Don't Just Stand There! Do Something!

The Hebrew people are encamped near the Red Sea and nothing but wilderness separates them from the approaching Egyptian army, fully armored, brandishing weapons and kicking up loads of dust as their mighty chariots advance. Imagine the mass of quivering Israelite humanity...600,000 Hebrew men, plus all of their women and children, all traveling on foot...watching the Egyptian army quickly covering the ground that separates them. They challenge Moses, demanding to know why he hadn't left them in Egypt. After all, weren't there enough graves in Egypt for all of them...why did they have to come out into the wilderness to die?

Moses calmly reassures them, "Don't be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the LORD rescue you. The Egyptians that you see today will never be seen again.  The LORD himself will fight for you. You won't have to lift a finger in your defense!" (Exodus 14:13-14 NLT)

Side question...how did Moses communicate to what must have been at least 1.2 million people, over the din of panic, the braying animals, and the crying children?

Then the Lord tells Moses, "Don't just stand there...do something."  Well, not exactly in those words, it was more like:  "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!"  (v. 15)  God commanded Moses to stretch out his staff over the waters of the Red Sea and divide it.  Moses had seen the miraculous ways God had used this same staff in his many meetings with Pharaoh.  Moses didn't hesitate.  The pillars of cloud and fire move in between the Hebrew people and the Egyptians, hiding the Hebrews from their view.  I've always pictured the pillars as not much more than a column on the front of a large museum.  This pillar hid 1.2 million people...I guess that's more like the whole museum and then some!  Further amazing descriptions of how God uses the pillars in verse 20: "The cloud settled between the Israelite and Egyptian camps. As night came, the pillar of cloud turned into a pillar of fire, lighting the Israelite camp. But the cloud became darkness to the Egyptians, and they couldn't find the Israelites."

With the pillars in place, Moses stretches his hand over the sea and God parts the waters.  All through the night, God caused a wind to blow on the exposed seabed (but, this wind did not blow away the pillar of cloud and darkness that separated the two people groups).  In the morning, the Israelites walked through the Red Sea on dry ground.  What must it have been like, walking between two walls of water, the fish and sea creatures staring at you from the temporary God-made boundaries of their watery home?  The Red Sea at it's deepest point is 1.3 miles deep.  Just imagine the height of those walls of water! Ahhh, the magnificent power of God!

The Egyptian armies pursued the people of God into the sea, only to have the waters collapse on them.
I find it interesting that the Pharaoh and his armies were drowned in the Red Sea...sounds a bit like "what goes around, comes around."