Moses, Pt. 5: "The Apple of God's Eye" (Ex 14)

THE APPLE OF GOD’S EYE (EXODUS 14:1-31)
In a survey of four- to eight-year olds, kids share their views on love:
“Love is that first feeling you feel before all the bad stuff gets in the way.”
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”
“When someone loves you, the way she says your name is different. You know that your name is safe in her mouth Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”
“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is ok.”
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents for a minute and look around.”
“Love is hugging. Love is kissing. Love is saying no.”
“When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you’re scared she won’t love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only does she still love you, she loves you even more.”
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they’ve known each other so well.”
“Love comes from people’s hearts, but God made hearts.”
http://www.pediatricservices.com/inspire/inspire33.htm

God’s declaration of love for Israel is well-chronicled. Moses exclaimed in Deuteronomy 4:37, “He loved your forefathers” and in Deuteronomy 23:5, “God loves you.” God’s version spoken by the prophets Jeremiah, Hosea and Malachi was more heartfelt and personal: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jer 31:3) , “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos 11:1) and “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated” (Mal 1:2-3).

Israel is the “apple of His eye” (Deut 32:10). God not only loves Israel, but shields and guards her. Zechariah the prophet alleged, “For whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.” (Zech 2:8) God serves a powerful warning to the world that He is tender and jealous in His love and affection for those who belong to Him. His loyalty to His people is unquestioned, unending and unsurpassed.

The Israelites were between a rock and a hard place. The Red Sea was before them and the army of Egypt was behind them. They saw the fast approaching Egyptians, found themselves cornered and screamed at Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Ex 14:11-12)

When the Israelites were in trouble, God kept his promise to Abraham, showed His loyalty to His people and displayed His glory to all the nations. It was just another occasion for God to prove His faithfulness, sovereignty and majesty. Israel failed to understand that the Lord never leaves or forsakes His people (Heb 13:5). He will never ignore their cries, look another way or fail to help when they are in trouble.

Where is God when our backs are against the wall? What are believers to do when they are afraid? Why is trusting God better than trusting oneself and others?

The Lord Fights; You Be Still
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Ex 14:13-14)

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.

As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farmhand?” the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man.

Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate, hired the man. He worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from off shore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!”

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows. “Enraged by the old man’s response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

The Lord did all the fighting for Israel when they were fatigued, fearful and fickle. The Israelites did not need to lift a finger, lend a hand, duck for cover, advance or retreat or move a step or an inch. They were too exhausted anyway from running all night for their lives (Ex 14:20). The Lord did not take Israel out of Egypt using the shorter way through the Philistine country but the longer route by the desert road toward the Red Sea way (Ex 13:17-18) to avoid immediate war with other nations. Further, they were weary from crying to the Lord and screaming at Moses (Ex 14:10-11).

The Israelites were also too afraid to act or move. Up till this passage, the Hebrew phrase for “so afraid” had only been used in the Bible to describe Abimelech’s gripping terror when God appeared to him in a dream (Gen 20:8) and Jacob’s great fear when he returned to face Esau (Gen 32:7). Six hundred of Egypt’s best chariots, along with other officers, horsemen and troops, were ordered to pursue Israel (Ex 14:7-9). Israel was not armed and had never fought a war up to this point (Ex 13:17-18). They were not even a nation yet.

Moses was also dismayed by the people’s attitude. As soon as they left Egypt, they blamed Moses taking them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness (Ex 14:11-12). Moses had his hands full. But as Pharaoh found out, Israel was the apple of God’s eye. When the Egyptians attacked Israel, they were in for a rude shock. God soaped them, soaked them, spun them, submerged them and suspended them like dirty laundry. The Egyptians were in hot waters and over their head. The Hebrew word for the way the waters “divided” (Ex 14:21) is used elsewhere in the Bible for “chopping” wood (Gen 22:3), “splitting” rocks (Ps 78:15) and “crumbling” walls (Jer 39:2). The word for “overthrow” (Ex 14:27) is used for the “shaking” of the body (Judg 16:20) and things (Neh 5:13); it is also the word for the “shakeup” God has planned for the unfaithful (Neh 5:13) and the wicked (Job 38:13).

The Lord Follows; You are Safe
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (Ex 14:19-22)

Several years ago, after I took a friend’s 12-year-old son with me to see the Prince of Egypt, I discovered the wonders of online chatting. The boy sent me an instant message after watching the movie together. It was his and my first online chat with anyone. I almost fell out of my seat when an invitation to chat appeared on my computer screen for the first time.

During our conversation I asked him, “How was the Prince of Egypt?” His mother had told me he did not quite like the movie, so far the only 12-year old boy I knew who did not like it. He replied, “So-so.” Tactfully, I began with a “What do you like?” question. He answered, “Crossing the Red Sea and the campfire song of Moses when he settled down in Midian.”

