The Song of Moses

A song after a rescue. “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord” (15:1). They sang right after they crossed the sea. When God rescues His people, they want to praise Him. Who the song is for. The song is sung “to the Lord.” It is not about how brave Israel was. It is about what God did: “For He has triumphed gloriously!” Strength and song. “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation” (15:2). God was their strength when they were weak. He was the reason they had something to sing about. Salvation means rescue. Personal praise. Each person could call the Lord “my” God: “He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him” (15:2). Each person was praising God for what He had done for them. To exalt means to lift up in praise. Fear turned to joy. Only a day before, the people were terrified and crying out (14:10). Now they were singing. God had turned their fear into joy. Why a song? Singing helped the people remember. Years later, their children could sing the same words and learn what God had done. A song is easy to remember and easy to share. The first song. This is the first song written down in the Bible. God's people have been singing ever since.

The occasion (15:1). The song comes immediately after 14:31: “the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord.” Faith overflows into praise. Before Israel took one more step on their journey, they stopped to worship. “Triumphed gloriously.” The Hebrew ga'oh ga'ah (say: gah-OH gah-AH) repeats the verb for emphasis, literally “He is highly exalted.” Pharaoh had exalted himself against God; now God is the One lifted high. “My strength and song” (15:2). The Hebrew zimrat (say: zim-RAHT) can mean song, and it can also mean might. The Lord is the source both of Israel's strength and of its praise. The line is repeated almost word for word in Psalm 118:14 and Isaiah 12:2, so later generations sang Moses' words as their own. From “my God” to “my father's God.” The song joins personal experience with family history. The God who rescued this generation is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In worship we thank God for what He has done for us and for what He has done for His people across the generations. From fear to faith. In 14:10-12 the people cried out in terror and accused Moses. One night later they sing. Nothing about their own strength had changed; what changed was what they had seen God do. Praise grows out of remembering God's acts. The parts of the song. We can learn the song in four parts: why Israel sings (15:1-2), what God did at the sea (15:3-10), who God is (15:11-13), and what God will do (15:14-18). Miriam's refrain (15:21) closes it. Each part gives us another reason to praise the God who saves.

Why did God's people sing? They had just seen God save them. The sea had split open. They had walked across on dry ground. The army could not hurt them anymore. They were free! Their hearts were full of joy. So they sang a song to God. The first words were, “I will sing to the Lord.” They did not sing about how brave they were. They sang about how great God is. God gave them strength. He put a song in their hearts. Best of all, God saved them. We can sing to God when He helps us too.

God's people were safe. They were so happy that they sang! They sang to thank God for saving them. God gave them happy hearts.

God's right hand. “Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces” (15:6). In the Bible the right hand is a picture of strength and action. The waters stood up. “And with the blast of Your nostrils The waters were gathered together; The floods stood upright like a heap” (15:8). The song describes the wind of 14:21 as God's own breath. The enemy's boast. “The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil… I will draw my sword’” (15:9). Pharaoh's army was proud and sure of itself. God's answer. “You blew with Your wind, The sea covered them” (15:10). All the enemy's “I will”s ended with one breath from God. Justice for a cruel army. The song tells how the army sank. The people were praising God for stopping a cruel army and keeping His people safe. God says elsewhere, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 33:11). A warrior who fights for us. “The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name” (15:3). Moses had promised, “The Lord will fight for you” (14:14). The song says God kept that promise. Why sing about it? Singing about what God did is a way to say thank You. It also helps us trust Him the next time we are afraid.

“The Lord is a man of war” (15:3). Here God is pictured as a warrior who fights for His people, fulfilling Moses' promise, “The Lord will fight for you” (14:14). The next line, “The Lord is His name,” ties His victory to the name He revealed at the bush (3:14-15). The right hand (15:6, 12). Israel sang “Your right hand, O Lord” twice, each line building on the one before. Hebrew songs often repeat this way, and the Psalms are full of it. The repeated words press one truth deep into the heart: God's power, not Israel's, won the day. Six boasts and one breath (15:9-10). The enemy's speech is a string of “I will” statements: pursue, overtake, divide, be satisfied, draw, destroy. God's response is a single line: “You blew with Your wind.” All of Pharaoh's proud plans ended with one breath from God. Human pride is empty before Him. Judgment in praise. The song celebrates the end of an oppressor. It is not cruelty for its own sake but the praise of justice. Psalm 136:15 can say of the same event, “overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His mercy endures forever.” Judgment on the oppressor was mercy to the oppressed. The Lord of the waters. The waters “stood upright” and the depths “congealed in the heart of the sea” (15:8). The song pictures God ruling the waters, as He did at creation when He separated the waters from the dry land (Genesis 1:9). The God who made the sea commands it. Why retell it? Israel sings the event back to God in vivid detail. Remembering God's specific acts is itself worship, and later psalms retell the exodus for the same reason (Psalm 136:13-15).

Next the people sang about what God had done. They sang about God's right hand. The right hand means God's strength. God's hand is stronger than any army. They sang about God's breath. God blew, and the water stood up like a wall. They sang about the enemy too. The enemy bragged, “I’ll chase them and catch them.” But God only had to blow. The enemy's plans did not work. God protected His people. Singing about what God did helped them remember it. We can sing about what God has done for us. God is stronger than anything that scares us.

They sang about God's strong hand. God made the water stand up like a wall. God is strong! He kept His people safe.

