Isaac Schechter 3.1.2017
Throughout time, man has been inspired by the biblical story of the Exodus. John Donne, both an English Renaissance poet and cleric in the Church of England, alludes to a connection between the story of the Exodus and the Crucifixion of Jesus. “Though at those two Red Seas, which freely ran, one from the trunk, another from the head” (John Donne). Donne implies there is a relationship between the Red Sea of the Old Testament and the blood bath that results from the Crucifixion of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. Both “Red Seas” bring about a salvation. “He grasps his hands, and he pulls up his feet, and seems to reach, and to step forth to meet His soule [as it flies to heaven].” (John Donne). The Old Testament story of the Exodus culminates with the splitting of the Red Sea and the physical salvation of the Israelites. The New Testament story of the Crucifixion of Jesus brings about the spiritual salvation of all mankind. Upon close examination of the Old and the New Testament, there is much evidence that the life of Jesus mirrors the life of Moses and the two stories of salvation are linked. The messianic story of the Israelites safely crossing the Red Sea, after Moses miraculously parts the waters (Exodus 14:21) foreshadows the messianic story of the life and death of Jesus (Matthew 2-27). Led by Moses, the Israelites emerge from the Red Sea a transformed nation free from the shackles of slavery. Similarly, all those who follow Jesus emerge from the baptismal waters renewed and cleansed from the shackles of sin.
The lives of Moses and Jesus are strikingly similar. Both are born while their people suffer under cruel leaders, and both narrowly escape death. Pharaoh’s astrologers predict a savior of the Jews will be born to either a Jewish or Egyptian family (Exodus Commentary 1:15-17). Acting on the new information, Pharaoh commands his entire people to cast every newly born boy into the Nile river and every daughter he orders to be kept alive (Exodus 1:15-17). Pharaoh thought the Nile was the water that his advisors said would be the downfall of the savior, so he would drown Moses in it. However, his advisors were prophesying a later situation when the Jews needed water in the desert after leaving Egypt, and Moses hits a rock to provide water and is punished by God for his actions. Over a thousand years later there seems to be a very similar story. Herod is king of Judea when some wise men come to him and ask “where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. (Matthew 2:4-5). King Herod tells the wise men to find the child and let him know when they find the child, so that he may worship him as well. After realizing that the wise men betrayed him and had no intention of coming back to tell him they had found the child, King Herod orders all the baby boys in Bethlehem and in the surrounding area who were two years old or younger to be killed. Moses escapes his threat because his sister Miriam places him into a basket to float down the Nile river and the Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and adopts him. Jesus escapes his death because his mother Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt with him. In similar situations, Moses and Jesus are both miraculously saved from this evil decree of death. Interestingly, Moses is able to escape an evil decree set in Egypt and lead his people into Israel, while Jesus is born in Israel and must flee to Egypt in order to escape death.
As Moses and Jesus grow into powerful young men, their future followers do not anoint them as leaders right away. Pharaoh’s daughter rescues Moses from the Nile and adopts him. As a result, Moses grows up in the Egyptian palace, living a life of splendor and privilege. However, he never forgets his true identity as an Israelite. After watching his people suffer long enough, he leaves the palace to reunite with his brethren. He tries to help improve their lives. Moses comes down to where the Israelites are working and sees a physical fight between two Israelites. He approaches the two men and asks “Why would you strike your fellow?” (Exodus 2:14) and is baffled by the response he receives. The men turn to Moses and one responds, “Who appointed you as a dignitary, ruler, and a judge over us?” (Exodus 2:15). As the Israelite men argue and start to turn on each other due to their terrible physical abuse they are receiving in Egypt, they reject Moses as a mediator and a leader. Sixty years later, after being persuaded by God, Moses finally succeeds in convincing the Jewish nation that he is the designated leader who will bring salvation to them. Similarly, in the New Testament, Jesus faces a similar struggle of rejection from his people. Like his predecessor Moses, Jesus is rejected by the masses despite performing miracles, preaching in Galilee, and gathering disciples. After filling five thousand mouths with an overflowing amount of bread (John 6: 13-15), Jesus boldly proclaims whoever believes in him will never suffer from hunger or thirst. Jesus says he will give his own flesh as bread and blood as drink. Jesus is referring to his suffering for the redemption of his people, which will save them from sin and bless them for eternity. However, instead of acceptance of his words, he is quickly rejected and questioned. His disciples are puzzled by his statement. They say to themselves, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him” (John 6:60-65). Just as Moses is questioned and rejected by his people when he tries to mediate a situation and become a physical leader, Jesus is ridiculed throughout his life for trying to be a spiritual teacher and convince the people of his divinity. All of Moses’s physical and psychological battles he fights to become the leader of the Israelites, hint and prepare us for the battles that Jesus fights in the stories of the New Testament.
