The children of Israel were delivered from bondage thanks to a three-part revelation from the Lord to Moses. There is a lesson here. Revelation comes a piece at a time and “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” (2 Nephi 28:30; see also Isaiah 28:13). Those precious gems of knowledge found in the temple are likewise discovered line upon line.
Doctrine and Covenants 8:3 states, “Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.” This revelation did not come in one fell swoop. Let’s examine the three parts and how Moses trusts God.
The first instruction is to “encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea” (Exodus 14:2). The Egyptians followed them, and they were trapped between the Egyptians and the sea. The people protest saying to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” I can’t fault them. This is sometimes the point where I question a prompting and tend to go with my own ideas. But Moses said, “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13).
Perhaps the second instruction took even more faith: “Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea” (verse 16). But this didn’t stop the Egyptians from pursuing them through the dry gulf.
Then the Lord reveals the third part of the plan:
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
“And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” (verses 26-27).
Do you wonder why the Lord didn’t give Moses a step-by-step instruction manual? It’s a good thing he kept listening to God even when it looked like things weren’t working.
How has God parted the sea for you? For me, He has delivered me from the bondage of addiction and alcoholism. Some rescues are easy to see, but others can be easily overlooked. The Lord continues to work miracles in my life, even when I don’t readily notice them.
The miracle at the Red Sea was a symbolic baptism for the children of Israel and the beginning of their exodus toward a promised land. The Apostle Paul said, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). Egypt, signifying “that which is forbidden” (Abraham 1:23) and “the body of sin” (Romans 6:6) are left behind and drowned in the sea.
As they begin the journey to the promised land, they encounter the waters of Marah, which is Hebrew for bitterness. Moses cried to the Lord and He showed Moses a tree, which can be seen as a cross. Moses casted the tree into the waters and they were made sweet (Exodus 15:23-25). Likewise, bitterness in our lives can be made sweet with the Savior’s atonement.
Every journey to a promised land becomes a gathering to the temple. We get our first hint of this in these Come Follow Me chapters:
“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.” (Exodus 15:17).
The Hebrew word for sanctuary (miqdash) refers directly to the tabernacle or temple.
