Sermon Notes: Exodus 15:1-21 – The Song of Moses

1 Chronicles 15-16 recounts how David appointed the Levites for music and song to praise the Lord at the Tabernacle daily.  

1 Chronicles 16:4-7 (ESV) 4 Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel. 5 Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. 7 Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the LORD by Asaph and his brothers.

Music accompanying words of praise to the Lord was an ongoing reality at the Tabernacle, where they gathered to worship the Lord. 

1 Chronicles 16:37-42 (ESV) 37 So David left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD to minister regularly before the ark as each day required, 38 and also Obed-edom and his sixty-eight brothers, while Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were to be gatekeepers. 39 And he left Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon 40 to offer burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering regularly morning and evening, to do all that is written in the Law of the LORD that he commanded Israel. 41 With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and expressly named to give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever. 42 Heman and Jeduthun had trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were appointed to the gate.

From the gates of the city to the Tabernacle David led the Levites to play music and sing praise to the Lord on an ongoing basis as the sons of Aaron performed duties of sacrifice and the other duties reserved for the sons of Aaron. 

David is not just making things up. As David is writing Spirit-inspired historical records and Psalms, he’s learning his theology and practice from Moses’ Spirit-inspired writing. (2 Timothy 3:16 applies as much to David knowing about the Lord through Moses’ record as you and me knowing about the Lord through David’s record.)

David puts into systematic practice what he’s reading from the Scripture he has while he is writing Scripture for us to put into practice. 

NOTE ON THE SETTING OF 1 CHRONICLES 15-16: David has witnessed the salvation of the Lord and experienced his holiness firsthand in the Lord’s work to rescue him from Saul, and he’s seen the practical application of the Lord’s holiness in his attempt to bring the ark into Jerusalem.  

The ark has been rescued by the power of God from the Philistines who took it captive in 1 Samuel 4. It has been returned, but Israel doesn’t know what to do with it. People tend to die easily from being around it. So, it is left at the home of Abinadab. 

When David is anointed king, he wants to bring the ark to the “City of David”, and Uzzah is summarily executed for daring to touch the ark to steady it because they were not carrying it like they were supposed to. They were driving it on a cart. So, David the ark is taken to the house of Obed-Edom, and the Lord blesses his house. (See 1 Samuel 4; 2 Samuel 6)

Finally, they remember to carry the ark on their shoulders and bring the ark into the City of David, and that’s where we get David’s instructions in 1 Chronicles 15-16 about worship before the Lord in the Tabernacle where they kept the ark of the covenant. 

I don’t believe it’s a stretch to assert that David’s understanding and practice regarding worship has to be influenced by what he’s learned about the Lord from such things as the “Song of Moses”. Exodus 15 contains a robust theology of worship. 

Let’s read it! Exodus 15:1-2 (15:1-21)

Exodus 15 contains mostly the “Song of Moses”. And what we have here is Moses’ response of praise to the saving work of the Lord. 

The Bible records two songs that Moses wrote: Exodus 15:1-21 and Deuteronomy 31:30-32:43. 

These songs of Moses are so important that Revelation 15:1-4 recounts John’s apocalyptic vision of Jesus and his rule over all things and records a scene in the unseen realm where those who overcame the beast sang the “Song of Moses” while 7 angels are sent with the 7 final plagues that complete the wrath of God. 

That’s a big deal. Moses’ song is so important that its contents and style are applied in the heavenly places. Maybe we should pay attention.   

What can we observe about Moses’ theology of worship?

1. The “Song of Moses” is a poetic theological reflection about the Lord’s saving work put to music and sung as worship. 
   1. It’s one thing to glean truth about the Lord from Scripture. Doctrinal development is a necessary as part of our discipleship framework.
      1. But the Bible never stops at mere facts about the Lord. 
      2. The truth about the Lord is not just to feed our knowledge. The truth about God should be fanned into the flame of our enjoyment of and delight in the Lord.
         1. That enjoyment is to be displayed in worship. 
   2. Worship is not just a song we sing. It is the life we live.
      1. And worship is never less than the songs we sing that spring up from our joy in the Lord. 
   3. “It is good to talk about the attributes of God, but it is even better to write them in poetic lines, set them to music, and sing them to God. Until we do this, we have not yet achieved the goal of theology, which is the worship of God.” – Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 410.

2. Moses’ song is a response. 15:1
   1. “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song…”
      1. Remember our study on worship.
         1. Worship is a response.
            1. You find this truth all over the Bible, and it is no surprise we find it here.
               1. “Then”. That is, because of the saving work of the Lord in the totality of the Exodus, Moses writes a song for and to the Lord about the excellencies of his saving work. 
   2. Worship was the normal and spontaneous response of joy to the salvation of the Lord. 

3. Moses’ song is directed to the Lord. 15:1
   1. “Israel sang this song to the Lord…”
      1. Moses’ object of his theological reflection and musical craftsmanship is the Lord.
         1. Israel did not sing about themselves.
            1. When Moses uses the first person (a small percentage of his content), he does it to declare something about the Lord and his intentions to worship the Lord (15:1b, 2),

4. Moses’ song is an evangelistic witness to the Lord. 15:14-16
   1. We know this because Moses’ testimony in his history, songs, and other eyewitness accounts make their way as witnesses to Jericho and other kingdoms in the Promised Land.
      1. Some believe as they hear about what the Lord did for Israel, like Rahab and her family.
         1. Other people fear or ignore or scoff, but the Lord has made sure they didn’t lack a witness to his power and might to save. 
         2. Worship has a missional function as it is directed to the Lord and its content is about the Lord.
            1. God-centered worship has gospel power to make its way to people who will either hear and believe or hear and seek out someone who can explain or they will hear and be held to account for their rejection of the Lord on the last day. 

5. Moses’ song was for everyone. 15:20-21
   1. Everyone, men and women saw the Lord’s salvation, and Miriam (likely his sister who looks after him while he’s in the basket in the river 2:4-8) who is also a prophetess leads the women in the chorus of the song that is a repetition of the first line of the song.
      1. Most of the world, apart from the work of the Lord in history, majors NOT on the complementary nature of humans and creation BUT the suppression of others and the exclusion and degradation of others. 
      2. Everywhere the good news of Jesus goes, women, slaves, children, and Gentiles are elevated from lowly and excluded to equal and included. 
   2. The Lord makes provision for outsiders to be made insiders so that all nations can believe, and all those who believe can fill their places to worship the Lord and have the joy of being part of the family of God.
      1. These are some big-picture takeaways from the whole of Moses’ song.
      2. Now we need to shift to understanding the theological content Moses’ song declares in a more granular observation.
         1. What theological and missionary truths were written into Israel’s worship? 
         2. We will answer this question in the remaining observations 6-11. 

6. Moses praises the Lord for being the eternal warrior who wins for his people. 15:1b-6a
   1. Moses’ use of the Lord’s covenant name “I AM” reminds us that he is the eternal and holy Creator who stands alone with no being his equal.
      1. Moses makes sure the people know that the “I AM” is the one who has triumphed and has saved them, and it is him they will praise. 
   2. Moses tells us that the “I AM” is a warrior.
      1. As a warrior, the Lord fights against those who fight against him as they fight against his people.
         1. To fight the Lord’s people is to fight him, so he wars against those who war against him.
            1. Jesus asked Paul why he (Paul) was persecuting him (Jesus) as Paul was killing Christians. 
            2. The Lord goes to blows to defend his name as he defends his people who bear his name. 

