Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 106:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 106:9. He rebuked the Red Sea — In the descriptions of the psalmist every thing has life. The sea is an animated being, behaves itself proudly, is rebuked, and retires in confusion.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 106:0 Israel’s faithlessness to God

Like the previous psalm, this psalm recounts the history of Israel. But whereas Psalms 105:0 emphasized God’s faithfulness, Psalms 106:0 emphasizes Israel’s unfaithfulness and the punishments it suffered as a result.

Since God is good, people should praise and obey him. Then they will enjoy, as individuals and as a nation, the full blessings God desires for them (1-5). The psalmist admits, however, that he and those of his generation have sinned as did their ancestors (6).

The psalmist gives many examples of Israel’s sin. God saved his people from Egypt by his mighty power, but they had gone only as far as the Red Sea when they rebelled against him (7; see Exodus 14:1-13). God again saved them and destroyed their enemies (8-12), but in their selfishness and greed they rebelled again (13-15; see Exodus 16:1-7; Numbers 11:1-35). On another occasion they rejected their divinely-given leaders (16-18; see Numbers 16:1-50). At Sinai they rejected God himself (19-23; see Exodus 32:1-35). They gave a further demonstration of their lack of faith when they refused to believe that God could lead them victoriously into Canaan (24-27; see Numbers 13:1-35).

After forty years in the wilderness, the people again showed their stubborn disobedience when they fell into idolatry and immorality (28-31; see Numbers 25:1-13). Throughout those forty years their bitter complaining spirit was a constant cause for God’s displeasure (32-33; see Numbers 20:2-13).

When at last they entered Canaan, the people forgot God and copied the idolatrous practices of their heathen neighbours (34-39; see Judges 3:6; Judges 10:6). God used the surrounding nations to punish his people, but when they cried to him he turned in mercy and freed them from their oppressors (40-46; see Judges 2:11-23). On the basis of his unfailing mercy, the distressed people call on God to save them again (47-48).

BOOK 5: PSALMS 107-150

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

SIN NO. 1

"We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; They remembered not the multitude of thy lovingkindnesses, But were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for his name's sake, That he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: So he led them through the depths, as through a wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries; There was not one of them left. Then believed they his words; They sang his praise."

"We have sinned with our fathers" The long and sinful record of Israel was invariable. After the sins of their forefathers, the people still walked in rebellion against God. The several synonyms for "evil" in this verse are to emphasis its abhorrence in God's sight.

"Rebellious even at the Red Sea" Delitzsch thought "Red Sea" here to be a reference, "To the sea of reed or sedge."F. Delitzsch, Vol. V-C, p. 153. This was a popular error during the first half of the 20th century; and James Moffatt, contrary to all reason, translated "Red Sea" in the Exodus Crossing as "Reed Sea." However, when he found the same words over in the passage where it is related that "Solomon launched his navy," he went back to an honest rendition of what the word has always meant, namely, an arm of the Indian Ocean.

The words here, "[~Yam] [~Cuwp]" mean "The Sea of the End," the designation of the Indian Ocean in the era around the middle of the Second Millennium B.C., indicating at once the antiquity of Exodus, and the authenticity of "Red Sea" as an acceptable rendition of the term. (See my "Special Note on the Reed Sea," in Vol. 2 (Exodus) of my series of commentaries on the Pentateuch, pp. 177-179.)

The rebelliousness of Israel at the Red Sea consisted of their, "Murmuring, having forgotten all that God did in Egypt, complaining that God had brought them out of Egypt to destroy them."Ibid.

"He led them through the depths, as through a wilderness" The last phrase here, from the marginal reference, reads, "as through pastureland." The RSV renders it, "as through a desert." "Through the depths," therefore, means "where the deep waters had been."H. C. Leupold, p. 746.

"Then believed they his words; They sang his praise" Israel's fleeting faith mentioned here, was no permanent thing at all; the first little inconvenience they suffered stirred up again their murmuring unbelief.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

He rebuked the Red Sea also - The word rendered “rebuke” commonly means to chide - as when one is angry with another for having done wrong. Here it is evidently a poetic term, meaning that he spake “as if” he were angry; or “as if” the Red Sea did wrong in presenting an obstacle or obstruction to the passage of his people. Compare Exodus 14:21-22,

So he led them through the depths - Through what had been the abyss; what had seemed to be depths, being covered with water.

As through the wilderness - As through a desert or dry place; as he afterward led them through the wilderness. The waters parted asunder, and made a way for them.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 106:1-48 :

Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can show forth all his praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Remember me, O LORD, with the favor that you bear unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance ( Psalms 106:1-5 ).

Now, in Psalms 105:1-45 he rehearses their history with the emphasis upon God. God promising the land, God bringing them into the land. Psalms 106:1-48 is another rehearsal of their history, but it's an emphasis now upon them, the people. And what a vast difference when you look at history with the emphasis upon God and you look at history with the emphasis upon man. You look at history with the emphasis upon God and you see the faithfulness of God in history. You look at history with the emphasis upon man and you see the unfaithfulness of man. And so as he looks now at history with the emphasis upon man, he confesses:

We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly ( Psalms 106:6 ).

Just like our fathers, we are guilty. We have sinned. We've committed iniquity. We've done wickedly.

Our fathers understood not your wonders in Egypt ( Psalms 106:7 );

He referred to these wonders, the plagues in the last chapter, but the Israelites did not understand them.

they remembered not the multitude of your mercies; but they provoked him at the Red Sea ( Psalms 106:7 ).

