Seder 56: Echoes of Exodus 15 Throughout the Bible

The Song of the Sea in Exodus 15:1-18, inspired by the miraculous rescue of the Israelites at the Red Sea, is the Bible's first song of praise to God.  The song focuses on God as the only one who brings salvation and carries out judgment. Its major themes include

• God's mighty works on behalf of his people, carried out by his powerful "right hand".(vv 6,12).
• God's control over the forces of nature (vv 7-10).
• God's uniqueness and incomparability (v 11)
• God's position as eternal ruler over all the earth (v 18)

In addition to recounting the Red Sea rescue and defeat of Pharaoh's chariots, the song takes a prophetic look ahead to future events.  Over the next 40 years, many people in the region would remember what God had done and would tremble in fear (v 14).  The Israelites would "pass by" (v 16) once again, walking across the Jordan River on dry ground.  And God would lead them into Canaan to build a temple and dwell in his presence (v 17).  

Not all of the things pictured in the song would happen within 40 years.  Edom and Moab, for example, did not tremble in fear of the Israelites (v 15), but would do what they could to oppose them.  The complete fulfillment of verse 15 may lie in the future.  

There are echoes of Exodus 15 elsewhere in the Bible.  For example, Isaiah 11:12-16 describes a future exodus in which a regathering of the tribes of Israel will take place.  This account is followed in chapter 12 by a song that repeats words from the Song of the Sea:  "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation" (verse 2).  

Exodus 15 is referenced again in Psalm 118:14-16, with another quote of Exodus 15:2 and another statement of the strength of God's right hand.  There is a messianic prophecy a few verses later in verse 22.  In Exodus 15:5, Egyptian chariots sink like stones.  In Psalm 118:22, the stone rejected by the builders becomes the chief cornerstone.  

There are a number of allusions to Exodus 15 in the prophecy of Micah 7:7-20.  One striking thing about this prophecy is that in this case, it is human sin, rather than an enemy army, that is defeated and cast into the sea (verse 19).  

Palm Sunday 2024: The Triumphal Entry---Four Gospels, One Message

All four canonical Gospels describe Jesus' dramatic arrival in Jerusalem about five days before Passover in the year of his crucifixion and resurrection (Jn 12:1-12).  As Jesus rode from Bethphage on a donkey, a crowd of pilgrims spread cloaks and leafy branches on the road and hailed his coming with joyful shouts.  This event, traditionally known as the Triumphal Entry, is commemorated by Christians each year on Palm Sunday.  

Each Gospel account contributes to our understanding of what happened.  From John we learn that Jesus had been in Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem, visiting his friends Mary and Martha.  There he raised their brother Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, back to life (Jn 11).  News of this miracle spread quickly, attracting people who wanted to see Jesus and Lazarus (Jn 12:17-18).

Mark 11:1-11 and Luke 19:28-35 explain that when Jesus began the walk from Bethany to Jerusalem, he sent two disciples to Bethphage, where they would find a young colt that had never been ridden.  They were to untie the colt and bring it to Jesus.  Matthew 21:1-7 adds the information that the colt was a donkey, that it would be with its mother, and that the disciples were to bring both animals.  All three Synoptic Gospels agree that Jesus sat on the colt after his disciples draped it with cloaks. (Some have mistakenly thought that Matthew 21:7 is claiming Jesus sat on both animals, but this verse instead is saying that he sat on the cloaks spread over the colt.)

Seeing Jesus on the colt may have reminded onlookers of the reference to a donkey and a donkey's colt in Genesis 49:11, or to Solomon's riding King David's mule when he was anointed king (1 Ki 1:38-40).  More importantly, as Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15 point out, Jesus' actions evoked the messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9:9:  ``Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

The symbolism of the donkey was not lost upon the crowd.  They waved and scattered leafy branches, and they expressed their messianic hopes by shouting words from Psalm 118:25-26: ``Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!'' (Mk 11:9-10)  These are actions associated with the Feast of Tabernacles, and more broadly with  messianic expectation.  Judas Maccabeus received similar acclamation in 164 BC when his victories led to the rededication of the Temple (2 Macc 10:6-8).  So did Judas' brother Simon when he expelled the Syrian forces from the Akra citadel in 141 BC (1 Macc 13:49-52).     

This rejoicing may have continued for some time.  In those days, whenever someone in a group shouted, ``Blessed is he who comes,'' it was customary for the others to automatically add, ``in the name of the Lord!''  Scholar David Instone-Brewer (in his book The Jesus Scandals) has suggested that children in the crowd may have enjoyed starting this cheer repeatedly in order to get others to respond in the usual way.  (Matthew 21:15 mentions children cheering in the Temple area the next day.)

