By the Rev. Ron Purkey
Guest Columnist

Read Exodus 15:1-27

“Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances” (Exodus 15:20).

The Rev. Ron Purkey

“The Lord is a man of war,” (see Exodus 15:6-10), who doesn’t fight with conventional weapons. Using human characteristics to describe divine attributes, the singers declare that his right hand is glorious in power, his majesty throws his opponents down, and his anger consumes them like fire eats up stubble. At the Red Sea the breath from his nostrils is the wind that blew back the waters and congealed them so they stood like a wall. When the overconfident Egyptian soldiers thought to catch up with the Jews, God simply breathed and the waters returned and drowned the army. What a mighty God is he!

As we trace the activities of Moses and the Israelites, we learn some important truths to help us live our lives today successfully for Christ..

Exodus 15 contains the first psalm (or song) of any length in the word of God. Other poetic sections in Genesis (for example, Genesis 1:27; 3:14-16, 17-19; 4:23, 24) are too short to be called songs. Moses composed this song, and its vocabulary, grammar, and structure affirm to its ancient origin.

First, The Singers: “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea” (Exodus 15:1).

Moses and the children of Israel sang in worship together, as a community of believers, not just as a nation. And they sang to the Lord; the living God was their main audience. The term triumphed gloriously is an emphatic construction, expressing enthusiastic joy over the Lord’s great victory (see also Exodus 18:8). Horse and rider can also be translated “horse and chariot.” The Hebrew verb for thrown is a rare and pictorial expression. It describes the Lord as reaching down and tossing members of the Egyptian army into the water one by one.

Second, The Song: “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him” (Exodus 15:2).

The Lord is my song; because my strength and my song is such an unusual pairing of words, some have thought that the word translated song must mean “power,” “fortress,” or something similar. However, the idea as it is expressed is wonderful: God is my strong song. That is, God’s people may regard the living, omnipotent God as the reason for singing!

Third, The Savior: “The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name” (Exodus 15:3).

“The Lord is his name;” it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of God’s name, Jehovah, in the Bible” (see Exodus 3:14-15). Remember, Jesus is God’s son! (John 3:16).

Read Ron Purkey’s Bible study outlines free at rcpbibleoutlines.com. Purkey has been an ordained Baptist minister for 50 years.