The Exodus Archetype
Video
Audio DownloadThe Exodus models all resurrections, but one most particularly: The Bride Theft. The dramatic account presented in Exodus 14 is replete with resurrection symbolism. As you come to understand the prophetic import you will gain more insight into why it is that, time and again, reference is made in the Bible to this particular record of miraculous salvation and it is elevated to a standard of God's power, mercy and grace towards His people. The Bride Theft is no minor event on the Bridegroom's schedule of appointments!
You may want to read Exodus 14 to refresh your memory before continuing here.
The Exodus as a General Resurrection Scenario
The Baptism in the Sea
In 1 Corinthians this crossing is declared to be a baptism.
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1 Corinthians 10:1-2
Baptism is a death and resurrection symbol. (see Baptism - The Prophecy and The Threefold Model of Great Sevens) The passing through death and arriving on the other side in new life is pictured in the Exodus as the sons of Israel passed through the sea and came out on the other side. On the other side they were whole - completely whole! Why were they made whole on the other side? Because it is a resurrection model and it is the newness of life - a perfect kind of life in view!
Did you notice how they passed through the sea but yet it was without getting wet! This is exciting!
The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Exodus 14:22 (see also 14:29)
What is the meaning of their passage on dry land? Dry means "not wet." They were untouched by water! The waters were quite evident, being like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left, but their crossing was on dry land and the water never touched them. In baptism, water symbolizes death. When someone is dipped in water, they are dead, symbolically. When you come up out of the water you come up out of death - alive again. The passing through the sea on dry ground pictures a "baptism" some will experience without getting wet. Without dying, some will pass through death and attain to this resurrection life! What is modeled in the Exodus is described in I Thessalonians.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:15-17
Those who will be alive and remain will be changed as though passing through the sea on dry ground!
This same feature of passage on dry ground is seen in the Jordan crossings by Joshua, Elijah and Elisha. (Joshua 3 and 4, II Kings 2) Why is the point always made about the ground being dry? The translation or transition from life to life through death without being touched by it is a big deal!!!
Resurrection on the Third Day
An amazing principle is documented in the writing, Resurrection on the Third Day. Many plain examples reveal how that, where reference is made in the Bible to "the third day" there is a resurrection scenario in the immediate context, whether in plain view or hidden in typology. There is such an instance in the Exodus account.
They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us so now, please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'
Exodus 3:18
The three days' journey signals a resurrection that is pictured by the crossing over to the other side of the sea!
The Exodus as a Bride Theft Scenario
While the Exodus is a general symbol of resurrection it is, as I mentioned at the outset, specifically modeling what I call the Bride Theft. This will become apparent as we consider when it happened and observe the Messianic Bridegroom and Bride symbols and features held in common with other Bride Theft scenarios.
The Bride Theft matches the Exodus in time - in two ways!
For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
Genesis 45:6
When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself;
Acts 12:10a
The two verses above set the context as being after two years, which brings you to the third year. The passage below shows that the time on the calendar is specifically the last day of Hag HaMatzot or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, (when the angel led Peter out through the gate) which is at the mid-point of the Lord's Kingdom/civil calendar
2 And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.
Acts 12:2-4
Based upon the information gleaned from similar Bride Theft scenarios such as those presented in, Joseph and Benjamin, and, Passing Through the Iron Gate, this event is consistently pictured as happening in the middle of the third year-day. The Exodus occurred on the historical time line 2448 years from Adam, placing it in the middle of the third day of the millennial week. Remember, there is an undeniable harmony between the three kinds of weeks that are the subjects of, The Threefold Model of Great Sevens. They're built upon the same pattern. As we focus on the middle of the third day we see the alignment of the Exodus and the Bride Theft.
Here's something that really speaks to me! The last day of Pesah, which is the day when the Bride Theft is pictured, is connected to the Exodus crossing through an enduring tradition! In the reference work by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld (The Jewish Holidays, A Guide and commentary) you will read the following (p. 27) in the commentary about Pesah:
"The seventh day, according to tradition, marks the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites. Some people, particularly Hasidim, follow the custom of pouring water on the floor and singing and dancing to commemorate the crossing of the sea."
I see this tradition of the Hasidim celebrating the crossing over on the last day of the Feast as a joyful celebration of that which comes on some anniversary - the crossing over in resurrection as the Bridegroom steals His Bride away to be joined with Him on the other side!
The Exodus presents a general model of resurrection but, most particularly, that special event that it corresponds to in time. The Bride Theft compares to the Exodus in being appointed for the time of the year that the Exodus occurred, at the Feast. It also compares by being appointed for the middle of the third day of the Night Watch Shemitah, by the principle of the threefold model of great sevens!
The Moses-Messianic Bridegroom-Bride symbols seen in the Exodus
The Exodus happened at the time of the barley harvest. (Exodus 9:31) Barley is a symbol for both the Bridegroom and the Bride.
Moses is a type of the Bridegroom, and a type of the Bride. The transitions of Moses' life are marked by Bridegroom/Bride features. If you have not yet read the appendix titled The Bridegroom and the Bride you may want to pause to do so at this time to familiarize yourself with the topic. The transition from the first 40 year division to the second found Moses coming into the land of Midian where he immediately experienced a vivid Bridegroom and Bride meeting. The transition from the second 40 year period to the third focuses on the circumstances surrounding the Exodus from Egypt. Moses, the deliverer, is pictured delivering or saving the children of Israel from the Egyptians by leading them to safety on the other side of the sea. Moses is a type of The Deliverer Messianic Bridegroom Y'shua, and the obedient who follow his lead typify His Bride.
Groups of Fifties - linking two Bride Theft scenarios
There is a little known feature of the Exodus crossing that stands out as rather peculiar. Although you may have imagined that when Israel crossed over the sea on dry land that it was as a disorganized mob - but it was not. A popular literal translation, Young's, renders Exodus 13:18 as follows:
and God turneth round the people the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and by fifties have the sons of Israel gone up from the land of Egypt.
Exodus 13:18 (YLT)
This feature of orderly groups of fifties is held in common with another type of the Bride Theft! In the Gospel of Mark's account of The Feeding of the Five Thousand, observe how the people being fed were grouped.
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.
Mark 6:39
The people represent those of the church age who would be involved in resurrection. The grouping into fifties finds a match in the Exodus. These two accounts that seem very different on the surface speak to us about a single underlying event and people!