The two leaders have many parallel moments, but nothing as powerful and as climactic as the splitting of the Red Sea and the Crucifixion. In the grand Exodus, Moses leads the people of Israel to a physical salvation from the slavery they had been enduring for hundreds of years. With God’s guidance, Moses brought ten powerful plagues upon the Egyptian nation. Still after suffering the ten plagues, as the Israelites were leaving Egypt, the Egyptians chased after them with their entire army attempting to re-enslave the Israelites one final time. The Israelites approached the Red Sea and were surrounded. In front of them stood 170 thousand square miles of water and behind them stood one of the most powerful armies in the world. The nation stood in a state of trance until Moses declared, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” (Exodus 14:13-14). Moses raises his staff, the sea splits into two walls with a path to walk through, and the entire Egyptian army drowns in the sea behind the Israelites. The fast paced and epic details associated with the physical redemption, appropriately conclude what had been a physically exhausting enslavement for the Israelites in Egypt. This Exodus story is climactic, but it is not the climax of the Bible, rather it is a precursor of another greater salvation to come. In submitting his corporal body to God, Jesus illuminates the path to Holiness. The chief obstacle to righteousness is arrogance. To slaughter one’s inclinations is the path to true humility. The sacrifice of Jesus symbolizes the slaughtering of one’s Ego. When one makes his will, God’s will, he becomes Godlike. Jesus lives a miraculous life in which he performs miracles and spreads his spiritual teachings to those open to hearing his message. However, because it became known that some viewed Jesus as a king to the Jews, he was guilty of rebellion under Roman law and therefore crucified. Jesus was tortured by the Romans and “while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”(1 Peter 2:23-24). Jesus sacrificed himself for mankind’s salvation. “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isiah 53:5). Both Moses and Jesus lead their nations to salvation. Moses brings physical salvation from hundreds of years of bondage and Jesus brings a spiritual salvation from a slavery of sin that has plagued mankind since the beginning of time.
Baptism is another defining moment in the life of Jesus. John the Baptist was famous for travelling and immersing men in water, so they could confess their sins. Jesus meets him and wants to be baptized, but John is in shock and replies “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” (Matthew 3: 14). It is incredulous to John that Jesus, who is on such a higher level than John, would like to be baptized by him. As Jesus is baptized, he goes straightway out of the water. The heavens open up to him and the Spirit of God descends on him like a bird. Today, Christians practice baptism. It symbolizes one’s personal identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which is the final step in the salvation from sin.
Just as the salvation at the Red Sea foreshadows the spiritual salvation caused by the Crucifixion, it also foreshadows the practice of baptism. As the Israelites stand in despair waiting at the edge of the Red Sea, they complained to Moses, “Why did you bring us out into the desert to die? When we were slaves in Egypt, didn’t we tell you, Just leave us alone and let us continue serving the Egyptians. Better to live as slaves than to die out here!” (Exodus 14: 12). They could not believe their path to salvation was straight through the water. God then split the sea and the Israelites walked safely through the waters until they reached the other side. The Jewish nation enters the water as slaves and emerges as free people. Apostle Paul teaches Christians that he doesn’t “want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;” (1 Corinthians 10:2). Paul teaches that the Jews were the first people to be baptized, lead by Moses. The Jews died and were reborn a free nation as they walked through the Red Sea with Moses, and their event paved the way for the ultimate death and rebirth of every Christian who performs baptism to acknowledge and identify with Jesus.
The Old and New Testament have been studied for thousands of years. The two texts are not independent of each other. The resemblance in the stories are not arbitrary. When one story mirrors another, it is a hint that to understand the linked stories, one must look at both events. One cannot understand the New Testament, without studying its predecessor, the Old Testament. If the life of Jesus as told in the New Testament often mirrors the life of Moses as told in the Old Testament then one must look at both stories to reveal the hidden messages. The pinnacle event in Moses’s life, the splitting of the Red Sea, foreshadows the pinnacle event in Jesus’s life, his Crucifixion. As the Israelites cross the sea, they transform from a nation of slaves into a nation of princes. As they exit the water while the Egyptians drown in it, the Israelites shed the yoke of oppression and are newly freed. They come through the waters cleansed and reborn. The Crucifixion of Jesus represents a similar cleansing and rebirth. Through the blood shed on the cross, mankind is cleansed of sin and given the opportunity for redemption. Baptism allows modern man to reenact this cleansing process. With the purifying waters of a baptism, one may earn his own personal salvation and come through the waters cleansed of sin. Salvation comes in an instant to those who are willing to walk into the sea, lie on the cross, and submit body and soul to God.
Bibliography:
“Of the Progress of the Soul: The Second Anniversary. An Anatomy of the World. John Donne. 1896. The Poems of John Donne.” Of the Progress of the Soul: The Second Anniversary. An Anatomy of the World. John Donne. 1896. The Poems of John Donne. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769; King James Bible Online, 2017. www.kingjamesbibleonline.org