Exodus 15:11  Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
12  Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.
13  Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.
14  The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.
15  Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
16  Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.
17  Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
18  The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.
19  For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
20  And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.
21  And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

This song continued with an important question. We should all consider this question carefully. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? The Hebrew word translated as “gods” refers to any mighty personality, whether man or spirit. The devil has his angels. They are all fallen angels. The devil has no good angels. Then there are men like Pharaoh who had his magicians. However, they were all tools of the devil as well. The LORD already proved they were no match for Him.
It was important for the children of Israel to acknowledge that there was none in the same class as the LORD. They needed to actually believe that. The LORD is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. The LORD’s holiness shines far brighter than any human being’s holiness. The LORD challenges and in fact commands His people to be holy. However, we cannot even begin to be holy unless we first of all know the LORD. Even then we are not inherently holy. Our holiness depends on our surrender to the LORD. Moses was a holy man but he also failed God at times. The point is that the LORD is in a class all by Himself. It was good for the nation of Israel to write this song and sing it often. They needed to be reminded of the importance of knowing and trusting this great God.
In verse 12 we again read of the “right hand” of the LORD. His mighty right hand caused the earth to swallow up the enemies of the LORD. In this case, Pharaoh and his armies were swallowed up in the waters. That is still part of the earth.
In verse 13 we read that the children of Israel had no personal bragging rights. It was the LORD’s mercy that had spared them. They had not proven themselves to be worthy of being spared. The only way they were worthy is because of the promise of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even then only those who truly trusted in the LORD were worthy of the LORD’s mercy. The rest were riding on the coattails of the few. We read of the people whom the LORD had redeemed. He redeemed the children of Israel from the judgment that the Egyptians faced.
We read in verse 14 that the people shall hear and be afraid. We know when the nation of Israel came to the Jordan river and Joshua sent the two spies into the land of Canaan, the city of Jericho was afraid. They had heard of this event which was forty years prior to Israel’s arrival at the Jordan. We read that the Gibeonites had heard of God’s wonderful works and they set about to deceive Joshua into believing their lies. In verses 14-15 some of the nations are mentioned. Notice that “Palestina” is not Israel. It was one of the nations that were the enemy of Israel. Today there is a group of people that want to be called Palestinians and Canada is one of the foolish nations that is willing to give these imaginary people a state. The whole purpose of this statehood is to diminish the place of Israel in that region. The Arabs do not want a two-state solution. They want to drive Israel into the Sea. They want the entire region for themselves. They will never succeed, but they continue to try that until the Lord destroys them.
In verse 16 we see that these nations would be crippled with fear as they considered the greatness of the LORD. God is able to do that. It is no shame to hide behind the holiness and greatness of the LORD. It is when we imagine that we are self-sufficient that we run into trouble. We read in verse 16 that the LORD had purchased the children of Israel. He owned them and He had every right to demand that they honour Him.
Today, God owns those who are born again. We are not a replacement for the children of Israel. We need to take our “marching orders” from our “Master”.
In verse 17 we see the reminder of the promise of the LORD, to the nation of Israel. Notice that He would “plant” them in the mountain of His inheritance. Israel has had a troubled past and is still facing trouble now. However, they will not be removed from their inheritance. Israel is a testament to the faithfulness of the LORD. They as a people would be wise to submit themselves to the LORD. The Gentile world would also be wise to submit to Him.
In verse 18 we are reminded that the LORD shall reign for ever and ever. No one will ever dethrone Him. It is a futile effort to try to find a replacement for the LORD. Since the fall of Adam, the majority of humanity has been trying to dethrone Him, but none will succeed. Millions have died trying to do so, but none have succeeded.
Pharaoh’s armies are a testimony to this fact. They went into the Red Sea, intent on winning, but they never came out of there. It did not matter that they had horses and chariots. That all stayed right there. However, Israel had crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground.
In verses 20-21 we read that Miriam and the women with her had timbrels that they used to help to sing this song. We read as well that they danced before the LORD. A couple of things are important here. First of all, the children of Israel had just come out of Egypt. We are not told how much influence the Egyptians had over the children of Israel. We do know that the LORD does not accept the sensual ungodly dancing that is so common today. The “worship teams” that employ the world’s movements in their “dancing” are not honouring the LORD. It is all very self-centred.
You notice again in verse 21 that Miriam answered: “Sing unto the LORD”. If we are going to sing unto the LORD, we need to sing that which is acceptable to Him. We know that Cain tried to “worship” the Lord in his own way. God did not accept his way. There have been many others who have tried to force the Lord to accept their self-centred efforts. We need to remember that the LORD is in a category all by Himself. We do not dictate policy to Him. We need to submit to Him and when we do, then our worship toward Him will please Him.
If we are seeking to worship the LORD, then we are not seeking to draw attention to ourselves. We submit to His holiness and we want to learn how to reflect His holiness. Obviously it is good to be excited about what the LORD has done. God created man with emotions. He will direct man to use his emotions in a way that glorifies Him.
Pastor Bartel