The song sung by the Israelites to praise God for their redemption from slavery reveals their obsession with conquest. Although they acknowledge God’s power, the nature of the song indicates a vast misunderstanding of their relationship with God.
The song sung by the Israelites after their redemption from slavery reveals an obsession with conquest, and a disregard for the true nature of God. The Israelites talk excessively about how their enemies will be “gripped” by agony and fear of the Lord’s strength. The use of the word grip suggests that their enemies would be trapped and disempowered by their fear. Not too long ago, the Israelites lived their lives under slavery from the Egyptians—trapped and disempowered by fear. After their harrowing
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They speak of God as if he were a weapon of War. They describe God as a being that will rain down “terror and dread […] upon” their enemies and strike them down. However, at no point is there any acknowledgement of their own responsibilities to God. At this point, the Israelites are entirely self-serving in their relationship with God. They seem to almost view God as a tool to aid them in conquering other lands. Although Israel notes the sheer power that God holds by marveling at the “terror and dread” he inspires, they fail to note other key aspects of their relationship to him. Israel has been delivered out of slavery from the Egyptians into eternal servitude to God. However, the Israelite’s focus on using God as a means to claim land suggests that they haven’t fully grasped this yet. The Israelites focus extensively on the fear of God that will “grip” their enemies, but fail to note that this same fear of God should grip them as well. Israel’s punishment for abandoning their faith in God would be annihilation, but they fail to realize this due to arrogance regarding being the “people [God]