God brought them out of their bondage, but they didn't get but a day's journey away when they were murmuring and saying, "Why did you bring us out here? To kill us out here? Weren't there enough graves back there? Why did you bring us out here?" They began to murmur and complain against God two days out. And they never stopped.

Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies: and there was not one of them left. But then they believed his words; and they sang his praise. But they soon forgot his works; and they waited not for his counsel: But they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and they tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness to their soul ( Psalms 106:8-15 ).

Their request was for the satisfying of their fleshly desires. God gave them their request. He satisfied their fleshly desires, but as a consequence, it brought a leanness to their spirit. So oftentimes this is true where we get our eyes upon the material things where we begin to live a very materialistic existence. This may be something that we're really desiring and longing after, the things in the material realm. And God may give us those things that we are longing for. But unfortunately, so often it brings with it a leanness to my own soul. I suffer spiritually as the result of it. How hard it is for those who trust in riches to even enter into the kingdom of heaven, for they that will be rich fall into divers temptations which drown men's souls in perdition.

And so the children of Israel, God gave them their request. Sometimes that can be the very worst thing that can happen to us spiritually, for God to answer our prayers. He gave them their request, but gave them leanness into their soul.

They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. They made a calf in Horeb, and they worshipped a molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgot God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea [or awesome things by the Red Sea]. Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them. Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word: But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness: To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague broke in upon them. Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: so that the plague was stopped. And that was counted unto him for righteousness to all generations for evermore. They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes ( Psalms 106:16-32 ):

Here's an interesting insight. The reason why Moses couldn't go into the Promise Land was for their sakes. That God might teach them the importance of obedience to God. Obedience to God is surely one of the most important things in life for each of us. What does God require of me? Obedience. Moses was disobedient to God in the eyes of the people. God said to Moses, "Go out and speak to the rock and it'll give forth water." Moses took his staff and he hit the rock. "Must I hit this rock and give you water?" And thus, he failed to represent God, and for the people's sake God didn't let him go into the land.

You see, their history was oral history for many years. They learned their history from the stories that were told by the mothers to the children. Stories of their past, the story of God's work in their midst. From the time a child was first cradled in its mother's arms, the mother would whisper in the child's ear, "The Lord is God. The Lord is God." And very early they would begin to rehearse the stories of God's work in their history to their children. And they would pass down by oral tradition the stories of God's deliverance, God's power, God's work. And as they would tell the story of the bondage in Egypt, after the death of Joseph and the Pharaoh who arose and knew not Joseph and how that their fathers were placed under cruel subjugation by the Pharaoh. How that he had ordered all the baby boys to be slain. And the terrible cruel bondage, the slavery. But then God raised up a leader, even Moses, who was a man of God and God spoke unto Moses. And God sent Moses down to Egypt, and through Moses brought the plagues upon the Egyptians. And they would tell their children the exciting story of how a man in tune with God was able to bring their fathers out of the bondage of Egypt. And Moses was the hero, the man of God, the man that God used. But then their voices would become hushed, as they would say to their children, "But Moses could not go into the Promise Land because he disobeyed God." And that importance of obedience to God above everything else was just burned into the mind of the children as Moses the example of a man of God highly honored and favored. A man like no other man with whom God did speak in such a direct way, and yet, this man Moses, as close as his relationship was with God, he was held back from the greatest ambition of his life. He could not go into the land because he disobeyed God. And for the sake of the people, Moses was not able to go into the land.

Because they provoked his spirit ( Psalms 106:33 ),

The people had provoked Moses' spirit.

so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips. They did not destroy the nations, though they were commanded to do so. But they mingled with the heathen, and they learned their ways. And they began to serve their idols: which were a snare to them. Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils ( Psalms 106:33-37 ),

They followed the practice of the Baal worshippers, who would sacrifice their little babies in these little arms of their gods. Baal... you see the little iron and stone gods and their arms are outstretched with the hands in an upward position. You can see them in the museums over there, the little gods that have been uncovered by the archeologists. And what they would do is place these little gods in the fire until the metal, the iron would turn glowing red hot and then they would take their babies and place them in the glowing hot arms of this idol of Baal sacrificing their babies. And as the babies would scream in pain and all, they would dance and scream so that they couldn't hear the screams of their children. Practices of the heathen. This is why God drove the people out of the land. This is why God commanded them to destroy the people, because their practices were so corrupt. But they disobeyed God and exactly what God knew would happen did happen. They began to follow after these pagan, licentious, horrible, evil practices of worship.

They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their own sons and their own daughters, who they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood ( Psalms 106:38 ).

Now the interesting thing is that God here declares that they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. In other words, behind the idol worship was Satan worship. And this is true; behind idol worship is Satan worship. Paul said, "They that do sacrifice things unto idols do sacrifice them unto devils" ( 1 Corinthians 10:20 ). It is common belief that many of these idols are actually inhabited by demon spirits. Even as a demon is embodied in human bodies sometimes, demons often will seek embodiment within an idol that is worshipped by people. And thus, prayers and all to the idol can be answered by demon activity. There is power; there are things that can be done in a supernatural realm by the demonic forces that are inhabiting these idols. And behind the false worship is the worship of Satan. That is why it is so totally inconsistent to say, "Well, all religions really lead people to God. And how can you say that Christianity is the only real way to God, because these people are very religious, they're very sincere. Look at the way they are worshipping their idols." The scriptures said they're worshipping devils. And Satan is really the choreographer behind all of the religious systems of the world, apart from Christianity.

And so the people were defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, inasmuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry: and he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. He made them also to be pitied of all of those that carried them captives. Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD ( Psalms 106:39-48 ).

