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Bible Insights

Take a Census and Make a List

God Tells Moses to Count the Number of Men for the Army

The book of Numbers opens with God telling Moses to take a census of the people. Numbers also ends with a census.

These two numberings of the people serve as bookends for this section of Scripture, which is why we call it Numbers. It begins and ends with numbers.

Count the Army

This numbering of the people is not a complete census, however. It’s only of men twenty years or older who can fight. It’s like registering for the draft. Moses lists each man. The tally is over 600,000 eligible men.

If you add in boys and elderly men, the number of males surely tops one million. Double this to account for females, and we have a conservative number of two million people. That’s a lot.

But the focus of this effort in the book of Numbers is to assess the size of their potential army. It’s over 600,000, a formable number.

David Does This Too

It seems wise for a leader to know the size of his army. God has Moses do this, but when David does this it doesn’t work out so well.

In case you’re interested he had 1.3 million men to fight in his army. However, David felt guilty for counting the number of men (2 Samuel 24:10).

This signals him putting his trust in the size of his army and not in God. God punishes him for this.

This reminds us that what God says in the Bible may be situational. For Moses it was right to number his troops, while for David it was wrong.

None of These Men Make It to the Promised Land

The book of Numbers tells us what happens next. Twelve men spy out the land. Ten of the spies are scared and tell the people there is no way the army will prevail. (Only Caleb and Joshua have faith that God will give them victory.)

The people believe the negative report and cower in fear. They rebel against God.

But then they change their mind and go forward into battle under their own power. They’re soundly defeated.

As punishment, God says that none of the men included in the count, the men registered on Moses’s list, will enter the promised land. They will die in the desert, never seeing what God wants to give them. Only Caleb and Joshua will make it in.

This list referenced in the book of Numbers is one list to avoid.

Are Our Names Written on God’s List?

However, in the book of Revelation, John writes about the book of life. In this case those whose names written in this book will make it in (Revelation 21:27). The people whose names aren’t on the list are hosed (Revelation 20:15).

There’s a time to count, and a time not to count. There’s a list we want to be on, and a list we don’t. But at the end of time, what matters is that our names are in the Lamb’s book of life. That’s what counts.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Numbers 1-3, and today’s post is on Numbers 1:2.]


Read more in Peter’s devotional Bible study, A New Heaven and a New Earth: 40 Practical Insights from John’s Book of Revelation.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Fire Came Down from Heaven

The People Shout for Joy and Worship God

The book of Leviticus contains God’s explicit instructions on how they should worship him. In chapter 8 the Lord explains the precise way Aaron and his sons will be consecrated for the priesthood and ordained as priests.

Moses and Aaron

In chapter 9, after Moses follows God’s instructions, Moses and Aaron go into the tent of meeting. Though we don’t know what happens inside, we wouldn’t be wrong to assume they connect with God.

When they come out the Lord’s glory appears to all the people.

Fire comes down from heaven—the very presence of God—and burns up the offering on the altar. When the people see this, they shout for joy and fall on their faces in awe, worshipping God.

Though this is the first time that fire came down from heaven it’s not the last.

Nadab and Abihu

In fact, it happens again in the very next chapter. This time, however, it’s a sign of God’s displeasure, of his punishment for disobedience.

Two of Aaron’s sons—Nadab and Abihu—fail to follow God’s specific instructions for worshipping him. In response, the Almighty sends down fire (Leviticus 10:1-3).

They die for their sin of improper worship. They are consumed, just like the offerings on the altar were consumed when they were ordained as priests.

Elijah

Later, Elijah has some fiery experiences too.

The prophet has a confrontation with the prophets of Baal on mount Carmel. He prepares an altar before the Lord, places the sacrifice on it, and prays to God.

Fire comes down from heaven and burns up the sacrifice and everything around it. The people fall before God and worship him (1 Kings 18:36-39).

Another time, the king of Israel sends a captain with fifty men to bring Elijah to him. Fire comes down from heaven and consumes all the men. And it happens again with a second delegation (2 Kings 1:9-15).

God’s Power

In each of these instances, fire came down from heaven, showing God’s power. In each case, the people worship and revere God.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Leviticus 7-9 and today’s post is on Leviticus 9:23-24.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Keep the Lamps Burning before the Lord

Moses Commands a Lasting Ordinance

In addition to an exciting narrative of escape from Egypt followed by the people’s struggles, the book of Exodus also contains specific instructions to God’s chosen people. It’s difficult for most of us today to connect with some of this teaching.

