19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
19 And the angel H4397 of God, H430 which went H1980 before H6440 the camp H4264 of Israel, H3478 removed H5265 and went H3212 behind H310 them; and the pillar H5982 of the cloud H6051 went H5265 from before their face, H6440 and stood H5975 behind H310 them:
20 And it came H935 between the camp H4264 of the Egyptians H4714 and the camp H4264 of Israel; H3478 and it was a cloud H6051 and darkness H2822 to them, but it gave light H215 by night H3915 to these: so that the one came not near H7126 the other H2088 all the night. H3915
21 And Moses H4872 stretched out H5186 his hand H3027 over the sea; H3220 and the LORD H3068 caused the sea H3220 to go H3212 back by a strong H5794 east H6921 wind H7307 all that night, H3915 and made H7760 the sea H3220 dry H2724 land, and the waters H4325 were divided. H1234
22 And the children H1121 of Israel H3478 went H935 into the midst H8432 of the sea H3220 upon the dry H3004 ground: and the waters H4325 were a wall H2346 unto them on their right hand, H3225 and on their left. H8040
23 And the Egyptians H4714 pursued, H7291 and went in H935 after H310 them to the midst H8432 of the sea, H3220 even all Pharaoh's H6547 horses, H5483 his chariots, H7393 and his horsemen. H6571
24 And it came to pass, that in the morning H1242 watch H821 the LORD H3068 looked H8259 unto the host H4264 of the Egyptians H4714 through the pillar H5982 of fire H784 and of the cloud, H6051 and troubled H2000 the host H4264 of the Egyptians, H4714
25 And took off H5493 their chariot H4818 wheels, H212 that they drave H5090 them heavily: H3517 so that the Egyptians H4714 said, H559 Let us flee H5127 from the face H6440 of Israel; H3478 for the LORD H3068 fighteth H3898 for them against the Egyptians. H4714
26 And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto Moses, H4872 Stretch out H5186 thine hand H3027 over the sea, H3220 that the waters H4325 may come again H7725 upon the Egyptians, H4714 upon their chariots, H7393 and upon their horsemen. H6571
27 And Moses H4872 stretched forth H5186 his hand H3027 over the sea, H3220 and the sea H3220 returned H7725 to his strength H386 when the morning H1242 appeared; H6437 and the Egyptians H4714 fled H5127 against H7125 it; and the LORD H3068 overthrew H5287 the Egyptians H4714 in the midst H8432 of the sea. H3220
28 And the waters H4325 returned, H7725 and covered H3680 the chariots, H7393 and the horsemen, H6571 and all the host H2428 of Pharaoh H6547 that came H935 into the sea H3220 after H310 them; there remained H7604 not so much as H5704 one H259 of them.
29 But the children H1121 of Israel H3478 walked H1980 upon dry H3004 land in the midst H8432 of the sea; H3220 and the waters H4325 were a wall H2346 unto them on their right hand, H3225 and on their left. H8040
19 And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them:
20 and it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and the one came not near the other all the night.
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go `back' by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Jehovah looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians.
25 And he took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
26 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them.
29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
19 And the messenger of God, who is going before the camp of Israel, journeyeth and goeth at their rear; and the pillar of the cloud journeyeth from their front, and standeth at their rear,
20 and cometh in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and the cloud and the darkness are, and he enlighteneth the night, and the one hath not drawn near unto the other all the night.
21 And Moses stretcheth out his hand towards the sea, and Jehovah causeth the sea to go on by a strong east wind all the night, and maketh the sea become dry ground, and the waters are cleaved,
22 and the sons of Israel go into the midst of the sea, on dry land, and the waters `are' to them a wall, on their right and on their left.
23 And the Egyptians pursue, and go in after them (all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen) unto the midst of the sea,
24 and it cometh to pass, in the morning watch, that Jehovah looketh unto the camp of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubleth the camp of the Egyptians,
25 and turneth aside the wheels of their chariots, and they lead them with difficulty, and the Egyptians say, `Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah is fighting for them against the Egyptians.'
26 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Stretch out thy hand toward the sea, and the waters turn back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.'
27 And Moses stretcheth out his hand towards the sea, and the sea turneth back, at the turning of the morning, to its perennial flow, and the Egyptians are fleeing at its coming, and Jehovah shaketh off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea,
28 and the waters turn back, and cover the chariots and the horsemen, even all the force of Pharaoh, who are coming in after them into the sea -- there hath not been left of them even one.
29 And the sons of Israel have gone on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters `are' to them a wall, on their right and on their left;
19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before them, and stood behind them.