Now, again the Amen, the doxology brings us to the end of the fourth book of the psalms. And beginning with Psalms 107:1-43 we enter now into the fifth book of the psalms. And so entering in now to a new, the fifth and the final book of the psalms, which goes from here to Psalms 150:1-6 .

I think at this point we'll cut it off for this evening, and next week we'll pick up with Psalms 107:1-43 . Because these are relatively long psalms through here, but the next ten psalms are quite short. So we'll go from Psalms 107:1-43 through 116 for next week, and then we'll go 117 through 119. That will be plenty for the following week. Psalms 119:1-176 in itself would be a lot, but 117 and 118 are short, relatively short psalms.

Shall we stand.

May the Lord help us not to forget His greatness, His mercy, His love, His wisdom, His power. May we walk in the consciousness of His presence. May we become more attune to His works and to His love. May God be with you and may God bless you and may God strengthen you through this week. In Jesus' name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 106

This psalm recalls Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, whereas Psalms 105 stressed God’s faithfulness to the nation. Even though God’s people proved unfaithful to Him, He remained faithful to them because of His covenant promises (cf. 1 Chronicles 16:34-36; Nehemiah 9; Isaiah 63:7 to Isaiah 64:12; Daniel 9; 2 Timothy 2:13).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. The record of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God 106:6-46

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Israelites did not learn from the plagues that God could and would take care of them. Consequently, when there appeared to be no escape at the Red Sea, they complained rather than trusting and waiting (Exodus 14:11-12). Nevertheless Yahweh saved them from the pursuing Egyptian soldiers for His reputation’s sake. He led them safely across and drowned Pharaoh’s soldiers (Exodus 14:26-30). This salvation moved His people to praise Him (Exodus 15).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up,.... By sending a strong east wind, which drove the waters back, and made the sea a dry land, Exodus 14:21.

So he led them through the depths; that is, the deep waters of the sea, which were cast up as an heap, and stood as a wall on each side, through which they passed.

As through the wilderness; or rather, "as on a plain"; for a passage through a wilderness where no roads are, and many obstructions be, is not easy; and so it is manifestly to be understood in Isaiah 63:13, where Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it a plain and smooth ground, a champaign country; and so the word is used for a plain, in opposition to mountains, in Jeremiah 9:10, and then the sense is, that God led them through the sea, being dried up, as if they were led through a plain and open country, where was nothing to obstruct their march; an emblem of baptism, 1 Corinthians 10:1, and of the passage of the people of God through this world; 1 Corinthians 10:1- :.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.   7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.   8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.   9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.   10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.   11 And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.   12 Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.

      Here begins a penitential confession of sin, which was in a special manner seasonable now that the church was in distress; for thus we must justify God in all that he brings upon us, acknowledging that therefore he has done right, because we have done wickedly; and the remembrance of former sins, notwithstanding which God did not cast off his people, is an encouragement to us to hope that, though we are justly corrected for our sins, yet we shall not be utterly abandoned.

      I. God's afflicted people here own themselves guilty before God (Psalms 106:6; Psalms 106:6): "We have sinned with our fathers, that is, like our fathers, after the similitude of their transgression. We have added to the stock of hereditary guilt, and filled up the measure of our fathers' iniquity, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord," Numbers 32:14; Matthew 23:32. And see how they lay a load upon themselves, as becomes penitents: "We have committed iniquity, that which is in its own nature sinful, and we have done wickedly; we have sinned with a high hand presumptuously." Or this is a confession, not only of their imitation of, but their interest in, their fathers' sins: We have sinned with our fathers, for we were in their loins and we bear their iniquity,Lamentations 5:7.

      II. They bewail the sins of their fathers when they were first formed into a people, which, since children often smart for, they are concerned to sorrow for, even further than to the third and fourth generation. Even we now ought to take occasion from the history of Israel's rebellions to lament the depravity and perverseness of man's nature and its unaptness to be amended by the most probable means. Observe here,

      1. The strange stupidity of Israel in the midst of the favours God bestowed upon them (Psalms 106:7; Psalms 106:7): They understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They saw them, but they did not rightly apprehend the meaning and design of them. Blessed are those that have not seen, and yet have understood. They thought the plagues of Egypt were intended for their deliverance, whereas they were intended also for their instruction and conviction, not only to force them out of their Egyptian slavery, but to cure them of their inclination to Egyptian idolatry, by evidencing the sovereign power and dominion of the God of Israel, above all gods, and his particular concern for them. We lose the benefit of providences for want of understanding them. And, as their understandings were dull, so their memories were treacherous; though one would think such astonishing events should never have been forgotten, yet they remembered them not, at least they remembered not the multitude of God's mercies in them. Therefore God is distrusted because his favours are not remembered.

      2. Their perverseness arising from this stupidity: They provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. The provocation was, despair of deliverance (because the danger was great) and wishing they had been left in Egypt still, Exodus 14:11; Exodus 14:12. Quarrelling with God's providence, and questioning his power, goodness, and faithfulness, are as great provocations to him as any whatsoever. The place aggravated the crime; it was at the sea, at the Red Sea, when they had newly come out of Egypt and the wonders God had wrought for them were fresh in their minds; yet they reproach him, as if all that power had no mercy in it, but he had brought them out of Egypt on purpose to kill them in the wilderness. They never lay at God's mercy so immediately as in their passage through the Red Sea, yet there they affront it, and provoke his wrath.

