In the first stanza, we read that the Lord is a man of war. This remarkable song is assumed to have come spontaneously, as Moses led the nation into the wilderness on the other side of the Red Sea.
Keil, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The proper meaning of this is that Moses not only led the congregation of Israel in singing this praise unto Jehovah, but that he also composed the song.’
God prizes these spontaneous expressions of praise and worship; this is a new song sung unto the Lord, Psalm 40:3 / Revelation 15:3-4. One of the greatest principles of worship is that it is unto the Lord, not unto man, when we worship God in song, Exodus 15:1.
Our audience is the Lord Himself, not the people around us, Deuteronomy 32:1-43 / Judges 5:1-31 / 2 Samuel 22:1-51. God is praised because He did what Israel could not do; it was God who threw the horse and its rider into the sea! Exodus 15:1.
When we let God be our strength, He will also be our song; we will have a ‘singing joy’ in our lives because His strength will not let us down. He has become my salvation, Exodus 15:2, is a glorious phrase; we cannot save ourselves, but God must become our salvation. He is their God, and they will praise Him, their father’s God, Exodus 3:6, and they will exalt Him, Exodus 15:2.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Every man may call the Divine Being his GOD; but only those who are his children by adoption through grace can call him their FATHER. This is a privilege which God has given to none but his children, Galatians 4:6.’
The LORD is a warrior and the LORD is his name, Exodus 15:3 / Exodus 6:3 / Psalm 24:8. God is a warrior and became Israel’s Saviour when He hurled Pharoah, and his army into the sea, including his best officers and they drowned in the sea, Exodus 15:4 / Exodus 14:7 / Exodus 14:27. They were more or less buried in the sea and sank to the depths like a stone, Exodus 15:5.
In the second stanza, we read that what God did to the Egyptians, and they glory in the defeat of God’s enemies. If we really love the Lord, we should glory in the defeat of God’s enemies, especially when those ‘enemies’ are areas of sin in our lives. Too often, we have a sense of regret when we see them being defeated!
The right hand, Exodus 15:6, was thought to be the hand of skill and power. When God does a work with His right hand, it is a work of skill and power. Obviously, this is the use of anthropomorphism, understanding something about God by using a human figure of speech, even though it does not literally apply, John 4:24.
This idea of the right hand is used in the Scriptures more than fifty times, Psalm 45:4 / Psalm 48:10 / Psalm 77:10 / Psalm 110:1 / Habakkuk 2:16 / Ephesians 1:20. In the greatness of God’s majesty, He threw down those who opposed Him, unleashed His burning anger and it consumed them like stubble, Exodus 15:7.
By the blast of God’s nostrils the waters piled up, is an obvious reference to the strong east wind, Exodus 14:21, and the wind caused the surging waters stand up like a wall and the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea, Exodus 15:8.
Pharaoh boasted that he would pursue Israel and overtake them, and after doing so, he would divide the spoils, gorge himself on them, draw his sword and kill all of the Israelites, Exodus 15:9. However, God blew with His breath, the sea covered them, and the Egyptians sank like lead in the mighty waters, Exodus 15:10.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘In Exodus 14:28, we read only, ‘the waters returned.’ Here, we are told that it was because the wind blew. A sudden change in the direction of the wind would bring back at once the masses of water heaped up on the north.’
In the third stanza, we read, Who is like You. O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? Exodus 15:11 / Psalms 86:8 / Deuteronomy 32:16-17. Note that some translations use the word ‘celestials’, meaning angels.
Fields, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Whether the word ‘gods’ refers to mighty men, as in Ezekiel 32:21, or to mighty angels, as in Psalms 29:1, or to idols, as in Isaiah 43:10, or to other supposedly-existing mighty gods, NO ONE is like THE LORD.’
It was God who stretched out His right hand, and causes the earth to swallow His enemies, Exodus 15:12 / Jonah 2:6. The earth swallowing His enemies is a reference to an earthquake took place at this time, Psalms 77:18. In His unfailing love He will lead the people He has redeemed and in His strength He will guide them to His holy dwelling, Exodus 15:13.
Keil, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The holy habitation of God was the land of Canaan, Psalms 78:54, and it had been consecrated by God as a sacred abode for Jehovah among His people in the land promised to the patriarchs.’
If the people of Egypt still did not know who the Lord was, the people of Israel did; they knew the Lord was not like any of the false gods of Egypt or Canaan. In our worship, we should proclaim the superiority of the Lord God over anything else that would claim to be god, but we must not be like Israel, who soon forgot this.
In the fourth and fifth stanzas, we read that the people will hear and be afraid. Moses and the children of Israel know that the victory will also say something to the enemies of Israel; they will become afraid when they hear of the great things God has done for them.
Some forty years later, Rahab the Jericho prostitute could tell the Israeli spies. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. Joshua 2:10. God wants to build victory upon victory in our lives, to use one victory as a platform for the next.
