Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song. The scene of this thanksgiving song is supposed to have been at the landing-place, on the eastern shore of the Red Sea, at Ayun Musa, the fountains of Moses. They are situated somewhat further northward along the shore than the opposite point from which the Israelites set out. But the line of the people would be extended during the passage, and one extremity of it would reach as far north as these fountains, which would supply them with water on landing.
These wells are not mentioned in the sacred history; but local tradition, confirmed by the testimony of many intelligent travelers (Lindsay, Wilson, Lepsius, Tischendorf, etc.), has marked this as the spot at or near to which the Israelites, after their awful passage through the sea, first reached the Arabian shore. They are mere holes, varying from seven to seventeen in number, because the shifting sands often choke them up, so that many of them are invisible; and the warm, brackish, discoloured water contained in them has, by leaving a calcareous deposit, gradually formed a hard sediment, from which rivulets flow out into the neighbouring plain. A few stunted palm trees shade the fountains, which are situated in the midst of a few acres of cultivated ground, while all else far and wide is a wilderness of barren sand. It was here that the Israelites stopped and turned back to see the terrible destruction of their pursuers, as they were overwhelmed in the commingling billows, and to collect the spoils of the Egyptian army strewed all along the beach. Here, perhaps, they refreshed themselves and their cattle with a fresh supply of water, whence the wells were ever afterward honoured with the name of the Hebrew leader.
And here, too, the whole congregation were drawn up to sing a hymn of thanksgiving to their Divine Protector for so marvelous a deliverance. The time when it was sung is supposed to have been the morning after the passage. This song is by some one hundred years the oldest poem in the world. There is a sublimity and beauty in the language that is unexampled. But its unrivalled superiority arises not solely from the splendour of the diction. Its poetical excellences have often drawn forth the admiration of the best judges, while the character of the event commemorated, and its being prompted by divine inspiration, contribute to give it an interest and sublimity special to itself.
I will sing. Considering the state of servitude in which they had been born and bred, and the rude features of character which their subsequent history often displays, it cannot be supposed that the children of Israel generally were qualified to commit to memory or to appreciate the beauties of this inimitable song. But they might perfectly understand its pervading strain of sentiment; and, with the view of suitably improving the occasion, it was thought necessary that all, old and young, should join their united voices in the rehearsal of its words. Since every individual had cause, so every individual gave utterance to his feelings of gratitude; and never before had the divine praises been celebrated on earth by so vast a multitude under the influence of such intensely elevated devotion. The universal animation with which this jubilant song was repeated in chorus, may be more easily imagined than described:
`loud as from numbers without number, Sweet as from blessed voices uttering joy-
But the enthusiasm of popular feeling, inspired by a sense of wonderful preservation, was intensified by still higher and holier influences; because this song which they sung, so replete with 'thoughts that breathe and words that burn,' was not only an effusion of ebullient joy at their newborn freedom and independence, it was an expression of pious gratitude, that their idolatrous defections (Ezekiel 20:8) having been forgiven, they had been brought to the knowledge of the true God as their God, and distinguished by such unparalleled tokens of His presence and favour; and so well was the remembrance of this birthday of the nation preserved in after-times, that the prophets, when announcing any bright epoch of religious as well as political regeneration, were accustomed to depict the state of Israel as being so happy, "she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt" (cf. Hosea 2:15; Psalms 98:1; Micah 7:15).
Moreover, this song is referred to as the foundation, or the model, of the thanksgivings in the more glorious Church of the future. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was a type of something greater, to be performed at an advanced stage of the Christian dispensation, when the plagues of heaven would be poured out upon the Antichristian powers; and the union of the song of Moses with the anthem of the Lamb-the one referring to the inauguration, and the other connected with the glory of the perfected Church-indicates that the burden of praise shall be a hallelujah for all the manifestations of divine grace which the Church, in the course of her chequered history, shall have experienced (Revelation 15:2).
Unto the Lord, [ la-Yahweh (H3068)] - Yahweh, the distinguishing name of Israel's God (Exodus 3:14; Exodus 6:3).
For he hath triumphed gloriously [ gaa'oh (H1342) gaa'aah (H1342)] - for He is highly exalted, or He has highly exalted Himself by a marvelous display of His majesty.
The horse and his rider, [ cuwc (H5483) wªrokªbow (H7392)]. In Exodus 14:9 the conflicting opinions of two eminent Egyptologers, relative to the use of cavalry by the Egyptians in the Mosaic period, were stated. Those who espouse the views of Champollion render the words soos verechebo, "horse and his chariot, or charioteer;' and hence, the Israelites, in their song of triumph, say no more than that the warrior mounted on the chariot was, along with his vehicle, immersed in the depths. Our version, which has "horse and his rider," is supported by the opinion of Wilkinson, whose explorations among the monuments have been later, as well as more extensive, than those of Champollion, and to whose testimony, therefore, corresponding weight is due, as establishing the agreement of the Mosaic history with the ancient sculptures, and thereby demonstrating the truthfullness of the sacred writer. The words in the concluding part of the verse formed the refrain; and as the song consists of three strophes-the first contained between 2-5, the second between 6-10, both ending with a mention of the Egyptian's destruction, and the third or last strophe dilating on that catastrophe as a sure preparation for the establishment of the Israelites in the land of promise-it was probably joined in by a chorus of singers at the close of each division.