Exodus 14:16

My Notes

What Does Exodus 14:16 Mean?

"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." God commands Moses: LIFT the rod. STRETCH your hand. DIVIDE the sea. And Israel will walk on DRY GROUND through the MIDDLE of the sea. The command requires THREE human actions (lift, stretch, divide) that produce ONE divine result (dry ground through the sea). The human participation is REAL. The divine result is IMPOSSIBLE. The rod Moses carries is the INSTRUMENT. The sea-parting is the MIRACLE.

The phrase "lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea" (harem et matteka uneteh et yadeka al hayyam — raise your rod and stretch out your hand upon the sea) makes MOSES the agent of the action: God doesn't say 'I will part the sea.' God says 'YOU lift, YOU stretch.' The human participation is REQUIRED. The rod that was asked about at the burning bush (4:2 — 'what is that in thine hand?') is now the INSTRUMENT of the greatest miracle in the Old Testament. The shepherd's staff parts the sea.

The "on dry ground through the midst of the sea" (bayyabbashah betokh hayyam — on the dry-land in the middle of the sea) creates the IMPOSSIBLE COMBINATION: dry ground IN THE MIDDLE OF the sea. Two things that can't coexist — dry land and sea-middle — are brought together by divine command. The dry (yabbashah) is the OPPOSITE of the sea (yam). And they occupy the SAME SPACE. The miracle is the coexistence of the contradictory.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What rod are you being told to lift — and what impossible result awaits?
• 2.What does the burning-bush rod now PARTING A SEA teach about the same instrument serving at every scale?
• 3.How does dry ground IN the middle of the sea describe the impossible made real?
• 4.What human action (lifting, stretching) is God requiring as the INSTRUMENT of the divine miracle?

Devotional

Lift your rod. Stretch your hand. Divide the sea. And Israel will walk on DRY GROUND through the MIDDLE of the sea. Three human actions producing one impossible result. The rod parts the sea. The dry appears in the wet. The impossible coexistence of land and water happens because God commands it.

The 'lift thou up thy rod' brings back the BURNING-BUSH QUESTION: 'what is that in thine hand?' (4:2). The rod. The shepherd's staff. The ordinary piece of wood. NOW — at the Red Sea, with the army behind and the water ahead — the rod is LIFTED. The same rod. The same hand. A COMPLETELY different scale. The staff that guided sheep now DIVIDES an ocean. The ordinary instrument performs the extraordinary miracle.

The 'stretch out thine hand over the sea' makes MOSES the physical agent: God could part the sea WITHOUT Moses' hand. But God chooses to work THROUGH the human gesture. The stretching of the hand is the PARTICIPATION — the human body cooperating with the divine power. The hand stretches. The sea divides. The human action and the divine result are CONNECTED through the rod.

The 'dry ground through the midst of the sea' is the IMPOSSIBLE made REAL: dry ground and sea-middle are CONTRADICTIONS. Dry ground is where the sea ISN'T. The sea-middle is where dry ground CAN'T BE. And God puts them TOGETHER — dry ground IN the middle of the sea. The miracle is the coexistence of what shouldn't coexist. The impossibility is the location: where water should be, dry ground appears.

What rod are you being told to LIFT — and what impossible sea-parting is waiting for the stretching of your hand?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture