Exodus 14:10-20 God comes between the Egyptian army and the Israelites

Exodus 14:10 ¶  And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. 11  And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. 13  And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

The Hebrews seem to be trapped between the Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea. They were terrified, or sore afraid. They believe they’ve made a terrible mistake by following Moses. They would have been better off as slaves in Egypt than to die so miserably in this situation.

But, Moses tells them to wait as God will fight this battle for them as salvation, more often than not in the Bible, typically means physical deliverance from an impending calamity rather than eternal life.

There are many times that God says that He will do the work for us but we are often too fearful to believe that. In the next verse, Christ tells this to His disciples regarding what they will say under persecution.

Mark 13:11  But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Even eternal salvation is purely a work of God in response to our faith.

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Ephesians 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

One important aspect of being a Christian, as I looked at before in the example set in the book of Job, is to trust God no matter how bad things get, even if we don’t see any relief in this life.

Job 13:15a  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him….

And taking the example also of the Hebrew men in Babylon.

Daniel 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

And here, in this passage in Exodus, we can see another principle linked to that one; waiting on the Lord to work in our lives rather than jumping ahead and acting on our own. The Hebrew situation was a total disaster without some kind of intervention. There was no power on earth that could save them when the greatest power on earth had them trapped. There will be situations in your life over which you are totally helpless and without God’s help you just know only complete disaster awaits you. You’re cornered. It is in that time you are forced to trust only in God, when you are between the proverbial ‘rock and a hard place’ where there is nothing left for you but to wait and see what God does.

Exodus 14:15 ¶  And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: 16  But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. 17  And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 18  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

God commands Moses to raise the rod in his hand and hold it out towards the sea. There are two northern arms of the Red Sea. On the west is the Gulf of Suez and on the right is the Gulf of Aqaba separated by the Sinai Peninsula. Some commentators have the Hebrews crossing the Gulf of Suez while others have them traversing across the Sinai Peninsula to get to the Gulf of Aqaba and crossing there into what is now Saudi Arabia.

The angel of God now moves from His position of leading the children of Israel to getting in between them and the Egyptian army. To the Egyptians He was darkness but to the Israelites He gave light. God does give light now to those who will believe but confounds the minds of those who will not, casting them into the darkness they desire.

Isaiah 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

2Thessalonians 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.