Feminine Fortissimo: The Women's Chorus at the Red Sea Text: Exodus 15:20-21
Introduction: The Second Movement
We have just witnessed one of the most magnificent events in the history of redemption. The waters of the Red Sea, which stood up like crystalline walls of obedience for the people of God, have just collapsed in tumultuous judgment upon the pride of Egypt. The entire military apparatus of a global superpower has been annihilated in a moment by the breath of God. In response, Moses and the men of Israel have sung a glorious, theologically rich anthem of victory, the song of Moses. It is a song that will echo down through the corridors of salvation history, even to the shores of the sea of glass in the book of Revelation.
But the celebration is not yet complete. The victory is so total, the deliverance so profound, that the song cannot be contained by just one half of the covenant community. What we have in our text today is not an addendum, not a quaint afterthought. It is the necessary and glorious second movement in the symphony of redemption. The men have laid down the theme in robust, doctrinal declaration, and now the women rise to sing the fortissimo chorus. It is a picture of joyous, orderly, gender-affirming worship, the kind of worship that makes the principalities and powers tremble.
We live in an age of calculated confusion. Our culture is desperate to erase every meaningful distinction that God has woven into the fabric of creation, particularly the distinction between male and female. This confusion has, as it always does, seeped under the doors of the church, creating a worship that is often effeminate, shapeless, and devoid of militant joy. But here, on the banks of the Red Sea, with the bodies of their enemies washing up on the shore, the people of God show us a different way. Here we see worship as warfare, and in that warfare, the women of God have an assigned, glorious, and indispensable post.
The Text
And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam answered them, “Sing to Yahweh, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.”
(Exodus 15:20-21 LSB)
Prophetic Leadership (v. 20a)
The response is led by a woman of God, acting in her God-given office.
"And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the tambourine in her hand..." (Exodus 15:20a)
Notice first that Miriam is identified as a "prophetess." This is a real office, a real gifting from God. The Spirit of God spoke through her. But her authority is not that of a free-floating, autonomous individual. The text immediately anchors her within the covenantal structure of her family: she is "Aaron's sister." This is not incidental information. It places her. Her leadership is not in competition with the leadership of Moses and Aaron; it is complementary to it. She is not trying to usurp their authority, but rather to lead the women in a glorious affirmation of the victory that God has accomplished through Moses' leadership. This is patriarchy rightly ordered, where gifted women are honored and exercise real authority within their God-ordained spheres.
And what does she do? She takes up an instrument. "She took the tambourine in her hand." This is a crucial point. Biblical worship is not a disembodied, Gnostic exercise in head-knowledge. It is earthy. It is physical. It involves hands and feet, voices and instruments, rhythm and sound. God created us as embodied souls, and He expects us to worship Him with our whole being. The tambourine is not an instrument for a funeral dirge; it is an instrument of percussive, punctuated joy. This is the sound of victory, a direct rebuke to the kind of sterile, overly-intellectualized piety that is afraid to make a joyful noise to the Lord.
Corporate Celebration (v. 20b)
Miriam's action is not a solo performance; it is the catalyst for a corporate movement.
"...and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing." (Exodus 15:20b LSB)
This is worship in good order. Miriam leads, and "all the women went out after her." This is not the chaotic, individualistic, "do what feels right in your own heart" approach that characterizes so much of modern worship. This is a disciplined, corporate response under recognized leadership. It is a beautiful picture of a godly, feminine community moving as one. They are not a collection of individuals having private emotional experiences in the same general vicinity. They are a choir, an army, a unified chorus celebrating a common salvation.
And their celebration involves "tambourines and with dancing." Again, the physicality is central. Dancing in the Bible is a legitimate expression of covenantal joy. This is not the sensual, self-exalting gyration of the nightclub. This is victory dancing. This is the appropriate, physical response of a body that has just been rescued from slavery and death. When God crushes your enemies and saves you from certain destruction, the impulse to dance is a holy one. It is a tragedy of the modern church that we have so often ceded this created good to the world, as though joy in the body were something inherently sinful. Here, the women of Israel teach us that to dance before the Lord in response to His salvation is a good and fitting thing.
The Unchanging Anthem (v. 21)
Finally, we are given the content of their song, the lyrical heart of their celebration.
"And Miriam answered them, 'Sing to Yahweh, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.'" (Exodus 15:21 LSB)
The text says that Miriam "answered them." The Hebrew word here can mean to sing responsively. This is a liturgical call and response. Moses and the men have sung the long, detailed anthem of God's victory (vv. 1-19). Now, Miriam and the women "answer" by taking up the central theme and turning it into a powerful, memorable, repeatable chorus. This is a beautiful portrait of complementarity in worship. The men lead with the full theological exposition, and the women respond with the distilled, potent refrain that drives the point home into the hearts of the people.
The object of their worship is crystal clear: "Sing to Yahweh." They are not celebrating their own cleverness or their newfound freedom. They are not singing to Moses or even to Miriam. Their praise is directed vertically, to the only one worthy of it. All true worship is God-centered. And the reason for the worship is His character, which has been demonstrated in His action: "for He is highly exalted."
And how has He shown Himself to be exalted? "The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea." This is the gospel in miniature. This is the bloody, violent, glorious summary of salvation. The "horse and his rider" represent the pinnacle of human pride and military might. It was the ancient equivalent of an armored division. And God treated it like a child's toy. He picked it up and contemptuously hurled it into the abyss. This is not a gentle, sentimental song. This is a war chant. It is a taunt over a defeated foe. It is a glorious celebration of the righteous judgment of God against His enemies. This is the song that the church must learn to sing again. We do not sing because God has given us some helpful tips for self-improvement. We sing because our great enemy, sin, death, and the devil, has been utterly defeated, disarmed, and hurled into the sea of God's wrath at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: Singing the Song of the Lamb
This scene on the shores of the Red Sea is not just a historical curiosity. It is a paradigm for the people of God in every age. It teaches us at least three crucial things about the life of faith.
First, it teaches us that worship is warfare. The victory was won by God alone, but the victory is declared, celebrated, and owned in the worship of God's people. Our singing is not a passive reflection on a past event; it is an active declaration of a present reality. When we sing of Christ's victory, we are enforcing that victory in the heavenly realms.
Second, it teaches us that God delights in complementary order. He has created men and women with different callings, and when those callings work in harmony, the result is a beautiful and powerful symphony of praise. Godly men should lead in declaring the robust truth of God's Word, and godly women have the glorious calling to affirm, beautify, and drive home that truth with their joyful response.
Finally, we must see that this song never ends. In the book of Revelation, John sees the saints who have conquered the beast standing on a sea of glass, and what are they singing? "They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (Rev. 15:3). The song of victory at the Red Sea is the song of victory at the empty tomb. It is the same song, because it is about the same God and the same kind of deliverance. The horse and rider of Pharaoh was a type, a foreshadowing of the ultimate horse and rider, Satan and his power. And at the cross, God hurled him into the sea. Therefore, when we gather to worship, we join our voices with Miriam and the women of Israel, with the martyrs and the saints in heaven, and we sing the one song of redemption: "Sing to Yahweh, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea."