The Red Sea

Click here to read Exodus 14.

Chapter 14 deals with the beginning of the Jewish church and the events of the Red Sea. There were two routes from Egypt to Canaan. A direct route to the north, a distance of about 250 miles and a much longer route to the south and this was the route that God chose for Israel. Now, why did God choose this much longer route? Four reasons are given:

1. The Egyptians needed to be taken care of once and for all and the Red Sea would take care of this.
2. The Israelites needed to be humbled and proven in the wilderness.
3. Matters had to be settled between God and man.
   1. Laws had to be given.
   2. Ordinances instituted.
   3. Covenants sealed.
   4. Contracts ratified.
4. It was a less fortified route.

Notice the guides that God gave them to follow. By day, a pillar of cloud and by night, a pillar of fire. It would appear that the Israelites left Egypt by the north and shorter route but they hadn't gone far until God gave Moses orders to turn south towards the Red Sea.

The Israelites had not been gone very long when Pharaoh regretted that he had let them go, so he mustered an army of chariots and took off after them. When the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming they become extremely afraid. Their position seemed impossible. On one side were impassable mountain ranges. On the other side were the Egyptian towns of Midgol and Baalzephon inhabited by devil worshippers who would have soon killed them. In front of them was the Red Sea and in back of them were the Egyptians. Moses prayed and God bid them to walk into the sea. As they reached the banks of the sea, the waters parted and the Israelites walked over on dry land. Verse 29 says, "The waters were like a wall on the left and on the right of them."

The Egyptians were afraid and confused, but their hatred drove them into the sea behind the Israelites. When the last Israelite was safely on the other shore, God closed the waters and engulfed the Egyptians and not one escaped. The magicians, Jannes and Jambres, who tried to imitate the miracles of Moses, were killed also.

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