H. P. Mansfield Bible notes — checked and arranged in verse-by-verse Expositor style

Source: HPB 02-Gen42-Lev11.pdf, principally Exodus 15 photographed pages 39–40

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

The sighs of bondage become a song of deliverance. Exodus 15 first celebrates Yahweh as Saviour, warrior and incomparable God, then looks forward from Egypt’s defeat to Israel’s future passage among the nations, its planting in Yahweh’s inheritance and Yahweh’s everlasting reign. Revelation 15:3 deliberately reuses the title “the song of Moses the servant of God” alongside the song of the Lamb.

The chapter then changes scene sharply. The people who have just sung magnificently about salvation encounter three days without water and then bitter water at Marah. The juxtaposition is intentional: redeemed people must still learn trust, obedience and dependence on the God who saved them.

MOSES’ SONG OF DELIVERANCE — EXODUS 15:1–18

Exodus 15:1 — “he hath triumphed gloriously”

Moses and Israel sing to Yahweh because the horse and rider have been hurled into the sea. The Hebrew ga’oh ga’ah repeats the same root for emphasis: Yahweh has been highly exalted or has triumphed magnificently. The repetition is poetic intensification, not a hidden numerical construction.

Later songs echo the Exodus pattern, but Revelation 15:3 is the clearest direct canonical reuse: the final victors sing “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”

Exodus 15:2 — “Yah is my strength and song”

Yah is the shortened form of the Divine Name. ‘Oz is strength/might; zimrath is song, praise or music; yeshu‘ah is salvation/deliverance. Mansfield rightly connects the vocabulary of salvation with Yahweh’s saving action, but yeshu‘ah is a noun, not a “feminine passive participle,” and its grammatical gender should not be used to construct a bride theology. The name Yeshua/Jesus is related to the same Hebrew salvation root, but that is an etymological connection rather than the syntax of this verse.

The KJV “I will prepare him an habitation” translates the difficult form ’anvehu. Ancient and modern renderings include “I will praise/glorify him” or “I will beautify/adorn him.” It should not be used as certain evidence that Israel here promises to build the tabernacle.

Exodus 15:3–5 — Yahweh the warrior; Egypt sinks

“Yahweh is a man of war: Yahweh is his name.” The Hebrew is Yahweh ’ish milchamah. The noun ’ish simply means man/person in many contexts; Mansfield’s statement that it is always an exalted or upright man is too strong. Here the phrase presents Yahweh poetically as the Divine warrior acting in righteous deliverance against an armed oppressor.

Pharaoh’s chariots and chosen officers are cast into the sea; the deeps cover them and they sink like stone. The verb yarah in verse 4 can mean throw, cast or shoot; “hurled” suits the violent action better than deriving it primarily from “flow forth.”

Exodus 15:6–10 — Egypt’s “I will” answered by Yahweh’s breath

Yahweh’s right hand represents effective Divine power in salvation and judgment. At the blast/breath of His nostrils the waters heap up, while the enemy boasts, “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil.” The repeated human “I will” is answered by one Divine act: “Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them.” They sink like lead.

The language is poetic but remains grounded in the historical crossing. Psalm 78, Psalm 106 and later prophets repeatedly treat the Exodus as the paradigm of Yahweh’s saving power.

Exodus 15:11 — “Who is like unto thee?”

“Who is like unto thee, O Yahweh, among the gods?” answers Pharaoh’s earlier challenge, “Who is Yahweh?” (Exodus 5:2). The Hebrew ’elim can denote gods or mighty ones. The verse asserts Yahweh’s incomparability; it does not require belief that Egypt’s gods were genuine rival deities.

He is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.” The plagues and sea crossing have shown that no claimed power in Egypt can stand beside Him.

Exodus 15:12–13 — mercy leads the redeemed

Yahweh stretches out His hand and the earth “swallows” the defeated enemy. He then leads the people He has redeemed. Chesed is steadfast love/lovingkindness; ga’al is redeem/reclaim, the root later associated with the kinsman-redeemer. Israel’s deliverance is therefore received mercy, not national self-achievement.

Yahweh guides the redeemed toward His holy habitation. The song already looks beyond escape from Egypt to the destination of covenant fellowship and worship.