20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and was a cloud and darkness, and lit up the night; and the one did not come near the other all the night.
21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah made the sea go [back] by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry [land], and the waters were divided.
22 And the children of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry [ground]; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
23 And the Egyptians pursued and came after them -- all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen, into the midst of the sea.
24 And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Jehovah looked upon the camp of the Egyptians, in the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and embarrassed the camp of the Egyptians.
25 And he took off their chariot wheels, and caused them to drive with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, Let us flee before Israel, for Jehovah is fighting for them against the Egyptians!
26 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may return upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.
27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength toward the morning; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overturned the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.
28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the host of Pharaoh that had come into the sea after them; there remained not even one of them.
29 And the children of Israel walked on dry [ground] through the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
19 The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them.
20 It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and the one didn't come near the other all the night.
21 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
22 The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea: all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 It happened in the morning watch, that Yahweh looked out on the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and confused the Egyptian army.
25 He took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, "Let's flee from the face of Israel, for Yahweh fights for them against the Egyptians!"
26 Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen."
27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it. Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh's army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
29 But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
19 Then the angel of God, who had been before the tents of Israel, took his place at their back; and the pillar of cloud, moving from before them, came to rest at their back:
20 And it came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel; and there was a dark cloud between them, and they went on through the night; but the one army came no nearer to the other all the night.
21 And when Moses' hand was stretched out over the sea, the Lord with a strong east wind made the sea go back all night, and the waters were parted in two and the sea became dry land.
22 And the children of Israel went through the sea on dry land: and the waters were a wall on their right side and on their left.
23 Then the Egyptians went after them into the middle of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses and his war-carriages and his horsemen.
24 And in the morning watch, the Lord, looking out on the armies of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, sent trouble on the army of the Egyptians;
25 And made the wheels of their war-carriages stiff, so that they had hard work driving them: so the Egyptians said, Let us go in flight from before the face of Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.
26 And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out over the sea, and the waters will come back again on the Egyptians, and on their war-carriages and on their horsemen.
27 And when Moses' hand was stretched out over the sea, at dawn the sea came flowing back, meeting the Egyptians in their flight, and the Lord sent destruction on the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.
28 And the waters came back, covering the war-carriages and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh which went after them into the middle of the sea; not one of them was to be seen.
29 But the children of Israel went through the sea walking on dry land, and the waters were a wall on their right side and on their left.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 14
Commentary on Exodus 14 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea; Destruction of Pharaoh and His Army. - Exodus 14:1, Exodus 14:2. At Etham God commanded the Israelites to turn ( שׁוּב ) and encamp by the sea, before Pihachiroth , between Migdol and the sea, before Baalzephon , opposite to it. In Numbers 33:7, the march is described thus: on leaving Etham they turned up to ( על ) Pihachiroth , which is before ( על־פּני( e in the front of) Baalzephon , and encamped before Migdol . The only one of these places that can be determined with any certainty is Pihachiroth , or Hachiroth (Numbers 33:8, pi being simply the Egyptian article), which name has undoubtedly been preserved in the Ajrud mentioned by Edrisi in the middle of the twelfth century. At present this is simply a fort, which a well 250 feet deep, the water of which is so bitter, however, that camels can hardly drink it. It stands on the pilgrim road from Kahira to Mecca, four hours' journey to the north-west of Suez (vid., Robinson, Pal. i. p. 65). A plain, nearly ten miles long and about as many broad, stretches from Ajrud to the sea to the west of Suez, and from the foot of Atâkah to the arm of the sea on the north of Suez (Robinson, Pal. i. 65). This plain most probably served the Israelites as a place of encampment, so that they encamped before, i.e., to the east of, Ajrud towards the sea. The other places just also be sought in the neighbourhood of Hachiroth (Ajrud), though no traces of them have been discovered yet. Migdol cannot be the Migdol twelve Roman miles to the south of Pelusium, which formed the north-eastern boundary of Egypt (Ezekiel 29:10), for according to Numbers 33:7, Israel encamped before Migdol; nor is it to be sought for in the hill and mountain-pass called Montala by Burckhardt , el Muntala by Robinson (pp. 63, 64), two hours' journey to the northwest of Ajrud , as Knobel supposes, for this hill lies too far to the west, and when looked at from the sea is almost behind Ajrud ; so that the expression “encamping before Migdol” does not suit this situation, not to mention the fact that a tower ( מגדּל ) does not indicate a watch-tower ( מצפּה ). Migdol was probably to the south of Ajrud , on one of the heights of the Atâkah, and near it, though more to the south-east, Baalzephon ( locus Typhonis ), which Michaelis and Forster suppose to be Heroopolis , whilst Knobel places it on the eastern shore, and others to the south of Hachiroth. If Israel therefore did not go straight into the desert from Etham, on the border of the desert, but went southwards into the plain of Suez, to the west of the head of the Red Sea, they were obliged to bend round, i.e., “to turn” from the road they had taken first. The distance from Etham to the place of encampment at Hachiroth must be at least a six hours' journey (a tolerable day's journey, therefore, for a whole nation), as the road from Suez to Ajrud takes four hours (Robinson, i. p. 66).
