Who Is Like You, LORD?
Devotional for September 26 · Exodus 15:11 · 12-minute read
1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea. 2The 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. 3The LORD is a warrior, the LORD is His name. 4Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. 5The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone. 6Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy. 7You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble. 8At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. 9The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’ 10But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders? 12You stretched out Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them up. 13With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling. 14The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia. 15Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away, 16and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by. 17You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance— the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established. 18The LORD will reign forever and ever!”
Context
Exodus 15 begins on the shore of the Red Sea, right after the crossing. The people who the night before were crying out in fear are now singing. This song, known as the Song of Moses, is considered by many scholars one of the oldest poems in the Bible. It is sung by Moses and the Israelites (v. 1) and echoed by Miriam, a prophetess and Aaron's sister, who leads the women with tambourines and dancing (v. 20-21).
The song has two parts. The first looks back and celebrates what God did at the sea (v. 1-12). The second looks ahead and announces what he will do: lead the people he redeemed to his holy dwelling (v. 13-18). In the ancient world, each people had its gods, and Egypt had many. The question in v. 11, “Who among the gods is like You, O LORD?”, is a confession that no power compares to the God of Israel.
What the text says
- v. 2: The praise is personal: “The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.” The people are not speaking of a distant god, but of a salvation they lived through.
- v. 11: God is described as “majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders.” Holiness appears joined to the power to act.
- v. 13: The same song that speaks of wrath speaks of “loving devotion”: God leads “the people You have redeemed.” In the text, holiness and love are not opposed.
Reflection
Shortly after seeing the sea close, Israel does something that seems simple but is decisive: they name what happened. Instead of just feeling relief, the people turn the experience into sung memory. This matters because, as the chapter itself shows, three days later they would be grumbling about water at Marah (v. 22-24). Memory is fragile. Praise is a way of fixing in the heart who God is, so that the next crisis does not erase what he has already done.
At the center of the song is a question that expects no answer: “Who among the gods is like You, O LORD?” In the Bible, holy does not mean only morally pure. The Hebrew word carries the idea of set apart, different, beyond comparison. To say that God is holy is to say that he is not a bigger version of us, nor a resource for our plans. In Egypt, Pharaoh was seen as a son of the gods, and his army was the greatest force in the region. Before the God of Israel, all of that sank “like lead in the mighty waters” (v. 10).
But God's holiness does not make him distant. Verse 13 uses a rich expression: “loving devotion.” It translates the Hebrew word chesed, which speaks of a committed love, faithful to the covenant, a love that does not give up. The incomparable God is the same one who guides his people like a shepherd. He redeemed, that is, set free by paying the price; v. 16 speaks of “the people You have bought.” This vocabulary prepares for what the New Testament will say about Jesus, who gave his life as a ransom for many.
In Revelation, John sees the victors singing “the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb” (Rev 15:3). The New Testament explicitly links this song to final salvation in Christ, and the same question echoes there: “Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?” The praise of Exodus 15 is the beginning of a song that only ends in eternity.
Maybe you are in a season when praising seems hard. The text does not ask you to fake joy. It shows that praise is born from looking carefully at what God has done. For the Christian, the greatest parted sea is the cross and the empty tomb; start there. Then remember one concrete deliverance, small or great, and give it a name before God. Whoever learns to sing on the shore of the sea is better prepared to trust in the desert that comes next.
Connections
- Revelation 15:3-4 (stated in the text): The redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, linking the deliverance at the sea to final salvation.
- Psalms 86:8 (cross-reference): The psalmist takes up the confession of Exodus 15:11: among the gods there is none like the Lord.
- Isaiah 6:3 (editorial reading): Our own thematic link: the holiness Israel sang about on the seashore is the same holiness Isaiah beholds in the temple.
To apply
- Heart: have I been treating God as incomparable, or as one more resource for my plans?
- Relationships: with whom can I share a story today of what God has done, as Miriam did with the women?
- Today: write down three concrete deliverances God has already given you and read the list out loud as a prayer of praise.
Prayer
Lord, there is no one like you. You are holy, glorious, and faithful in your loving devotion; the sea obeyed your voice and the mighty could not resist your hand. I confess that I quickly forget what you have done and complain in the first desert. Forgive my short memory and my ungrateful heart. Teach me to sing of your works, to tell others what I have seen, and to trust you on the next stretch of the road. In Jesus' name, Amen.
To memorize: Exodus 15:11
Today's step: In the next 24 hours, tell someone one concrete thing God has done for you, simply and without exaggeration.
To go deeper: read Exodus 14–15 and get to know The Exodus.