Exodus 15:14–18 — nations fear; Yahweh will reign

Philistia, Edom, Moab and the inhabitants of Canaan hear and tremble. Rahab later confirms the historical reputation created by the Red Sea deliverance (Joshua 2:9–10). Fear is to remain upon the nations until Yahweh’s people pass through.

Verse 16 calls Israel the people Yahweh has “purchased.” Qanah can mean acquire, possess or create depending on context; here acquired/purchased people is natural. Verse 17 then looks to their planting in the mountain of Yahweh’s inheritance and His sanctuary. The song reaches its climax in the confession, “Yahweh shall reign for ever and ever.”

MIRIAM AND THE WOMEN — EXODUS 15:19–21

Exodus 15:19–21 — the refrain answered by Miriam

The narrative restates Israel’s dry-ground crossing and Egypt’s destruction. Miriam is called “the prophetess, the sister of Aaron.” She leads the women with timbrels and dancing, answering with the opening refrain: “Sing ye to Yahweh, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” Her role is prophetic praise and communal response, not an independent rival song.

FROM SONG TO TESTING — EXODUS 15:22–27

Exodus 15:22 — three days without water

Moses leads Israel into the wilderness of Shur. After three days without finding water, the triumph of the seashore is tested by ordinary physical need. Mansfield’s numerical use of three can be suggestive devotionally, but the narrative point is deprivation and testing.

Exodus 15:23–24 — Marah and murmuring

At Marah the water is undrinkable because it is bitter; mar is the Hebrew root for bitterness, so the place-name is explained directly by the narrative. The people murmur against Moses, asking what they will drink. Once again need is converted into complaint against the visible leader rather than trust in Yahweh.

Exodus 15:25 — the tree and the test

Moses cries to Yahweh, who shows him an ‘ets, a tree/wood. When it is cast into the waters they become sweet. The text presents an appointed means through which Yahweh transforms the water; it does not identify the species or teach that the wood possessed an independent chemical power.

There Yahweh gives Israel a choq, statute/prescription, and mishpat, ordinance/judgment, and “proved” them. Nasah means test/prove. The wilderness is therefore a school of trust and obedience, not merely a route between Egypt and Canaan.

Exodus 15:26 — “I am Yahweh that healeth thee”

Israel is called to hearken diligently to Yahweh, do what is right, and keep His commandments and statutes. In that covenant context He declares, “I am Yahweh that healeth thee” — Yahweh rof’ekha, Yahweh your healer.

The statement should not be converted into an unconditional promise that faithful people will never become ill. In context it contrasts Israel’s covenant obedience with the judicial diseases/plagues experienced by Egypt and reveals Yahweh as the One able to preserve and restore His people.

Exodus 15:27 — Elim

At Elim Israel finds twelve ‘einot mayim — springs/fountains of water — and seventy palm trees, and camps by the waters. The contrast with Marah is immediate: bitter scarcity is followed by abundant provision. Twelve and seventy later have important associations within Israel, but the chapter itself does not explain the numbers symbolically.

THE NAME DRAMATISED IN DELIVERANCE

Mansfield’s inserted study is strongest when it observes that the Exodus displays the character later proclaimed in Exodus 34:6–7: mercy and grace toward the redeemed, together with righteous judgment upon persistent guilt. The Name revealed at the bush is not merely pronounced; its character is demonstrated in history.

PRINCIPAL THEMES

• Salvation properly produces praise directed to the Saviour.

• Human boasting collapses before Yahweh’s sovereign action.

• The Exodus answers Pharaoh’s “Who is Yahweh?” with “Who is like unto thee?”

• Steadfast love leads a redeemed people toward inheritance and sanctuary.

• The Song of Moses looks beyond rescue to Yahweh’s everlasting reign.

• Victory is followed immediately by testing in the wilderness.

• Yahweh can transform bitterness through the means He appoints.

• Yahweh reveals Himself as Israel’s healer within a covenant of obedient hearing.

EDITORIAL VERIFICATION AND RECOVERED READINGS

RESIDUAL UNCERTAINTIES

Several poetic forms in the Song are rare or compact, especially ’anvehu in verse 2. The exact symbolic force of Elim’s twelve springs and seventy palms is not stated by the chapter. Mansfield’s elaborate chronological reconstruction of the weekday of the Red Sea crossing and some grammatical arguments linking feminine salvation forms to the Bride have not been treated as established readings.