Commentary - Exodus 14:21-25

Bird's-eye view

This passage is the heart of the Exodus, the great, central deliverance of the Old Testament. God has systematically dismantled the gods of Egypt through the ten plagues, and has now led His people into what appears to be a strategic blunder of the highest order. They are trapped, with Pharaoh's chariots behind them and the Red Sea before them. This is by divine design. God loves cliffhangers because His glory shines brightest when the situation is utterly hopeless from a human perspective. Here, Yahweh reveals Himself not just as a deliverer, but as a warrior who fights for His people. The parting of the sea is a cataclysmic act of de-creation and re-creation. God takes the chaotic waters, a symbol of judgment, and makes a dry path, a way of salvation where there was no way. This event becomes the paradigm for all of God's saving acts to follow. It is a national baptism, a passage from death to life, from bondage to freedom, which finds its ultimate fulfillment in the salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ.

The action is entirely God's. Moses stretches out his hand, but it is Yahweh who drives the sea back. The Israelites simply walk through on the path God has made. The Egyptians, in their arrogant rebellion, attempt to use the same path, but the path of salvation for God's people becomes the path of destruction for His enemies. The same water that walls up to protect Israel will later collapse to destroy Egypt. This is a vivid illustration of the fact that God's gospel is a savor of life unto life for those who believe, and a savor of death unto death for those who perish. The confusion of the Egyptian army in the final verses is a direct result of God's personal intervention, a holy bewilderment that precedes their final, watery judgment.

Outline

Context In Exodus

This spectacular miracle is the climax of the conflict between Yahweh and Pharaoh, which is to say, between the one true God and the false gods of Egypt. After the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh finally thrusts the Israelites out of Egypt. But God is not finished with Pharaoh. He intentionally leads Israel by a route that seems to box them in at the edge of the Red Sea (Ex 14:1-4). This is a divine trap, set to lure Pharaoh into one final, prideful confrontation. God tells Moses that He will harden Pharaoh's heart so that He might gain glory over Pharaoh and all his army. The scene is set for a definitive showdown. Israel's terrified complaint (Ex 14:10-12) and Moses' faithful exhortation to "stand by and see the salvation of Yahweh" (Ex 14:13) precede this moment. The pillar of cloud and fire has already moved to stand between the two camps, protecting Israel and confounding the Egyptians. This passage, then, is the execution of God's stated plan: to save His people in such a way that His enemies are utterly destroyed and His own name is magnified.

Key Issues

Salvation is of the Lord

One of the central lessons of Scripture is hammered home here with the force of a tidal wave. Salvation is not a cooperative venture. Man does not do his part while God does His. Israel is pinned, helpless, and terrified. They contribute nothing to their deliverance but their own presence. They are commanded to stand still, and then to walk. That is all. Everything else is the work of God.

Moses, the leader, holds up a stick. This is not a magic wand; it is a symbol of God's authority delegated to His servant. The real power is wielded by Yahweh Himself, who employs a "strong east wind." He is the Lord of creation, and He can command the elements to do His bidding. He splits the sea. He makes the ground dry. He holds the waters back. He is the one who saves. This is a physical picture of a spiritual reality. We are all born trapped, with the devil's army behind us and a sea of judgment before us. We cannot save ourselves. We can only cry out to God and trust in the path He has made for us through the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Red Sea deliverance is a massive, Technicolor, historical object lesson that shouts from the pages of the Old Testament: "Salvation belongs to Yahweh!"

Verse by Verse Commentary

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Yahweh swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea into dry ground, so the waters were split.

Notice the division of labor here. Moses does what he is told; he stretches out his hand. This is the posture of faith, the obedient gesture. But the power belongs entirely to God. It is Yahweh who does the heavy lifting. He uses a natural force, a strong east wind, but He uses it in a supernatural way. This is not to rationalize the miracle, but to show that the God of the Bible is the Lord of nature. He can use ordinary means to accomplish extraordinary ends. The wind blows "all night," indicating a process, a mighty work unfolding over time. The result is twofold: the sea becomes "dry ground" and the waters are "split." This is not just a shallow, muddy path. God makes a genuine road where a sea had been, a highway of salvation.