This turn in their route was not out of the way for the passage through the Red Sea; but apart from this, it was not only out of the way, but a very foolish way, according to human judgment. God commanded Moses to take this road, that He might be honoured upon Pharaoh, and show the Egyptians that He was Jehovah (cf. Exodus 14:30, Exodus 14:31). Pharaoh would say of the Israelites, They have lost their way; they are wandering about in confusion; the desert has shut them in, as in a prison upon which the door is shut ( על סנר as in Job 12:14); and in his obduracy he would resolve to go after them with his army, and bring them under his sway again.
Exodus 14:4-9
When it was announced that Israel had fled, “ the heart of Pharaoh and his servants turned against the people, ” and they repented that they had let them go. When and whence the information came, we are not told. The common opinion, that it was brought after the Israelites changed their route, has no foundation in the text. For the change in Pharaoh's feelings towards the Israelites, and his regret that he had let them go, were caused not by their supposed mistake, but by their flight. Now the king and his servants regarded the exodus as a flight, as soon as they recovered from the panic caused by the death of the first-born, and began to consider the consequences of the permission given to the people to leave his service. This may have occurred as early as the second day after the exodus. In that case, Pharaoh would have had time to collect chariots and horsemen, and overtake the Israelites at Hachiroth, as they could easily perform the same journey in two days, or one day and a half, to which the Israelites had taken more than three. “ He yoked his chariot (had it yoked, cf. 1 Kings 6:14), and took his people (i.e., his warriors) with him, ” viz., “ six hundred chosen war chariots (Exodus 14:7), and all the chariots of Egypt ” (sc., that he could get together in the time), and “ royal guards upon them all .” שׁלשׁים , τριστάται , tristatae qui et terni statores vocantur, nomen est secundi gradus post regiam dignitatem (Jerome on Ezekiel 23:23), not charioteers (see my Com. on 1 Kings 9:22). According to Exodus 14:9, the army raised by Pharaoh consisted of chariot horses ( רכב סוּס ), riding horses ( פּרשׁים , lit., runners, 1 Kings 5:6), and חיל , the men belonging to them. War chariots and cavalry were always the leading force of the Egyptians (cf. Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 36:9). Three times (Exodus 14:4, Exodus 14:8, and Exodus 14:17) it is stated that Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he pursued the Israelites, to show that God had decreed this hardening, to glorify Himself in the judgment and death of the proud king, who would not honour God, the Holy One, in his life. “ And the children of Israel were going out with a high hand: ” Exodus 14:8. is a conditional clause in the sense of, “although they went out” ( Ewald , §341). רמה יד , the high hand, is the high hand of Jehovah with the might which it displayed (Isaiah 26:11), not the armed hand of the Israelites. This is the meaning also in Numbers 33:3; it is different in Numbers 15:30. The very fact that Pharaoh did not discern the lifting up of Jehovah's hand in the exodus of Israel displayed the hardening of his heart. “ Beside Pihachiroth: ” see Exodus 14:2.
When the Israelites saw the advancing army of the Egyptians, they were greatly alarmed; for their situation to human eyes was a very unfortunate one. Shut in on the east by the sea, on the south and west by high mountains, and with the army of the Egyptians behind them, destruction seemed inevitable, since they were neither outwardly armed nor inwardly prepared for a successful battle. Although they cried unto the Lord, they had no confidence in His help, notwithstanding all the previous manifestation so the fidelity of the true God; they therefore gave vent to the despair of their natural heart in complaints against Moses, who had brought them out of the servitude of Egypt to give them up to die in the desert. “ Hast thou, because there were no graves at all ( אין מבּלי , a double negation to give emphasis) in Egypt, fetched us to die in the desert? ” Their further words in Exodus 14:12 exaggerated the true state of the case from cowardly despair. For it was only when the oppression increased, after Moses' first interview with Pharaoh, that they complained of what Moses had done (Exodus 5:21), whereas at first they accepted his proposals most thankfully (Exodus 4:31), and even afterwards implicitly obeyed his directions.