7. The Lord is praised for his fury. 15:6b-7
   1. In his fury, the Lord shatters the enemy.
      1. It is far too easy to worship an idol of our creation as we become like what we want our idol to be.
         1. Psalm 115:4-8 (ESV) 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
            1. Psalm 135:15-18 says the same thing. 
   2. Many don’t have a place for the Lord to be admired for his wrath.
      1. We play the silly and demonic game that pits Jesus’ words against the rest of the Bible as if Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are not the same.
         1. This is one, among many reasons, Trinity is essential Christian doctrine. 
      2. What we’ve done is allowed the unseen principalities who are prophets and fill their human preachers with lies to preach effectively and be believed.
         1. People believe that God can’t and won’t hate sinners. 
         2. So we create colloquial statements that become doctrines using Christian words that don’t allow for the righteous anger of God that gets expressed in the appropriate hatred of those who propagate demonic lies about who he is. 
   3. Anger is a response to violated love, and the rebellion of angels and men has violated the God who is love, and the wages of such violated love is death that comes from God’s righteous anger at sinners.
      1. We should not come to the table with any gnostic theology about God loving the sinner and hating the sin as if the two can be separated.
         1. That’s a Jedi mind trick.  
         2. Remember, those who make idols become like them, and they get the consequences of becoming like the idols they create.
            1. Psalm 5:4-5 (ESV) 4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
   4. Pharaoh refused the good news and fell under just condemnation, so he and those who worshiped him got crushed by the mountain of the gospel.
      1. This is what Jesus means when he said
         1. Matthew 21:42-44 (ESV) 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
   5. The just fury of the Lord is not to be overlooked by his people. He is to be praised for it.
      1. We are to look to the cross where God’s fury is poured out on Jesus for us so that we can come underneath his justifying work.
         1. But if we don’t, we become objects of just fury directed NOT at some concept of sin, but at sinners who do the sin who refuse to repent. 

8. The Lord is praised for his power. 15:3-6a; 8-10; 11c; 12; 18
   1. The right hand of the Lord is glorious in power!
      1. The Lord, with his might, defeated an army single-handedly. 
   2. An interesting note about the power of the Lord applied to the molecular manipulation of his creation as its Creator is Moses’ use of the word “congealed” to describe the water he observed as Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land.
      1. The Hebrew word is “qapha” (kafaw), and it means “thicken”, “condense”, or as translated “congeal”.
         1. Congeal is what happens when something fuses together like when fats cool off and become solid. 
         2. Water freezes, but freezing is not the congealing of water. 
      2. Moses witnessed this work of the Lord with his own eyes, and he has no reason to embellish it or to lie about it. Too many people witnessed it.
         1. It seems that from his understanding and observations, Moses’ Spirit-inspired word choice to describe the parted waters was “congealing”. 
   3. Somehow, the Lord in his power, rearranged the molecular structure of salt water to cause it to NOT freeze, but stand up in a congealed way.
      1. Just marvel and enjoy the display of the Lord’s power as Creator over his creation. 

9. The Lord is praised for his holiness. 15:11
   1. Moses praises the Lord for being majestic in holiness. 
   2. What is the reason Moses made such a statement?
      1. The reason is because of the first part:
         1. Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
            1. The answer: None of them!
      2. Holy is so much more than “sinless”. That goes without saying.
         1. The core and heartbeat of the Lord’s holiness is that there are NONE LIKE HIM.
         2. The enemy sought to counter the Lord and ascend to the place reserved for the Lord to be the Lord’s equal, and that rebellious activity is just not possible.
            1. (NOTE: See Isaiah 14:12-15 and note how Isaiah uses references alluding to “Satan’s” rebellion as an understanding of what the king of Babylon has done. In doing this he gives some insight into the rebellion of the dark kingdom and the Lord’s judgment on the rebellion. Ezekiel does a similar thing in chapter 28 of his writing in his lament over and judgment of the king of Tyre.)
            2. The point? The Lord is the only Creator of all things and all beings, and none can equal him.
               1. The attempt to do so in any manner is to imitate Satan, and that simply will not work. 
            3. Thus the Lord is set apart. 
         3. So, when we are called to be holy as the Lord is holy, it’s so much more than avoiding sin.
            1. Our call to see the Lord’s holiness and to be holy is to be set apart from the dark kingdom and its systems and belong only to and for the Lord.
               1. The downstream implications of belonging to no one but Jesus are many and massive. 
               2. Spend some time working through what it means to be set apart as a unique child of God belonging to him alone. 

