From: Exodus 14:21-15:1
Crossing the Red Sea
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[21] Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord drove the sea
back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters
were divided. [22] And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry
ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. [23]
The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pha-
raoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. [24] And in the morning watch the
Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down upon the host of the Egyptians,
and discomfited the host of the Egyptians, clogging their chariot wheels so that
they drove heavily; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel; for the
Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
[26] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the
water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their
horsemen.” [27] So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea re-
turned to its wonted flow when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled into
it, and the Lord routed the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. [28] The waters re-
turn and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh that
had followed them into the sea; not so much as one of them remained. [29] But
the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a
wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
[30] Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians; and Is-
rael saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. [31] And Israel saw the great
work which the Lord did against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord;
and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Song of Victory
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[1] Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song the Lord, saying, “I will
sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has
thrown into the sea.”
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Commentary:
14:19-22. At the wonderful moment of the crossing of the sea, God, man and
the forces of nature play the leading role. In the person of the angel of the Lord,
God the person of the angel of the Lord, becomes more visible; he directs ope-
rations; he plays a direct part. Moses’ part consists in doing as the Lord com-
mands; he is his vicar. The sons of Israel have no active part; they benefit from
what happens. Even the forces of nature come into play: the pillar of cloud which
marked the route by day now blocks the Egyptians’ way; night, the symbol of
evil become, as in the Passover, the time God’s visitation; the warm west wind,
always feared for its harmful effects, now proves a great help; and the waters of
the sea, so often the symbol of the abyss and of evil, allow the victorious pas-
sage of the sons of Israel.
The prophets see this event as an instance of the creative power of God (cf. Is
43:1-3), and Christian writers comment along the same lines. Thus, Origen will
say: “See the goodness of God the Creator: if you submit to his will and follow
his Law, he will see to it that created things cooperate with you, against their
own nature if necessary” (”Homiliae In Exodum”, 5,5).
The book of Wisdom turns the account of the crossing of the sea into a hymn
of praise to the Lord who delivered Israel (cf. Wis 19:6-9), and St Paul sees
the waters as a figure of baptismal water: “All were baptized into Moses in the
cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor 10:2).
14:31. The main effect the miraculous crossing of the sea had on the Israelites
was the faith it gave them in the power of God and in the authority of Moses.
This section of the account of the escape from Egypt ends as it began—that is,
showing that the people’s faith (4:31) is now strengthened. So, too, Christian
faith is strengthened when we do what God desires.: “Following Jesus on his
way. You have understood what our Lord was asking from you and you have
decided to accompany him on his way. You trying to walk in his footsteps, to
clothe yourself in Christ’s clothing, to be Christ himself: well, your faith, your
faith in the light our Lord is giving you, must both operative and full of sacrifice”
(St. J. Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 198).
15:1-21. This victory anthem, along with that of Deborah (Judg 5), is one the ol-
dest hymns of Israel. It probably goes as far back as the 13th century BC, long
before the redactor of this be decided to include it as a colophon to Exodus ac-
count. It is called the “Song of Miriam” (v. 21) because, as we know from Ugarit
poems of the period (13th-9th centuries BC) it was the practice to put at the end
(not the start) the reason why the poem was written, the author’s name and the
poem’s title (vv. 18-21). It is very likely that this canticle was recited in the liturgy
and that the entire people said the response (vv, 1, 21) after each stanza was
said or sung by the choir.
It is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving which the three stages of the deliverance
of Israel are remembered—the prodigies of the Red Sea (vv. 4-10), the triumphal
pilgrimage in the desert (vv. 4-16) and the taking possession of the land of Ca-
naan (vv. 17-18).
In this poetic re-creation of these events the divine attributes are extolled one by
one (might, military power, redemption, etc); they reflect the theological implica-
tions of exodus, wilderness and land: it is God who has done all these wondrous
things; he has done them because he has chosen the people to be his very own;
he himself requires that they respond by acknowledging him to be God, Lord of
all, the only deliverer.
15:1-3. Victory over the Egyptians has revealed the glory arid might of God.
Strength, power, salvation can be taken as meaning the same thing, for the sa-
cred author does not regard the divine attributes as abstract qualities but as par-
ticular actions: only God could truly save the people.
“The Lord is a man of war”: this daring description indicates that this is a very
ancient poem. Some translations, possibly because they thought it might be
misunderstood, toned it down a little: the Samaritan Pentateuch has “powerful in
combat” and the Septuagint “he who breaks through battles”. We in our Spanish
version coincide with the RSV and the New Vulgate, retaining the blunt military
imagery, which is very descriptive of the almighty power of God: “He is the Lord
of the Universe [...]. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in kee-
ping with his will” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 269).
“The Lord is his name”: literally, “his name is Yah”, using an abbreviation of
Yahweh which may have been customary in more ancient times. It may well be
that there is an echo of this name in the “Alleluia” of the Psalms.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
From: Matthew 12:46-50
The True Kinsmen of Jesus
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[46] While He (Jesus) was still speaking to the people, behold, His mother and
His brethren stood outside, asking to speak to Him.* [48] But He replied to the
man who told Him, “Who is My mother, and who are My brethren?” [49] And
stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and
My brethren! [50] For whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven is My brother,
and sister and mother.”
(*Other ancient authorities insert verse 47, “Some one told Him, ‘Your mother
and Your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to You.’”)
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Commentary:
46-47. “Brethren”: ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and other languages had no special
words for different degrees of relationship, such as are found in more modern lan-
guages. In general, all those belonging to the same family, clan and even tribe
were “brethren”.
In the particular case we have here, we should bear in mind that Jesus had diffe-
rent kinds of relatives, in two groups—some on His mother’s side, others on St.
Joseph’s. Matthew 13:55-56 mentions, as living in Nazareth, James, Joseph, Si-
mon and Judas (”His brethren”) and elsewhere there is reference to Jesus’ “sis-
ters” (cf. Matthew 6:3). But in Matthew 27:56 we are told that James and Joseph
were sons of a Mary distinct from the Blessed Virgin, and that Simon and Judas
were not brothers of James and Joseph, but seemingly children of a brother of
St. Joseph.
Jesus, on the other hand, was known to everyone as “the son of Mary” (Mark 6:
3) or “the carpenter’s son” (Matthew 13:55).
The Church has always maintained as absolutely certain that Jesus had no bro-
thers or sisters in the full meaning of the term: it is a dogma that Mary was ever-
Virgin (cf. note on Matthew 1:25).
48-50. Jesus obviously loved His Mother and St. Joseph. He uses this episode
to teach us that in His Kingdom human ties do not take precedence. In Luke 8:
19 the same teaching is to be found. Jesus regards the person who does the
will of His Heavenly Father as a member of His own family. Therefore, even
though it means going against natural family feelings, a person should do just
that when needs be in order to perform the mission the Father has entrusted to
him (cf. Luke 2:49).
We can say that Jesus loved Mary more because of the bonds between them
created by grace than because He was her son by natural generation: Mary’s
divine motherhood is the source of all our Lady’s other prerogatives; but this
very motherhood is, in its turn, the first and greatest of the graces with which
Mary was endowed.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.