Exodus 14:15, 16: “And Jehovah said to Moses: ‘Why do you cry to me? Speak to the sons of Israel and let them move forward. And (then) you (will) lift up your rod and hold out your arm over the sea and split it, so that the sons of Israel will march into the sea on dry ground.’”
The children of Israel were trapped. Pharaoh’s army was on one side and the red sea on the other. There was nowhere to turn. They began to cry that it was better to be slaves under Pharaoh than to die. The situation was hopeless and they expected nothing but death. Moses declared that God would send a great miracle and they would be saved. Then Moses prepared to address God asking for the miracle. Yet God said a strange thing.
“Why do you cry to me?” The word cry is tise’ak which comes from the root word se’ak. Se’ak literally means to make a plea for unity. In this story we have Moses making a plea for tisea’ka (unity) with God. The Taw in front of Se’ak puts this in a future tense. Moses had not yet called out to God. Translators have a problem with this passage as a literal translation would be awkward: “And God said to Moses, why will you call out to be unified with me?” In the context Moses is asking to be unified with God to receive power for a miracle. Yet, let’s stay with that literal translation and see what we get.
The next word is devar (speak, tell, speaking God’s heart). The grammatical form used here is a Piel imperative. “You tell (the words of My heart) to the people in no uncertain terms move forward.” The next phrase is “Lift up your rod.” The word to lift up or rise is harem, not nasah which is the generic word for rising up. Harem comes from the word mountain which is har with a Mem put at the end. The mountain representing an intimacy with God as discussed in my last devotional where the Mem represents the hidden mysteries and secrets of God. This is in a future tense and should be rendered: “Tell the people in no uncertain to move forward (toward the Red Sea) and then as you draw near to Me you will receive hidden knowledge.” He is not saying they will receive power, but hidden knowledge which will bring about the power of God.
In John 14:12 Jesus tells his disciples: “Indeed I tell you truly, he that believes in me, the works which I do that one shall also do and greater things than these shall you do because I go to the father.” Too many full Gospel Christians wrongly assume that the Greek word for works here is energeo, where we get our word energy. In other words the works we perform are filled with power. Actually, the word for works here is ergon, which literally means to carry out a task. The Aramaic word that Jesus spoke was evadawhich means to take action. The works we do are works of action; it is God who will supply the power.
This is so very important to understand. We get this arrogant idea that we have the power of God and we lay hands on someone and impart that power. This is not what Jesus was teaching in John or what took place at the Red Sea. We, as Moses, are only to carry out a task. In the performance of that task, the power of God is released. In our passage in Exodus we find that Moses and the people had to perform a task which was to move forward.
The Talmud tries to explain this by illustrating what could have happened, not that it did, but the Talmud is only trying to expound on this truth. As the story unfolds in the Talmud, the people were paralyzed with fear. Moses lifted his rod, spoke the sacred name of God, spoke the Words that God gave him to speak (debar), but the sea did not part. He tried again and again, but there was no miracle. Moses commanded the people to move forward. No one dared to move forward for that would mean they would walk into the sea and drown. Suddenly man stepped forward, without fear, with perfect faith he began to walk toward the sea. The people went quiet. Some called out to him to stop that this was a suicidal march, but he continued and boldly waded into the sea. The water got deeper, it rose to his nostrils, the people screamed in terror. But when the water reached his head, the sea then parted. You see, Moses had no power, his rod had no power, only God had the power and it would not be released until the performance of an act of faith. This bit of hidden knowledge to appropriating the power of God was then revealed to Israel.
Yes, I know, we would much rather have the power then go out. But Jesus taught we must first perform the task and then the miraculous will come. The power of God will be there when we need it, but we must first move forward. Jesus lived in a small geographical area with just twelve disciples. But in John 14:12 He taught that when the combined forced of thousands, millions spread throughout the world, they will be able to reach millions, yea, billions more than Jesus could have ever reached. They would indeed accomplish greater things numerically than Jesus, but ultimately it would be His power as a result of our ergon (Greek), evada (Aramaic,) action (English) or moving forward.
Oh, by the way, that man that walked into the Red Sea? The Talmud identifies him. He Was The Prince Of Judah.
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