Moses met their unbelief and fear with the energy of strong faith, and promised them such help from the Lord, that they would never see again the Egyptians, whom they had seen that day. ראיתם אשׁר does not mean ὅν τρόπον ἑωράκατε (lxx), quemadmodum vidistis (Ros., Kn.); but the sentence is inverted: “The Egyptians, whom ye have seen to-day, ye will never see again.”
“ Jehovah will fight for you ( לכם , dat comm.), but you will be silent, ” i.e., keep quiet, and not complain any more (cf. Genesis 34:5).
The words of Jehovah to Moses, “ What criest thou to Me? ” imply that Moses had appealed to God for help, or laid the complaints of the people before Him, and do not convey any reproof, but merely an admonition to resolute action. The people were to move forward, and Moses was to stretch out his hand with his staff over the sea and divide it, so that the people might go through the midst on dry ground. Exodus 14:17 and Exodus 14:18 repeat the promise in Exodus 14:3, Exodus 14:4. The command and promise were followed by immediate help (Exodus 14:19-29). Whilst Moses divided the water with his staff, and thus prepared the way, the angel of God removed from before the Israelites, and placed himself behind them as a defence against the Egyptians, who were following them. “ Upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen ” (Exodus 14:17), is in apposition to “ all his host; ” as Pharaoh's army consisted entirely of chariots and horsemen (cf. Exodus 14:18).
“ And it was the cloud and the darkness (sc., to the Egyptians), and lighted up the night (sc., to the Israelites).” Fuit nubes partim lucida et partim tenebricosa, ex una parte tenebricosa fuit Aegyptiis, ex altera lucida Israelitis (Jonathan). Although the article is striking in והחשׁך , the difficulty is not to be removed, as Ewald proposes, by substituting והחשׁך , “and as for the cloud, it caused darkness;” for in that case the grammar would require the imperfect with ו consec . This alteration of the text is also rendered suspicious from the fact that both Onkelos and the lxx read and render the word as a substantive.
When Moses stretched out his hand with the staff (Exodus 14:16) over the sea, “ Jehovah made the water go (flow away) by a strong east wind the whole night, and made the sea into dry (ground), and the water split itself ” (i.e., divided by flowing northward and southward); “ and the Israelites went in the midst of the sea (where the water had been driven away by the wind) in the dry, and the water was a wall (i.e., a protection formed by the damming up of the water) on the right and on the left .” קדים , the east wind, which may apply either to the south-east or north-east, as the Hebrew has special terms for the four quarters only. Whether the wind blew directly from the east, or somewhat from the south-east or north-east, cannot be determined, as we do not know the exact spot where the passage was made. in any case, the division of the water in both directions could only have been effected by an east wind; and although even now the ebb is strengthened by a north-east wind, as Tischendorf says, and the flood is driven so much to the south by a strong north-west wind that the gulf can be ridden through, and even forded on foot, to the north of Suez ( v. Schub. Reise ii. p. 269), and “as a rule the rise and fall of the water in the Arabian Gulf is nowhere so dependent upon the wind as it is at Suez” ( Wellsted , Arab. ii. 41, 42), the drying of the sea as here described cannot be accounted for by an ebb strengthened by the east wind, because the water is all driven southwards in the ebb, and not sent in two opposite directions. Such a division could only be produced by a wind sent by God, and working with omnipotent force, in connection with which the natural phenomenon of the ebb may no doubt have exerted a subordinate influence.
(Note: But as the ebb at Suez leaves the shallow parts of the gulf so far dry, when a strong wind is blowing, that it is possible to cross over them, we may understand how the legend could have arisen among the Ichthyophagi of that neighbourhood ( Diod. Sic. 3, 39) and even the inhabitants of Memphis ( Euseb. praep. ev. 9, 27), that the Israelites took advantage of a strong ebb, and how modern writers like Clericus have tried to show that the passage through the sea may be so accounted for.)
The passage was effected in the night, through the whole of which the wind was blowing, and in the morning watch (between three and six o'clock, Exodus 14:24) it was finished.
