Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Exodus-Chapter 15

Exo 15.1-27 will tell us about what is called the ‘Shirat Ha Yam” or “Song at the Sea.” This was sung in the Temple on the Sabbath day and is still sung in the synagogues, and it is very eschatological. It is called a “New Song” in the Authorized Daily Prayer Book by Joseph Hertz, p. 449. Rev 15.14 tells us that believers will sing the “Song of Moses” and many believe it will be this song because they will be victorious over another “Pharaoh” called the False Messiah; Moses and Miriam lead the people in song; the bitter water is made fresh at Marah; Israel is tested.

v 1…Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song (called the “Song of Moses” in Rev 15.3-4 because believers have overcome another PHaraoh called the False Messiah) to the Lord, and said, “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; the horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea (14.13).

v 2…The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation (Hebrew “yeshua”); this is my God, and I will prepare him a sanctuary (build him a sanctuary in KJV, Onkelos, Rashi, Stone Chumash; they had some knowledge that one would be built); my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

v 3…The Lord is a warrior (he is the one who fought the battle), the Lord (Yehovah) is his name.

v 4…Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has cast into the sea (a picture of the False Messiah who will be cast into the lake of fire-Psa 136.15); and the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea (Gulf of Suez).

v 5…The deeps (Hebrew “tehomot” meaning the subterranean deep) cover them (literally “are covering them”); they went down into the depths like a stone (they sank-v 10).

v 6…Thy right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power, they right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

v 7…And in the greatness of thine excellence (majesty) thou dost overthrow those who rise up against thee; thou dost send forth thy burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff.

v 8…And at the blast of thy nostrils (he gave life to Adam and he gives life again; a type of the Ruach Ha Kodesh) the waters were piled up (like a wall); the flowing waters stood up like a heap (wall formation); the deeps (Hebrew “tehomot” meaning the subterranean deep) were congealed (a parallelism) in the heart of the sea.

v 9…The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,I will divide the spoil; my desire (lust) shall be gratified against them; I will draw out my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’

v 10…Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

v 11…Who is like you among the mighty, O Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness (kedusha above all others), awesome (revered, fearful; inspiring awe) in praises, working wonders?

v 12…Thou didst stretch out thy right hand (power), the earth swallowed them (the sea being part of the earth).

v 13…In thy lovingkindness thou hast led the peoples who thou hast redeemed; in thy strength thou hast guided them (are guiding them like a shepherd) to thy habitation (Canaan-Psa 132.13).

v 14…The peoples have heard, they tremble (but they will not change); anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia (next to Canaan).

v 15…Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away (figuratively as in 2 Pet 3.10; Zech 14.12; Psa 75 3; Isa 24.1-23;1 John 2.17; they know that Israel is marching to their land).

v 16…Terror and dread fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they are motionless as stone (no power to act) until thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over (to Canaan) whom thou hast purchased (from Egypt and Pharaoh).

v 17…Thou wilt bring them and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance (Canaan is very mountainous-Deut 3.25; Isa 11.9; Psa 78.54), the place O Lord thou hast made for thy dwelling, the sanctuary (Hebrew “mikdash” -on Mount Moriah), O Lord which thy hands have established.

v 18…The Lord shall reign forever and ever (Hebrew “l’olam vaed”).”

v 19…For the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea (Gulf of Suez), and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them , but the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea.

v 20…And MIriam the prophetess (she had the gift of teaching), Aaron’s sister (she was under Moses like Aaron was), took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing.

v 21…And Miriam answered them (masculine in Hebrew meaning Moses, Aaron and the men; there were two groups and they responded alternatively singing the same song word for word), “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; the horse and his rider he has hurled into the sea.”

v 22…Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur (on the east side of the Gulf of Suez) and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water (this is seven days after Passover, about Nisan 21).

v 23…And when they came to Marah they could not drink the waters of Marah (undrinkable water, like one of the plagues in Egypt), for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.

v 24…So the people murmured against Moses (for bringing them out into the wilderness), saying, “What shall we drink?”

v 25…And he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree (a type of the cross) and he threw it into the waters (Yeshua was cut down and thrown into the bitter waters of God’s judgment of sin; he is the tree that brings life), and the waters became sweet (man is comforted). There he made for them a statute and an ordinance (about their future behavior), and there he tested them (to stop murmuring and have faith in his care that he will deliver them from any evil they may encounter).

v 26…And he said, “If you will give heed (hear and obey) to the voice of the Lord your God, and to do what is right in his sight, and give ear to his commandments (mitzvot; good works) and keep all his statutes (chukim), I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians (the plagues that that were inflicted upon them, which they saw with their own eyes); for I, the Lord (Yehovah), am your healer (physician).”

v 27…Then they came to Elim (place of strong trees) where there were twelve (number of teaching) springs of water (a type of the Torah and the Messiah-Jer 2.11-13, 17.13; John 7.37-39) and seventy (completeness) date palms (the tree of righteousness-Psa 92.12-14), and they camped there beside the waters (Yehovah will bring us to complete righteousness after our long journey; this is alluded to in Rev 22.1-2).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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