"Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"
Exodus 15:11
Part 2
Yesterday: God’s Power and Protection for Israel at the Red Sea
The Children of Israel walk through the Red Sea on dry ground to the other shore. Pharaoh’s army is drowned as they try to chase Israel through the miraculously dried seabed. God is all-powerful.
Today: Our God is Higher Than all Other Beings!
“Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods?”
The obvious answer is “no one!” Looking back on Israel’s plight several millennia ago, with the whole story written out for us, makes it easy for us to say, “No one is like the LORD.” But think about how this played out for Israel. For the past 400 years, their families have grown up in Egypt, surrounded by a host of “gods.” After Joseph’s death, there came a new Pharaoh, Ahmose I.
“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8).
If Ahmose did not know Joseph, then surely, he did not know Joseph’s God. This fact alone increased Israel’s pressure. They were no longer seen as “guests” in the land. The Egyptians feared they were going to be overtaken by these invaders. They thought they could control Israel by enacting new laws and adding more significant restrictions upon them. Sadly, each new generation of God’s children learned more and more of Egypt’s false gods, and evidently, they knew less of their own God as the years went by. When God sent Moses to Israel in Egypt to lead them out, many of the Children of Israel did not know Jehovah.
The point of the ten plagues was to show Pharaoh who Jehovah is. No doubt, many of the Israelites learned of Him also by the shaming of Egypt’s gods during these plagues.
By the time the Children of Israel got safely to the other side of the Red Sea, they were all convinced. Jehovah is all-powerful, and the gods of the Egyptians were nothing!
“And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart” (1 Kings 8:23 – the beginning of Solomon’s prayer).
What can believers nowadays take away from this story of God’s power over Egypt’s false gods? We can know that God is still in control and sitting upon His throne. No matter what evil “powers” attack us in the world today, God knows, He cares, and He defeats them in His way, in His time.
“…the fact of Israel’s deliverance from the power of its oppressors, is of everlasting importance to the Church of the Lord, in its conflict with the ungodly powers of the world, in which the Lord continually overthrows the enemies of His kingdom, as He overthrew Pharaoh and his horsemen in the depths of the sea…”[1] (K&D).
Jehovah is the all-powerful God, and there is no other! Our God is “glorious in holiness,” “fearful in praises,” “doing wonders.” Come back tomorrow as we think through these ideas regarding God.
Quote: “Delivering people from bondage to sin is God’s work, dependent on His power over the forces of darkness”[2] (Steven Cole).
[1] Keil & Delitzsch, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, the electronic version in eSword. Exodus 15:11.
[2] Cole’s quote is from his sermon, “God’s Mighty Power to Save.” Downloaded: Tuesday, November 3, 2020. From: https://bible.org/seriespage/7-god-s-mighty-power-save-exodus-71-25.