Глава 15

1–21. A song of thanksgiving sung by the Jews after crossing the Red Sea. 22–27. Traveling through the Sur desert, lack of fresh water and the grumbling of the Israelis; the miracle at Marah and the coming to Elim. The song of thanksgiving sung by the Jews after crossing the Red Sea, except for the attack or introduction (Ex. 15: 1–2), falls into three parts. The first (Ex. 15:3–8) depicts the omnipotence of the Most High, the Man of War, who came out to save Israel against Pharaoh; the second (Ex. 15:9–13), beginning with a description of the enemy’s pride and his destruction, reveals the position that the Lord, the God of Israel, is immeasurably high in comparison with other gods; the third (Ex. 15:14–18) describes the impression made by the omnipotence of the Lord on the surrounding pagan nations. Ex.15:1. I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea. The theme of the song is the glorification of the greatness of the Almighty (“highly exalted”), which was expressed in a particular case - the defeat of the Egyptians: “he threw his horse and rider into the sea.” Exodus 15:2. The Lord is my strength and my glory, He was my salvation. He is my God, and I will glorify Him; God of my father, and I will exalt Him. The conqueror of the Egyptians, the Lord is a “fortress” for the Jewish people, since the passage through the Red Sea and deliverance from death is not a matter of the strength of Israel, but of the strength of the Lord (Ex. 14:31); the people declared themselves only with fear and cries (Ex. 14:10), there was neither strength nor glory in them. The power of the Almighty granted salvation to the people, therefore, constituting the strength and fortress of the Jews, He is also their salvation. As such, He alone serves as the subject of veneration and glorification among Israel (Gen. 28:20–21). He, who kept the fathers (1 Chron. 16:19–22), fulfilled the promises given to them (Gen. 15:14), is the true God and therefore worthy to be exalted (2 Sam. 22:47, Ps. 98:5, 117:28, Is. 25:1, 57:15). Exodus 15:3. The Lord is a man of war, Jehovah is His name. Exodus 15:4. He cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea, and his chosen captains were drowned in the Red Sea. Exodus 15:5. The depths covered them: they went into the depths like stone. Exodus 15:6. Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in strength; Thy right hand, O Lord, has slain the enemy. Exodus 15:7. By the greatness of Your glory You have overthrown those who rebelled against You. You sent Your anger, and it burned them up like stubble. A more detailed description of the power of Being. The Almighty showed His great power and turned out to be a man of war (Ps. 23:8), fighting for His people (Deut. 4:34) when Pharaoh’s troops were drowned in the sea (Ps. 105:8–10). Sunken in the depths like a stone, without any hope of salvation, they are struck down by nothing less than the mighty right hand of the Lord (Ex. 15:5). Having rebelled against God, they were quickly, one and all, destroyed like stubble by fire, by the flame of His wrath (Isa. 5:24, 47:14). Exodus 15:8. At Your breath the waters parted, the moisture became like a wall, and the depths in the heart of the sea thickened. Exodus 15:9. The enemy said: I will pursue, overtake, and divide the spoils; My soul shall be satisfied with them; I will draw my sword, and my hand shall destroy them. Exodus 15:10. You blew with Your spirit, and the sea covered them: they sank like lead in great waters. The very natural phenomenon, which served in the hands of God as an instrument for the salvation of the Jews: “the moisture became like a wall” (Exodus 14:22), was transformed by God through the wind: “I blew with Your spirit” (Job 37:10) into a means of destroying enemies - it is the work of His omnipotence. Exodus 15:11. Who is like You, Lord, among the gods? Who, like You, is majestic in holiness, worthy of praise, Creator of miracles? According to the properties just revealed, the Lord has no equal among the gods (2 Kings 7:22, 1 Kings 8:23, Ps. 70:19, 85:8, 88:6–8, Jer. 10:6), in particular, among the Egyptian gods, whose powerlessness is known to the Jews. He is a premium being - “majestic in holiness”; as such, He is worthy of praise, glorification (Ps. 117:29). Exodus 15:12. You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them up. Exodus 15:13. Thou leadest by Thy mercy this people whom Thou hast redeemed; Thou accompanyest by Thy power into the habitation of Thy holiness. The Almighty is worthy of praise not only as the performer of the great miracle - the absorption of the Egyptians by “earth”, and the term “earth” also means water, but also as the patron of His people (Ps. 105:5), protecting them on the way “to the dwelling of Thy holiness” in the land of Canaan (Ps. 77:54), consecrated by theophany to the patriarchs (Gen. 28:16, 31:13), and altars to God (Gen. 28:18). Exodus 15:14. The nations heard and trembled: horror seized the inhabitants of the Philistines; Exodus 15:15. Then the princes of Edom were troubled, trembling seized the leaders of Moab, and all the inhabitants of Canaan became sad. The impression made by the passage through the Red Sea on the peoples who own the land of Canaan and live not far from it. The song attributes to them the same feelings that the miracle caused in the Jewish people (Ex. 14:31): similar phenomena produce identical effects. After the Egyptians, the