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From: Exodus 14:5-18

The Egyptians in Pursuit

[5] When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pha-
roah and his servants was changed toward people, and they said, “What is this
we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” [6] So he made ready
his chariot and took his army with him [7] and took six hundred picked chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. [8] And the Lord
hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the people of Israel
as they went forth defiantly. [9] The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s hor-
ses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped
at the sea, by Pi-ha-hiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

[10] When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and be-
hold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were in great fear. And
the people of Israel cried out to the Lord; “and they said to Moses, “Is it because
there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
What have you done to us, in bringing us out of Egypt? [12] Is not this what we
said to you in Egypt. ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would
have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” [13]
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the
Lord which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you
shall never see again. [14] The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still.”

Crossing the Red Sea

[15] The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to
go forward. [16] Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide
it, that the people of Israel may go on dry ground through the sea. [17] And I will
harden the heart of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get
glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horse men. [18] And the
Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh,
his chariots, and his horsemen.”

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Commentary:

14:10-14. The Egyptians get so close that the Israelites are terrified; this produ-
ces their first crisis of faith: the liberty they seek means giving up a quiet life in
Egypt. Moses begins to reveal himself not just as a charismatic leader but as a
mediator between the people and God. The words of v. 13 underlie the theological
virtue of hope: God is the one who acts, man has to stand firm in faith; he has no
reason to fear. As the Letter to the Hebrews teaches, Jesus is the model of faith-
fulness and hope: “Therefore [...] let us run with perseverance the race that is set
before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated
at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:12)

14:17-18. The military language and the depiction of God as a warrior should
cause no surprise: it is a daring anthropomorphism which shows that God is al-
mighty and therefore can deliver the elect from any danger that threatens: “You,
too, if you distance yourself from the Egyptians and flee far from the power of
demons,” Origen comments, “will see what great helps will be provided to you
each day and what great protection is available to you. All that is asked of you
is that you stand firm in the faith and do not let yourself be terrified by either the
Egyptian cavalry or the noise of their chariots” (”Homiliae in Exodum”, 5, 4).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Matthew 12:38-42

The Sign of Jonah

[38] Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him (Jesus), “Teacher, we
wish to see a sign from you.” [39] But he answered them, “An evil and adulte-
rous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign
of the prophet Jonah. [40] For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the
belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. [41] The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this
generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and
behold, something greater than Jonah is here. [42] The queen of the South will
arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from
the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something
greater than Solomon is here.”

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Commentary:

39-40. This sign the Jews were asking for would have been a miracle or some
other prodigy; they wanted Jesus, incongruously, to confirm his preaching —
given with such simplicity—by dramatic signs. Our Lord replies by announcing
the mystery of his death and resurrection, using the parallel of the case of Jo-
nah: “No sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Jesus’
glorious resurrection is the “sign” “par excellence”, the decisive proof of the di-
vine character of his person, of his mission and of his teaching.

When St. Paul (1 Cor 14:3-4) confesses that Jesus Christ “was raised on the
third day in accordance with the scriptures” (words which later found their way
into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Creed used in the Mass), he
must have had this passage particularly in mind. We can see another allusion
to Jonah in the words our Lord spoke shortly before his ascension: “Thus it is
written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead”
(Lk 24:45-46).

41-42. Nineveh was a city in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) to which the prophet
Jonah was sent. The Ninevites did penance (Jn 3:6-9) because they recognized
the prophet and accepted his message; whereas Jerusalem does not wish to
recognize Jesus, of whom Jonah was merely a figure. The queen of the South
was the queen of Sheba in southwestern Arabia, who visited Solomon (1 Kings
10:1-10) and was in awe of the wisdom with which God had endowed the King
of Israel. Jesus is also prefigured in Solomon, whom Jewish tradition saw as
the epitome of the wise man. Jesus’ reproach is accentuated by the example
of pagan converts, and gives us a glimpse of the universal scope of Christianity,
which will take root among the Gentiles.

There is a certain irony in what Jesus says about “something greater” than Jo-
nah or Solomon having coming: really, he is infinitely greater, but Jesus prefers
to tone down the difference between himself and any figure, no matter how im-
portant, in the Old Testament.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.