Over the years there have been several sibling singing sensations: the Carpenters, the Osmonds, the Bee Gees, the Beach Boys, The Everly brothers, the Bangles, Heart, the pointer sisters, the Jonas brothers, and of course the Jackson 5. But before them all was the brother/sister duo of Moses and Miriam.
Most people have never heard of Miriam and when they think of Moses it is usually in connection with the Ten Commandments. I would understand if you were unfamiliar with their body of work because to my knowledge Moses and Miriam were a one hit wonder. Moses went out on his own and wrote two other songs without his sister. He wrote a soulful song called psalm 90 and at the end of his life he wrote a ballad recorded in the book of Deuteronomy 32, but it his song with his sister Miriam that seems to stand the test of time. In fact, the song of Moses and Miriam is and will be sung by the saints and angels in heaven. In Revelation 15:2-3 we read, “2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb”.
The tune of this sung has been lost to time but the lyrics have been preserved for us in Exodus 15. There we see the song that Moses and Miriam sing is stylistically a praise song. I know this is going to make some of you crusty Lutherans uncomfortable, but the Hebrew word used to describe the singing is celebratory in nature, it is exciting and lively. This Hebrew word is even occasionally used to describe secular songs, which seems to indicate the song of Moses and Miriam sounded more like a top 40 hit than an old tired tune. Moses seems to be the lead vocalist, but Miriam lays down a sick beat on her tambourine and comes in on the refrains to harmonize with her brother. We are even told they have back up dancers!
The praise of this song is focused on the highly exalted LORD. In verse 11 Moses sings, “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD?” and Miriam echoes, “Who is like you—” They sing of the LORD’s “majestic holiness” because He is a sacred sovereign Whose authority extends over all the kingdoms of heaven and earth and over those who rule them. They sing of the LORDs “awesome glory” because creation itself recognizes Him as its creator and must obey His commands. They sing of the LORD’s “wonderful works” because they recognize the LORD rules over kingdoms and commands creation in a way that brings blessing to His people. Throughout the song, Moses and Miriam make several references for their reasons to sing this song of praise to the LORD but a fuller account is recorded for us in the previous chapters.
We finished last week’s Sunday school story with God’s chosen people being welcomed into Egypt with open arms. The book of Exodus opens by telling us “7… the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.” But Egypt was not to be the place where God’s people would live happily ever after. In the very next verses we read, “8 Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt” and “11… put slave masters over them [the Israelites] to oppress them with forced labor”. From that point on, the time the Israelite’s spent in Egypt is described with words like “bitterness, “groaning”, and “crying”. The way the Egyptians treated the Israelite’s is described with words like “shrewd”, ruthless” and “hard”.
The LORD saw the misery of His people in Egypt, heard them crying out, was concerned about their suffering, and decided to deliver them. [1] But, as you know, with the LORD a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The days in which the Israelite’s suffered under the oppression of the Pharaohs stretched into years; 430 years to be exact. Though it seemed delayed to the Israelite’s, the LORD’s deliverance came at a time of His choosing, and it came through an unlikely person.
The Lord’s chosen deliverer was raised by the enemy, he was a murderer and a runaway, and honestly didn’t want to be a deliverer. When the preincarnate Christ appeared to him in a burning bush and told Moses He had chosen him to be Israel’s deliverer Moses said, and I quote, “send someone else to do it”.[2] Remarkably the LORD did not send someone else to do it. He sent this most unlikely man to deliver His people and He sent him to deliver them in a rather unusual way.
The Lord delivered His people through a series of miracles. He began with a series of 10 plagues. These plagues were intended to show Pharaoh the God of the Israelite’s was LORD over all things, including the so-called gods of the Egyptians. For example, the first plague turned the Nile river, worshiped by some Egyptians as a source of life, into blood. Further, the Egyptians worshiped Ra as the sun god but, with the ninth plague of darkness, the LORD turned that god off as easy as flicking a switch. Finally, the Egyptians worshiped their Pharoah as a god but, with the death of Pharoah’s firstborn son during the tenth plague, the LORD made it clear there was only one God in heaven. After the plagues came the grand finale in which the LORD ripped apart the waters of the Red Sea so that His people could escape Pharoah and his pursuing army and then the LORD caused those same waters to crash down on Pharaoh and his army. IN this way the LORD delivered His people from their enemy.
