Song of the Sea
The Song of the Sea
Image by Myousry6666 from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Praising Yahweh
At that time, Moses and the Israelites sang this song to Yahweh:
I will sing to Yahweh because he has risen high! The horse and its rider he flung into the sea. My strength and my song is Yahweh. He has become my salvation.
Image by Warren Grieve from Pixabay
The exodus narrative ends with the Israelites standing on the shore of the Red Sea singing a song of praise to Yahweh. This song, called the Song of the Sea, poetically describes both the Red Sea crossing and the anticipated return to the promised land. The Israelites praised Yahweh for both what he had done and what he promised to do.
Yahweh had “risen high” over his enemies both literally and figuratively. As the cloud pillar, he towered above the Egyptians and looked down to see them.1 He then exalted himself in the eyes of his people and of the world by “flinging” the Egyptian horses and chariot riders into the sea. Of course, Yahweh didn’t literally throw them in. But the verb emphasizes the drowning of the Egyptians as an intentional act of judgment.
By defeating the Egyptians, Yahweh saved the Israelites. His status as their “strength” and “song” directly resulted from becoming their “salvation.”2 His deliverance had strengthened his people and led them to sing his praises.
My God
This is my God. I glorify him!
My father’s God, I exalt him!
Image by Naasom Azevedo from Freely Photos
The Israelites continued praising Yahweh’s victory over Egypt by proclaiming him as “my God.” The singular form, far rarer than the communal “our God,” expresses an increased level of intimacy. In Egypt, the Israelites had worshiped Yahweh as the God of the nation and of their ancestors.3 Now that they had witnessed his power for themselves, he became the God of each individual as well.
Their personal experience of Yahweh’s presence mirrored the experience of Jacob, the father of the nation. As a young man, Jacob worshiped Yahweh as the God of his father and grandfather. When forced to flee his home in Canaan, Jacob asked Yahweh to be his God by protecting him and bringing him back. Then Jacob would know God had chosen him as he chose Abraham and Isaac.4 Yahweh blessed Jacob, and he returned home a rich man with a large household.5
In Egypt, the Israelites had also greatly multiplied, and they left with riches.6 They had experienced Yahweh’s protection in a foreign land and could now return to Canaan to claim the land Yahweh had promised them. This personal experience changed their relationship with God as profoundly as it had changed Jacob’s.
- Exodus 14:24.
- See Parallelism.
- Exodus 3:15–16; 4:4–5; Deuteronomy 26:6–7.
- See Jacob’s Vow.
- Genesis 32:9–10.
- Exodus 1:7; 12:35–36.