slopes gently at six degrees until midway across the gulf, where it is 900 feet below sea, and then rises to the eastern (Midian) shore at the same kindly angel. In fact, they say it meets handicap requirements in the way it is sloped! God is good, the state would give approval on this one! The distance from Nuweiba to Baal-zephon on the opposite coast is eleven miles.
Interestingly enough, in Isaiah 43:16-17 we are told, “Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and horse, The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick).” And in Psalm 77:19-20 we are told, “Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters, And Your footsteps were not known. You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.” His paths and His ways in the sea, I believe speak of this area the children of Israel traveled on, this sandbar!
So picture what is going on here. As these waters divided and rose up, the walls of water were some 1,000 feet high and the children of Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry land, while the Egyptians were still in the dark, all they could do is wait, hearing the thunderings of God going on!
One more point before we move on. Back in 1978 a Phoenician style column was found in the water but all the inscriptions on it were eroded away. But, in 1984 a second granite stone column was found on the opposite coastline and it contained in archaic Hebrew writing the words Mizraim (Egypt); Solomon; Edom; Death; Pharaoh; Moses; and YAHWEH, possibly put there as a memorial by Solomon to the crossing of the Red Sea.
VERSES 23-28
I love what the Lord does here. As the army of the Egyptians starts to move, God slows them down, he loosens their chariot wheels and they are having all kinds of trouble as they trying to cross the Red Sea to get to the children of Israel. And when it got so bad they finally had enough and tried to get out of there, they are struggling, they are not going anywhere! And the Lord tells Moses to stretch out his hand over the waters and they will come crashing down upon this Egyptian army!
Now for those who believe they crossed at the Sea of Reeds in only a few inches of water, explain to me how all of the Egyptian army and their horses, drowned in a few inches of water. How bad were they are swimming? You see, the water came crashing down upon them and they drowned. A wall of water from both sides, 1,000 feet high came crashing down, of course they drowned, no one could survive that. And that mean’s Pharaoh and his entire army were destroyed in the Red Sea. And think about this, in a split second over 250,000 Egyptian soldiers were gone! That is God judging sinful man and it doesn’t take that long once He starts! And if it was the Sea of Reeds, then the Egyptian army could have outflanked them by going around it, so again, that just does not fit.
Not only that, but in this area of the Gulf of Aqaba they have found Egyptian chariot wheels, chariots, and bones buried. I will have some of these pictures on our web page under this study if you would like to look at them, but again, I think it points to this area being the place they crossed and thus, Mount Sinai is very close, it is in Saudi Arabia!
Grant Jeffery, in his book, The Signature Of God, tells us:
Consider the words of this ancient inscription about the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. Six ancient inscriptions were found on different cliffs in the Wadi Sidri, located on one of the natural routes the Jews would have chosen when entering the interior of the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. In his book, Sinai and Palestine, Dr. A. P. Stanley wrote about his 1853 visit to Wadi Sidri as the natural place leading up from the Red Sea: “A stair of rock, the Nukb Badera, brought us into a glorious Wadi (Sidri) enclosed between red granite mountains. . . . In the midst of the Wadi Disri, just where the granite was exchanged for sandstone, I caught sight of the first inscription” (A. P. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, London: John Murray, 1905, p. 70). . . .
The Sinai Inscriptions
The wind blowing, the sea dividing into parts, they pass over. (1)
The Hebrews flee through the sea; the sea is turned into dry land. (4)
The waters permitted and dismissed to flow,
burst rushing unawares upon the astonished men,
congregated from all quarters banded together
to slay treacherously being lifted up with pride. (5)
The leader divideth asunder the sea, its waves roaring.
The people enter, and pass through the midst of the waters. (10)
Moses causeth the people to haste like a fleet-winged she-ostrich crying aloud;
the cloud shining bright,
a mighty army propelled into the Red sea is gathered into one;
they go jumping and skipping.
Journeying through the open channel,
Taking flight from the face of the enemy.
The surge of the sea is divided. (41)
The people flee, the tribes descend into the deep.
The people enter the waters.
The people enter and penetrate through the midst.
The people are filled with stupor and perturbation.
Jehovah is their keeper and companion. (23)
Their enemies weep for the dead, the virgins are wailing.
The sea flowing down overwhelmed them.
The waters were let loose to flow again. (8)
The people depart fugitive.
A might army is submerged in the deep sea,
The only way of escape for the congregated people. (21)
- Grant Jeffery, The Signature of God, pp. 54-55
VERSES 29-31
From a human perspective, this was impossible and yet, God brought them through just as He had said He would do. He was faithful to His people! Spurgeon told the story of an old saint who lay on her deathbed and declared that Jesus would never forsake her, because He had promised so. Someone asked her, "But suppose that He did not keep His promise, and you were to be lost?" She answered, "Then He would be the greater loser than I. It is true I would lose my soul, but God would lose all His honor and glory if He were not true." God's motive for delivering us is not only His love for us, but also a desire to guard His own glory and honor. Spurgeon wrote:
Brethren, if we have trusted in God, and have come out of the Egypt of the world through his grace, and have left all its sins behind us, if we were left to die in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus Christ would lose his glory as a Saviour, the divine Father would lose his name for immutable faithfulness, and the Holy Ghost would lose his honour for perseverance in completing every work which he undertakes.
- Spurgeon
The result of all this is they feared the Lord but tragically, they lost that fear of the Lord and rebelled against the Lord. What a warning to us, to keep our eyes focused on Him, obey Him and fear Him, for He is GOD!
As I close this evening remember that the Passover was needed for salvation, the shedding of blood but without the Red Sea crossing, without the resurrection we would still lose, death would still have its sting upon our lives. You see, the two go hand-in-hand; with redemption there is that resurrection life!
You
will be surprised to see proof of Pharaoh’s chariot and bones
of horses and men found in the Red Sea. Evidence of the crossing
of the Red Sea . . . Pharaoh's drowned army.
Mineralized bone, one of many found at the crossing site (above
center). This one tested by the Department of Osteology at Stockholm
University, was found to be a human femur, from the right leg
of a 165-170cm tall man. It is essentially 'fossilized, ' i.e.,
replaced by minerals and coral, hence cannot be dated by radiocarbon
methods, although this specimen was obviously from antiquity.
Chariot wheel and axle covered with coral and up-ended. Exodus
14:25 'And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them
heavily...'
How deep is the water? The Gulf of Aqaba is very deep, in places over a mile (1,600m) deep. Even with the sea dried up, walking across would be difficult due to the steep grade down the sides. But there is one spot where if the water were removed, it would be an easy descent for people and animals. This is the line between Nuweiba and the opposite shore in Saudi Arabia.
Depth-sounding
expeditions have revealed a smooth, gentle slope descending from
Nuweiba out into the Gulf. This shows up almost like a pathway
on depth-recording equipment, confirming it's Biblical description,
' . . . a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters' (Isaiah
43:16).