The Divine Checkmate: God's Perfect Trap Text: Exodus 14:1-4
Introduction: The Theater of God's Glory
We come now to a moment in redemptive history that is not merely an escape, but a carefully orchestrated, divine masterpiece of judgment and salvation. What we are about to witness is not a frantic, last minute improvisation by a cornered God. It is a trap. It is a divine ambush, laid with perfect wisdom and executed with absolute power. God is not just delivering His people; He is staging a grand finale for the gods of Egypt and for the pride of its king. He is setting a table in the presence of Israel's enemies, and the main course is the entire Egyptian army.
Our modern sensibilities, softened and sentimentalized as they are, often recoil from such passages. We like a God who is nice, a God who helps, a God who is endlessly accommodating. But the God of the Bible is not nice; He is good. He is not safe; He is a consuming fire. And His primary commitment is not to our comfort, but to His own glory. Here, at the edge of the Red Sea, God is about to put His glory on display in a way that will echo through all of eternity. He will do this by saving His people, yes, but He will do it through the complete and utter destruction of His enemies.
We must understand that this is not a story about Israel's cleverness or Moses' leadership. This is a story about the absolute, untroubled sovereignty of God over every detail of His creation, including the rebellious hearts of sinful men. God is the grand chess master, and Pharaoh is a pawn. Pharaoh thinks he is making his own moves, driven by his own rage and resentment. But every move he makes has been determined by the hand of the God he defies. God is not reacting to Pharaoh; He is directing him. He is maneuvering Pharaoh into the precise location where He intends to crush him, all for one stated purpose: "that the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh."
This passage is a profound lesson in the providence of God. It teaches us that God often leads His people into apparent dead ends, into situations that seem impossible from a human perspective, precisely so that His power can be most clearly displayed. He boxes us in so that He can break us out. He brings us to the end of our own resources so that we must depend entirely on His. For the Israelites, this was a terrifying cul-de-sac. For God, it was the perfect theater for His glory.
The Text
Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
"Speak to the sons of Israel so that they turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.
And Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, 'They are wandering in confusion in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.'
Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart with strength, and he will pursue them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh." And they did so.
(Exodus 14:1-4 LSB)
The Strange Detour (v. 1-2)
The scene opens with a command from God that, from a military or strategic standpoint, is utter madness.
"Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the sons of Israel so that they turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.'" (Exodus 14:1-2)
Israel had been moving forward, out of Egypt, following the pillar of cloud and fire. Now God tells them to "turn back." He commands them to make a deliberate U-turn and march themselves into a geographical dead end. They are to camp with the sea in front of them and the desert wilderness flanking them. They are to put themselves in a position with no escape route. This is not a blunder; it is a divine directive.
The place names here are significant. While their exact locations are debated, their meanings are suggestive. Pi-hahiroth can mean "mouth of the gorges." Migdol means "fortress" or "tower." They are being led into a bottleneck, a place of confinement. But the most striking name is Baal-zephon. This means "Lord of the North," and it was the name of a Canaanite deity, a storm god, whose worship had been imported into Egypt. God is telling Israel to camp right under the nose of a pagan idol, a false lord. He is setting the stage for a direct confrontation. Yahweh is about to demonstrate who the true Lord of the North, South, East, and West really is. He is picking a fight on the enemy's home turf, in front of their own idols, to show that they are nothing.
This is a severe test of obedience for Moses and the people. To obey this command is to walk by faith, not by sight. Sight says this is suicide. Faith says God knows what He is doing. The people, to their credit at this point, "did so." They obeyed the seemingly irrational command. This is always the first step in witnessing the power of God: radical, unquestioning obedience to His Word, even when it makes no sense to us.
The Enemy's Miscalculation (v. 3)
God not only gives the command, but He also reveals the precise effect it will have on the mind of the enemy. He knows Pharaoh's thoughts before Pharaoh thinks them.