      3. The great salvation God wrought for them notwithstanding their provocations, Psalms 106:8-11; Psalms 106:8-11. (1.) He forced a passage for them through the sea: He rebuked the Red Sea for standing in their way and retarding their march, and it was dried up immediately; as, in the creation, at God's rebuke the waters fled,Psalms 104:7. Nay, he not only prepared them a way, but, by the pillar of cloud and fire, he led them into the sea, and, by the conduct of Moses, led them through it as readily as through the wilderness. He encouraged them to take those steps, and subdued their fears, when those were their most dangerous and threatening enemies. See Isaiah 63:12-14. (2.) He interposed between them and their pursuers, and prevented them from cutting them off, as they designed. The Israelites were all on foot, and the Egyptians had all of them chariots and horses, with which they were likely to overtake them quickly, but God saved them from the hand of him that hated them, namely, Pharaoh, who never loved them, but now hated them the more for the plagues he had suffered on their account. From the hand of his enemy, who was just ready to seize them, God redeemed them (Psalms 106:10; Psalms 106:10), interposing himself, as it were, in the pillar of fire, between the persecuted and the persecutors. (3.) To complete the mercy, and turn the deliverance into a victory, the Red Sea, which was a lane to them, was a grave to the Egyptians (Psalms 106:11; Psalms 106:11): The waters covered their enemies, so as to slay them, but not so as to conceal their shame; for, the next tide, they were thrown up dead upon the shore, Exodus 14:30. There was not one of them left alive, to bring tidings of what had become of the rest. And why did God do this for them? Nay, why did he not cover them, as he did their enemies, for their unbelief and murmuring? He tells us (Psalms 106:8; Psalms 106:8): it was for his name's sake. Though they did not deserve this favour, he designed it; and their undeservings should not alter his designs, nor break his measures, nor make him withdraw his promise, or fail in the performance of it. He did this for his own glory, that he might make his mighty power to be known, not only in dividing the sea, but in doing it notwithstanding their provocations. Moses prays (Numbers 14:17; Numbers 14:19), Let the power of my Lord be great and pardon the iniquity of this people. The power of the God of grace in pardoning sin and sparing sinners is as much to be admired as the power of the God of nature in dividing the waters.

      4. The good impression this made upon them for the present (Psalms 106:12; Psalms 106:12): Then believed they his words, and acknowledged that God was with them of a truth, and had, in mercy to them, brought them out of Egypt, and not with any design to slay them in the wilderness; then they feared the Lord and his servant Moses,Exodus 14:31. Then they sang his praise, in that song of Moses penned on this great occasion, Exodus 15:1. See in what a gracious and merciful way God sometimes silences the unbelief of his people, and turns their fears into praises; and so it is written, Those that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and those that murmured shall learn doctrine,Isaiah 29:24.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Israel at the Red Sea

A Sermon

(No. 72)

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 30, 1856, by the

REV. C. H. Spurgeon

At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness." Psalms 106:9 .

SEVERAL Sabbaths ago we preached upon the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt, by the blood of the passover: and we told you then, that we believed that event to be typical of the coming forth of God's people from that spiritual house of bondage, that furnace of mental suffering whence they are delivered by the omnipotent grace of God, at the time of their conversion. This morning we pursue the narrative. No doubt the children of Israel supposed that now all was over; the Egyptians has sent them away, entreating them to depart, and loading them with riches. Terror had smitten the heart of Egypt, for from the king on the throne to the prisoner in the dungeon, all was dismay and fear on account of Israel. Egypt was glad for them when they departed. Therefore the children of Israel said within themselves, "We shall now march to Canaan at once; there will be no more dangers, no more troubles, no more trials; the Egyptians themselves have sent us away, and they are too much afraid of us ever to molest us again. Now shall be tread the desert through with hasty footstep; and when a few more days have passed, we shall enter into the land of our possession the land that floweth with milk and honey." "Not quite so speedily," says God; "the time is not arrived yet for you to rest. It is true I have delivered you from Egypt; but there is much you have to learn before you will be prepared to dwell in Canaan. Therefore I shall lead you about, and instruct you, and teach you." And it came to pass that the Lord led the children of Israel about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, till they arrived over against Baalzephon, where on either side the craggy mountains shut them in. Pharoah hears of it; he comes upon them, to overcome them; and they stand in terrible fright and jeopardy of them, to overcome them; and they stand in terrible fright and jeopardy of their lives. Now, beloved, it is usually so with the believer: he marches out of Egypt spiritually at the time of his conversion, and he says within himself, "Now I shall always be happy." He has a bright eye, and a light heart, for his fetters have been dashed to the ground, and he feels no longer the lash of conscience upon his shoulder. "Now," says he, "I may have a short life, but it will be a happy one."

"'A few more rolling years at most,

Will land me on fair Canaan's coast.'

And then I shall have no more warfare, no more fighting, no more disturbance; but I shall be at peace." "Not quite as thou desirest," says God. "Oh! thou little one; I have more to teach thee ere thou art prepared for my palace." Then he commences to lead us about, and bring us into straits and perils. The sins which we thought had utterly left us are hunting us behind, while impassible floods block up the way. Even trembling Israel halting by the Red Sea is but a faint emblem of that terrible position into which the child of God usually falls, within a few weeks or months after he has come out of the land of Egypt.

I shall preach this morning a sermon, which I hope will be useful to such of you as have lately come to know the Lord. You were expecting to build tabernacles, in which to dwell on the summit of the mountains of joy for ever; but you find, on the contrary, that you have very great troubles and conflicts; and perhaps now you have a more terrible trial than you ever experienced in all your life before. I will endeavour to show you, that this is just what you might have expected; that there will be a Red Sea very soon after you come out of your house of bondage. Others of you, my dear friends, have passed through all these things many years ago. You can say,

"Many days have passed since then,

Many changes I have seen,

Yet have been upheld till now;

Who could hold me up but thou?"