By the way, in the midst of all this, the LORD delivers His people while His people are whining and complaining about their LORD. After they have witnessed the 10 displays of the LORD’s power in Egypt and right before the LORD parts the waters of the Red Sea the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” ... “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’?”[3] Not only were they doubting the LORD’s ability they were questioning His intentions; not so subtly suggesting He was screwing with them. (Sound familiar?) It was rather obvious the people the LORD delivered did not deserve to be delivered. But the LORD delivered them anyway and after he did Moses and his sister Miriam started to sing a song.
What we learn from this story is the LORD always delivers His people. Often in His own time, through unlikely people, in unusual ways, and even though they never deserve it, the LORD delivers them anyway. So, with that in mind, I ask you, ‘who is your pharaoh?’ Is there someone oppressing you, someone who is making your life difficult, someone who is preventing you from prospering? Maybe your pharaoh isn’t a person. Maybe your pharaoh is a condition; a condition that causes you pain and suffering, that makes it hard for you to get out of bed in the morning yet unable to sleep at night, a condition that is slowly robbing you of vitality and life. Or maybe your pharaoh is an addiction. Maybe your slave master takes the form of drugs, or alcohol, or sex, or food and no matter how many times your try to escape you just can’t seem to break free. Maybe your pharaoh is a situation, caused either by your own or another’s poor choices; a situation that now causes your spirit to groan and your soul to cry out. Who or what is your pharaoh? Whoever or whatever it is, the LORD will deliver you. He will do it in His own time, often through unlikely people, frequently in unusual ways, and even though you never deserve it, the LORD will deliver you from your pharaoh. If not in time, then in eternity, the LORD will deliver you.
We see an example of the LORD’s deliverance in the book of Exodus, but we become convinced of the LORD’s deliverance in the Gospels. There we are introduced to a mightier Moses. There we are introduced to the One who delivered us not only from the pharaohs of our flesh but also from the Pharaoh of our soul. God’s people waited thousands of years for this deliverer to come. But God patiently and purposely waited till the time had fully come to send His deliverer. And when this deliverer finally came, He appeared to be, at least to most people, an unlikely choice. He was born of a peasant girl, raised by hillbillies, lived like a homeless person, and honestly was not the deliverer the people were looking for or hoping for. This unlikely man was sent to deliver God’s people in a rather unusual way. He subjected Himself to the enemy’s temptations, commanded His followers to put down their swords, and allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross by the very people He came to save. But three days after they laid His dead body in a grave this deliverer ripped open His tomb and parted the pearly gates so that His people could pass safely through.
By the way, in the midst of all this, the LORD delivers His people while His people are whining and complaining about their LORD. Though our deliverer has defeated the Pharaoh of our souls; Satan, though He has set us free from our spiritual slavery; sin, though He has delivered us from eternal death; damnation, somehow, we still doubt His ability and question His intentions when our lessor pharaohs; the pharaohs of our flesh continue to oppress us. It is rather obvious that we do not deserve to be delivered from any of our oppressors, But our LORD Jesus delivered us anyway.
After the LORD had defeated Pharaoh, set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt, and delivered them from death at the edge of the Red Sea, Moses and Miriam led God’s people in a song of praise. Can you think of a reason we should not join them? Satan has been defeated, we have been set free from sin, we have been delivered from damnation! Can you think of anything that should prevent us from busting out the tambourines, assembling the backup dancers, and joining our brothers and sisters in faith in a song of praise to the LORD?!? I know some of you are hoping that’s my cue for Chara to drop a sick tambourine beat in the back of church and Pam to start dancing as Kim leads us in a refrain of praise. But I can also see panic in some of your eyes (specifically Chara’s, Pam’s, and Kim’s) and I can feel some of you growing increasingly uncomfortable. Thankfully, there are many different ways to sing to the LORD. Yes, you can sing to the LORD with the clashing of cymbals and the shaking of tambourines, or you can sing to the LORD with your quiet prayers of thanksgiving, or you can sing to the LORD by telling others the story of the LORD’s deliverance.
It doesn’t really matter how you sing, as I said, the tune has been lost to time, it only matters that you sing. The LORD has delivered us. Therefore, we will sing to the LORD. Amen.
[1] Exodus 3:7 -8
[2] Exodus 4:13
[3] Exodus 14:11-2