"And Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, 'They are wandering in confusion in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.'" (Exodus 14:3)
God is laying the bait, and He knows Pharaoh will take it. The strategic "blunder" of Israel is the very thing that will lure Pharaoh into the trap. From Pharaoh's perspective, this is a golden opportunity. He sees the Israelites, not as obedient, but as bewildered. He sees them, not as faithful, but as lost. He concludes that their God has finally abandoned them, that the wilderness has swallowed them up. He thinks their luck has run out.
This is the consistent pattern of the arrogant unbeliever. They mistake the obedience of faith for foolishness. They see the Christian's trust in God's providence as aimless wandering. The Apostle Paul tells us that "the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18). Pharaoh looks at Israel's position and sees weakness, confusion, and entrapment. He cannot conceive that this apparent vulnerability is actually a position of immense strength, because it is the precise position where God has placed them. The world always misreads the church's situation because it cannot factor in the power of God. They see a flock of sheep in a canyon and lick their chops; they do not see the Shepherd on the ridge with a rod of iron.
The Divine Purpose: Glory and Knowledge (v. 4)
Here, God states His ultimate purpose in this entire affair. It is not simply to save Israel, but to glorify Himself in the process, and to make His name known.
"Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart with strength, and he will pursue them; and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh." And they did so. (Exodus 14:4)
Notice the chain of divine causality. "I will harden... he will pursue... I will be glorified... they will know." God is the author of this entire sequence. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is a central theme in Exodus. It is a judicial act of God. God is not infusing evil into a righteous man. Rather, He is strengthening Pharaoh in the wicked resolve that is already there. He is giving him over to his own rebellion. Like clay in the sun, Pharaoh's heart, already hard, is baked to the point of shattering. God does this to ensure that Pharaoh will follow through on his foolish impulse to pursue Israel.
And for what purpose? "I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army." God gets glory from both the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath (Romans 9:22-23). He is glorified in the salvation of His people, and He is glorified in the just destruction of those who defy Him. The song of heaven is not just about salvation, but also about judgment: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just" (Revelation 19:1-2). The destruction of the Egyptian army is not a tragedy in this story; it is a doxology. It is the righteous judgment of God against a tyrannical, idolatrous, and murderous regime.
The ultimate goal is evangelistic, albeit in a severe way: "so that the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh." This is the refrain throughout the plagues. God is revealing Himself. He is demonstrating that He, Yahweh, is the one true God, and that all the gods of Egypt are impotent nothings. This knowledge will come to some Egyptians as a terrifying, final realization as the waters crash down upon them. But it will also be a testimony to the surrounding nations for generations to come. Rahab the harlot, forty years later, will testify that the fear of Yahweh fell upon the people of Canaan because they had heard what He did to the Egyptian army at the Red Sea (Joshua 2:10-11). God's judgment on Egypt was a sermon preached to the whole world.
Conclusion: Trapped for Our Good
This story is our story. God still leads His people into impossible situations. He leads us to our own Red Seas, with the water before us and the armies of Pharaoh, the world, the flesh, and the devil, thundering at our backs. He does this to teach us to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He does it to show us that our deliverance is never in our own hands, but always in His.
When you find yourself in a place of confusion, hemmed in on every side, do not conclude that God has abandoned you. It is far more likely that He has led you there deliberately. He has set the stage. He has put you in a position where your only hope is a miracle, because He is a God who specializes in miracles. The world will look at your situation and say, "They are wandering in confusion; the wilderness has shut them in." They will see your faith as folly and your hope as delusion.
But God's purpose is to harden the hearts of His enemies, to draw them out into the open, and to display His glory in their overthrow and in your deliverance. The trap that He sets for them is the very stage for your salvation. Your dead end is God's opportunity. Therefore, when you are commanded to take a strange detour, when you are told to camp in a vulnerable place, when the logic of the world screams retreat, remember the command to Moses. Obey. Stand firm. And prepare to see the glory of God, who will make a way where there is no way, all so that the world will know that He is Yahweh.