After the Israelites were rescued from the Egyptian army, they sang the Song of the Sea (Moses). From it, this Sabbath gets its name “Shabbat Shira” – the Sabbath of the song. We sing or read the “Song of the Sea”, and in the Haftara, the Song of Deborah from the Book of Judges 5:2–31 concerning Israel’s victory over the Canaanite.
This is the first time a song of praise to God appears in Scripture, but from thereon it developed into a common practice. Today, the Song of the Sea is recited as part of the traditional morning prayers as a reminder that we serve a God of miracles. The Israelites were required to memorise it to nurture their covenant relationship with God to prevent their future apostasy. Sadly they chose instead to reject the One who delivered them from Egyptian slavery.
For us as believers is held the future promise in Rev.15 where the redeemed of the Lord sing the Song of the Sea around the throne of God: “Great and marvellous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! 4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.”
Worship is a language which only the soul understands but cannot articulate fully until one day we see Him face to face!
Deborah sang after Israel’s victory over the forces of Siserah Judges.5. Hannah sang when she had a child 1Sam. 2. When Saul was depressed, David would play for him and his spirit would be restored 1Sam.16. David himself was known as the “sweet singer of Israel” 2Sam. 23:1. Elisha called for a harpist to play so that the prophetic spirit could rest upon him 2Kings 3:15. The Levites sang in the Temple. And today we sing unto the Lord, the King of Kings because He has redeemed us from the slavery of sin through Yeshua who alone is worthy of all praise, honour and dominion!
B’Shalach (When He Let Go) Ex 13:17–17:16; Judges 4:4–5:31; Matt 5; Rev 19:1-20;6.
“Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, (B’Shalach) that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’” (Ex. 13:17)
This opening verse of the Torah portion speaks volumes regarding God’s fatherly concern for the Israelites and how His ways may sometimes not be our ways! No doubt we, like the Israelites, prefer shortcuts to reach our destinations in life but whenever God’s ways differ from our own there is always good reason.
The Israelites started really well, filled with wonder at the incredible way in which God came through for them and celebrated the greatest miracle they had ever experienced. Yet, after only a three days in the wilderness following the parting of the Red Sea, things suddenly changed.
How well do we respond when faced with adversity? It is especially in these moments that we must embrace the promises of God. The Israelites had been three days in the desert and could find no water, and when they finally arrived at a place called Mara where there was an oasis, the water was bitter and undrinkable! Why would God allow such a thing? It was to test the hearts of the people and expose how far their friendship with Him was conditional. Did God allow them to die from thirst? No, even when they complained! Moses interceded and God turned the bitter waters into sweet.
It was at this point that God initiated laws and regulations for the Israelites to live by so they could understand that His promises were conditional based upon faithfulness and obedience: “If you will listen intently to the voice of Adonai your God, do what he considers right, pay attention to his mitzvoth and observe his laws, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians because I am Adonai your healer.” (15:26)
The Book of Jeremiah in ch. 7:22-23 makes it clear what these commandments were: “ For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.”
Now let’s break this down to understand better the implications of these directives.
In Psalm 51, the psalm written by David following his sin with Bathsheba, he cried out to God, “16 You are not pleased by sacrifices, or I would give them. You don’t want burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17] 17 The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit. God, you will not reject [despise] a heart that is broken and sorry for sin [contrite; Is. 57:15; 66:2; Mic. 6:6–8].”
God desires more than any other thing brokenness over our own sin. When we agree with Him how serious our sins are, we take the first step towards reconciliation. Should we refuse and rather try to justify, excuse, or rationalise the unresolved conflicts that battle within us, we will never find our way back into God’s presence – not until that stronghold is broken. This problem was one that faced the Israelites only a short time afterwards where “…on the 15th day of the 2nd month after leaving the land of Egypt, there in the desert the whole community of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” (16:1)
“If only we had died by the hand of Adonai in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full. But you have brought us into the wilderness, to kill this entire congregation with hunger.”
First they were thirsty and now they were hungry! Man can live 40 days without food, 3 days without water, 5 minutes without air to breathe, but not even a moment without God. And here we find how they began to fantasise in their imaginations preferring slavery in Egypt to their freedom. How did God respond? Here as an indulgent father He held them accountable only slightly as He does with every new-born believer, and sent them manna, which in Psalm 78 is described as “Angels Food.” And shortly afterwards He also supplied them with quails. In Ps.106 we read these sad words: “How quickly they forgot His works, and would not wait for His counsel! 14 In the wilderness they craved ravenously, in the desert they tested God. 15 So He gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.” (Leanness to their souls)
These things bear much relevance for us in these end times. Many of us have faced crises in recent days but the true measure of a person is revealed in God’s purifying fire which is when all our good theology is put to the test. How we respond to situations when the waters are bitter is critical.