Not everyone in the crowd was comfortable with the celebration.  Some Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke his disciples.  He responded, ``I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out'' (Lk 19:40).  His reference to stones reminds us of some previous verses in Psalm 118:  ``The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes'' (vv 22-23). 

 After coming to Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple area and looked around before returning to Bethany that night  (Mk 11:11)  Supporters of Jesus may have been disappointed that he made no move to gather troops or call for the overthrow of Roman rule.  However, we should not conclude, as some have, that the crowd cheering Jesus during the Triumphal Entry became the crowd that called for his crucifixion a few days later.  This second crowd was likely composed of an entirely different group of people---e.g., Temple authorities who saw Jesus as a threat to the status quo.  

Jesus' disciples at first did not comprehend the full meaning of the Triumphal entry, but their understanding grew in light of subsequent events and is reflected in the Gospel accounts (Jn 12:16).  In riding a donkey's colt that had never had a rider, Jesus demonstrated his authority over creation and hinted at the coming of the ``peaceable kingdom'' described in Isaiah 11:6-9.  His actions pointed to the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9-11, which pictures the Messiah as one who brings salvation and peace to the nations and whose rule will extend ``to the ends of the earth.''  Significantly, God declares in Zechariah 9:11 that ``because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.''  This prophecy reminds us of Jesus' intention to lay down his life for the sins of mankind on this trip to Jerusalem (Lk 9:22; 51; Mt 26:28).  

Both Matthew and John link Zechariah 9:9 with prophecies from Isaiah.  Matthew 21:5 connects the Zechariah passage with Isaiah 62:11:  ``Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your salvation comes...''  John 12:15 makes a connection with Isaiah 40:9:  ``...Fear not; say to the cities of Judah, `Behold your God!'.''  These verses from Isaiah complement Zechariah 9, speaking of the deity and mission of the Messiah.

All four Gospel accounts portray Jesus as the promised Messiah.  They also emphasize Jesus' detailed foreknowledge and control over  the course of events.  One has the sense that he was orchestrating everything that happened during Passion Week, from the Triumphal Entry to his arrest and crucifixion.  All of these things were carried out according to a predetermined plan.  When we, like Jesus' first disciples, find life difficult to comprehend, we can take comfort in the fact he is in charge as that plan continues to unfold. 

Seder 135: Psalm 136---God's Steadfast Love Endures Forever

 Psalm 136 begins in a familiar way:  "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love [Hebrew chesed] endures forever."  We also find these words in Ps 106:1; 107:1; 118:29; 1 Ch 16:34. 

But Psalm 136 differs from these other psalms in that the refrain "for his steadfast love endures forever" is repeated in each of its 26 verses.  The verses bring out how God's love of Israel is shown in great works of redemption, and his love for all mankind is shown in his works as Creator.  

There is an interesting midrash on Psalm 136:4 ("to him who alone does great wonders").  This midrash says that it is only God who does great wonders, and it is only God who knows what all of these wonders are.  Each day God is doing wonders of which we may be totally unaware.  

We're not sure when this psalm was written.   Commentators point out that the designation for God in verse 26 ("the God of heaven") appears most often in post-exilic books like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. Verse 23 ("It is he who remembered us in our low estate") could refer to the Exodus and also to exile. 

On the other hand, nothing else in this psalm is necessarily post-exilic.  There is another midrash that says it would have been fitting for this psalm to have been written right after the victories over Sihon and Og (vv 19-20), much as Exodus 15 celebrated the victory over Pharaoh at the Red Sea.  

A third midrash reflects on the magnitude of the victory over Og the giant.  According to this midrash Og picked up a mountain and threw it at the Israelites, but Moses thwarted that attack with a pebble over which he had pronounced the Divine Name. 

The midrash on Psalm 136 also includes traditions about Israel's miraculous crossing of the Red Sea.  One of these traditions says that "the depths crystallized on both sides of the children of Israel and became a kind of glass," based on Exodus 15:8.  This tradition links Exodus 15 and Revelation 15, which pictures a "sea of glass" in heaven.  

Seder 107: Numbers 6:22-27 and Matthew 5---the Aaronic Blessing and the Beatitudes

 God is the source of all blessings (James 1:17).  In the Bible, human representatives of God like kings (2 Sam 6:18; 1 Kings 8:14,55)  and priests (Ps 118:26; Lev 9:22) often prayed for blessings for God's people.