Such is the case with today’s passage. Let’s consider, however, the instruction to keep the lamps burning.

Moses instructs the Israelites to use oil made from pressed olives to light the lamps in the tent of meeting (which later applies to the temple). They’re to keep the lamps burning before God. This is a lasting ordinance.

Yet many centuries later—about 175 years before Jesus came to earth—the temple is destroyed and desecrated. The Maccabees revolt and take back the temple to restore right worship. Part of this means that they relight the lamp as prescribed by Moses.

Tradition says that the Maccabees could only find enough oil for the lamp to last one day, but it miraculously burned for eight. This is the basis for Hanukkah and the story behind it.

We can confirm some of this in 1 Maccabees 4:36-59. But this passage does not mention the miracle of the oil lasting eight days, merely that the celebration lasts that long.

This occurs on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, which is the beginning of Hanukkah today.

A familiar symbol of Hanukkah is a menorah, a lampstand of nine candles, with the middle candle being taller than the other eight, which represent the eight days of the celebration.

Most of today’s Hanukkah practices don’t stem directly from the Old Testament text but result from traditions that developed over time. Yet the command to keep the lamps burning does have its basis in Scripture as commanded by Moses several millennia ago.

Regardless of our faith practices today, may we figuratively hold onto the instruction to keep the lamps burning in a spiritual sense, keeping our fire—our zeal—for the Lord burning from within.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Exodus 26-28 and today’s post is on Exodus 27:20-21.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Women in the Bible: Zipporah

With the Pharaoh out to get him, Moses flees for his life. He marries the shepherdess Zipporah, daughter of the priest of Midian (Exodus 2:21-22). They have two sons: Gershom and Eliezer.q

Years later when Moses and his family travel to Egypt, God afflicts Moses. This is apparently because Moses had not circumcised his son Gershom, as God commanded the Israelites to do through Abraham.

Just as God is about to kill Moses, Zipporah takes decisive action, circumcises Gershom, and touches Moses with the removed skin. This appeases God and Moses is spared.

Zipporah does what her husband did not do, she obeys God’s command, and saves her husband’s life.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Exodus 4-7, and today’s post is on Exodus 4:24-26.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

What Does an Eye for an Eye Really Mean?

Respond with Moderation

In one of the Bible’s more horrific stories, Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is taken by force and raped by the outsider, Shechem. When Jacob hears of this he does nothing.

Perhaps he fears for his life should he complain or maybe it’s because all his boys are in the fields tending their livestock and he is alone.

Then, despite his barbaric act, Shechem decides he loves Dinah and wants to marry her. He demands his father bring this about. The two dads talk about a wedding.

Dinah’s brothers are furious when they hear what Shechem did to their sister. They pretend to go along with the marriage talks but insist the men in Shechem’s village all be circumcised first.

As the men recover from this painful procedure, Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah’s brothers, massacre the city, killing every man there to avenge their sister’s mistreatment.

Though they are right in responding to Dinah’s defilement, they overreact. While the rape of one girl is terrible, wiping out an entire town is a disproportionate punishment. It is excessive.

Moses Tells Us to Take an Eye for an Eye

This is the type of thing Moses seeks to stop when he says an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (Leviticus 24:19-20). In this Moses does not give permission to seek unrestringed revenge.

Instead he seeks to curtail excessive retaliation, taking a response unequal to the crime. An eye for an eye is a command of moderation not the authorization to pursue vengeance.

Jesus later takes this principle one step further. He says “do not resist an evil person” and then “go the extra mile” (Matthew 5:38-42). This is even more countercultural than Moses’s original eye-for-eye command to make the punishment fit the crime.

May we learn from Moses’s words and follow Jesus’s.

What do you think of Moses’s eye-for-an-eye command? What about Jesus’s instruction to go the extra mile? 

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Genesis 33-35, and today’s post is on Genesis 34.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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Moses’s Parting Blessing

Psalm 158 from Beyond Psalm 150

After Moses’s final song he gives a blessing to the people. The first four verses of this passage read like a psalm. He then directs the rest of his oration to various tribes, much like a patriarch giving his final words to his children.

In the opening to his blessing, Moses refers to himself in the third person. It’s as if he sees himself as already dead, offering these words from the grave.

“Yahweh came from Sinai,
    and rose from Seir to them.
He shone from Mount Paran.
    He came from the ten thousands of holy ones.
    At his right hand was a fiery law for them.
Yes, he loves the people.
    All his saints are in your hand.
    They sat down at your feet.
    Each receives your words.
Moses commanded us a law,
    an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
He was king in Jeshurun,
    when the heads of the people were gathered,
    all the tribes of Israel together.”

