Exodus 14 is not simply a story about water being divided. It is the story of an enslaved people pursued by an empire that cannot imagine its economy without their labour. Pharaoh has permitted Israel to leave, but he has not released his claim over their bodies, labour and future.

The passage holds together different memories of deliverance. The cloud moves behind the people, separating them from the army. Moses stretches out his hand, while the east wind drives back the sea. Cloud, darkness, wind, land and water all participate in liberation.

The sea is not Israel’s enemy. Pharaoh is. What appears to be a barrier becomes a passage. The chariots—the military technology of empire—cannot carry Pharaoh’s power into the future God is opening. The appearance of dry land also echoes creation: through the waters, a people are brought into new life. Yet the bodies on the shore prevent easy celebration. Liberation is not delight in another people’s death. Nor may powerful nations take this story, call themselves Israel, and use God to justify violence or dispossession. Miriam’s song declares that domination is not eternal. But those who cross the sea must not become another Pharaoh.

Hearing the Word

Israel stands at the edge of the sea. Behind them are Pharaoh’s chariots. Before them is water. There is no bridge, no boat, no visible passage. The people believe the sea has trapped them. But perhaps they are looking in the wrong direction. The sea has not enslaved Israel. The sea has not taken their labour. The sea has not ordered the killing of their children. The sea is not their enemy. Pharaoh is.

Pharaoh has allowed the people to leave, but he still believes they belong to him. Their bodies, labour and future remain his property. Empire does not release easily. We know this in many parts of the world people may be politically free while still living under economic, racial, cultural or ecological forms of domination.

Land, forests, rivers and oceans are still treated as empty spaces waiting to be occupied, extracted or controlled. Human beings are still reduced to labour, consumers, migrants, statistics or collateral damage. Even Scripture can be captured by empire. A story of liberation can be turned into a story that blesses conquest. A promised land can become an excuse for taking somebody else’s land. God can be placed upon a flag, weapon or development plan. And perhaps therein lies the rub. We may escape one Pharaoh while carrying Pharaoh’s ways of thinking within us.

God does not remain safely on the shore. The cloud moves into the space between the people and the army. Darkness falls. The wind blows through the night. The Hebrew word ruach can mean wind, breath and spirit. Cloud, darkness, wind, land and water participate in God’s work of liberation. The sea is not empty scenery. It becomes passage. What looked like the end becomes the place where new life begins.

The living waters are not passive objects waiting for human use. They sustain, connect, warn, nourish and remember. They are part of the community of creation through which God’s life moves. The ocean teaches me this. Lifted towards the sky one moment and hidden between ocean mountains the next, I am reminded that I am not in control. We are part of creation, not masters standing above it.

The people reach the other shore. The chariots do not. Miriam takes her tambourine. The women dance. Those whose cries were controlled by Pharaoh recover their rhythm, their movement and their song. But we must sing carefully. We do not celebrate bodies in the water. We celebrate that slavery, violence and the machinery of domination do not have the final word. Pharaoh is not eternal.

Israel crosses out of Egypt in one night. But it will take much longer for Egypt to cross out of Israel. That is also the work of decolonisation: removing Pharaoh from our politics, economies, churches, homes and relationships with creation. We cannot pray for living waters while poisoning rivers, destroying forests, heating the ocean or treating vulnerable communities as expendable. We cannot sing Miriam’s song while silencing women. We cannot celebrate liberation while denying it to others.

God opens a passage towards freedom. But those who cross must learn to live without chariots—to walk gently, protect life, resist domination and build communities of justice and peace. The ocean is not empty space between us. The rivers, lakes, wetlands and seas are not merely resources around us. The waters are part of us.

The ocean is us.

Living the Word: Suggestions for action
Listen to the living waters
 Gather beside a river, lake, wetland, spring, shoreline or community water source. Begin with silence.
 Listen to the water, wind, birds and people whose lives depend upon that place.

Ask:
 What is happening on the surface?
 What deeper ecological, economic or political currents are moving
underneath?
 What are the living waters saying to us?
Name today’s chariots
 Identify the forces threatening people and creation in your context. These may include pollution, fossil-fuel extraction, destructive mining, deforestation, industrial agriculture, water privatisation, militarisation, uncontrolled development or decisions made without the consent of affected communities.
 Do not name only the damage.
 Name the systems, decisions and interests causing it.
Examine the Pharaoh within Decolonisation is not only about opposing powers outside us. It also requires examining the habits of domination within our churches and communities.
 Whose voices are missing?
 Who controls decisions?
 Where do status, race, gender, wealth or position determine who is heard?
 Where have we treated water, land and other creatures as property rather than members of the wider community of creation?

Map a passage towards life

 Undertake a participatory assessment of your community’s vulnerability and resilience.
 Look beyond the church building.
 Include homes, water sources, food systems, ecosystems, livelihoods, cultural places, health services, evacuation routes and the needs of those most at risk.
 Identify one practical pathway the church can help open.

Stand in the space between
 Choose one way for the congregation to stand between vulnerable
communities and the machinery threatening them.
 This may involve protecting a water source, restoring an ecosystem,
supporting displaced families, opposing a destructive project, reducing fossil-fuel dependence or advocating for stronger climate action.

Recover Miriam’s song
 Invite women, children, Indigenous peoples, migrants and others whose voices are often pushed to the edges to lead a song, prayer, poem, testimony or movement of liberation.
 Let the final word belong neither to Pharaoh nor to fear.
 Let it belong to the God of life—and to a people crossing together towards freedom without becoming another Pharaoh.

Reflection Notes by Rev. James Shri Bhagwan – Fiji, Pacific Conference of Churches