(a) Describe the crossing of the Red sea and God's role in the episode. (b) What two lessons did Israel learn from their experience there?

Answer Details

(a) The crossing of the Red Sea and God's role (Exodus 14)

After the tenth plague Pharaoh let Israel go, but he soon regretted it and pursued them with six hundred chosen chariots and his army. Israel was encamped by the sea at Pi-hahiroth. When the people saw the Egyptians advancing, they were terrified and cried out, complaining to Moses that it would have been better to remain slaves in Egypt than to die in the wilderness.

Moses reassured them, "Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." God's role was decisive at every stage:

• The angel of God and the pillar of cloud moved from before Israel to their rear, coming between them and the Egyptians. It gave darkness to the Egyptians but light to Israel, so the armies did not meet all night.
• God told Moses to stretch out his rod over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, dividing the waters so that Israel walked through on dry ground with the waters as a wall on their right and left.
• When the Egyptians pursued into the sea, God troubled their host, took off their chariot wheels, and made them drive heavily.
• At dawn Moses stretched out his hand again and the sea returned to its strength, drowning Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen; not one of them survived.

Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore, feared the Lord, and believed Him and His servant Moses. Moses and Miriam then sang a song of victory to God.

(b) Two lessons Israel learned

1. God is a faithful deliverer: He saves His people in impossible situations, so they should trust and not despair.
2. God fights for and vindicates His people: He judges their oppressors, teaching that obedience and faith in God lead to salvation while pride and cruelty (as in Pharaoh) lead to destruction.