Deuteronomy 33:2–5 (WEB)

Reflections on Moses’s Parting Blessing

We should consider the legacy we will leave.

What will our final words be to our family and friends? How can we influence future generations after we’re gone?

May we make our final words count.

Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Moses’s Final Song

Psalm 157 from Beyond Psalm 150

Despite forty years of faithful service leading God’s chosen people, God prohibits Moses from entering the promised land. This is all because of a single act of disobedience.

This one action is enough to keep Moses from realizing the reward he desires.

It’s a reminder that, through the law, one sin is enough to separate us from eternity with God. Fortunately, we’re no longer under the law of Moses and can receive mercy through Jesus for eternity.

Regardless of the situation that Moses’s action caused, he still maintains his focus on and reverence for God. With Moses’s life winding down, he shares this song with the people and leaves them with a spiritual legacy.

Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak.
   Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
My doctrine will drop as the rain.
    My speech will condense as the dew,
    as the misty rain on the tender grass,
    as the showers on the herb.
For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name.
    Ascribe greatness to our God!
The Rock: his work is perfect,
    for all his ways are just.
    A God of faithfulness who does no wrong,
    just and right is he.
They have dealt corruptly with him.
    They are not his children, because of their defect.
    They are a perverse and crooked generation.
Is this the way you repay Yahweh,
    foolish and unwise people?
Isn’t he your father who has bought you?
    He has made you and established you.
Remember the days of old.
    Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father, and he will show you;
    your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when he separated the children of men,
he set the bounds of the peoples
    according to the number of the children of Israel.
For Yahweh’s portion is his people.
    Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land,
    in the waste howling wilderness.
He surrounded him.
    He cared for him.
    He kept him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle that stirs up her nest,
    that flutters over her young,
he spread abroad his wings,
    he took them,
    he bore them on his feathers.
Yahweh alone led him.
    There was no foreign god with him.
He made him ride on the high places of the earth.
    He ate the increase of the field.
He caused him to suck honey out of the rock,
    oil out of the flinty rock;
butter from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat of lambs,
    rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
    with the finest of the wheat.
    From the blood of the grape, you drank wine.
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.
    You have grown fat.
    You have grown thick.
    You have become sleek.
Then he abandoned God who made him,
    and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
They moved him to jealousy with strange gods.
    They provoked him to anger with abominations.
They sacrificed to demons, not God,
    to gods that they didn’t know,
    to new gods that came up recently,
    which your fathers didn’t dread.
Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful,
    and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
Yahweh saw and abhorred,
    because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
He said, “I will hide my face from them.
    I will see what their end will be;
for they are a very perverse generation,
    children in whom is no faithfulness.
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God.
    They have provoked me to anger with their vanities.
I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people.
    I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled in my anger,
    that burns to the lowest Sheol,
    devours the earth with its increase,
    and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.

“I will heap evils on them.
    I will spend my arrows on them.
They shall be wasted with hunger,
    and devoured with burning heat
    and bitter destruction.
I will send the teeth of animals on them,
    with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
Outside the sword will bereave,
    and in the rooms,
    terror on both young man and virgin,
    the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
I said that I would scatter them afar.
    I would make their memory to cease from among men;
were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,
    lest their adversaries should judge wrongly,
    lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted,
    Yahweh has not done all this.’”

For they are a nation void of counsel.
    There is no understanding in them.
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,
    that they would consider their latter end!
How could one chase a thousand,
    and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
    and Yahweh had delivered them up?
For their rock is not as our Rock,
    even our enemies themselves concede.
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,
    of the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poison grapes.
    Their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the poison of serpents,
    the cruel venom of asps.

“Isn’t this laid up in store with me,
    sealed up among my treasures?
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
    at the time when their foot slides;
for the day of their calamity is at hand.
    Their doom rushes at them.”

For Yahweh will judge his people,
    and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone;
    that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
He will say, “Where are their gods,
    the rock in which they took refuge;
which ate the fat of their sacrifices,
    and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you!
    Let them be your protection.

“See now that I myself am he.
    There is no god with me.
I kill and I make alive.
    I wound and I heal.
    There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare,
    as I live forever,
if I sharpen my glittering sword,
    my hand grasps it in judgment;
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
    and will repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood.
    My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives,
    from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”

Rejoice, you nations, with his people,
    for he will avenge the blood of his servants.
    He will take vengeance on his adversaries,
    and will make atonement for his land and for his people.