10. The Lord is praised for his love. 15:13
    1. “Steadfast love” is “checed” (kesed).
       1. This is literally: mercy, kindness, loving-kindness, goodness, favor, etc.
          1. “Kesed” is the word applied to how the Lord treats his people whom he has redeemed for his own.
             1. How did he treat Israel? How does he treat us?
                1. He led them by his strength to his holy abode. Verse 13b.
                   1. The Lord will lead us to full salvation. The Lord will complete what he starts. 

11. The Lord is praised for his promise to restore all things. 15:17-18
    1. To bring them in and plant them on his mountain is a theme too deep for a single point in a sermon.
       1. Some simply comment that this is the promise to give Israel the Promised Land. 
       2. Inheriting the land is a shallow observation. It’s true, just not as robust as the main point. 
       3. An implication of Ezekiel 28:13-14 (previously referenced) is that Eden was likely a mountain, and because that is likely the case, the dark kingdom is always trying to replicate that.
          1. This is why all the cultic and dark practices take place on mountains in a dark imitation of Eden. (NOTE: The high places continually mentioned in Kings)
             1. This is also why Genesis records for us them building a mountain in the ziggurat or Tower of Babel because they are on a plain not in a mountainous region.
                1. So, they manufacture an “Eden” for evil purposes. 
          2. For the Lord to set up shop on the mountain is a defiant and victorious claim that Eden will be reclaimed and the whole earth will be made Eden as was the mission in the beginning, the enemy will be defeated, and the Lord’s people will be with him when he restores it all through the promised seed of the woman, Jesus.
             1. NOTE: This is why Jesus goes up on a mountain for his transfiguration, and if you pay attention it is Mount Hermon, and that is loaded with tons of implications (See 1 Enoch – NOT a Bible book but referenced by Biblical authors.)
                1. So, Moses looks forward with eyes of faith to the taking of the land as the beginning of the restoration of all things. 

Application

1. Moses’ Song, and thus worship is not about us, and it is not for our comfort or consumption.
   1. Worship is about Jesus and for Jesus.
   2. Jesus is to be the subject matter and object of worship, and in that, Jesus accomplishes a multitude of good and eternal ends.
   3. DON’T MINIMIZE GATHERING FOR CORPORATE WORSHIP. AND I DON’T MEAN SMALL GROUP. I MEAN CORPORATE WORSHIP WHERE THE WHOLE COVENANT FELLOWSHIP GATHERS TOGETHER FOR HOLY ENDS BEYOND ANY TANGIBLE OUTCOME FOR US. ALL FOR JESUS
      1. We don’t provide worship experiences.
         1. We gather in obedience to the Scriptures, we take the supper according to the Scriptures, we pray according to the Scriptures, we study God’s word according to the Scriptures, we sing according to the Scriptures, and we send God’s people to the field according to the Scriptures, and we invite you to offer yourself as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.
            1. You either do that or you don’t, and we are not going to beg anyone to bring Jesus their best. 

2. As I believe David was learning worship from Moses’ inspired writing, let’s not learn worship from worship culture, at-large church culture, popular trends, or even our own flawed experiences.
   1. Let’s strive to culturally and appropriately replicate what we find in God’s word. 
   2. Let’s strive to push back against too much “me”, “I”, and “my needs” that creep into worship. 
   3. Let’s strive to grow theologically, in the application of our theology, and the priority of worship that grows out of our theology and practice. 

3. Let’s bring to the Lord our very best in song right now.