◄ Exodus 15:2 ►
The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him.
Study Bible
The LORD
The Hebrew word used here is "Yahweh," the personal name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). This name signifies God's eternal existence and His covenant relationship with Israel. In the context of Exodus 15, the use of "Yahweh" emphasizes God's direct intervention and personal involvement in the deliverance of His people from Egypt. Historically, this name would have been a source of comfort and assurance to the Israelites, reminding them of God's promises and His faithfulness.

is my strength
The Hebrew word for "strength" is "oz," which conveys the idea of might, power, and refuge. This phrase acknowledges that the source of the Israelites' strength is not in themselves but in God. It reflects a deep reliance on God's power to save and sustain. In the broader biblical narrative, this theme of God as the source of strength is echoed in many other passages, such as Psalm 28:7 and Isaiah 12:2, reinforcing the idea that true strength comes from a relationship with God.

and my song
The word "song" in Hebrew is "zimrath," which can also mean "praise." This indicates that the response to God's deliverance is not only physical strength but also worship and adoration. The Israelites' experience of salvation naturally leads to a response of praise. This concept is foundational in Scripture, where God's acts of salvation are often followed by songs of praise, as seen in the Psalms and the New Testament hymns.

and He has become my salvation
The Hebrew word for "salvation" is "yeshuah," which is closely related to the name "Yeshua" (Jesus in Greek). This connection is significant in Christian theology, as it foreshadows the ultimate salvation brought through Jesus Christ. In the historical context of Exodus, this phrase celebrates God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt, a physical salvation that points to the spiritual salvation available through Christ.

This is my God
The declaration "This is my God" is a personal affirmation of faith and recognition of God's identity and role in the believer's life. It reflects a personal relationship with God, not just a communal or national one. This personal acknowledgment is crucial in the life of faith, as it moves beyond mere acknowledgment of God's existence to a personal commitment and trust in Him.

and I will praise Him
The Hebrew word for "praise" here is "naveh," which can also mean "to beautify" or "to adorn." This suggests that praising God is not only about verbal acknowledgment but also about living a life that reflects His glory and beauty. In the biblical context, praise is both an act of worship and a lifestyle that honors God.

my father's God
This phrase connects the present generation of Israelites with their ancestors, emphasizing the continuity of God's covenant and faithfulness through the generations. It acknowledges that the God who delivered them is the same God who made promises to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This historical continuity is a source of assurance and identity for the Israelites.

and I will exalt Him
The word "exalt" in Hebrew is "ruwm," which means to lift up or raise high. This is an expression of giving God the highest place of honor and reverence. In the context of worship, exalting God involves both personal devotion and communal celebration, recognizing His supreme authority and majesty. This act of exaltation is a fitting response to God's mighty acts of deliverance and His ongoing presence in the lives of His people.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal presence and faithfulness to His people.

2. Moses and the Israelites
The people who sang this song of praise after their deliverance from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea.

3. The Red Sea Crossing
A miraculous event where God parted the sea, allowing the Israelites to escape from the pursuing Egyptian army.

4. Egyptians
The oppressors of the Israelites, representing bondage and sin from which God delivers His people.

5. The Song of Moses
A song of victory and praise, celebrating God's deliverance and power.
Teaching Points
God as Strength and Song
Recognize that God is the source of our strength in times of trouble and our joy in times of victory.

Salvation as a Personal Experience
Understand that salvation is not just a historical event but a personal reality for each believer.

Praise as a Response to Deliverance
Cultivate a heart of worship and gratitude, acknowledging God's work in our lives.

Generational Faithfulness
Emphasize the importance of passing down the knowledge and worship of God to future generations, as Moses refers to "my father’s God."

Exalting God in All Circumstances
Commit to exalting God not only in times of triumph but also in everyday life, recognizing His sovereignty and goodness.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God as your strength and song change your perspective on current challenges you face?

2. In what ways can you make the reality of God's salvation more personal in your daily life?

3. How can you incorporate more praise and worship into your routine as a response to God's deliverance?

4. What are some practical ways you can share the knowledge of God with the next generation?

5. Reflect on a time when you exalted God during a difficult situation. How did that impact your faith and outlook?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 118:14
This verse echoes the same declaration of God being strength and salvation, showing a consistent theme of reliance on God throughout the Scriptures.

Isaiah 12:2
This passage also speaks of God as salvation, reinforcing the idea of trust and confidence in God's deliverance.

Philippians 4:13
While not directly quoting Exodus 15:2, this verse speaks to the strength believers find in Christ, paralleling the strength mentioned in Exodus.