But I am sure you will be glad to re-visit the spot, where God delivered you from your distresses. We find it very pleasant to look upon the place where we were taught in our school-boy days, or to visit the haunts of our childhood. So you who are grey-headed in the cause of your Master, will not find it very tedious work to go back a little way, and look to that Red Sea which God rebuked and dried up, that you might be led through it even as through the wilderness.

Coming, then, to the subject; the children of Israel had their difficulties, and so generally the child of God has his very soon after he comes out of Egypt. But then they had their refuges; and moreover, God had a great and grand design to answer in all the troubles into which they were brought.

I. Taking the first point, the children of Israel just now had THREE DIFFICULTIES three exceeding great dangers. And so I believe that every heir of heaven, within a very short period after the time of his deliverance, will meet with the same.

The first they had was a great trial sent by God himself. There was the Red Sea in the front of them. Now, it was not an enemy that put the sea there; it was God himself. We may therefore think, that the Red Sea represents some great and trying providence, which the Lord will be sure to place in the path of every new-born child; in order to try his faith, and to test the sincerity of his trust in God. I do not know, beloved, whether your experience will back up mine: but I can say this, that the worst difficulty I ever met with, or I think I can ever meet with, happened a little time after my conversion to God. And you must generally expect, very soon after you have been brought to know and love him, that you will have some great, broad, deep Red Sea straight before your path, which you will scarcely know how to pass. Sometimes it will occur in the family. The husband says, for instance if he is an ungodly man "You shall not attend such-and-such a place of worship; I positively forbid you to be baptized, or to join that church;" there is a Red Sea before you. You had done nothing wrong; it is God himself who places that Red Sea before your path. Or perhaps before that time, you were carrying on a business which now you cannot conscientiously continue; and there is a Red Sea which you have to cross in renouncing your means of livelihood. You don't see how it is to be done; how you are to maintain yourself, and to provide things honest in the sight of all men. Or perhaps your employment calls you amongst men with whom you lived before on amicable terms, and now on a sudden, they say, "Come! won't you do as you used to do?" There, again, is a Red Sea before you. It is a hard struggle; you do not like to come out and say, "I cannot, I shall not, for I am a Christian." You stand still, half afraid to go forward. Or perhaps it is something proceeding more immediately from God. You find that just when he plants a vine in your heart, he blasts all the vines in your vineyard; and when he plants you in his own garden, then it is that he uproots all your comforts and your joys. Just when the Sun of Righteousness is rising upon you, your own little candle is blown out; just when you seem to need it most, your gourd is withered, your prosperity departs, and your flood becomes an ebb. I say again, it may not be so with all of you, but I think that most of God's people have not long escaped the bondage of Egypt, before they find some terrible, rolling sea, lashed perhaps by tempestuous winds directly in their path; they stand aghast, and say, "O God, how can I bear this? I thought I could give up all for thee; but now I feel as if I could do nothing! I thought I should be in heaven, and all would be easy; but here is a sea I cannot ford there is no squadron of ships to carry me across: it is not bridged even by thy mercy; I must swim it, or else I fear I must perish."

Then the children of Israel had a second difficulty. They would not have cared about the Red Sea a single atom, if they had not been terrified by the Egyptians who were behind them. These Egyptians, I think may be interpreted this morning, by way of parable, as the representatives of those sins of ours, which we thought were clean dead and gone. For a little while after conversion sin does not trouble a Christian; he is very happy and cheerful, in a sense of pardon; but before many days are past, he will understand what Paul said, "I find another law in my members, so that when I would do good, evil is present with me." The first moment when he wins his liberty he laughs and leaps in an ecstacy of joy. He thinks, "Oh! I shall soon be in heaven; as for sin, I can trample that beneath my feet!" But mark you, scarce has another Sabbath gladdened his spirit, ere he finds that sin is too much for him; the old corruptions which he fancied were laid in their graves get a resurrection and start up afresh, and he begins to cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" He sees all his old sins galloping behind him: like Pharoah and his host pursuing him to the borders of the Red Sea. There is a great trial before him. Oh! he thinks he could bear that; he thinks he could walk through the Red Sea; oh! those Egyptian they are behind him! He thought he should never have seen them any more for ever; they were the plague and torment of his life when they made him work in the brick-kiln. He sees his old master, the very man who was wont to lay the lash on his shoulders, riding post haste after him; and there are the eyes of that black Pharoah, flashing like fire in the distance; he sees the horrid scowling face of the tyrant, and how he trembles! Satan is after him, and all the legions of hell seem to be let loose, if possible, utterly to destroy his soul. At such a time, moreover, our sins are more formidable to us than they were before they were forgiven; because, when we were in Egypt, we never saw the Egyptians mounted on horses, or in chariots; they only appeared as our task-masters, with their whips; but now these people see the Egyptians on horseback, clad in armour; they behold all the mighty men of valour come out with their warlike instruments to slay them. So did I find, speaking for myself, that when I first knew the weight of sin, it was as a burden, as a labour, as a trouble; but when the second time

"I asked the Lord that I might grow,

In faith, and love, and every grace;

