Tuesday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 20, 2021

Exodus 14:21-15:1

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided, the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left. The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea. In the night watch just before dawn the Lord cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic; and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord told Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth. The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the Lord hurled them into its midst. As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh’s whole army that had followed the children of Israel into the sea. Not a single one of them escaped. But the children of Israel had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore and beheld the great power that the Lord had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord: I will sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

The story of the Egyptian chariots and the Red Sea is very familiar to us both because of its drama and also because of its use at Easter, when we see it fulfilled in the Lord Jesus destroying sin and death.  If we think about it carefully, though, a number of questions arise.  For instance, why did God allow the Egyptians to pursue the Hebrews in the first place?  He could have struck them down as they were mobilizing.  Also, why did God not cause the water of the sea to flow back before the Egyptians arrived at the shore, thus sparing their lives?  And, if God wanted to provide a great sign to the Hebrews of his power, why did he or an angel not appear in some visible form, perhaps armed with a sword, and kill the Egyptians in a great battle?

Pondering the first question helps us to find the answers to the others.  So why did God allow the Egyptians to chase after the unarmed Hebrews, already hampered by their baggage?  If the point was to set them in the Promised Land, he could simply have picked them up and placed them there.  Or, he could have cast the Egyptians army in a deep sleep in their barracks so that nothing could rouse them, or he could have overthrown them before they closed in on the Hebrews.  The Lord God wanted the Hebrews to understand that they were not accomplishing their flight from Egypt on their own.  He made them know their own helplessness and their absolute need for divine assistance.  They had to learn that only God could help them — and not the Egyptian gods, but their God.  The fact that their God helped them and the Egyptian gods did not save the people who worshipped them demonstrated both the power of their God and also that the Egyptian gods were mere idols, incapable of helping anyone.  

As to the next question, the Lord God annihilated the enemy army so that they could not pursue the Hebrews at a later time.  The Egyptians had crossed the Red Sea previously and fought against the Canaanite kings and the Hittites.  At various times they had ruled parts of Canaan.  If the army had remained intact, at any time they could have crossed the sea on ships, caught up with the Hebrews, and slain them in the wilderness.

As to the sign, it is a greater sign if it does not seem that God or an angel needed to appear in order for the Egyptians to be defeated.  God’s power is so supreme that he can will a thing to happen and it does immediately.  This helps to to understand why God forbade manufactured images representing his appearance.  If his appearance can be reduced in this way, his divinity cannot be so great.

Throughout history, Almighty God allows his people to experience troubles, threats, and even apparent defeats in order that by turning those things into benefits and victories, he might manifest his power to us.  If we know tumult and persecution now from society, political movements, foreign adversaries, or even from authorities in the Church, we can know that if we persevere now, even as the enemy sees victory in their sight, we will see God overthrow them completely, even as he overthrew the mighty Egyptian army, thousands of years ago.