22 So the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

The people of God do what seems insane. They walk into the seabed. This is an act of faith, trusting the path that God has opened. The description of the waters as a "wall" on both sides is crucial. This is not a gentle slope or a sandbar. This is a canyon carved through the water. The very thing that was their greatest threat, the deep sea, has now become the instrument of their protection. The walls of water that guard them are the same walls that will soon become a tomb for their enemies. This is a profound picture of how God's power works. In Christ, the very judgment we deserved has become the means of our salvation. The cross, an instrument of death, becomes our tree of life.

23 Then the Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea.

Here we see the blindness of rebellion. The Egyptians witness this stupendous miracle, a sea standing up like walls, and their only thought is to charge right in. Their hearts are so hardened, their pride so absolute, that they cannot see the obvious: this is the finger of God. They see the path of salvation God made for Israel and assume they can use it as a path for conquest. This is the folly of all who reject God. They think they can enjoy the benefits of God's world without submitting to the God of that world. But the path to life for the believer is the path to destruction for the unbeliever.

24 Then at the morning watch, Yahweh looked down on the camp of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the camp of the Egyptians into confusion.

The "morning watch" would be the last watch of the night, just before dawn. The timing is deliberate. God has led them on all night, and now, as the end of their escape is in sight, He turns His attention to the pursuers. The language is personal and terrifying. Yahweh Himself "looked down" on them. This is not a casual glance; it is the gaze of a divine warrior targeting His foe. He looks "through the pillar of fire and cloud," the very manifestation of His holy presence. The result of this divine gaze is confusion, a holy panic. God unravels them from the inside out. Before He destroys their bodies, He shatters their morale. Their military precision dissolves into chaos.

25 And He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for Yahweh is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

God's assault becomes practical and physical. He messes with their technology. The wheels of their elite war machines get stuck, they wobble, they drive "with difficulty." The Hebrew is emphatic, suggesting a heavy, slogging mess. The dry ground made for Israel is not so dry for them. This is God throwing a divine wrench in the works. And in their terror, the Egyptians finally get the theology right, but it is too late. "Yahweh is fighting for them." They recognize the source of their trouble. They see that this is not a battle against a slave rabble, but against the God of the Hebrews. Their frantic desire to flee is the beginning of wisdom, but their realization comes at the moment when escape has become impossible. The trap has been sprung.

Application

This story is our story. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that this event was a type of our baptism. "Our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor 10:1-2). Just as Israel passed through the waters of judgment safely, so we, in Christ, pass through the waters of baptism. We are united to Christ in His death and resurrection. The judgment that should have drowned us has been parted for us by the mighty act of God. Our old master, sin and the devil, is drowned in those waters behind us.

This means we should live as a people who have been definitively rescued. We are not meant to stand on the far shore looking back wistfully at Egypt. God did not save us from bondage so that we could miss the leeks and onions. He saved us for freedom, for worship, for Himself. When we are confronted with impossible situations, with our own Red Sea moments, we are to remember this deliverance. Our God is the one who makes a way where there is no way. He is the one who fights for us. Our job is to trust Him, to stand still and see His salvation, and then to walk forward on the dry path He lays before us, with the walls of His grace protecting us on the right and on the left.

And for those who are still in Egypt, still pursuing God's people in rebellion, this passage is a stark warning. The same God who provides a path of salvation for His own provides a path of judgment for His enemies. The same gospel that saves, condemns. The Egyptians had their moment of clarity, but it was too late. The invitation of the gospel is to have that moment of clarity now, to turn from the pursuit of sin and self, and to recognize that Yahweh is God, and to flee to Him for mercy before the waters of judgment return.