(Exodus) Exodus 14:1-12 — J. Vernon McGee

Israel Encamps Before the Red Sea

That brings us, in chapter 14, to this particular section here. And I begin reading now in chapter 14,. "...And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hah-haroth, between Migdal and the sea, over against Baal-ziphon, before it shall ye camp by the sea.".

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know where these places are. I take it that they are there between the Nile River, where they left the land of Goshen and the Red Sea. They moved into that area.

Pharaoh's Reluctance to Release Israel

Now, notice, though Pharaoh has let them go, he's still reluctant to let them go. Verse 3,. "...For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.".

Now, he had, of course, spies watching their movement, and a movement of two and a half million people would be very difficult to conceal anyway. Now, he expected them to go up the coast route through the land of the Philistines.

Now they are headed out toward this wilderness, and frankly, Pharaoh thinks they're lost, that they don't know where they're going, that no one would attempt to go through that dreadful wilderness. Now, notice, God says that when He sees that, why, He'll think the children of Israel are trapped, and He's going to go after them.

Again, you see, He'd let them go reluctantly. Verse 4,. "...And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.".

And they did so. Now, you would think that what had already happened was enough, but believe me, something even more profound is going to take place that will convince the Egyptians. And now, verse 5,.

"...it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled. The heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?

And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them, so that the host of Egypt is going with six hundred chariots.".

Now, you can imagine what six hundred chariots would do to a poor, helpless, defenseless people, and especially women and children and cattle. Why, they would make havoc of them and make hash of them also.

Israel Trapped Between Pharaoh and the Sea

Now, "...the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with a high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them in camping by the sea beside Pihahiroth before Baal Ziphon.

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 unto the Lord, Here is the Red Sea ahead of them, the host of Egypt back of them, and these poor defenseless people are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

How are they going to get over? They have no means or method to defend themselves. They are not a warlike people, and they're not equipped to defend themselves at all. And so they are actually in a very bad spot.

Israel's Fear and Desire to Return to Egypt

And I begin reading now at verse 10 of Exodus 14. And when Pharaoh drew near, 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.

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? That to us today is a rather ironic statement, and I'm sure it was more so in that day.

The Great Pyramid stood there as a great burying place for kings, for Pharaohs. And the mummies were all over the place, to tell the truth, in the land of Egypt. And the children of Israel are saying, Did you bring us out here because there wasn't room to bury us in the land of Egypt?

Well, it was a great burying ground, by the way. And it has meant more, I think, to the study of the past and to Egypt to look into these different graves they found there. Now, they think they're to be slaughtered out in the wilderness.

And notice verse 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.

Humanity's Sinful and Hopeless Condition

Now, they cried out in the land of Egypt. They wanted to be delivered. And now when the opportunity came, but here was the danger, why they want now to turn and go back to the land of Egypt. Notice now what God is going to do for them.

You must understand they're helpless and they are hopeless without the aid of God. If they are to be redeemed, He will have to do it. And I only wish that we could get that objective viewpoint of ourselves.

I wonder if you could move out, Yonder, with the astronauts to the moon and look back at this little earth and look at the people that are on this earth, humanity. And humanity is in sin. Humanity is lost.

This world today is actually a pretty hopeless place. It's a great burying ground. By man came death into this world. What a picture that you have here. Man's been on the march for over 5 ,000 years, 5 ,000 years plus.

Where's he marching to? To the grave. This is not a pretty sort of thing. Man today is probably the greatest, or let me turn that around and say, the most colossal failure in God's universe. And any way you look at him, he is.

Man by the very brevity of his life is that. By the uncertainty of his life. That's the condition of man today. And look at these children of Israel. They'll never get out unless God moves in their behalf.

Salvation Belongs to the Lord

And you and I could never be redeemed unless God did it, friends. Redemption is the work of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah said that. David said that. And that's the message of the New Testament.

That salvation is of the Lord.