God tells Moses to lead the people to the Red Sea and encamp next it. God says that this course will confuse Pharaoh as it seems that the Israelites have become lost in the desert. God also plans to harden Pharaoh's heart to pursue the Israelites. We last saw Pharaoh emotionally broken over the loss of his first born Son. Now, he wants to pursue the Israelites. For revenge or to re-enslave them, we do not know. But we know that God is encouraging it and hardening Pharaoh's heart. The reason - so that the Egyptians will know that God is sovereign. So, what happens next was intended by God to be a witness to the Egyptians, not just protecting the Israelites.
It occurred to me that even today, there remains a strong Christian community in Egypt - the Copts. The Coptic Christian community has survived throughout the centuries despite the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and of course, Islam. They are regularly the focal point of Islamic persecution. I have heard, but do not know for a fact, that their Mass services are in a dialect of ancient Egyptian, a language similar to what the Pharaohs spoke. So, despite the violence of the Exodus directed against the Egyptian people, God had a plan to redeem the Egyptians themselves, which may have included the later-founded Coptic church.
Within the pages of the Bible itself, Egypt largely loses its hostility to the Israelites, and ally with them during the time of the kings. Egypt even becomes a land of refuge again and hosts infant baby Jesus.
First, God must finally defeat the man-god, Pharaoh. Otherwise, the Egyptians will not know that the Israelite God is stronger than their god, Pharaoh, without this final battle. For the Israelite-Egyptian relationship, this is Armageddon. Pharaoh brings his army, 600 of his best chariots plus all an unstated number of non-best chariots and horsemen.
The Israelites panic. "why have we come to the desert to die? Didn't we tell you, Moses, to leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians?"
In some ways, it is understandable since they are an unarmed population against the mightiest of Empires in the day, plus they are next to the sea and they have no boats. On the other hand, they quickly forgot the 10 plagues that not only wreaked havoc on the people pursuing them, but demonstrated the sovereignty of their God over the Egyptian gods. They also forgot that Egypt was literal death for their male children.
Moses tells the people to not be afraid. God then tells Moses to get his act in gear. In other words, "you are Aquaman" and then explains what to do. Aquaman raises his hands. Mighty winds blow and split the Red Sea apart. It is stated that it happened all night long, which I think means that it took all night for the Israelites to cross, as opposed the winds blew all night and then seas parted.
Meanwhile, the angel of God moves the cloud to bring darkness to the Egyptian army.
The Israelites cross on dry land. It is later stated that after crossing, they are in the desert of Shur. According to Biblical maps, this would mean that they did not cross the sea at its thickest point, but rather one of the smaller inlets.
The Israelites finish crossing and the Egyptians pursue them into the sea. God causes their chariot wheels to malfunction and the Egyptian army starts to panic as they realize that God is fighting for the Israelites.
Shortly before dawn (last watch of night), Aquaman raises his hands and the seas cave in on the Egyptian army. It does not say that Pharaoh was among them, but all those that went into the sea were killed.
Exodus 15 has a long spontaneous worship song that springs up from the Israelites. We find out that Miriam is a prophet. Miriam is Aaron's sister. So, she might be the same sister that watched infant Moses in a papyrus basket. She grabs a tambourine and leads women in spontaneous worship.
Three days later, this massive party has turned to worrying about the elements in the desert. In particular, they want water. According to Wikipedia, the Red Sea has a 4% salinity than most ocean water, so they did not refill their canteens from there.
They come upon an oasis called Mara. Unfortunately, the water is too bitter to drink. God directs Aquaman to throw a piece of wood into the water, which makes it potable. They next go to Elim which is a better water source, as demonstrated by its 12 springs and 70 palms.
Hey being Aquaman is pretty handy if you're leading people around a desert.
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