Might more of his salvation know,

And seek more earnestly his face;"

and when he answered me by letting all my sins loose upon me they appeared more frightful than before. I thought the Egyptians in Egypt were not half so bad as the Egyptians out of Egypt; I thought the sins I knew before, though they were cruel task-masters, were not half so much to be dreaded as those soldier-sins, armed with spears and axes, with chariots of iron with scythes upon their axles, hastening to assault me. It is true they did not come so near to me as heretofore; nevertheless they occasioned more fright than when I was their slave. It may be, poor child of God, thou art astonished and amazed to find, that thy sins are more black now than they were when thou wast under conviction; that thou hast less hope than thou hadst even then; and that thy condition is possibly far worse than when the law was beating thee from head to foot, and rubbing brine into the wounds of thy conscience. Thou mayest be saying, "Ah! well, I never thought of this; if I be a child of God, if I were really pardoned and forgiven, how could it be that I should be so vexed and tormented with a sense of my guilt? And if all my transgressions have been cast into the depths of the sea, how is it that I hear the armies of my sins, rattling their horse-hoofs and chariot-wheels behind me?" I tell thee, beloved, in the name of the Lord, that is just what you ought to have expected. The pangs after we come out of Egypt are at times even more painful than those we feel in the house of bondage; and there is usually a time of trial a little while after the new birth, which is even more terrible and awful than the previous agony of the soul, though not usually so protracted. This was the second difficulty.

But there was a third difficulty, which perhaps wrought them more misery than either of the other two: these poor children of Israel had such faint hearts. They no sooner saw the Egyptians than they began to cry out; and when they beheld the Red Sea before them, they murmured against their deliverer. A faint heart is the worst foe a Christian can have; whilst he keeps his faith firm, whilst the anchor is fixed deep in the rock, he never need fear the storm; but when the hand of faith is palsied, or the eye of faith is dim, it will go hard with us. As for the Egyptian, he may throw his spear; while we can catch it on the shield of faith, we are not terrified by the weapon, but if we lose our faith, the spear becomes a deadly dart. While we have faith, the Red Sea may flow before us, as deep and dark as it pleases: for like Leviathan, we trust we can snuff up Jordan at a draught. But if we have no faith, then at the most insignificant streamlet, which Faith could take up in her hands in a single moment, and drink like Gideon's men, poor Unbelief stands quivering and crying, "Ah! I shall be drowned in the floods, or I shall be slain by the foe; there is no hope for me; I am driven to despair. It would have been better for me that I had died in Egypt, than that I should come hither to be slain by the hand of the enemy." The child of God, when he is first born, has but very little faith, because he has had but little experience; he has not tried the promise, and therefore he does not know its faithfulness. He has not used the arm of his faith, and therefore the sinews of it have not become strong. Let him live a little longer, and become confirmed in the faith, and he will not care for Red Seas, nor yet for the Egyptians; but just then his little heart beats against the walls of his body, and he laments, "Ah, me! ah, me! O wretched man that I am! How shall I ever find deliverance?" This description of spiritual geography may be uninteresting to some, because they may not have travelled through this part of the wilderness, but others will view it with attention. Who cared about maps of the Crimea till there was war there? But as soon as our soldiers were engaged in that particular spot, every man bought a map of the Crimea and studied the boundaries of Russia. So if you have been in these straits, you will be very glad of my map this morning, that you may see the way in which God leads his family. These are the three dangers a great trial, sins pursuing us behind, and an exceedingly faint heart.

II. But, thanks be to God! the children of Israel had THREE HELPS.

Oh! child of God? dost thou discern this mystery? Whenever thou hast three trials, thou wilt always have three promises; and if thou hadst forty afflictions, thou wouldst have forty measures of grace. Yes, and if thou hadst a million troubles, thou wouldst have a million measures of mercy. The Israelites had three difficulties, and they had three helps; and as the difficulty was put in the way by providence, so providence did also furnish a relief.

The first help they had was Providence. Providence put the Red Sea there, and piled the rocks on either hand, while providence represented by the fiery cloudy pillar, had led them to its shore, and conducted them into the defile, and now the same pillar of providence came to their assistance. They had not come thither undirected, and therefore they should not be left unprotected, for the same cloudy pillar which led them there, came behind them to protect them.

Cheer up, then, heir of grace! What is thy trial? Has providence brought it upon thee? If so, unerring wisdom will deliver thee from it. What is it thou art now exercised upon? As truly as thou art alive, God will remove it. Dost thou think God's cloudy pillar would ever lead thee to a place where God's right arm would fail thee? Dost thou imagine that he would ever guide thee into such a defile that he could not conduct thee out again? The providence which apparently misleads, will in verity befriend thee. That which leads thee into difficulties guards thee against thy foes; it casts darkness on thy sins, whilst it giveth light to thee. How sweet is providence to a child of God, when he can reflect upon it! He can look out into this world, and say, "However great my troubles, they are not so great as my Father's power; however difficult may be my circumstances, yet all things around me are working together for good. He who holds up yon unpillared arch of the starry heavens can also support my soul without a single apparent prop; he who guides the stars in the well-ordered courses, even when they seem to move in hazy dances, surely he can overrule my trials in such a way that out of confusion he will bring order; and from seeming evil produce lasting good. He who bridles the storm, and puts the bit in the mouth of the tempest, surely he can restrain my trial, and keep my sorrows in subjection. I need not fear while the lightnings are in his hands and the thunders sleep within his lips; while the oceans gurgle from his fist, and the clouds are in the hollow of his hands; while the rivers are turned by his foot, and while he diggeth the channels of the sea. Surely he whose might wings an angel, can furnish a worm with strength; he who guides a cherub will not be overcome by the trials of an emmet like myself. He who makes the most ponderous orb roll in dignity, and keeps its predestined orbit, can make a little atom like myself move in my proper course, and conduct me as he pleaseth. Christian! there is no sweeter pillow than providence; and when providence seemeth adverse, believe it still, lay it under thy head, for depend upon it there is comfort in its bosom. There is hope for thee thou child of God! The great trouble which is to come in thy way in the early part of thy pilgrimage, is planned by love, the same love which shall interpose as thy protector.

