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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 14:1

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And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

Exo 14:1-4

Encamp before Pi-hahiroth.

The good in the trying situations of life

I. That the good are often brought, by the providence of God, into the most trying situations in life (Exo 14:1). It is in the trying situations of life that we get the best revelations of the love and power of God. When men feel that they cannot help themselves, then God helps them. Thus they are humbled. They are brought to despair of creature aids. Then the promises become precious. The circumstances of life are all divinely ordered with immediate reference to the moral culture of the good; the Israelites were taught a great lesson before Pi-hahiroth. When God fixes our position, it is sure to be a salutary one, even though it be perplexing.

II. That the trying circumstances into which the good are providentially brought are vigilantly observed by the wicked (Exo 14:3). Satan watches the best opportunity of frustrating the march of the soul into freedom. But the wicked often misinterpret the providence of God in reference to the good, and hence pursue their plans to their own ruin.

III. That the trying situations into which the good are brought are designed ultimately to enhance the glory of God and the retribution of wicked men. I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, That the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. Lessons:

1. Rest patiently in the circumstances in which God has placed you.

2. God is greater than all the hindrances to your true freedom.

3. Follow God, even though it be through the great waters. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

In a fix

I was led to take this subject from seeing a sheet almanac upon which was painted a boy who had got his satchel full of apples, which, I presume, he had been stealing. He was hanging by the tips of his fingers from the top of a wall, and just above the wall on the other side was the owner, while at the bottom was a big bulldog, chained to a kennel–he could not go up for fear of the owner, he dare not drop down for fear of the dog; and it said at the bottom, In a fix. It would be very well for us if that represented the only fix in which we had ever been. I might talk for a considerable time in a general way about men who have been in a fix, but now I want you to give me your attention while I try to point out to you a nation that was once in a fix, and, if I can, teach some lesson, s that may be of use to you and me. There they are–the river before them, rocks on either hand, and the Egyptians behind them. They could not make boats to cross the sea; they could not fly; and were unable to fight–they had not the skill, neither the weapons. The most remarkable thing is this, that God, who had sent Moses to deliver them, had brought them into this very position! Observe, they were in the path of duty–doing just as He had commanded them; suggesting to us the thought that if we would serve our God faithfully, sometimes we may find ourselves in a fix. There will be times when dark clouds will gather, and we cannot see our way, and we shall feel inclined to give up in despair. But wait a bit. If God has brought them into this fix, He will bring them out of it. There they are; and, see! Pharaoh is following. He did not let the people go until he had been compelled; and, like a man shamed out of half-a-crown for some charitable purpose, he repented afterwards. He went after them designing their ruin, but God designed to ruin him. He designed to put the Lords people into a fix, and the Lord–who always protects His own–designed to fix him. And then comes this thought: That what seems to tend to our ruin is often over-ruled to our good. A great many years ago there used to be the old stage coach, and in those days they were the chief means of travelling. I have heard some old men say what a terrible thing it was to take a long journey. One day the locomotive was invented; they were going to take goods and people in such quantities and at such a speed as the stage coach never could. The owners of the coaches might declare they were all to be ruined! What would become of them? The stage coach was ruined, but what of its owners? They shared the common advantages of the puffing billy. This same principle will apply to things of the present day. Years ago, tailoring was said to be a good business. Their sewing was then done by hand. By and by the sewing-machine was invented; and when it was brought to something like perfection, clothing was sewn with it. The tailors were in such a state–it would destroy their prospects! it would ruin their trade! And the dressmakers were in the same excited condition. When were tailoring and dressmaking better than now? They are, I am told, more profitable than they ever were. I give you these illustrations to prove my statement–that very often that which seems to tend to our injury is over-ruled by a merciful Providence to our good. These Egyptians were following the Israelites, and were about to destroy them; they appeared now in the jaws of death, but it was over-ruled. The wicked, says Solomon, diggeth a pit, and falleth into it. He layeth a snare, and his own feet are taken therein. Ah I there are many things you and I cannot understand now. Many a cloud sweeps over our path; many dark things we cannot quite see through. If we could rise above all these things, and see Gods doings, perhaps we should rejoice that He sometimes puts us in a fix. We do not see through it all now; we shall by and by. Sometimes God brings us into straits that He may bring us to our knees. You know that to be true. Often in your sorrow you have looked unto your Father for the help you could not get elsewhere. Observe, if they were in a fix, Moses was not. What did he do? He cried, Fear not, God will fight for you; though God has led you here, He will lead you elsewhere. He knew they could do nothing, so he commanded them to stand still. Mans extremity is Gods opportunity. Have you never been in a fix like this? Your business has failed, your prospects blighted, your heart smarting through some bereavement. A darling child or wife has been snatched from you. In utter helplessness you have cried, What can I do? You can do nothing. You have been doing too long. God has brought all this to teach you to stand still, and let Him do. Stand still. Oh! there is reason in that. If your God brings you to see your helplessness and poverty, and He reveals His true riches to you, it is worth your while to stand still. Have salvation; you may. Get His love into your hearts; stand till He makes you free; and when once He does, then comes the cry as Moses gave it, Forward! and though there be before you a dark night and a troubled sea, you may go forward with safety. There is this further thought: that though sometimes God allows the enemies of His people to bring them into a fix, be assured the Lord will turn the scales, and bring the enemies into a fix. What He did for these Egyptians–the haters of the friends of God–He may do for you. Many a faithful man o! God has been annoyed, perhaps by you; but be assured, God will annoy you. See what He did for these Egyptians. There was, first, darkness. That which gave light to His people became dark to His enemies. It is dark where the enemies of God are–so dark! Secondly, God troubled them. The children of God crossed the sea, and you know how in following them the Egyptians all perished in the waters, through which the Israelites had passed in safety. One word more. If you are on the side of God and truth, He will be with you, and bring you out of every fix into which you may get whilst serving Him. On the other hand, if you refuse to acknowledge Him, you may get into a fix which you will never be able to get out of. (Charles Leach.)