A question with one answer. The song asks, “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?” (15:11). The answer is no one. The verse goes on to say God is “glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders.” An echo. During the plagues Moses told Pharaoh, “there is no one like the Lord our God” (8:10). Now the people sing it themselves. Holiness. To be holy means to be set apart and perfect. God is not just stronger than other gods; He is completely different from them. Mercy. “You in Your mercy have led forth The people whom You have redeemed” (15:13). God's power at the sea came from His love for His people. Redeemed. To redeem means to buy back or rescue from slavery. God had promised, “I will redeem you” (6:6). The song says He did. Strong and kind. The same God who split the sea leads His people gently. His power and His love go together. Why sing it? When we sing “Who is like You?” we remind ourselves that nothing is bigger than God. Nothing scary in our lives is stronger than Him.

No one like Him (15:11). The question “Who is like You?” (Hebrew mi kamokha, say: mee kah-MOH-khah) expects one answer: no one. The gods of Egypt had been shown powerless. The phrase becomes a refrain in Israel's worship and lies behind the name Michael, “Who is like God?” Three attributes. God is “glorious in holiness,” “fearful in praises,” and “doing wonders.” Holiness means God is perfectly pure and completely set apart from everything He made; “fearful in praises” means worthy of awe-filled worship; “doing wonders” points to His mighty acts. Steadfast love (15:13). “Mercy” translates chesed (say: KHEH-sed), God's loyal, covenant love. This is its first appearance in Exodus. God's power at the sea came from His faithful love: He saved Israel because He had bound Himself to them by promise. Redeemed and purchased (15:13, 16). The song uses two words for what God did: ga'al, to redeem as a kinsman does, and qanah, to acquire or purchase. Israel is God's own people, bought out of slavery. The New Testament uses the same ideas for Christ's work (1 Peter 1:18-19). Shepherd language (15:13). “You have guided them in Your strength To Your holy habitation.” The verbs “led forth” and “guided” picture a shepherd leading a flock. The rescue at the sea is the start of a journey toward God's presence, not the end of the story. “Among the gods.” The question does not grant that other gods are real rivals. It is the language of praise: whatever powers the nations worshiped, none could stand before the Lord. Egypt's gods had just been shown to be nothing.

Then the song asked a big question. “Are there any gods like You, Lord?” The answer was, “No!” Egypt had many fake gods. None of them could save anyone. Only the real God could split the sea. The song said God is holy. Holy means God is perfect and different from everyone. The song said God is powerful. It said God does great miracles. Then the song said something sweet. God keeps His loving promise. God leads the people He saved. God is strong, and God is kind. That is why we can trust Him.

“Who is like You, Lord?” they sang. The answer is, “No one!” God is holy and good.

Others will hear. “The people will hear and be afraid” (15:14). The song names Philistia, Edom, Moab and Canaan. News of God's power would travel ahead of Israel. A home with God. “You will bring them in and plant them In the mountain of Your inheritance, In the place, O Lord, which You have made For Your own dwelling” (15:17). God was not only taking them out of Egypt. He was bringing them to live with Him. Forever. “The Lord shall reign forever and ever” (15:18). Pharaoh's kingdom fell. God's kingdom never ends. Miriam leads. “Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances” (15:20). A timbrel is a hand drum like a tambourine. An answer song. “Sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously!” (15:21). Miriam's words echo the first line of the song. Why end with forever? The song ends by looking at who God will always be. Pharaoh was gone, but God would still be King tomorrow and forever. That is a song worth singing every day. Everyone joins in. Miriam's song invited everyone to sing. Praise is not just for leaders; it is for all of God's people.

Looking forward (15:14-17). Having seen the sea, Israel sings about the land. Now they sing about what God “will” do. Praise for past rescue becomes confidence for what is ahead. The sanctuary (15:17). The goal of the exodus is not merely freedom but God's dwelling with His people: “the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.” This points ahead to the tabernacle at the end of Exodus and later to the temple on Mount Zion. “The Lord shall reign” (15:18). This is the first time the Bible explicitly declares God's kingship with the verb malakh (say: mah-LAKH), to reign. Against Pharaoh's claim to divine rule, the song announces the true King. Miriam the prophetess (15:20-21). Miriam is the first woman in the Bible called a prophetess. Micah 6:4 later remembers her as one of Israel's leaders with Moses and Aaron. Her song repeats the opening line, perhaps as a response sung by the women, so that the whole people joins in praise. Fear among the nations (15:15-16). The song expects that “all the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away” and that they will be “as still as a stone, Till Your people pass over, O Lord.” Rahab later confirms that the news of the sea had reached Jericho (Joshua 2:9-10). Worship as the goal. At the bush God said Israel would serve Him on His mountain (3:12). The song already sings toward that goal: freedom from Pharaoh is freedom to worship God.

The last part of the song looked ahead. Other nations would hear what God had done. They would be afraid to fight God's people. God would lead His people to His own mountain. He would live there with them. Then came the biggest line of all. “The Lord will rule forever!” Kings like Pharaoh do not last. But God is King forever. Then Miriam picked up her tambourine. All the women followed her and danced. Miriam sang, “Sing to the Lord!” Everyone praised God together. Some sang and some played music. It was a happy day. We can praise God with music too.

They sang, “The Lord will rule forever!” Miriam danced and sang too. God is King forever. Everyone praised God!

The Song of Moses

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