And the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The crossing on dry ground with walls of water on both sides is one of the most arresting images in the Old Testament. The sea that would have drowned Israel becomes the road that carries them to freedom. The walls of water on both sides are protection as much as passage — the water that could kill them holds itself back while they walk. 1 Corinthians 10:1–2 says all of them passed through the sea and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Paul reads the sea crossing as the paradigm of baptism: passing through water from one mode of existence to another, from slavery to freedom, from Egypt to wilderness, from the old life to the new. The walls of water that accompanied Israel through the sea are the waters of baptism that accompany every believer through the death and resurrection of Christ.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

Publish a note on this verse