Right beginnings; or, no progress

Every true and strong life has its sharp transitions, its critical choice, its decisive moment between Migdol and the sea. It is true enough, most of our time we move on in a path no way remarkable, or in a routine with nothing signal or memorable about it. Day takes after day, and the scene, the occupation, the company, helps and hindrances, are much the same from month to month. But look longer, and you find that, however the wheels of habit may run on in a kind of groove, with few startling outside changes, yet somewhere there was a spot where this regular drift got its start and its new direction. You stood alone somewhere, at a parting of two ways, and you chose; and then, as the consequence of that choice, your life went thenceforth in a particular channel, pure or filthy, straight or crooked, heavenward or hellward, long after. And there is nothing exceptional about this. The same law governs national concerns, processes in nature, and mechanics. War, for instance, is well-nigh the staple of history; and yet historians count but fifteen decisive battles of the world, all other vast movements of ages and empires winding like a whirlpool around these bloody centres. So in mechanics. Only now and then, on its turn-table, the engine is set in its new direction; but all it does, or draws, afterwards, proceeds from that momentary pivotal determination. The grain grows clay and night all summer till harvest; but there is a single time of planting. The patriarch lodged only one night at Bethel; but then, afterward, all his journeyings over the Eastern lands were at the bidding of his God. How did you come to be the man you are to-day? There was most likely some hour of choice. Two forms of apparent good lay before you. Two voices spoke. Among all the common questions that rise, this one question rose. It was the question of your souls eternity. Very likely it had relation, too, to some other soul besides your own–your affection, your duty, to him or her. Perhaps it was in the line of your common doing, only an emergency of larger and uncommon concern. How did you act? Did you say Yes, or No? Did you go or stay? Did you accept the partnership, the companionship, the offer–or refuse? The question is not one of expediency, or taste, or convenience, or profit. It has to do with your souls life, honour, uprightness, salvation. Such periods can be recalled in memory, I think, by most persons; but never recalled in fact. The rest of life depends on them, and on the way we meet them. We are between Migdol and the sea. Egypt and Pharaoh–an old, bad life, and its despotism of darkness–are behind; the other way the road runs where God will. With Israel it was well that it ran to the baptism in the cloud and in the sea. We have only to enlarge the reach of such a decision, carrying it through the roots and springs of character, to find in it that one all-including, all-controlling choice which turns a bad man into a good one, or creates a living Christian. Indeed, it is of that one radical renewing that the exodus of Israel has always been regarded as the type. (Bp. F. D. Huntington.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER XIV

The Israelites are commanded to encamp before Pi-hahiroth,

1, 2.

God predicts the pursuit of Pharaoh, 3, 4.

Pharaoh is informed that the Israelites are fled, and regrets

that he suffered them to depart, 5.

He musters his troops and pursues them, 6-8.

Overtakes them in their encampment by the Red Sea, 9.

The Israelites are terrified at his approach, 10.

They murmur against Moses for leading them out, 11, 12.

Moses encourages them, and assures them of deliverance, 13, 14.

God commands the Israelites to advance, and Moses to stretch

out his rod over the sea that it might be divided, 15, 16;

and promises utterly to discomfit the Egyptians, 17, 18.

The angel of God places himself between the Israelites and the

Egyptians, 19.

The pillar of the cloud becomes darkness to the Egyptians,

while it gives light to the Israelites, 20.

Moses stretches out his rod, and a strong east wind blows, and

the waters are divided, 21.

The Israelites enter and walk on dry ground, 22.

The Egyptians enter also in pursuit of the Israelites, 23.

The Lord looks out of the pillar of cloud on the Egyptians,

terrifies them, and disjoints their chariots, 24, 25.

Moses is commanded to stretch forth his rod over the waters, that

they may return to their former bed, 26.

He does so, and the whole Egyptian army is overwhelmed, 27, 28,

while every Israelite escapes, 29.

