thyself," and the earth retorted, "Keep those whom thou hast slain."
The sea hesitated to do as the earth bade, for fear that God would
demand them back on the day of judgement; and the earth
hesitated, because it remembered with terror the curse that had
been pronounced upon it for having sucked up Abel's blood. Only
after God swore and oath, not to punish it for receiving the corpses
of the Egyptians, would the earth swallow them. [56]

THE SONG AT THE SEA

Mighty is faith, for the spirit of God came upon the Israelites as a
reward for their trust in God, and in His servant Moses; and it was
in this exaltation that they sang to the Lord a song [57] that moved
Him to grant forgiveness for all their sins. [58] This song was the
second of the nine songs that in the course of history of Israel sang
to their God. They assembled to sing the first in Egypt, on the
night when they were freed from captivity; their second was the
song of triumph by the Red Sea; their third, when the well sprang
up in the wilderness; Moses sang the fourth before his death; the
fifth was Joshua's song after his victory over the five Amorite
Kings; Deborah and Barak sang the sixth when they conquered
Sisera; the seventh was David's psalm of thanksgiving to God for
his deliverance out of the hand of all his enemies; the eighth was
Solomon's song at the dedication of the Temple; the ninth
Jehoshaphat sang as, trusting in God, he went to battle against the
Moabites and the Ammonites. The tenth and last song, however,
will be that grand and mighty song, when Israel will raise their
voice in triumph at their future deliverance, for that will be the
final release of Israel for all time. [59]