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Exodus

About this book

The Song at the Sea

Chapter 15

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.⁠ 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, 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 man of war10—⁠ the Lord is his name.⁠ 4 The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he has thrown into the sea,⁠ and his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea.⁠ 5 The depths have covered them; they went down to the bottom like a stone.⁠ 6 Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power; your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. 7 In the abundance of your majesty you have overthrown those who rise up against you. You sent forth your wrath; it consumed them like stubble.⁠ 8 By the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up,⁠ the flowing water stood upright like a heap, and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.⁠ 9 The enemy said, ‘I will chase, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.’⁠ 10 But you blew with your breath, and 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, fearful in praises, working wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them. 13 By your loyal love you will lead the people whom you have redeemed; you will guide them by your strength to your holy dwelling place. 14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, trembling will seize the leaders of Moab, and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake. 16 Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of your arm they will be as still as stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people whom you have bought pass by. 17 You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance,⁠ in the place you made for your residence, O Lord, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.⁠ 18 The Lord will reign forever and ever! 19 For the horses of Pharaoh came with his chariots and his footmen into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them, but the Israelites walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.” 20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand drums and with dances.⁠ 21 Miriam sang in response to them, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.”⁠

Food, Water, and Conflict in the Wilderness

22 Then Moses led Israel to journey away from the Red Sea. They went out to the wilderness of Shur,⁠ walked for three days into the wilderness, and found no water.⁠ 23 Then they came to Marah, but they were not able to drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter. (That is why its name was Marah.) 24 So the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What can we drink?”⁠ 25 He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When Moses threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink.⁠ There the Lord made for them a binding ordinance, and there he tested them. 26 He said, “If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the Lord, am your healer.”⁠ 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 15:3 and Psalm 24:8

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Exodus 15 portrays God as a victorious warrior, similar to Psalm 24, which uses military language. Both follow ancient Near Eastern traditions where divine power is shown through combat, such as Baal defeating the Sea and Marduk overcoming Tiamat.

Passages

Exodus 15:3

Hebrew Bible
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, 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 man of war10— the Lord is his name. 4 The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he has thrown into the sea, and his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The depths have covered them; they went down to the bottom like a stone.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Psalm 24:8

Hebrew Bible
6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. (Selah) 7 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 8 Who is this majestic king? The Lord who is strong and mighty. The Lord a mighty man in battle. 9 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 10 Who is this majestic king? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is the majestic king. (Selah)
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... The psalm is an antiphonal liturgy used in the autumn festival. The portion of the Psalm in verses 6(7)-10, at least, has its origins in the procession of the Ark to the sanctuary at its founding, celebrated annually in the cult of Solomon and perhaps even of David. On this there can be little disagreement. But how are we to understand its archaic phrases? The prosodic form is intriguing: after a verse introducing the strophe, we have a series of so-called tricóla, four in number, with elaborate repetitive parallelism. This style is characteristic of the earliest stratum of ancient Yahwistic poetry and is familiar from Ugaritic poetry. We may see reflected in this liturgy the reenactment of the victory of Yahweh in the primordial battle and his enthronement in the divine council or, better, in his newly built (cosmic) temple. Such an interpretation assumes a Canaanite myth and ritual pattern standing behind the Israelite rite reflected in the Psalm. This Canaanite "pattern" can be described tersely as follows: Yamm, deified Sea, claimed kingship among the gods. The council of the gods assembled, and, informed of Yamm's intentions to seize the kingship and take Ba'l captive, made no protest. They were cowed and despairing, sitting with heads bowed to their knees. Ba'l rises, rebukes the divine assembly, and goes forth to war. In the (cosmogonic) battle, he is victorious, and he returns to take up kingship. Presumably he returned to the assembled gods and appeared in glory, and the divine council rejoiced. In a later text, Ba'l's temple, symbolic of his new sovereignty, is completed, and the gods sit at banquet celebrating. Ba'l is king. Similarly, in Tablet VI of the Babylonian Creation Epic, Marduk, after battling the primordial ocean, Tiamat, and creating the universe, receives from the gods a newly constructed temple where the gods sit at banquet celebrating his kingship. Psalm 24: 6-10 can be fitted into this pattern, provided we assume that it was modified somewhat in the Israelite context ..."
Frank Moore Cross, “The Divine Warrior in Israel's Early Cult,” in Biblical Motifs: Origins and Transformations, ed. Alexander Altmann (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966), 11–30.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 15:3 and Psalm 24:8

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