Revelation 15:3
The Song of Moses is referenced in the context of ultimate victory and worship in heaven, showing the enduring nature of God's deliverance.
Sermons
The Sacrifice of PraiseJ. Urquhart Exodus 15:1, 2
Moses' SongJ. Orr Exodus 15:1-19
The Song of TriumphD. Young Exodus 15:1-19
The Song of Triumph - God Exalted in the Lips of the PeopleD. Young Exodus 15:1-19
Present GratitudeG.A. Goodhart Exodus 15:1-21
Song of Moses and the LambH.T. Robjohns Exodus 15:1-21
The Song of Moses and of the LambJ. Orr Exodus 15:1-20, 21
People
Aaron, Egyptians, Israelites, Miriam, Moses, Pharaoh
Places
Canaan, Edom, Egypt, Elim, Marah, Moab, Philistia, Red Sea, Shur Desert
Topics
Exalt, Extol, Father's, Glorify, Glory, Habitation, Helper, Jah, Praise, Prepare, Salvation, Song, Strength, Strong, Yah
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 15:2

     1205   God, titles of
     1320   God, as Saviour
     5334   health
     5503   rich, the
     8340   self-respect

Exodus 15:1-2

     5849   exaltation
     8428   example
     8632   adoration

Exodus 15:1-4

     7223   exodus, significance

Exodus 15:1-5

     5300   drowning

Exodus 15:1-18

     7963   song
     8609   prayer, as praise and thanksgiving

Exodus 15:1-21

     1315   God, as redeemer
     5420   music

Library
October 5. "He Hath Triumphed Gloriously" (Ex. xv. 1).
"He hath triumphed gloriously" (Ex. xv. 1). Beloved, God calls us to victory. Have any of you given up the conflict, have you surrendered? Have you said, "This thing is too much"? Have you said, "I can give up anything else but this"? If you have, you are not in the land of promise. God means you should accept every difficult thing that comes in your life. He has started with you, knowing every difficulty. And if you dare to let Him, He will carry you through not only to be conquerors, but "more …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

July 30. "If Thou Wilt Diligently Hearken unto the Voice of the Lord Thy God and Wilt Keep all his Statutes" (Ex. xv. 26).
"If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God and wilt keep all His statutes" (Ex. xv. 26). Sometimes people fail because they have not confidence in the Physician. The very first requirement of this Doctor is, that you trust Him, and trust Him implicitly, so implicitly that you go forward on His bare word, and act as if you had received His healing the moment you claimed His promise. But no one would expect to be healed by an earthly doctor as soon as they obeyed his directions. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

September 23. "I am the Lord that Healeth Thee" (Ex. xv. 26).
"I am the Lord that healeth thee" (Ex. xv. 26). It is very reasonable that God should expect us to trust Him for our bodies as well as our souls, for if our faith is not practical enough to bring us temporal relief, how can we be educated for real dependence upon God for anything that involves serious risk? It is all very well to talk about trusting God for the distant and future prospect of salvation after death! There is scarcely a sinner in a Christian land that does not trust to be saved some …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Ultimate Hope
Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance....'--EXODUS xv. 17. I. The lesson taught by each present deliverance and kindness is that we shall be brought to His rest at last. (a) Daily mercies are a pledge and a pattern of His continuous acts. The confidence that we shall be kept is based upon no hard doctrine of final perseverance, but on the assurance that God is always the same, like the sunshine which has poured out for all these millenniums and still rushes …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Marah
'And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25. And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet....'--EXODUS xv. 23-25. I. The time of reaching Marah--just after the Red Sea. The Israelites were encamped for a few days on the shore to shake themselves together, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Sixth Day. Holiness and Glory.
Who is like unto Thee, O Lord! among the gods? Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou in Thy mercy hast led Thy people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength to the habitation of Thy holiness ... The holy place, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.' --Ex. xv. 11-17. In these words we have another step in advance in the revelation of Holiness. We have here for the first time Holiness predicated of God Himself. He …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

Marah; Or, the Bitter Waters Sweetened
I. The text directs your attention, first of all, to THE EVILS OF THE WILDERNESS. We need not spend much time in thinking of these evils, because they throw themselves in our way often enough; and the tendency of our mind is unduly to exaggerate them. Notice that the perils and trials of the wilderness occur very early in the pilgrim life. It is a notion, I have no doubt, of very young Christians who still have the shell upon their heads and are scarce hatched, that their trials are over now that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

The Holiness of God
The next attribute is God's holiness. Exod 15:51. Glorious in holiness.' Holiness is the most sparkling jewel of his crown; it is the name by which God is known. Psa 111:1. Holy and reverend is his name.' He is the holy One.' Job 6:60. Seraphims cry, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.' Isa 6:6. His power makes him mighty, his holiness makes him glorious. God's holiness consists in his perfect love of righteousness, and abhorrence of evil. Of purer eyes than …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Marah
"The Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet."--Exod. xv. 25. Richard Rolle, 1349. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 Many sorrows hard and bitter, Many comforts sweet and soft; Thus my cry as joyful singing Evermore shall mount aloft. Song of marvellous rejoicing As in Heaven the blessed sing, For the love of Christ has filled me With His sweetest plenishing. Joy no thought of man conceiveth, Howsoever deep his lore; None can tell but he who hath it, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

