Exo 15:1-21 | KingComments | STEP | For the first time in the Bible we hear of a song. This is sung by a people who have been redeemed from Egypt and have safely reached the other side of the Red Sea, while the power of the enemy has been broken. This song will also be sung in the end time. Then it sounds from the mouth of the victors over the beast: “And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! ( ). This is the last time that the Bible talks about a song. In the life of the believer, the first reason to sing to the glory of God and the Lord Jesus is the awareness that he is a child of God who is redeemed from his sins and delivered from the power of sin. He will sing this song forever as the song of the Lamb. By the Lamb the Israelites are redeemed from the enemy; by the Lamb of God all believers are redeemed at all times from their sins.

‏ Exodus 15:1-21

The Reason for the Song

For the first time in the Bible we hear of a song. This is sung by a people who have been redeemed from Egypt and have safely reached the other side of the Red Sea, while the power of the enemy has been broken. This song will also be sung in the end time. Then it sounds from the mouth of the victors over the beast: “And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! (Rev 15:2-3). This is the last time that the Bible talks about a song.

In the life of the believer, the first reason to sing to the glory of God and the Lord Jesus is the awareness that he is a child of God who is redeemed from his sins and delivered from the power of sin. He will sing this song forever as the song of the Lamb. By the Lamb the Israelites are redeemed from the enemy; by the Lamb of God all believers are redeemed at all times from their sins.

Who the LORD Is

The people sing not of themselves, but of the LORD. He did it, He completed the work that led to salvation. Here it is the personal expression of gratitude for the salvation obtained. Yet it is about Him. The emphasis is on Who the LORD is.

There is also the desire to make a dwelling for Him. The redeemed one does not live alone with God, but with all the redeemed; the whole people may live with Him (Exo 15:13). Not only the living, but also the fathers who have already fallen asleep, will share in the results of God’s delivering action. Living with God is the wish of every soul that fears God (Psa 27:4).

The Name of God is expressed in His deeds. The first thing that a redeemed person learns to know from God are the deeds He has done for his redemption. That is why the redeemed sings the praises of those deeds.

The LORD Deals with the Enemies

In his song, the redeemed describes precisely how the LORD has dealt with the enemies. He sings of how the LORD has cast the enemies into the sea, drowned them, and thereby completely destroyed them. He glorifies the right hand (Exo 15:6 ; 12) of the LORD. The right hand symbolizes power. He is impressed by the great excellence and the burning anger of the LORD. The enemy is as worthless to the LORD as chaff which is consumed by the fire.

The blast of the LORD has made the waters a dam, so that His people could go to the other side dry footed. That same breath has blown again at the moment the enemy in haughtiness has gone the same way and the waters have covered him. Exterminating the enemy costs God nothing more than breathing out, so to speak (cf. 2Thes 2:8).

Today the believer may express something like that in his praise. Scripture speaks of the power of the enemy, but which has been destroyed by the overwhelming power of the Lord Jesus (Heb 2:14). The victory that He gained over the enemy by His death on the cross, gives eternal cause to sing of Him. Every redeemed person will long to learn more and more by studying the Scriptures – Who He is, Who has redeemed him, and what He has done to achieve it. Every new aspect he discovers is a reason to praise Him.

The exclamation “Who is like You?” is understandable (Exo 15:11). Egypt has many gods. Behind these idols are demons. What have they been able to do against Him? They have been nowhere to be seen. God has glorified Himself in power and He has glorified Himself in holiness. With His power He has wiped out His enemies, and in His holiness He has paved the way to have a people who can dwell with Him, and with which He can dwell.

The Direct Consequence for His People

God has redeemed the people by His lovingkindness, and guided them by His strength. The verse stands in the past present tense, as if God had both redeemed the people and brought them to His holy habitation. In this verse we listen to the language of faith of a redeemed people (cf. Rom 8:30). As a direct consequence of salvation, the people have a great perspective for the future. In faith they see themselves already arriving at the place God has devised for them.

God does not deliver His people to leave them to their own devices. He delivers His people, and then brings them to His dwelling place, the tabernacle in the wilderness. That is what the second part of this book is about. The redemption and deliverance of the sinner are not an end in themselves. They are the necessary means to become the dwelling place of God. The church is now the dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:22; 1Tim 3:15).

The Impact on Other Peoples

It is as if Moses in this song has now in the spirit moved to the moment that God’s dwelling place in the midst of the people is erected. The enemies see that God has achieved His goal with His people. Even today, all the actions of God for the benefit of His people make a great impression on their bitter enemies.

In our lives as believers the enemy will be rendered impotent if we in faith show that we live for God. If God is our dwelling, and if we are a dwelling for Him as a church, it will disarm the enemy.

The Purpose of God’s Actions

In Exo 15:13 Moses speaks of God’s dwelling in the wilderness. Now it is about God’s dwelling in the promised land. There is mentioned “the mountain of Your inheritance”. The inheritance is always connected to the land. It is also “Your inheritance”, the inheritance of God. God will take possession of His inheritance by letting His people take possession of it. Once there, He will establish there a permanent “dwelling”, a “sanctuary”, the temple. The redeemed also see this place ahead in faith, for he speaks of it as a finished thing: “Which Your hands have established.”

The people of God, the church, may dwell with Him. The temple is also a picture of the Father’s house (Jn 14:2). The church will be there forever. Until then, the temple, like the tabernacle, represents the church as the dwelling place of God on earth.

The temple belongs to a people in the land and is a permanent dwelling. The tabernacle belongs to a people in the wilderness and is a mobile dwelling. Both aspects are present in the church. The church is a heavenly thing. This is how she is presented in the letter to the Ephesians. At the same time, she is still on earth, travelling through the wilderness of this world. In that way, for example, she is presented in the first letter to the Corinthians.

The LORD Reigns Forever

The whole plan of God for His people, whether it concerns His earthly people Israel or His heavenly people the church, will be perfectly executed by Him. To this end, He lets everything work together, and to this end He directs everything.

This is also a great encouragement for the believer’s personal life. Nothing is outside God’s hand. He has His purpose in everything, and He also accomplishes it. No enemy can hinder Him in this. On the contrary, He knows how to use the enemy to fulfill His plans!

The Song of Miriam

After the song the gaze is once again turned to what the LORD has done with Pharaoh and his army and how the Israelites have gone through the midst of the sea on dry land.

Then we hear Miriam. The prophet Micah refers not only to Moses and Aaron but also to her as someone who the LORD has sent out before His people (Mic 6:4). We do not read that Miriam has taken charge in any action. Moses and Aaron are the captains appointed by the LORD, the leaders. In Miriam we see the spirit of prophecy. She leads the people in a song that is an answer to the song of Moses and the Israelites.

Moses says, I will sing to the LORD. With all the women in her retinue Miriam calls for singing to the LORD. She uses the same words as Moses (Exo 15:1), repeating what he sang. With this she says, as it were, “Amen” to the song of Moses.

Thus we can agree with a brother who, in his thanksgiving, magnifies the Lord by saying “Amen” to his thanksgiving. Then indeed the thanksgiving must have found a connection in the feelings of our heart.