Again: the children of Israel had another refuge, in the fact, that they knew that they were the covenant people of God, and that, though they were in difficulties, God had brought them there, and therefore God, (with reverence let me say it,) was bound in honor to bring them out of that trouble into which he had brought them. "Well," says the child of God, "I know I am in a strait, but this one thing I also know, that I did not come out of Egypt by myself I know that he brought me out; I know that I did not escape by my own power, or slay my first-born sins myself I know that he did it; and though I fled from the tyrant I know that he made my feet mighty for travel, for there was not one feeble in all our tribes; I know that though I am at the Red sea, I did not run there uncalled, but he bade me go there, and therefore I give to the winds my fears; for it he hath led me here into this difficulty, he will lead me out, and lead me through.

But the point to which I want to direct your attention most of all is this. The third refuge which the children of Israel had, was in a man; and neither of the two others, without that, would have been of any avail. It was the man Moses. He did everything for them. Thy greatest refuge, O child of God! in all thy trials, is in a man: not in Moses, but in Jesus; not in the servant, but in the master. he is interceding for thee, unseen and unheard by thee, even as Moses did for the children of Israel. If thou couldst but, in the dim distance, catch the sweet syllables of his voice as they distil from his lips, and see his heart as it speaks for thee, thou wouldst take comfort; for God hears that man when he pleads. He can overcome every difficulty. He has not a rod, but a cross, which can divide the Red sea; he has not only a cloudy pillar of forgiving grace, which can dim the eyes of your foes and keep them at a distance; but he has a cross, which can open the Red sea and drown thy sins in the very midst. He will not leave thee. Look! on yonder rock of heaven he stands, cross in hand, even as Moses with his rod. Cry to him, for with that uplifted cross he will cleave a path for thee, and guide thee through the sea; he will make those hoary floods, which had been friends for ever, and stand asunder like foes. Call to him, and he will make thee a way in the midst of the ocean, and a path through the pathless sea. Cry to him, and there shall not a sin of thine be left alive; he will sweep them all away; and the king of sin, the devil, he too shall be overwhelmed beneath the Saviour's blood, whilst thou shalt sing

"Hell and my sins obstruct my path,

But hell and sin are conquer'd foes;

My Jesus nailed them to his cross,

And sang the triumph as he rose."

Still look thou to that man who once on Calvary died!

III. GOD HAD A DESIGN IN IT. And here, also, we wish you to regard with attention what God's design is, in leading the Christian into exceeding great trials in the early part of his life. This is explained to us by the Apostle Paul. A reference Bible is the best commentator in the world; and the most heavenly exposition is the searching out of kindred, texts, and comparing their meaning. "They were all baptized," says the Apostle, "unto Moses, in the cloud and in the sea." God's design in bringing his people into trouble, and raising all their sins at their heels, is to give them a thorough baptism into his service, consecrating them for ever to himself. I mean by baptism this morning, not the rite, but what baptism represents. Baptism signifies dedication to God initiation into God's service. It is not when we are first converted that we so fully dedicate ourselves to God, as afterwards, when some great Red sea rolls before us. I should be delighted to see some of you get into trouble. Am I unkind to utter such a wish? Well I repeat it, I should; for I shall never get you into the church unless you do; you will never come forward and make a thorough dedication of yourselves to God, till you have had a sharp trial. Rest assured of this, that sharp trials were no slight cause of the heroic devotion of the martyrs, confessors, and missionaries, who so thoroughly consecrated themselves to their Master's service. The great purpose of all our affliction is the promotion of an entire dedication to Christ in all our hearts. It is only in the font of sorrow that we are baptized with Christ's baptism. No holy chrism hath efficacy to baptize; it is the Spirit, who alone can dedicate us in the waters of the sea of tribulation. You are brought into these straits, young believer, that you may at such a time receive the baptism for God. Do not, I beseech you, let the time pass by; for there are some who neglect it, who, afterwards, never perfectly know what it is to be "baptized unto Jesus, in the cloud and in the sea." They say, "they will wait a little while," but the consequence is, they wait a very long while. They say they will do to-morrow what they ought to do to-day. Beware how you let slip the opportunity which God presents you, that you may devote yourself publicly to him. The very first time after conversion, when we come into straits and difficulties, is intended that we should then be dedicated to Jesus, and come out openly as the children of the living God.

Now, beloved, let these thoughts rest with you. You may think them unimportant, but I am sure they are not. Believe me, you ought, indeed, to own yourselves on the Lord's side. If God be God, serve him; if Baal be God, serve him. There is nothing which I would more earnestly and ardently press upon you, than the great duty of decision for Jesus Christ. How many of you have a faint and indistinct hope, that when you die you will be Christ's people; and yet you must confess that you are not decided for Christ. You think you are his, but you often neglect duty, and frequently allow what you think a little sin to stain your conscience. You are not godly in worldly affairs. But I beseech you, put truth and righteousness into one scale, and put your own worldly gain into the other, and see which is the most important, and if you think that prudence dictates attention to this world instead of God, then remember, that is hellish prudence, and cometh of the devil, and, therefore, reject it. If ye were Egyptians, I might tell you to serve another master; but since you are God's people, or profess to be, I charge home upon you; and I beg of you, if you make a profession, to be out-and-out with it. How we do loathe those hot and cold people, who are neither one thing nor the other! You, who hold with the hare and run with the hounds you, who are first one thing and then another you, who are half horse, half alligator, and neither of them you, who are something between the two, who are neither Christians nor worldlings in your own opinions. We know which you are. I have often thought what a consistent religion the Roman Catholic would be for some of you go-between people. You are not exactly children of God; but you would not like to be called the children of the devil. Where should we put you at last? It would be a very convenient thing to have a purgatory for you, to place you somewhere between the two. But as we have no such place, we do not wish to have any such characters, and we believe there are none such; you are either servants of God, or servants of the devil. Don't stand halting between two opinions, but just say, once for all, whom you will serve. If you choose the devil, choose him, love him, serve him, and rejoice in your choice. If you choose hell, go there, rush madly there; it's a fearful dwelling place for eternity an awful home for ever! But if you choose God, I beseech you be in downright earnest about it. The religion of the present day, what mockery it is to call it religion at all! I protest, I believe the common religion of this age will not carry half those who profess it to heaven. It is a religion which they might easily carry to heaven, for it is too light to burden them, but it is too fragile to carry them there. They have a godliness which has not eaten up their soul. I heart a minister say once to his people, that "it would be a long time before the zeal of God's house would eat them up." Take the churches all round: what a slumbering brotherhood they are! There might almost be a controversy between the prince of this world, and the prince of heaven to whom they belonged. But I beseech you, let there be a marked and decided difference between you and the world. Let your heart be steeped in godliness; let your life be saturated with religion. Take care that, "whether you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, you do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by him." So shall God see his great design subserved of making you to be baptized unto Jesus, "in the cloud and in the sea."

