Some of you may wonder why the Lord did not close up the way behind them, after they were all in, so that Pharaoh and his hosts would be compelled to stay back.  But God knew best.  He is wiser than men.  He allowed the Egyptian army to enter.  They followed just as close behind the Israelites as the Lord would let them come.  The way was still open, and Pharaoh, no doubt, thought the way as free for him, and quite as safe too, as for Moses.  His intention was to slaughter the whole camp of Israel as soon as his army got through.  But see how he failed!  The salvation of Moses was the destruction of Pharaoh.  When the children of Israel had all reached the land in safety they ascended the hills on the shore to look back at the long train of Pharaoh’s host.  But what did their eyes behold!  All at once the walls of water broke down; and the sea closed over them.

It seems strange to us now that Pharaoh would venture to follow the Israelites.  We now think he might have known it would prove his own destruction.  But this is one example of the folly of which Satan is always guilty.  At the very time he thinks victory is within his grasp disappointment and defeat overtake him.  Let me show you another instance of this.

For some time he had been plotting the destruction of our Lord Jesus Christ.  One time he tried to have him cast down a very steep place on the side of a hill.  But he failed.  At another time he tried to have him stoned to death.  But the Lord escaped out of his hands.  At last, however, he succeeded in having him put to death.  He entered into the heart of a man by the name of Judas, and made arrangements with him to betray our Lord into the hands of his enemies.  The plot was successful, and when Satan saw our Lord expiring on the cross he felt jubilant over the victory he had gained, in the belief that he had now rid the world of its most dangerous foe to his kingdom.  But you see how it turned out.  The resurrection and glorification of our Lord have given such a deathblow to Satan’s power that, after awhile, the eyes of all heaven will see that old Serpent, the devil, and Satan cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

After the children of Israel all got through the Red Sea they formed a camp on its eastern shore, and each family prepared the food they had brought with them to eat.  But the supply soon gave out, and as there was none to be had in the desert where they were encamped they began to fear that they must all starve.  They complained to Moses, and he carried their complaints to the Lord.  Very soon the manna began to fall in abundance.

THE MANNA.

This was a kind of bread which fell all over the ground at night, and looked like hoar-frost.  They gathered it every morning, except the morning of the Sabbath day.  It was just what they needed to satisfy their hunger and impart health and strength to their bodies.