A sermon by Rev. Barbara Lemmel and Rev. Mitchell Hay.

Hebrew Scriptures Exodus 14:5-7, 10-11, 19-25; 15:19-21

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him; he took six hundred elite chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. YHWH drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch, YHWH, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into a panic. God clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for YHWH is fighting for them against Egypt.”

When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, YHWH brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's [and Moses’] sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to YHWH, for God has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider God has thrown into the sea.”