Exodus · chapter 14 of 40
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Exodus 14 tells how Pharaoh regrets letting Israel go and pursues them with his army to the sea. Moses tells the frightened people to stand firm and see the Lord's salvation. God opens the sea with an east wind, the Israelites cross on dry ground, and the waters return over the Egyptians. The people believe in the Lord and in Moses.
After the Passover and the first steps of the exodus, Exodus 14 brings Israel to the critical moment: the sea ahead and Egypt's army behind. It is the great scene of deliverance in the Old Testament, to which the psalms and the prophets return again and again, and it shows that salvation belongs to the Lord.
The Lord told Moses to have Israel camp by the sea, opposite Baal-zephon. God would harden his heart, and he would pursue them, and so the Lord would be glorified through Pharaoh and his army, and Egypt would know that he is the Lord. When Pharaoh and his servants learned that the people had fled, they changed their minds, and he made ready six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, and overtook Israel by the sea.
Seeing the Egyptians, the Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They told Moses it would have been better to serve Egypt than to die in the wilderness. Moses answered that they should not fear, but stand firm and see the Lord's salvation, for the Egyptians they saw today they would never see again. The Lord told Moses to lift up his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea to divide it, so that the Israelites could go through on dry ground.
The angel of God and the pillar of cloud moved behind the people, between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel: it was cloud and darkness for the Egyptians, and it lit up the night for Israel. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the waters back with a strong east wind all night. The sea became dry land, and the Israelites went through the middle.
The Egyptians followed with horses, chariots and horsemen. In the morning watch the Lord looked down on the Egyptian camp from the pillar of fire and cloud and threw it into confusion; he jammed the wheels of their chariots, and the Egyptians said they must flee from Israel, for the Lord was fighting for them. Moses stretched out his hand again, and at daybreak the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen and all the army; not one remained. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore, and the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Moses tells the people not to fear, to stand firm and see the Lord's salvation, because he will fight for them. Deliverance does not depend on Israel's strength but on God's action.
Moses stretches out his hand over the sea and the Lord drives the waters back with a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. God uses a natural force, and the work remains his.
The Israelites went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, with the waters a wall on their right and on their left. Salvation passes through the very place that looked like a trap.
Israel saw the great power the Lord used against Egypt, and the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses. The crossing of the sea is the event that forms Israel's faith.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because God hardened his heart, and Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds when they learned the people had fled. — Exodus 14:4-5
Answer: That it would have been better to serve Egypt than to die in the wilderness. — Exodus 14:11-12
Answer: That they should not fear, but stand firm and see the Lord's salvation. — Exodus 14:13
Answer: He drove the waters back with a strong east wind all night. — Exodus 14:21
Answer: The Lord jammed them, and the Egyptians said they must flee because the Lord fought for Israel. — Exodus 14:25
Answer: They feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses. — Exodus 14:31
Exodus 14 speaks to anyone who feels trapped between a sea and an army. The people were afraid, and God did not rebuke them but gave them a word: stand firm and see. This stillness is not passivity but trust that God works when we cannot.
It also shows that God can open paths where there seem to be none. In a class or small group you can share what sea each one faces and remember times when God already made a way. For Christians, the crossing of the sea is a picture of the salvation God gives in Christ.
Exodus 14 ends with a people who believe and the Egyptians dead on the shore. Exodus 15 answers with a song: Moses and the Israelites praise the Lord for his victory, and the journey toward Sinai begins.
The text speaks of the sea in general, and the exact location is debated. The Hebrew name can be translated Red Sea or Sea of Reeds. Some scholars propose areas of the Gulf of Suez and others lake areas farther north. The passage stresses God's action more than the geography.
The text mentions a strong east wind, and some readers think God used natural causes. But the account presents the event as the Lord's work: the timing, the force, the crossing of the whole people and the death of the army are all seen as God's intervention.
The text says God hardened his heart so that he would pursue Israel, and so display his glory. Many understand that God confirms the decision Pharaoh had already made, having refused again and again to let the people go, and uses it for his purpose.