In this parasha, God’s Shekinah Glory dwelt with the Israelites after they left Egypt to remind them who was in control even when sometimes the facts presented appear different from the reality. The situation facing the Israelites with the Egyptian army in one direction and their backs to the Red Sea in the other was hopeless and with the promises of God forgotten against the backdrop of their circumstances it reinforced their logic of despair. Everyone agreed that it would have been better to serve the Egyptians because now they faced certain death in the desert (Ex 14:11-12) So, the Israelites asked Moses, ’What then shall we do?’ The Jewish sages tell us that Moses replied, “You shall bless, praise, extol, adore and glorify Him that is the Lord of war!” (Ps.34: “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth….”) Praise and worship is the antidote for a complaining and unbelieving spirit! (“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty unto God….”).
It’s easy to ascribe our appreciation to God after the event even as with the Israelites following their deliverance from the Egyptians through the Red Sea; (“I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously..”). But how many us have the faith, courage and determination to do so beforehand? This was a problem for the Israelites that has dogged them throughout history and maybe for us too?
God commanded Moses to stretch out his rod over the sea, an action that appeared futile and ridiculous! But, because of his obedience, history was made and the greatest event in the Tanakh occurred, something of such great enormity that it will be celebrated throughout eternity.
God calls us to stretch out our ‘rod’ of His authority against any obstacle we may face that threatens to block our walk with God. All of His pathways are illuminated by His presence (Ps. 119:105: Lamp to feet and light to path). God gave the Israelites His Shekinah Glory (manifest presence) throughout their time in the wilderness until they entered the Promised Land. (Ex. 13: 21-22). And despite their constant unfaithfulness God never abandoned them but remained true to His word. And here we discover that although they constantly complained and threatened to return to Egypt, at the end of the day no-one ever actually did because although the Jew may argue against God and even disobey Him, it is impossible to live without Him! Ever wondered why every single Jew packs out the synagogues on Yom Kippur?
All of us yearn for the fullness of God but we are not always so eager to walk in His ways! God is looking for those who unreservedly place their full trust in Him in “quietness and confidence” for therein lies our strength. (Isa.30:15)
The word for quietness in Hebrew is a harsh word, ’shakat’ (שָׁקַט) meaning, to be calm, relaxed, free from all anxiety; to be still, to lie down with support underneath. One of the best biblical examples of ‘shakat’ is in Genesis linked to Shabbat. Shabbat was designed by God to provide us with quietness and rest amid all the turmoil and busyness of life the other six days of the week. This is why in the Book of Hebrews, we are urged to “…strive to enter our Sabbath rest” the only place in Scripture where the word, “strive” is employed to convey something needful and desirable for us to pursue – in the pursuit of sabbath rest.
The entire chapter of Ex.16 focuses upon Shabbat. It was presented to the Israelites as a distinctive to set them apart from the other nations and was among the first commands the Israelites received on leaving Egypt that symbolised freedom from slavery.
Let me close with an extract from a beautiful description of Shabbat by the late Jonathan Sacks: “In Moshe’s day it meant freedom from slavery to Pharaoh. In the Ninetenth and early twentieth century it meant freedom from exhausting working conditions of long hours for little pay. In ours, it means freedom from phones, social media, and the demands of 24/7 availability.
Not only was Shabbat culturally ground-breaking. Conceptually, it was so as well. Throughout history people have dreamed of an ideal world. We call such visions ‘utopias’, from the Greek ou meaning “no” and topos meaning “place”. They are called that because no such dream has ever come true, except in one instance, namely Shabbat. Shabbat is “utopia now,” because on it we create, for 25 hours a week, a world in which there are no hierarchies, no employers and employees, no buyers and sellers, no inequalities of wealth or power, no production, no traffic, no din of the factory or clamour of the marketplace. Shabbat is utopia, not as it will be at the end of time but rather, as we rehearse for it now in the midst of time.
So God gave the people Shabbat in this week’s parsha. He wanted Bnai Yisrael to begin their one-day-in-seven rehearsal of freedom almost as soon as they left Egypt, because real freedom, of the seven-days-in-seven kind, takes time, centuries, millennia.
The Torah regards slavery as wrong, but it did not abolish it immediately. Why? Because people were not yet ready for this. Neither Britain nor America abolished it until the nineteenth century, and even then not without a struggle. Yet the outcome was inevitable once Shabbat had been set in motion, because slaves who know freedom one day in seven will eventually rise against their chains.
Shabbat is the time for things that are important but not urgent: family, friends, community, a sense of sanctity, prayer in which we thank God for the good things in our life, and Torah reading in which we retell the long, dramatic story of our people and our journey.”
Shabbat is a shadow of the eternal rest every true believer in Yeshua will be gifted with, but it is something we can experience in the here and now. This is one reason why we nurture, treasure and seek to celebrate it together each week as the family of God.
