Albert Barnes Commentary Exodus 15:1-18

"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto Jehovah, and spake, saying, I will sing unto Jehovah, for he hath triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Jehovah is my strength and song, And he is become my salvation: This is my God, and I will praise him; My father`s God, and I will exalt him. Jehovah is a man of war: Jehovah is his name. Pharaoh`s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea; And his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them: They went down into the depths like a stone. Thy right hand, O Jehovah, is glorious in power, Thy right hand, O Jehovah, dasheth in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou overthrowest them that rise up against thee: Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were piled up, The floods stood upright as a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: They sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, The earth swallowed them. Thou in thy lovingkindness hast led the people that thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation. The peoples have heard, they tremble: Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then were the chiefs of Edom dismayed; The mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them: All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. Terror and dread falleth upon them; By the greatness of thine arm they are as still as a stone; Till thy people pass over, O Jehovah, Till the people pass over that thou hast purchased. Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, The place, O Jehovah, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, The sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever." — Exodus 15:1-18 (ASV)

With the deliverance of Israel is associated the development of the national poetry, which finds its first and perfect expression in this magnificent hymn. It was sung by Moses and the people, an expression that evidently points to him as the author. That it was written at the time is an assertion expressly made in the text, and it is supported by the strongest internal evidence. In every age this song gave the tone to the poetry of Israel, especially at great critical epochs of deliverance; and in the book of Revelation (Exodus 15:3) it is associated with the final triumph of the Church.

The division of the song into three parts is distinctly marked (Exodus 15:1–5; Exodus 15:6–10; Exodus 15:11–18): each begins with an ascription of praise to God; each increases in length and varied imagery to the triumphant close.

Exodus 15:1. He has triumphed gloriously - Literally, He is gloriously glorious.

The horse and his rider - The word “rider” may include horseman, but applies properly to the charioteer.

Exodus 15:2. The Lord is my strength and song - My strength and song is Jah. See Psalm 68:4. The name was chosen here by Moses to draw attention to the promise ratified by the name “I am.”

I will prepare Him an habitation - I will glorify Him. Our Authorized Version is open to serious objection, as suggesting a thought (namely, of erecting a temple) that could hardly have been in the mind of Moses at that time, and unsuited to the occasion.

Exodus 15:3. A man of war - Compare Psalm 24:8. The name has on this occasion a special fitness: man had no part in the victory; the battle was the Lord’s.

The Lord is his name - “Jah is His name.” See Exodus 15:2.

Exodus 15:4. Has He cast - “Hurled,” as from a sling. See Exodus 14:27.

His chosen captains - See Exodus 14:7 note.

Exodus 15:5. As a stone - The warriors in chariots are always represented on the monuments with heavy coats of mail; the corslets of “chosen captains” consisted of plates of highly tempered bronze, with sleeves reaching nearly to the elbow, covering the whole body and the thighs nearly to the knee. The wearers must have sunk at once like a stone, or as we read in Exodus 5:10, like lumps of lead.

Exodus 15:7. Your wrath - Literally, Your burning, i.e., the fire of Your wrath, a word chosen expressly with reference to the effect.

Exodus 15:8. The blast of God’s nostrils corresponds to the natural agency, the east wind (Exodus 14:21), which drove the waters back. On the north, the waters rose high, overhanging the sands but kept back by the strong wind. On the south, they lay in massive rollers, kept down by the same agency in the deep bed of the Red Sea.

Exodus 15:9. The enemy said - The abrupt, gasping utterances; the haste, greed, and ferocity of the Egyptians; the confusion and disorder of their thoughts—these elements belong to the highest order of poetry. They enable us to realize the feelings that induced Pharaoh and his host to pursue the Israelites over the treacherous sandbanks.

Exodus 15:10. You blew with your wind - Notice the solemn majesty of these few words, in immediate contrast with the tumult and confusion of the preceding verse. In Exodus 14:28, we read only, the waters returned; here we are told that it was because the wind blew. A sudden change in the direction of the wind would at once bring back the masses of water heaped up on the north.

They sank as lead - See the note at Exodus 15:5.

Exodus 15:11. Among the gods - Compare Psalm 86:8 and Deuteronomy 32:16-17. A Hebrew, just leaving the land where polytheism attained its highest development with gigantic statues and temples of incomparable grandeur, might well on such an occasion dwell upon this consummation of the long series of triumphs by which the “greatness beyond compare” of Yahweh was once for all established.

Exodus 15:13. Your holy habitation - Either Palestine, regarded as the land of promise, sanctified by manifestations of God to the Patriarchs, and destined to be both the home of God’s people and the place where His glory and purposes were to be perfectly revealed; or Mount Moriah.

Exodus 15:14. The inhabitants of Palestina - i.e., the country of the Philistines. They were the first who would expect an invasion, and the first whose district would have been invaded but for the faintheartedness of the Israelites.

Exodus 15:15. The dukes of Edom - See Genesis 36:15. It denotes the chieftains, not the kings of Edom.

The mighty men of Moab - The physical strength and great stature of the Moabites are noted in other passages (see Jeremiah 48:29, Jeremiah 48:41).

Canaan - The name in this, as in many passages of Genesis, designates the whole of Palestine and is used, of course, with reference to the promise to Abraham. It was known to the Egyptians and occurs frequently on the monuments as Pa-kanana. This term applies, if not to the whole of Palestine, yet to the northern district under Lebanon, which the Phoenicians occupied and called “Canaan.”

Exodus 15:17. In the mountain of your inheritance - See Exodus 15:13.