The Bitter Waters. Ex 15:23-15
 …
John Newton—Olney Hymns

Epistle xxvi. To Theoctista, Patrician
To Theoctista, Patrician [1704] Gregory to Theoctista, &c. That your Excellency, though placed in so great a tumult of affairs, is full of the fruitfulness of the sacred word, and incessantly pants after eternal joys, for this I give great thanks to Almighty God, in that in you I see fulfilled what is written of the elect fathers, But the children of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea (Exod. xv. 19). But on the other hand, I am come into the depth of the sea, and the storm hath …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Salvation Published from the Mountains
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid: say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! I t would be improper to propose an alteration, though a slight one, in the reading of a text, without bearing my testimony to the great value of our English version, which I believe, in point of simplicity, strength, and fidelity, is not likely to be excelled by a new translation …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

The Personality of Power.
A Personally Conducted Journey. Everyone enjoys the pleasure of travel; but nearly all shrink back from its tiresomeness and drudgery. The transportation companies are constantly scheming to overcome this disagreeable side for both pleasure and business travel. One of the popular ways of pleasure travel of late is by means of personally conducted tours. A party is formed, often by the railroad company, and is accompanied by a special agent to attend to all the business matters of the trip. A variation …
S.D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on Power

A Description of Heart-Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 The holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity' calls here for heart-purity, and to such as are adorned with this jewel, he promises a glorious and beatifical vision of himself: they shall see God'. Two things are to be explained the nature of purity; the subject of purity. 1 The nature of purity. Purity is a sacred refined thing. It stands diametrically opposed to whatsoever defiles. We must distinguish the various kinds …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Luther's First Preface.
To the "Geystliche Gsangbuechlin, Erstlich zu Wittenberg, und volgend durch Peter schoeffern getruckt, im jar m. d. xxv. Autore Ioanne Walthero." That it is good, and pleasing to God, for us to sing spiritual songs is, I think, a truth whereof no Christian can be ignorant; since not only the example of the prophets and kings of the Old Testament (who praised God with singing and music, poesy and all kind of stringed instruments) but also the like practice of all Christendom from the beginning, …
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—The Hymns of Martin Luther

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

The Publication of the Gospel
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it [or of the preachers] P erhaps no one Psalm has given greater exercise to the skill and patience of commentators and critics, than the sixty-eighth. I suppose the difficulties do not properly belong to the Psalm, but arise from our ignorance of various circumstances to which the Psalmist alludes; which probably were, at that time, generally known and understood. The first verse is the same with the stated form of benediction …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus.
(at Nazareth, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke I. 26-38. ^c 26 Now in the sixth month [this is the passage from which we learn that John was six months older than Jesus] the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth [Luke alone tells us where Mary lived before the birth of Jesus. That Nazareth was an unimportant town is shown by the fact that it is mentioned nowhere in the Old Testament, nor in the Talmud, nor in Josephus, who mentions two hundred four towns and cities of Galilee. The …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jehovah. The "I Am. "
WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his question by the revelation of His name as the "I Am." "And God said unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. iii:14). He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to the fourth Gospel in which the Holy …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

A Case of Conscience Resolved
WHETHER, WHERE A CHURCH OF CHRIST IS SITUATE, IT IS THE DUTY OF THE WOMEN OF THAT CONGREGATION, ORDINARILY, AND BY APPOINTMENT, TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THEIR BRETHREN, AND SO TO ASSEMBLE TOGETHER, TO PERFORM SOME PARTS OF DIVINE WORSHIP, AS PRAYER, ETC., WITHOUT THEIR MEN? AND THE ARGUMENTS MADE USE OF FOR THAT PRACTICE, EXAMINED. BY JOHN BUNYAN. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. This exceedingly rare tract was first published in 1683, and was not reprinted, either separately, or in any edition of Bunyan's …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

'The Waters Saw Thee; they were Afraid'
'And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. 6. And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. 7. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. 8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of the Name of God
Exod. iii. 13, 14.--"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." We are now about this question, What God is. But who can answer it? Or, if answered, who can understand it? It should astonish us in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How those are to be Admonished with whom Everything Succeeds According to their Wish, and those with whom Nothing Does.
(Admonition 27.) Differently to be admonished are those who prosper in what they desire in temporal matters, and those who covet indeed the things that are of this world, but yet are wearied with the labour of adversity. For those who prosper in what they desire in temporal matters are to be admonished, when all things answer to their wishes, lest, through fixing their heart on what is given, they neglect to seek the giver; lest they love their pilgrimage instead of their country; lest they turn …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Return to Capernaum - Healing of the Centurion's Servant.
We are once again in Capernaum. It is remarkable how much, connected not only with the Ministry of Jesus, but with His innermost Life, gathers around that little fishing town. In all probability its prosperity was chiefly due to the neighbouring Tiberias, which Herod Antipas [2583] had built, about ten years previously. Noteworthy is it also, how many of the most attractive characters and incidents in the Gospel-history are connected with that Capernaum, which, as a city, rejected its own real glory, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

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