A 31-day Lenten Devotional Series by Rev. Dave Brown
Moses burst into song once the people of Israel reached the far side of the Red Sea. Miriam and all the women went out with tambourines and dancing and joined the song. God had saved his people! They could not contain their joy. Soon a million people joined the choir and sang the song of salvation.
Whether they all sang all the words, or just joined with the chorus, we are not told. But it must have been an exhilarating night of praise.
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”
The full text of the song may be outlined in a variety of ways. I was blessed to sit under the teaching of Tom Schreiner and James Hamilton as they explained the chiastic structure of the song and then led the class to appreciate the substance of this praise song.
The “outside story at the begininng and end is this: The LORD is a man of war, the LORD is his name. (v3) The LORD will reign forever as the indomitable One. For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. (v. 18-19)
As we explore it more deeply, we find that Moses praises God with specifics pertinent to his saving work: “Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. (v. 6-7). You have led in your steadfast love the people you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. What’s more, you have sent a signal to the people of Philistia, Edom, Moab and Canaan, that causes them to tremble and be seized with fear and dread. God’s people, whom you have purchased will pass by and be planted on your holy mountain, the sanctuary which your hands have established. (Vs. 13-17)
In the very center of the song the main point is made and celebrated with two rhetorical questions. “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” What Moses learned at Mt. Horeb has been lived out in Egypt and in the wilderness through which God’s people passed on the way to the Red Sea. It has been more than borne out in the Red Sea crossing! And now they were standing in God’s presence, saved out of bondage and prepared for the pilgrimage that would bring them into the promised land.
Reflections: Moses’ song doesn’t just express the joy of salvation, it completes the enjoyment, especially as the people bring it to its consummation by joining their voices, their instruments and their dancing to this great event. Come sing the song of salvation.
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously,
the horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”