I eventually asked, with curiosity: “Then what don’t you like about the movie?” He wrote: “I don’t like Aaron not going with Moses to see Pharaoh.” I responded, “That’s interesting. What else?” He added, “And the part about crossing the Red Sea, THERE IS NO PILLAR OF CLOUD OR FIRE in the movie!” The two observations escaped my attention and caught me by surprise.

The Lord showed Israel that He was following them in a colorful, practical and tangible way. The angel of God (14:19), the pillar of cloud (14:19) and the pillar of fire (14:24) accompanied them. When they were worried, all they had to do was to look up, look behind and look around for the confirmation of God’s presence, His power and protection. The Israelites saw the Egyptian army for the last time when they started crossing the Red Sea (14:20). As soon as they followed orders to march (Ex 14:15), they were so near to and yet so far from the Egyptians.

God surrounds His people, separates believers from unbelievers and shows His people the way. The pillar of cloud surrounded the Israelites by day and the pillar of fire by night (13:22). The Israelites were never alone - either the pillar of cloud or fire would glow or smolder visibly.

The difference between believers from unbelievers was manifested in the forecast of the Israelites from the Egyptians; the pillar of cloud brought ominous darkness to the Egyptians and sunny skies to the Israelites (14:20). The Israelites were in the light, but the Egyptians were in the dark. The Egyptians could not see, find or tail the Israelites in the final stretch. The Israelites were never in danger because the pillar of cloud and the east wind were active all night. The Hebrew phrase “all the night” is prominent in verses 20 and 21. No compass, map, equipment or technology could help the Egyptians track the Israelites. After a preliminary close-up scare from the Egyptians (14:10), the Israelites never saw their pursuers or witness the battle. The next time they saw the Egyptians, their pursuers were already dead on the shore (Ex 14:30).

The Lord Finishes; You Shall See
30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (Ex 14:30-31)

Do you read the ending of a novel or view the end of a video first, and then only catch the rest of the story in-between? Some people like this no-surprise, less-guessing and low-pressure approach. My brother is one of them. It drove my father up the wall.

Whenever my father would rent a multi-series video when we were young, my brother would get his way by convincing my father to part with the last tape of the series. After waiting patiently for everyone to finish viewing the first episode he would take the first and the last episode of the series into his own room to enjoy them. Missing the twists and turns of the story, not knowing who was happy or unhappy in between and how everybody made or lost their fortune, as it usually happens, did not bother him. All he cared about was who the characters were, who died, who survived and who triumphed.

However, often there was a problem. My brother was a procrastinator. He often kept the final episode even if the rest of the family had caught up to him and was nagging him for the concluding episode. He would either hide the last episode or lock his room until he had finished. It drove us crazy, especially my father who had friends waiting in suspense for the conclusion. Some of the friends shared in the rental!

God is an expert at finishing well. He’ll never leave things undone, half-done or nearly done. Israel realized that when they saw the ending (14:30-31). There was a reason behind all the running, chasing and screaming in the chapter. He wanted the Israelites to know that He was peerless, personal and powerful. God’s last words to Moses before the Red Sea crossing was this: “The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen” (Ex 14:18). None is like God in His promise, His glory and His ways. As Moses, Miriam and the others would sing in the next chapter, “Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (15:11)

Israel also understood that God was personal. Israel saw for herself the Egyptians who were lying dead on the shore (Ex 14:30). They understood that God did everything for their benefit and grasped the idea of God’s desire for a permanent personal relationship with them as a people. He discovered, delivered and developed Israel for a special relationship with Him. God’s love for His people is fierce and unending.

Finally, God is powerful. God’s power was not mean to awe and shock. When the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant (Ex 14:31). The last verb of the last verse of chapter 14 spells the intent of God: that Israel “believed” or trusted in the Lord (Ex 14:31). The first time this word “believe” or “trust” occurs in the Bible is in Genesis 15:6, referring to the first person to believe in the Lord, and that person was none other than Abraham their forefather: “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). God wanted Israel to believe in Him, no less than what He required from Abraham.

Conclusion: God knows and cares about our needs, our fears and weaknesses. He knows what is best for His children. From weakness we are made strong (Heb 11:34). We do not need to fear, fret or fuss with Him by our side. Instead of fussing and frowning, we should obey and trust Him (14:15). Are you like Moses who initially had a staff he did not use and a hand he did not stretch? In quiet confidence is our strength. Do you see tight spots or jams as an opportunity to trust God and not yourself? Do you have a healthy fear of Him instead of an unhealthy fear your enemies?