But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
Moses lifted up his heart in silent prayer more effectually than Israel's loud outcries, but now God calls him from prayer to action at his post. Every thing is beautiful in its season; when we are in the way of duty we must go forward, not stand in mute astonishment, and leave the event to God.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 14:15-20
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it,.... Even the same rod with which so many wonders had been done in Egypt; and Artapanus, the Heathen, says (x), that Moses being bid by a divine voice to smite the sea with his rod, he hearkened to it, and touched the water with it, and so it...
Lift thou up thy rod - Neither Moses nor his rod could be any effective instrument in a work which could be accomplished only by the omnipotence of God; but it was necessary that he should appear in it, in order that he might have credit in the sight of the Israelites, and that they might see that God had chosen him to be the instrument of their deliverance.