It was a duty of Israelite priests, in fact, to pray for blessing, and God gave them the words for such a prayer (Num 6:24-26).  The words include:

• "The Lord bless you"---as in Lev 26:3-13; Dt 28:3-14, which picture wellbeing in all areas of life.
• "And keep you"---protect you from things that work against this blessing, against peace and prosperity.  Such protection is described, for example, in Psalm 121.
• "The Lord make his face to shine upon you".  This expression pictures a superior showing favor to a subject, as in Pro 16:15:  "In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain."  See Ps 31:16 for another example of this expression. 
• "And be gracious to you"---a prayer for God's mercy.
• "The Lord lift up his countenance upon you"---the opposite of hiding one's face in anger and turning away, as in Gen 4:6.  Deut 28:50 refers to a nation sent to punish Israel as "hard-faced".
• "And give you peace"---"peace" is shalom, which connotes prosperity, health, and wholeness.

This blessing "placed God's name" upon the Israelites.  As bearers of God's name, they were charged with representing him before the nations, a responsibility they were to carry out faithfully, as emphasized in one of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:7).

Moses embodied what it meant to receive this blessing.  When he communed with God on Mount Sinai, he experienced God's shining face.  His own face then shone, illustrating a close relationship with God (Ex 34:29-35).  Biblical theologian David H. Wenkel studies the Bible's "shining face" and "face-to-face" motifs in his book Shining Like the Sun:  A Biblical Theology of Meeting God Face to Face.  

Some of the oldest known copies of verses from the Bible are copies of the Aaronic blessing preserved on two tiny silver strips dating from around 600 BC.  These strips were found at Ketef Hinnom in 1979.

When we think about biblical blessings, we also think about the Beatitudes pronounced by Jesus in Matt 5:2-12.  The Beatitudes are not prayers like the Aaronic blessing.  Rather, they identify groups of people who have already received blessing, even if they might not seem in the world's eyes to be very fortunate.  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on July 2, 2022, Kyle Kettering brought out the difference and expounded on the Beatitudes.

Passover 2020: A Survey of Psalms 113-118

The Gospels report that at the end of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn (Matt 26:30; Mark 14:26).  The hymn could well have come from Psalms 113-118, which are a traditional part of Passover liturgy.

Psalm 113 calls upon God's people to praise him at all times.  He is both an exalted King and one who cares for the needs of individuals.  Verses 7-8 quote from Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:8, reminding us of the miraculous births that have been part of Israel's history.

Psalm 114 recalls the miracles of the Exodus in beautiful poetic fashion.  Bodies of water (the Red Sea and the Jordan River) are described as "fleeing" and mountains (e.g. Mount Sinai) are described as "skipping" when God appears.  The earth is told to "tremble" because the God who worked so powerfully in the Exodus continues to do so.

Commentator Willem Van Gemeren (EBC) has called Psalm 115 a psalm of "communal confidence." The occasion for this psalm is that Israel has been suffering trials, to the extent that surrounding nations have been mocking them, asking where their God is (v. 2).  Israel's answer is that God is the King of the Universe and does as he pleases, according to his own schedule.  (On the other hand, the idols of the nations do nothing at all.)  Israel can count on God's continued blessing.  He has created them to praise him, and they will continue doing so as long as they live.

Psalm 116 is a hymn of individual thanksgiving.  The psalmist testifies that God has saved him from a terrible trial and pledges to proclaim this publicly by offering a sacrifice, one that he presumably promised to make when he cried out to God during his ordeal.

The apostle Paul identified with this Psalm.  He, too, had suffered trials, cried out and been rescued. He affirmed that through the Holy Spirit, Christians can have the same faith as the psalmist, strengthened also by the truth of Jesus' resurrection (2 Cor 4:13-14).

The brief Psalm 117 calls upon all nations to praise God for his faithfulness to his covenant with Israel.  The message is that what is good for Israel is good for the nations.  In particular, the sending of Israel's Messiah is good news for the whole world.  Paul quotes Ps 117:1 along with other scriptures in Rom 15:8-13 to state again that God's promises to the patriarchs (e.g., Gen 12:3) bless all nations.

The translation of Ps 117:2 in the CJB ( "For his grace has overcome us, and Adonai's truth continues forever") gives a wonderful picture of God's grace pursuing and overtaking us.

Liturgical elements in Psalm 118 (vv 20, 27)  hint that this psalm was used in celebrations involving a public procession to the Temple.  In some parts the congregation speaks or sings together, and in other places an individual speaks for the congregation.  That individual, like the author of Psalm 116,  testifies to God's help in rescuing people from trials.

One description here of God raising up someone from defeat ("The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone") has always been seen by Christians as a Messianic reference---e.g., Acts 4:11---an especially apt description of the exaltation of the resurrected Jesus.

There is certainly much in these psalms that points to God's deliverance in past, present, and future, and to the Gospel.