Exodus 14:20 - Forerunner Commentary

Exodus 14:20

Commentaries:

No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for Exodus 14:20.

Exodus 14:19-20
Excerpted from: Escape From Box Canyon

Where had He been? He had been leading them. It moved at that point (after God had given Moses the instructions), and went behind the children of Israel. I do not know if you had noticed that before. (I had not, until I really started digging into this.)

This cloud's movement did two things: It stopped the Egyptian army from attacking, giving God and Israel time to act: God to open the sea, and Israel to cross it. The second thing that it did, which is kind of ironic, was that it blocked the Israelites from returning to Egypt. They could not go surrender. They were forced to move forward. And God will do that, if we are a bit recalcitrant. If we dig in our heels, He will kick us in the rear to get us moving forward; and that hurts, often. He does not give us a chance to back out—or, at least that is His intention. He wants us to move forward.

What this did was force both sides to go through with it: The Egyptians with attacking, and the Israelites with going across—just as God wanted to occur, so that His plan could move forward. There is also some symbolism in that the pillar was dark on the Egyptian side, which is an indication of wrath and judgment, darkness of death, and on the Israelite's side it was light. It says of Jesus, "In Him was light." Well, light stands for good, or favor. So He was comforting His people and giving the other side the willies. (You might want to write down Nahum 1:7-8—where it says that, in a nutshell, about His approach to the Assyrians.)

Exodus 14:20-22
Excerpted from: Baptized in the Sea

We see in verse 20 that at least part of the cloud came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel.

This is interesting too if you think of this as it being stretched over. The waters of the Red Sea were on their left hand and their right hand. So they were walking between water piled up, who knows how many feet high? But if this cloud went from before them all the way behind them, then they were also covered front, top, and rear with the cloud. So, in a way, it would be a type of total immersion in water—with liquid water on the sides, but gaseous water over the top, in front, and behind them. That is why I mentioned that other way in which the pillar of cloud could have gone. That seems almost to be Paul's understanding (when we get to I Corinthians 10).

Exodus 14:19-20
Excerpted from: The Night to be Much Observed

We see here a visible sign that God was with them—watching them, observing them. In chapter 14 we have the occurrence where Israel was trapped at the Red Sea, and we find here:

The Night To Be Much Observed is the official marking of God's watchful care. It is good—it is right—that we celebrate what God did and does.

Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Exodus 14:20:

Exodus 12:40-42

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