In Exodus 14, the people are between a rock and a hard place, or more literally they are between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea. Moses steps forward and shouts “Fear not, stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord… He will fight for you“, Exodus 14:13-14.
The “Angel of the Lord” seen in the pillars of smoke and fire, then moves between the people and Pharaoh’s army as the Red Sea opens in front of them, Exodus 14:19. Then as the army pursues the people into the opened up sea they come through the pillars of fire and smoke and their wheel get caught and swerve, Exodus 14:24. It is then that the Egyptian’s declare that God is fighting for Israel, Exodus 14:25. God is seen visibly fighting for his people by his Angel, literally his “walker” in the fire and smoke.
This is a clear Christophany, a pre-incarnation appearance of the Son making the the unknowable and invisible God tangible. But what is really interesting here is that both before and after the event Moses unwittingly by faith acknowledges Jesus by name.
First the name appears in the statement “the Salvation of the Lord…” which reads “את–ישועת יהוה“.
The blue word את is the untranslated Aleph-Tav word that symbolically speaks about God who is the “first and last”, but also of sacrifice, because when it was written in Moses day it was written picto-graphically with a bulls head and two crossed sticks, (see left). A bull was the biggest sacrifice you could offer and you did so by burnt offering over sticks.
Then in red we see Jesus’ name ישוע followed by a final tav ת, which is convention when the next word starts with a vowel, which is does here, YHWH/יהוה .
Then when the children of Israel come out on the otherside of the Red Sea, Moses and then Miriam sing a song that starts with: “I will sing to the LORD because he is highly exalted“, Exodus 15:1. The phrase “highly exalted” (“triumphed gloriously” in some translations) is actually the same Hebrew word doubled up, the word “גאה“/”gaah”, (the masoretic text adds different vowel markers to slightly modify the two meanings but in Jesus’ day these where the same word), and “גאה“/”gaah” means “risen”, see Strong’s 01342.
So Moses and the people and in particular Miriam which is the Hebrew root of the name Mary declare: “I will sing to the Lord for he is RISEN RISEN” just as Mary Magdalene must have first announced this truth the first Easter Sunday.
As the people worship they continue to express their faith prophetically calling out: “The LORD my strength and Song has now become salvation for me. He is my God and I will prepare a place for him to live.“, Exodus 15:2. You’ve probably already guessed it, but the words “salvation for” are in Hebrew “ל:ישועה” where “ישועה“/”Yeshuah” is an alternative spelling of the name “ישוע“/”Yeshua” just as “Stephen” is the same as the name “Steven” in English.
Crossing of the Red Sea was Israel’s baptism, passing through the waters of death with Jesus and coming to up into life on the other side. To become a place for the God who had become “Yeshua” for them to dwell.
It was Jesus who led the people through the waters and Jesus whose rising bought them safe to the Promised land and Jesus who dwelt in them when they got there!
Christen Forster
Christen has planted churches, been a youth worker, mission administrator and church leaders. The author of several books, Christen is now an itinerant minister, helping churches to step into a more deliberately spiritual experience of the Christian life while at the same time firmly rooting their practice in scripture.
© 2000 - 2024 Christen Forster
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