Throw into a panic הָמַם

We are in chapter fourteen of Exodus with our word for today. הָמַם bring into motion and confusion, disturb, be beside oneself, make noise, move noisily, throw into panic. It is used 11 times in the Old Testament. We see our word used in the sense of causing destruction or undoing. Judges 4:14-15 And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord וַיָּ֣הָם routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. This is the way our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 14:24-25 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a וַיָּ֕הָם panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” We find God doing this very thing on a couple of other occasions with our word. Joshua 10:10 The Lord וַיְהֻמֵּ֤ם threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. 1 Samuel 7:10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines וַיְהֻמֵּ֔ם and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. This is something that God promised to do for his people as part of the blessings of following his commands. Deuteronomy 2:25 This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you. Deuteronomy 28:7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. As New Testament people we have some amazing promises from being in Christ. I’ll close with just a few. Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 1 Peter 1:3-7 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.