Moses and the sons of Israel sang a praise song to the Lord for his defeat of Pharaoh and his army. Miriam, who is mentioned as Aaron’s sister and a prophetess, led the women with tambourines, dancing and singing to the Lord. Miriam is the first prophetess mentioned in Scripture and shows her as the leader of the women of Israel. Though all listened to Moses, for he spoke to the Lord and Aaron was their High Priest, Miriam ministered to the women , for she was a prophetess.
The sons of Israel sang to the Lord because he defeated the Egyptian army who rode to battle on horseback . It seems that a mounted army was fearful but the Lord is exalted because he is stronger than the mightiest army of men. The men declare: The Lord is my salvation. It should be noted that the Hebrew word used (יְשׁוּעָה yeshuah) means salvation. A very close name is (יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Yehoshua) “the LORD is salvation,” which will be used later for Moses successor. This is also the Hebrew name for Jesus. Therefore, Moses and the sons of Israel are actually declaring in song that Jesus is my God and my father’s God.
From this point on, the Lord is spoken of in song as a warrior. It is the righthand of the Lord which is majestic in power and shatters the enemy of his people. The enemy may have plans to destroy the people of God but the Lord is mightier than any foe. There is no other gods like the Lord. All the nations tremble because of what the Lord did at the reed sea. It is spoken here, that the Lord redeemed his people, he purchased them out of slavery. The Lord reigns forever and ever. The salvation of the Lord is redemption.
Moses led Israel from the Reed Sea to the wilderness of Shur. This is the sight of the people’s first grumbling. They had traveled three days to find water but when they came to Marah, the water was unpalatable; therefore, they became bitter and named the place bitter. Moses, however, cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree that made the water palatable. Whatever the fix, the meaning is that the Lord provided for their needs in the wilderness. This was the first test for them as his covenantal people. Will they trust the Lord and observe all that he commands them? The Lord vows that if they will, he will not plague them with any of the diseases that he put on the Egyptians. Thus, the Lord gives an I AM statement, much like the I AM statements that Jesus gave in “The Gospel According to John;” for the Lord said to the sons of Israel, “I AM your healer.” Jesus Christ demonstrated himself to be the Son of God when he went about healing the people of their diseases.
The Lord led the people to Elim. Elim was an oasis in the wilderness. At Elim were twelve springs of water and seventy fruit producing palms. Jesus feed five thousand men with five barley loaves and two fish and there was enough leftovers to fill twelve baskets. (cf. Jn.6:1-14) It should also be noted that this miracle took place on the shores of the sea of Galilee. Israel camped beside the twelve springs of Elim while being feed from the fruit producing palms.
