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Patriarchs and Prophets
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.”
The psalmist, describing the passage of the sea by Israel, sang,
“Thy way was in the sea, and Thy paths in the great waters, and Thy
footsteps were not known. Thou leddest Thy people like a flock, by the
hand of Moses and Aaron.”
Psalm 77:19, 20
, R.V. As Moses stretched
out his rod the waters parted, and Israel went into the midst of the
sea, upon dry ground, while the waters stood like a wall upon each
side. The light from God’s pillar of fire shone upon the foam-capped
billows, and lighted the road that was cut like a mighty furrow through
the waters of the sea, and was lost in the obscurity of the farther shore.
“The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the
sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And
it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the
host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and
troubled the host of the Egyptians.” The mysterious cloud changed to a
pillar of fire before their astonished eyes. The thunders pealed and the
lightnings flashed. “The clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a
sound: Thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of Thy thunder was
in the whirlwind; the lightning lightened the world: the earth trembled
and shook.”
Psalm 77:17, 18
, R.V.
The Egyptians were seized with confusion and dismay. Amid the
wrath of the elements, in which they heard the voice of an angry God,
they endeavored to retrace their steps and flee to the shore they had
quitted. But Moses stretched out his rod, and the piled-up waters, hiss-
ing, roaring, and eager for their prey, rushed together and swallowed
the Egyptian army in their black depths.
As morning broke it revealed to the multitudes of Israel all that
remained of their mighty foes—the mail-clad bodies cast upon the
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shore. From the most terrible peril, one night had brought complete
deliverance. That vast, helpless throng—bondmen unused to battle,
women, children, and cattle, with the sea before them, and the mighty
armies of Egypt pressing behind—had seen their path opened through
the waters and their enemies overwhelmed in the moment of expected
triumph. Jehovah alone had brought them deliverance, and to Him
their hearts were turned in gratitude and faith. Their emotion found