This Shabbat’s Parashah is Exodus 13:17 – 17:16. “B’Shalach means “when he (Pharaoh) sent”, because Pharaoh momentarily decides to grant Moses’ request to “let my people go”. It is from this time on that YHVH goes before the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to show them the way in which they should go. But when the Israelites, hemmed in at the edge of the dessert and the sea, saw Pharaoh’s army coming towards them, the story had not yet been written. No Scripture was there yet to tell them of the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea. Instead, they were overwhelmed with a terrible fear that their lives were about to end at the hand of their slave-drivers. When Moses lifted up his staff at YHVH’s instruction, the sea began to part.
It is difficult to comprehend how the Egyptian army could have continued to pursue the Israelites without having been stopped in their tracks by the miracle that was taking place, except that the pillar of cloud lit the way of the Israelites and darkened the way of their pursuers. When it was too late, the Egyptians realized that YHVH was fighting against them. Before they could escape, the sea had swept over them and they were all drowned.
When we read of what happened, we tend to focus our attention on the dramatic miracle, the display of God’s mighty power, his judgment upon those who had dared to defeat his purpose of redemption and his great victory for his people Israel. But when you truly know God by His Spirit, you realize that after the raging waters have subsided, after all is calm and the Israelites continue on their way, guided by the light of His love, all of this has taken place for a purpose much higher than the display of His mighty power.
We see that purpose as a ray of light in the triumphant song of Moses that follows the miracle that took place:
You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.
(Exodus 15:17)
In the end, the trials, the tests of our faith, the mighty miracles done on our behalf, the defeat of our enemies, are all just the means to an end, that being to bring us nearer to the place where we are closer to him. In the knowledge of God our Father by his Holy Spirit, we understand that His purpose is to plant us on the mountain of his inheritance, the place where his sanctuary is, where his presence resides, where we can have fellowship with him:
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
(John 17:24)