Some foes will be paralysed by fear when they hear of the great things God has done for us, Exodus 15:14-16 / Genesis 36:15 / Jeremiah 48:29 / Jeremiah 48:41; others will fight all the more out of fear.
By the power of God’s arm His enemies will be as still as a stone until His people pass by, until the people He bought pass by, Exodus 15:16. He will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of His inheritance, the place, He made for His dwelling, the sanctuary, His hands established, Exodus 15:17. The Lord shall reign forever and ever, Exodus 15:18, which is a gloriously true statement, but how long will Israel recognize the reign of God among them?
When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, it was the LORD’s doing; He brought the waters of the sea back over them, and He made it possible for the Israelites to walk through the sea on dry ground, Exodus 15:19.
Here we read that Miriam, Moses’ sister, Exodus 4:14, leads the women in worship. This is the first mention of Miriam by name, Exodus 15:20. Numbers 26:59 seems to indicate that Moses had only one sister.
We do know that it was his sister who supervised the launching of the basket onto the Nile River to preserve his life, Exodus 2:14, and arranged the hiring of Moses’ mother as his nurse.
Notice she is called ‘the prophet’ or ‘the prophetess’, Exodus 15:20. Miriam obviously had some kind of prophetic gift, although this could simply be referring to the fourth speech, rather than telling of future events.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Other women in the Bible called prophetesses are Deborah, Judges 4:4; Huldah, 2 Kings 22:14; Noadiah, a false prophetess, Nehemiah 6:14; Isaiah’s wife, Isaiah 8:3; and Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess, Revelation 2:20.’
It appears that all the women followed her with timbrels and with dances, Exodus 15:20 / Genesis 31:27. In their joy for their deliverance, these women broke forth with tambourines and dances for their deliverance from the Egyptians and their new freedom from the taskmasters of their former existence.
Miriam sings to the LORD, declaring that God is highly exalted. Both horse and driver, He has hurled into the sea, Exodus 15:21. Later, Miriam used her position in an unwise and ungodly way to challenge the authority of Moses, Numbers 12:1-15.
Three days is time enough to forget the victory; now Israel is faced with a long trip through a difficult, dry desert.
Buckingham, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Three days is the maximum time the human body can go without water in the desert.’
It would have been easy for them to question God’s leading, after all, why didn’t He take them the easy way, along the major trade route by the sea? But God knew what was best!
It must have seemed like a cruel joke, after three waterless days, to finally come upon water, and then to find that water undrinkable! Exodus 15:23. The word, ‘Marah’ means ‘bitter’, Exodus 15:23.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Moses had asked Pharaoh’s permission for the Israelites to go on a three-day journey into the wilderness, Exodus 3:18 / Exodus 5:3 / Exodus 8:27, but now, having gone three days, the people found no water suitable for drinking.’
Once again, they grumbled against Moses, Exodus 15:24 / Exodus 13:17 / Philippians 2:14 / Jude 16. By God’s direction, Moses made the waters drinkable and provided for the nation, Exodus 15:25. How did this miracle happen?
Buckingham, in his commentary, suggests the following.
‘The chemicals in the sap of the broken limb drew the mineral content down to the bottom of the pools and left only good water on top.’
Even though the waters were now drinkable, there was undoubtedly still a significant magnesium and calcium content in the water. The laxative effect of this would have effectively cleaned out the systems of the children of Israel of common Egyptian ailments such as amoebic dysentery and bilharzia, a weakening disease common among Egyptian peasants.
In addition, calcium and magnesium together form the basis of a drug called dolomite, used by some athletes as a performance enhancer in hot weather conditions.
At Marah, God was providing the right medicine to both clean out their systems and prepare them for a long, hot march to Sinai. God was not only interested in getting the children of Israel out of Egypt, but He also wanted to get Egypt out of the children of Israel, both physically and spiritually.
How did God test Israel? Exodus 15:25. By giving them a command to obey, Exodus 15:26. He wanted the Israelites to discover their own lack of faith. When God tells us what to do, He is really giving us a test, and our obedience determines if we will pass the test or not.
Were the children of Israel worshipping people who occasionally murmured or mumbling people who occasionally worshipped? Our true nature is revealed in times of testing. If Israel would obey God, He would put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. In many ways, their physical health was directly connected to their obedience.
Dr S. I. McMillen, in his book ‘None of These Diseases’, says the following.
‘Many of God’s laws had a direct impact on hygiene and health, practices such as circumcision, quarantine, washing in running water, and eating kosher made a real medical difference in keeping the children of Israel free from disease.’
Beyond the direct medical implications, obedience also means we are at peace with God and free from a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in life. As they came to the waters of Elim, the Israelites surely remembered their complaints at Marah.
If they had only endured past Marah, they would have made it to Elim. When they came to Elim, after the time of testing, God had a time of refreshing for the people of Israel, Exodus 15:27. He knew exactly what they needed!