In concluding, there is one sad aspect of this picture, which I wish you to regard. It is this. Some of you are journeying in an unconverted state to that bourne from which there is no return. At death you will find a Red Sea in your way the sea of death staring you in the face. When you come before it, you will find no bridge, no ships; but you must wade that sea alone. And, mark you, if you are living now in an ungodly condition, and are doing so when you die, as certainly as you are here, just when that great sea of death is rolling before you, all the Egyptian hosts of your sins will harass you in the rear. All your sins will come bellowing after you; you will have your iniquities like wild winter wolves pursuing you, athrist for blood, and swift to slay. You will hear fiends howling in your ears. And when already the raging flood of Jordan hath made your bones shake, and your marrow quiver, just then you will see the red eyes of your sins peering through the darkness of your despair, and hear the howlings of your former transgressions, as they hound you to the pit, seeking after your soul's blood. Ah, then, my hearer, thou wilt have no cloudy pillar to give thee light; thou wilt have no pillar of darkness to confound thy foes; but thou wilt have behind thee all thy sins, and before thee that black sea of death, which thou art compelled to cross. But mark thee, those sins will swim that sea with thee; they will not be like the Egyptians which were drowned; but when thou art wading through the sea, thou wilt find thy sins like hounds fixing on a stag, drinking thy heart's blood. Ay, when thou hast landed in eternity, thou wilt find there was not a single one drowned in the sea, but that they are all alive; every sin grown into a giant, every lust brandishing a thousand arms, each arm bearing a thousand horrid fingers of flame, and each finger a claw of iron, which shall tear thy soul. Oh! I warn thee against these Egyptians of thy sins, for unless the blood be sprinkled on thy door-post and on thy lintel, and unless the destroying angel smite those sins for thee, they will assuredly follow thee across the sea. Methinks I see thee there! Thou art just in the midst of the Jordan. Poor soul! the river itself is work enough for a man to wade through it; for dying is not easy labour. The waters are rushing into his lips, and gurgling in his throat, like a whirlpool. See how he shakes. White as the floods around him, he quivers, like the very waves themselves. And, ah! just when in his fell despair, he shrieks see, the harpies feed him with black fruits of hell; and when he quivers most, see there the scalding brimstone of Almighty God rained upon his body. Just when he is shrieking in death's torments, then is it that Satan takes the opportunity to howl in his face, and show him his glaring eyes of fire, to terrify his poor soul, worse than death itself. Sinner! when thou diest, remember that thou wilt have to die two deaths, one death which we shall see, another death which we only know of by the shrieks, and groans, and anguish, which even we may hear on this side of the grave. But what thou wilt experience in the next world, I cannot picture to thee, I cannot tell thee; those dim shapes of horror I cannot paint to thee; those fierce flames of misery I cannot now describe; that doleful miserere of desolation, and that awful lament of eternity, I cannot endure to hear; I dare not lift the veil that conceals the dread scenes, which haunt the spirits of the ungodly departed.

Well, then, what shalt thou do to escape this death? What canst thou do to be saved? Why, sinner, in the first place, of thyself thou canst do nothing at all. But, in the second place, there is one a Man, who can do all for thee. He is the Man Christ Jesus; if thou believest on him, filthy as thou art, and wretched, and outcast, and vile, thou shalt never see the second death, but shalt have eternal life abiding in thee; and when thou diest in this world, instead of black fiends to hound thee through the river, thou wilt have sweet angels playing o'er the stream, waiting to waft thee unto glory; thou wilt feel bright spirits fanning thy hot brow with their soft wings; thou wilt hear songs, sweet as the music of paradise, and when thy troubles are the strongest, thou wilt have a peace with God "which passeth all understanding;" a "joy unspeakable and full of glory," which shall enable thee to "swallow up death in victory." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Poor, trembling, penitent sinner, put thine hand inside the hand of Christ; now fall on his mercy; "to-day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart." I beseech you for Christ's sake, "be ye reconciled to God." And if ye be penitents, may God give you faith that ye may be believers! As for the rest of you, remember, ere you go, I have told you no fable, but the truth. You may go away and say, "There is no hell." Well, suppose there is none, believers will be as well off as you are. But suppose there is and there is for a certainty suppose yourselves in it, you cannot then suppose yourselves out of it any more. May God grant his blessing, for Jesus' sake; turning many of you to righteousness.