Song of Moses

By Pastor Alex Amiot

The suffering of the Israelites in Egypt was worse than I realized. Their bodies suffered under Pharaoh, but did you know that their souls were being afflicted by their own idolatry? Joshua 24:14 reveals the sad truth that the Israelites were sinning against the Lord by serving false gods during their sojourn there.

When they finally cried to Yahweh for help, He heard them. God’s aim was not just to free them from Pharaoh, but to release them from the claws of Pharaoh’s gods. The Lord rescued His people from Pharaoh by many signs and wonders, culminating in the parting of the waters of the Red Sea. Once on the other side, they sang Exodus 15, the Song of the Sea.

Dr. Brent Olson’s (FLBCS faculty) doctoral work shows that the Song of the Sea exalts Yahweh as the divine warrior whose victory at sea broke the bonds of Israel’s slavery to both Pharaoh and his gods, especially one of their main gods, Baal-Zephon.

The mythical story explaining why Baal-Zephon was worthy of worship was well known by Egyptians and Israelites alike. The myth told of how Baal-Zephon had fought the god of the sea, a seven-headed dragon called Leviathan, and won. Because he defeated the sea god, Baal- Zephon now controlled the waterways. The myth told of how Baal-Zephon then built a temple on “the mountain of his inheritance” and boasted that his kingship was eternal.

How could Yahweh compete with such an epic tale that had captured the hearts of many of His people? This is what He did: He sent them on a camping trip; He gave them a water activity; He taught them a song. Kind of like Bible camp, but bigger.

The camping trip: before crossing the Red Sea, the Lord told the Israelites in Exodus 14:2 to camp in front of a place called Baal-Zephon. They sat in the shadow of that temple and looked over the unassailable sea. Baal-Zephon defeated Leviathan in the myth, but how would the false god fare against Yahweh?

The water activity: Yahweh won. He showed His lordship over all earthly elements and all spiritual deceivers like BaalZephon and Leviathan by cutting a dry path through the sea.

The song: Read Exodus 15:1–21 and note how Yahweh directly replaces Baal as the divine warrior worthy of all praise. I remember singing Exodus 15:1 faster and faster with every repetition in Sunday school, “I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea!” Yahweh, their divine warrior, not Baal, won the battle at sea.

The Lord’s victory is expounded for ten verses. Then in Exodus 15:11 the song modulates to the praise of Yahweh above all other gods with the words, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?” In this section of the song the Lord’s love and salvation for His people is punctuated with verse 17, “You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.” Yahweh, their divine warrior, not Baal, would build a sanctuary on His own mountain, literally, “the mountain of His inheritance.”

Dr. Olson notes that this phrase, “the mountain of His inheritance” is only ever used in the Baal myth and then in the Song of the Sea to refute the Baal myth. Yahweh brought His people to His mountain first at Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, now in the congregation since Pentecost, and soon in the New Jerusalem when Christ returns.

The Song of the Sea ends with some holy chutzpah in verse 18, “The Lord will reign forever and ever.” Moses was doing what Paul would describe in I Corinthians 1:31 as “boasting in the Lord.” Yahweh, their divine warrior, not Baal, manifests eternal kingship.

By the end of the Song of the Sea, the Israelites were not only freed from Pharaoh, they were also freed from the lie that Baal-Zephon had any power over them or any blessing to offer them. Salvation is found in Yahweh, nowhere else. How fitting, then, that when God became flesh in the person of His Son, He was named Jesus, meaning, “Yahweh is salvation.”

Jesus led the ultimate exodus, delivering us from our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. Jesus is the divine warrior who conquered through suffering, dying, and rising. He graciously plants us in His abode, the mountain of His inheritance—the congregation, which is the form His eternal kingdom now takes on earth.

The Lord heard the Israelites, and He will hear you. Cry to “Yahweh is Salvation,” to Jesus, when you are burdened with suffering and sin. With hearts of thanksgiving for His salvation, sing to the Lord.

Amiot serves Our Saviour’s Lutheran, Thief River Falls, Minn., and Reiner Lutheran Free, Goodridge, Minn.