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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
True, they were in a place from which there was no possibility of
release unless God Himself interposed to save them; but they were
brought into this strait by obeying the divine commands, and Moses
felt no fear of the consequences. He “said unto the people, Fear ye
not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show
to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see
them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall
hold your peace.”
It was not an easy thing to hold the hosts of Israel in waiting before
the Lord. They were excited and full of terror. They lacked discipline
and self-control. Impressed by the horrors of their situation, they
became violent and unreasonable. They expected speedily to fall into
the hands of their oppressors, and their wailings and recriminations
were loud and deep. The wonderful pillar of cloud had accompanied
them in their wanderings, and served to protect them from the fervid
rays of the sun. All day it had moved grandly before them, subject
neither to sunshine nor storm; and at night it had become a pillar of fire
to light them on their way. They had followed it as the signal of God
to go forward; but now they questioned among themselves if it might
not be the shadow of some terrible calamity that was about to befall
them, for had it not led them on the wrong side of the mountain into
an impassable way? Thus the angel of God appeared to their deluded
minds as the harbinger of disaster.
But now, as the Egyptian host approaches them, expecting to
make them an easy prey, the cloudy column rises majestically into
the heavens, passes over the Israelites, and descends between them
and the armies of Egypt. A wall of darkness interposes between the
pursued and their pursuers. The Egyptians can no longer discern the
camp of the Hebrews and are forced to halt. But as the darkness of
night deepens, the wall of cloud becomes a great light to the Hebrews,
illuminating the whole camp with the radiance of day.
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Then the hope that they might be delivered came to the hearts of
Israel. And Moses lifted up his voice unto the Lord. “And the Lord
said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward: but lift thou up thy rod, and
stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of
Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”