Deuteronomy 32:1–43 (WEB)

Reflections on Moses’s Final Song

We are all moving through life toward the end of our physical existence.

As our life winds down, will our words overflow with hope or be driven by despair? What legacy will we leave behind, be it in written form or through the witness of a life lived well?

May we finish strong.

Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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An Interactive Liturgy

Psalm 156 from Beyond Psalm 150

With the people poised to take the promised land, Moses recaps their forty-year history in the desert and reviews the instructions God gave them. At one point Moses leads the people in a liturgy of blessings (for obedience) and curses (for disobedience).

In this the Levites make a statement and the people respond in unison by saying “amen.” In doing so they give their agreement to what the Levites say, a format similar to Psalm 136.

Interestingly, the Bible doesn’t record the blessing portion of this liturgy, only the curses. This liturgy contains twelve statements of what the people should not do, actions for which they will receive a curse.

Here are Moses’s instructions for this interactive liturgy:

“‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’

All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who leads the blind astray on the road.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’

All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”          

Deuteronomy 27:15–26 (WEB)

Reflections on An Interactive Liturgy

When we read Yahweh’s commands in the Bible, do we respond with a hearty amen or dismiss them as instructions that no longer apply in our world today?

Though these curses relate to the Old Testament law, which Jesus fulfilled, does that mean we can disregard them? How might we apply these principles to our life and culture today?

May we respond with a sincere amen to whatever God says.

Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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The Nation Sings

Psalm 154 from Beyond Psalm 150

As the people of Israel travel about in the desert, water is scarce. They reach the city of Beer. God instructs Moses to gather the people, and he will provide water to quench their thirst.

The people respond collectively, praising God in song. Though this seems like a poem to the well that produced the water, let’s understand this as an indirect praise to God for guiding them to the water that the well provided.

All praise rightly goes to God, from whom all blessings flow—including water.

“Spring up, well! Sing to it,

    the well, which the princes dug,

    which the nobles of the people dug,

    with the scepter, and with their poles.”

Numbers 21:17–18 (WEB)

Reflection The Nation Sings

When might we have directed our appreciation for something God provided to the wrong source?

Roughly one billion people in our world today lack access to clean, drinkable water. The rest of us seldom give water a thought. What can we do to thank Yahweh for his life-giving water? What can we do to help those who are thirsty?

May we give water to thirsty people in Jesus’s name (Matthew 10:42).

[Check out Living Water International: https://water.cc/ for tangible ways to help.]

Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

The Song of Moses

Psalm 152 from Beyond Psalm 150

Psalm 90 is the oldest chapter in the book of Psalms. Moses wrote it. Though it’s his only entry in the Psalms, Moses penned other songs as well, but we need to search for them.

We encounter one in the book of Exodus, we’ll call it the song of Moses. Though we don’t know when in his life Moses wrote Psalm 90, this passage in Exodus likely came first.

Moses and the people have just left Egypt and head toward the promised land. Blocked by an uncrossable sea before them and chased by the pursuing Egyptian army behind them, they have no path for escape. Death is certain.

Yet God miraculously rescues them. He divides the sea so that his people can cross the space before them on dry land and reach the other side. When the Egyptian army follows them across, the waters crash upon them, and they perish.

God saves his people from certain death, and Moses writes this psalm—song of Moses—in praise to Yahweh.

I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously.
    He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea.
Yah is my strength and song.
    He has become my salvation.
This is my God, and I will praise him;
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
Yahweh is a man of war.
    Yahweh is his name.
He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea.
    His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea.
The deeps cover them.
    They went down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power.
    Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces.
In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you.
    You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up.
    The floods stood upright as a heap.
    The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder.
    My desire will be satisfied on them.
    I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’
You blew with your wind.
    The sea covered them.
    They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods?
    Who is like you, glorious in holiness,
    fearful in praises, doing wonders?
You stretched out your right hand.
    The earth swallowed them.
“You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed.
    You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.
The peoples have heard.
    They tremble.
    Pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia.
Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed.
    Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab.
    All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and dread falls on them.
    By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone,
    until your people pass over, Yahweh,
    until the people you have purchased pass over.
You will bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance,
    the place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell in;
    the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established.
Yahweh will reign forever and ever.”

Exodus 15:1–18 (WEB)

Reflections on the Song of Moses

Think about a time when God miraculously protected you from danger or harm. This moment may have been epic or perhaps it felt small, but either way your life took a different path as a result.

Did you praise God for his deliverance then? Take a moment and do so now—or do it again.

May we revere Yahweh as he works in our lives.

Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.