As to the possibility of a whole nation crossing with their flocks, Robinson concludes that this might have been accomplished within the period of an extraordinary ebb, which lasted three, or at the most four hours, and was strengthened by the influence of a miraculous wind. “As the Israelites,” he observes, “numbered more than two millions of persons, besides flocks and herds, they would of course be able to pass but slowly. If the part left dry were broad enough to enable them to cross in a body one thousand abreast, which would require a space of more than half a mile in breadth (and is perhaps the largest supposition admissible), still the column would be more than two thousand persons in depth, and in all probability could not have extended less than two miles. It would then have occupied at least an hour in passing over its own length, or in entering the sea; and deducting this from the largest time intervening, before the Egyptians also have entered the sea, there will remain only time enough, under the circumstances, for the body of the Israelites to have passed, at the most, over a space of three or four miles.” ( Researches in Palestine , vol. i. p. 84.)
But as the dividing of the water cannot be accounted for by an extraordinary ebb, even though miraculously strengthened, we have no occasion to limit the time allowed for the crossing to the ordinary period of an ebb. If God sent the wind, which divided the water and laid the bottom dry, as soon as night set in, the crossing might have begun at nine o'clock in the evening, if not before, and lasted till four of five o'clock in the morning (see Exodus 14:27). By this extension of the time we gain enough for the flocks, which Robinson has left out of his calculation. The Egyptians naturally followed close upon the Israelites, from whom they were only divided by the pillar of cloud and fire; and when the rear of the Israelites had reached the opposite shore, they were in the midst of the sea. And in the morning watch Jehovah cast a look upon them in the pillar of cloud and fire, and threw their army into confusion (Exodus 14:24). The breadth of the gulf at the point in question cannot be precisely determined. At the narrowest point above Suez, it is only two-thirds of a mile in breadth, or, according to Niebuhr , 3450 feet; but it was probably broader formerly, and even now is so farther up, opposite to Tell Kolzum ( Rob . i. pp. 84 and 70). The place where the Israelites crossed must have been broader, otherwise the Egyptian army, with more than six hundred chariots and many horsemen, could not have been in the sea and perished there when the water returned. - “ And Jehovah looked at the army of the Egyptians in (with) the pillar of cloud and fire, and troubled it .” This look of Jehovah is to be regarded as the appearance of fire suddenly bursting forth from the pillar of cloud that was turned towards the Egyptians, which threw the Egyptian army into alarm and confusion, and not as “a storm with thunder and lightning,” as Josephus and even Rosenmüller assume, on the ground of Psalms 78:18-19, though without noticing the fact that the psalmist has merely given a poetical version of the event, and intends to show “how all the powers of nature entered the service of the majestic revelation of Jehovah, when He judged Egypt and set Israel free” ( Delitzsch ). The fiery look of Jehovah was a much more stupendous phenomenon than a storm; hence its effect was incomparably grander, viz., a state of confusion in which the wheels of the chariots were broken off from the axles, and the Egyptians were therefore impeded in their efforts to escape.
“ And (Jehovah) made the wheels of his (the Egyptian's) chariots give way, and made, that he (the Egyptian) drove in difficulty .” נהג ”.ytlucif to drive a chariot (2 Samuel 6:3, cf. 2 Kings 9:20).
Then God directed Moses to stretch out his staff again over the sea, and the sea came back with the turning of the morning (when the morning turned, or approached) to its position ( איתן perennitas , the lasting or permanent position), and the Egyptians were flying to meet it. “When the east wind which divided the sea ceased to blow, the sea from the north and south began to flow together on the western side;” whereupon, to judge from Exodus 15:10, the wind began immediately to blow from the west, and drove the waves in the face of the flying Egyptians. “ And thus Jehovah shook the Egyptians (i.e., plunged them into the greatest confusion) in the midst of the sea, ” so that Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen, to the very last man, were buried in the waves.
This miraculous deliverance of Israel from the power of Egypt, through the mighty hand of their God, produced so wholesome a fear of the Lord, that they believed in Jehovah, and His servant Moses.
Exodus 14:31
“The great hand:” i.e., the might which Jehovah had displayed upon Egypt. In addition to the glory of God through the judgment upon Pharaoh (Exodus 14:4, Exodus 14:17), the guidance of Israel through the sea was also designed to establish Israel still more firmly in the fear of the Lord and in faith. But faith in the Lord was inseparably connected with faith in Moses as the servant of the Lord. Hence the miracle was wrought through the hand and staff of Moses. But this second design of the miraculous guidance of Israel did not exclude the first, viz., glory upon Pharaoh. From this manifestation of Jehovah's omnipotence, the Israelites were to discern not only the merciful Deliverer, but also the holy Judge of the ungodly, that they might grow in the fear of God, as well as in the faith which they had already shown, when, trusting in the omnipotence of Jehovah, they had gone, as though upon dry land (Hebrews 11:29), between the watery walls which might at any moment have overwhelmed them.