Celebrating Deliverance
June 27th, 2009
Listen to the Song of Moses after the absolute victory of God at the Red Sea (which is not the same as the “Song of Moses” in chapter 32 of Deuteronomy). This is not only victory over Pharaoh and Egypt, but victory in the hearts of the people of Israel (however short-lived); it is a victory of God over the forces of chaos (the sea). Let there be no mistake – this is the moment – before the Decalogue – that Israel recognizes for good and all that there is no God but God. As the New Interpreter’s Bible puts it:
“The subject of this act of exuberant self-abandonment is Yahweh, named three times in these introductory verses. This Yahweh has been the subject of the entire exodus narrative, in whom Israel has come to believe (14:31), and whom Pharaoh finally comes to know (14:25). This naming of Yahweh is not only an act of priase, but is is also a polemical act, whereby Israel dismises and nullifies any rival to Yahweh, for no other has undertaken the liberation now being celebrated.” New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. I, p. 799.
We’re sometimes uncomfortable with the martial overtones of scenes like this from the Old Testament. Maybe if we’d experienced VE and VJ Day we wouldn’t have that level of discomfort – because ultimately the victory being celebrated is not over the death of the enemy, but the life of those who have been rescued and redeemed. Here is today’s lesson scripture:
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.
4 ”Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea; his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power— your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 ”Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them.
13 ”In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed; you guided them by your strength to your holy abode. Ex 15:1-13 (NRSV)
What other response can you imagine for the people of Israel (or for us) given the circumstances?
I thought of several other words about our Lord but then went back and found they were all in this scripture. I think they captured all aspects of our Lord’s love for us.
It seems to me that in the end all the stories in the Bible, all the lessons of History, all of my experience teach only this: We need to be delivered. We cannot deliver ourselves. Somehow–if we can but know it–we are delivered already. I will sing unto the Lord.
Amen and amen