Philistines were the first people feared by the Jews (Ex. 13:17); the main enemy is defeated, and according to the laws of psychology, thought passes from the Egyptians to the Philistines (Ex. 15:15, Josh. 2:9, 11). Exodus 15:16. Let fear and terror fall upon them; from the greatness of Thy arm let them be as numb as a stone, while Thy people pass by, O Lord, while this people which Thou hast purchased pass by. Such a state of peoples is desirable for the Jews throughout their further journey to the land of Canaan. Frightened by the arm of the Almighty helping the Jews, dumb as stone, i.e. powerless to do anything (1 Sam. 25:37), they will not be able to offer them strong resistance (Deut. 2:25, 11:25, Josh. 2:9–11). Ex.15:17. Bring him in and plant him on the mountain of Your heritage, in the place that You have made Your dwelling, O Lord, in the sanctuary that Your hands have created, O Lord! But even under this condition, the introduction and settlement of the Jews in Canaan depends on God (Deut. 31:1-6), due to which he begs to bring this matter to completion. “The mountain of Your heritage” is the mountainous Canaanite region (Ps. 67:16–17, Isa. 5:1), which is the property of the Lord (Jer. 2:7) and, like His dwelling, is a holy place, a sanctuary (Ps. 77:54). Exodus 15:18. The Lord will reign forever and ever. Here in Canaan the Lord will be king of His people (Ps. 104:11). Exodus 15:19. When Pharaoh's horses with his chariots and his horsemen entered the sea, the Lord turned the waters of the sea against them, and the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea. Exodus 15:20. And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and rejoicing. Exodus 15:21. And Miriam sang before them: Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; He cast horse and rider into the sea. As can be seen from Exodus 15:1, the song was sung by men: at the end of the song the story of liberation was told (Exodus 15:19), and then at the end a choir of women led by Miriam sang the first verse of the song. Exodus 15:22. And Moses led the Israelites from the Red Sea, and they entered the desert of Shur; and they walked three days in the wilderness and found no water. Up to Ref. 18:27 – journey from the Red Sea to Sinai. Listing of stops and events that took place during stops. From the testimony of Chis. 33:10 that the third camp of the Jews was at the Red Sea, it undoubtedly follows that after crossing the sea the Jews did not take the direct caravan road leading to the northeast to the Elamite Gulf, but headed south, along the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The desert of Shur, otherwise called Etham (Num. 33:8), could receive a double name from the two cities lying in it. Three days of traveling along it without water speaks of the strength of thirst and the naturalness of the murmur noted below. Exodus 15:23. They came to Marah and could not drink the water in Marah, for it was bitter, which is why the name was given to that [place]: [Merrah]. ** The place of the first stop, Marra, is usually placed in the wadi (stream, channel, valley) of Gawara. Like Marra, the source of Gawara is noted for the somewhat salty taste of its water, which even now the Bedouins consider it the worst in the entire area. Ex.15:24. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? Exodus 15:25. [Moses] cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There God gave the people a charter and a law and tested them there. The natural explanation of the miracle has no basis. The text does not contain even a hint that Moses drew up the water, and the water that appeared again turned out to be good (opinion of Josephus). Likewise, the experiences of travelers do not support the view that wood has the natural properties of turning bitter water into drinkable water. The Arabs do not know such a tree either. The event served as a test of the faith of the people in the sense that they did not doubt the effectiveness of the extraordinary remedy used by Moses - they did not doubt or refuse to drink the water about which they had just said: “What should we drink?” Likewise, for those who turn to Christ, faith in Him, crucified on the cross, typified by the tree of Marah (Ephraim the Syrian), serves as consolation and delight in the earthly vale. “Hearing about the tree of Marah,” says Gregory of Nyssa, “of course you will understand the cross. A virtuous life becomes sweeter, delighted by the hope of the future.” Exodus 15:26. And he said, If thou shalt obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do that which is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring upon thee any of the diseases which I brought upon Egypt, for I am the Lord [thy God] that healeth thee. A particular case of the saving action of faith gives rise to the establishment of a general position on the conditions for deliverance from various kinds of disasters, the culmination of which are the Egyptian plagues (Deut. 7:11–15, 28:27, 60). The Lord's promise was supposed to support the spirit of the people during further trials that lay ahead along the way. Exodus 15:27. And they came to Elim; There were twelve springs of water and seventy date trees, and they encamped there by the waters. The second camp, Elim, was located south of Marrah in the present-day Wadi Garandel, replete with beautiful palm trees, tamarisks, acacias and lush grass. You might be interested in: