Micah.

A contemporary of Hosea was the prophet Micah. He prophesied to the kingdom of Judah (just to the south) a short time after the prophecy recorded in Hosea 2. He too follows the pattern that we noticed in Hosea. In talking about the Exile, he uses the language of the Exodus.

“As in the days when you came out of Egypt,
I will show them my wonders.’
Nations will see and be ashamed,
deprived of all their power.
They will lay their hands on their mouths
and their ears will become deaf.
They will lick dust like a snake,
like creatures that crawl on the ground.
They will come trembling out of their dens;
they will turn in fear to the LORD our God
and will be afraid of you.
Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
You will be true to Jacob,
and show mercy to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our fathers
in days long ago.”
Micah 7:15-20

Did you notice the word “again” in the above passage? “You will again have compassion on us.” “Again” combined with “As in the days when you came out of Egypt,” makes it clear that this is talking about a “New Exodus” which will be modeled on the first Exodus out of Egypt.

The principle of “spiritualizing the type” is very strong in this passage. The new Exodus will be as much spiritual as literal. God’s purpose for the New Exodus is to forgive His people and to restore their hearts to Him. He’s not primarily interested in having a nation with political power on His side. God is interested in a spiritual relationship with His people. He is not satisfied with merely a “name” relationship. He wants a heart relationship of genuine intimacy. In that sense this Exodus will transcend the previous one.

In Micah 7 the Exile and Return are once again described in terms of a New Exodus. But instead of the Red Sea, we have the “depths of the sea.” The sea here is not a physical barrier that will be physically divided, it is the place where they leave their sins behind. Micah prophesies that they will leave their sins and transgressions in Babylon and when they come back home, they are going to be faithful to God. So the prophecy of the Exile builds on the language of the Exodus in a spiritual way.

Isaiah.

Isaiah prophesied just a few years after Hosea and Micah. He too describes the Exile in the language of the Exodus.

“The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
over the Euphrates River.
He will break it up into seven streams
so that men can cross over in sandals.
There will be a highway for the remnant of his people
that is left from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from Egypt.”
Isaiah 11:15-16

In this text it is the Euphrates River that functions as a parallel to the Red Sea of the Exodus. A highway of return from Assyria would cross over the Euphrates River. It will be a New Exodus all over again. When Israel comes out of captivity it will pass through the Euphrates River in a way similar to the way Israel passed through the Red Sea.

Do you remember the principle that God is consistent? What God did for His people in Egypt, He will do again when they return from the Exile. Isaiah uses the language of the past to describe the future. But that isn’t all that is going on here. The Exile can be described in terms of the Exodus but God is not bound to the entire pattern. Did Israel actually return from Assyria? No. By the time of the Exile, Israel was no longer in existence. Only Judah was left. Assyria was also destroyed and Babylon has become the new superpower. Not only that, did the remnant of God’s people actually pass through the Euphrates River in sandals? No, there were bridges across the Euphrates River right in the city of Babylon. How do you explain the anomalies in this prophecy? God meets people where they are. At the time Isaiah was written, Israel had not yet been destroyed and Assyria still ruled the territory of Babylon. So the prophecy was given in the context of the time, place and circumstances of Isaiah’s day. When the fulfillment came circumstances had altered the case.

The Euphrates River did dry up, however. That happened when Cyrus, king of Persia, came and surrounded Babylon. Since Babylon’s walls seemed too difficult to take by siege Cyrus tried to find some way to get around its defenses. He did that by diverting the Euphrates River–drying up its waters–and marching his soldiers along the river bed, under the walls, into the city. In principle the Exodus happened again, but many details were different this time. God is consistent but He is not predictable. He meets people where they are at each stage of the historical drama.

Another text in Isaiah takes a slight turn from the previous one. It begins with the language of the Exodus again, but then shifts to something new.

“This is what the LORD says–
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
‘Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.’”
Isaiah 43:16-19

In this passage the Exodus still provides the model for the return from exile. There are references to passing through the waters, and the destruction of chariots, horses and armies. But the event to come is also a new thing that will transcend the Exodus. The past provides the language for the future, but once again God is creative and the fulfillment is not bound to the pattern in every detail.