“Exodus 14:15 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. 16 And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.”
This is another WOW, moment for me. The LORD is not speaking to the Hebrews, but to Moses. Moses has just told the Hebrews: “Exodus 14:13 And Moses said unto the people: ‘Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you to-day; for whereas ye have seen the Egyptians to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
14 The LORD will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.’ .”
I am ahead of myself. Let me catch you up to this event. Moses and the Children of Israel(Hebrews) have been marching from Egypt and are currently between two hills and facing the Sea of Reeds. Behind them is a pillar of fire keeping Pharaoh and his army at a distance. The Hebrews were the slaves of Egypt for years and for the most part, they had become comfortable with that situation.
This is not an uncommon behavior for the Hebrews or most people in history or even today in the year 2014 secular calendar. Those that Truly Oppress other people, count on this behavior. So Moses is trying to calm them down in verses 13 and 14.
You are caught up now. I will move on to the ”Wherefore criest . . . .’ portion. This ‘Wherefore criest thou unto Me?’ is another passage that needs a closer look.
Those comments which I have found make a number of assumptions about Moses praying and crying about the situation. I do not find where this has any validity in the Torah as an assumption. I have seen where Moses is frustrated and not actually desiring to take on this terrible task with a ‘Stiff Necked People’, this often makes me wonder why GOD puts up with US.
Questions: 1) Doesn’t this say that Moses should know what to do next?
2) Were there instructions about this prior to this point in the story?
3) If prior instructions are not then, What does this mean?
My answer: Moses is being tested. I will explain in this way, Moses has just performed at least 12 miracles including Staff to Snake and health hand to disease and back again to healthy. As a result of these miracles, a mighty nations has lost many lives, flocks, property, wealth and glory in the view of the nations that had dealings with Egypt. This is truly a demonstration of Great Power and reputation. A lessor person would probably forget that it is the MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE that is performing these deeds and think that ‘I have the power’ to do and say what will be. Moses does not demonstrate the willingness to assume the credit for any of this Glory, or forget who is in charge. Moses is the perfect Prophet in that he speaks and does only what the LORD tells him. In fact the only time that Moses does not remember this, Moses gets punished, see (Numbers 20).
Deuteronomy 18:20 But the prophet, that shall speak a word presumptuously in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
Moses does not assume that he can or should do anything that he has not been directed to do. In this test Moses Passes again.
Yaakov
http://ask-james.com/wordpress1/?p=219