Being thus saved from the hand of their adversaries, they acknowledge

the power of God, and credit the mission of Moses, 30, 31.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIV

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Or rather, had spoken, to wit, before they came to Succoth, Exo 12:37. For what was there briefly and generally expressed, is here more largely and particularly declared, together with the occasion of it, which was Gods command.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And the Lord spake unto Moses,…. Out of the pillar of the cloud in which he went before them; either while they were at Etham, or when journeying from thence, and a little before they turned off to the right, as they were now directed:

saying; as follows:

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea; Destruction of Pharaoh and His Army. – Exo 14:1, Exo 14:2. At Etham God commanded the Israelites to turn ( ) and encamp by the sea, before Pihachiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baalzephon, opposite to it. In Num 33:7, the march is described thus: on leaving Etham they turned up to ( ) Pihachiroth, which is before ( ( 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 (Num 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 Atkah 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 (Eze 29:10), for according to Num 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 ( ) does not indicate a watch-tower ( ). Migdol was probably to the south of Ajrud, on one of the heights of the Atkah, 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).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Israelites Pursued by Pharaoh.

B. C. 1491.

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. 5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: 7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. 8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. 9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

We have here,

I. Instructions given to Moses concerning Israel’s motions and encampments, which were so very surprising that if Moses had not express orders about them before they would scarcely have been persuaded to follow the pillar of cloud and fire. That therefore there might be no scruple nor dissatisfaction about it, Moses is told before, 1. Whither they must go, Exo 14:1; Exo 14:2. They had got to the edge of the wilderness (ch. xiii. 20), and a stage or two more would have brought them to Horeb, the place appointed for their serving God; but, instead of going forward, they are ordered to turn short off, on the right hand from Canaan, and to march towards the Red Sea. Where they were, at Etham, there was no sea in their way to obstruct their passage: but God himself orders them into straits, which might give them an assurance that when his purposes were served he would without fail bring them out of those straits. Note, God sometimes raises difficulties in the way of the salvation of his people, that he may have the glory of subduing them, and helping his people over them. 2. What God designed in these strange orders. Moses would have yielded an implicit obedience, though God had given him no reason; but shall he hide from Moses the thing that he does? No, Moses shall know, (1.) That Pharaoh has a design to ruin Israel, v. 3. (2.) That therefore God has a design to ruin Pharaoh, and he takes this way to effect it, v. 4. Pharaoh’s sagacity would conclude that Israel was entangled in the wilderness and so would become an easy prey to him; and, that he might be the more apt to think so, God orders them into yet greater entanglements; also, by turning them so much out of their road, he amazes him yet more, and gives him further occasion to suppose that they were in a state of embarrassment and danger. And thus (says God) I will be honoured upon Pharaoh. Note, [1.] All men being made for the honour of their Maker, those whom he is not honoured by he will be honoured upon. [2.] What seems to tend to the church’s ruin is often overruled to the ruin of the church’s enemies, whose pride and malice are fed by Providence, that they may be ripened for destruction.

II. Pharaoh’s pursuit of Israel, in which, while he gratifies his own malice and revenge, he is furthering the accomplishment of God’s counsels concerning him. It was told him that the people fled, v. 5. Such a fright was he in, when he gave them leave to go, that when the fright was a little over he either forgot, or would not own, that they departed with his consent, and therefore was willing that it should be represented to him as a revolt from their allegiance. Thus what may easily be justified is easily condemned, by putting false colours upon it. Now, hereupon,

1. He reflects upon it with regret that he had connived at their departure. He and his servants, though it was with the greatest reason in the world that they had let Israel go, yet were now angry with themselves for it: Why have we done thus? (1.) It vexed them that Israel had their liberty, that they had lost the profit of their labours, and the pleasure of chastising them. It is meat and drink to proud persecutors to trample upon the saints of the Most High, and say to their souls, Bow down, that we may go over; and therefore it vexes them to have their hands tied. Note, The liberty of God’s people is a heavy grievance to their enemies, Est 5:12; Est 5:13; Act 5:17; Act 5:33. (2.) It aggravated the vexation that they themselves had consented to it, thinking now that they might have hindered it, and that they needed not to have yielded, though they had stood it out to the last extremity. Thus God makes men’s envy and rage against his people a torment to themselves, Ps. cxii. 10. It was well done to let Israel go, and what they would have reflected on with comfort if they had done it from an honest principle; but doing it by constraint, they called themselves a thousand fools for doing it, and passionately wished it undone again. Note, It is very common, but very absurd and criminal, for people to repent of their good deeds; their justice and charity, and even their repentance, are repented of. See an instance somewhat like this, Jer 34:10; Jer 34:11.

2. He resolves, if possible, either to reduce them or to be revenged on them; in order to this, he levies an army, musters all his force of chariots and horsemen, Exo 14:17; Exo 14:18 (for, it should seem, he took no foot with him, because the king’s business required haste), and thus he doubts not but he shall re-enslave them, Exo 14:6; Exo 14:7. It is easy to imagine what a rage Pharaoh was now in, roaring like a lion disappointed of his prey, how his proud heart aggravated the affront, swelled with indignation, scorned to be baffled, longed to be revenged: and now all the plagues are as if they had never been. He has quite forgotten the sorrowful funerals of his firstborn, and can think of nothing but making Israel feel his resentments; now he thinks he can be too hard for God himself; for, otherwise, could he have hoped to conquer a people so dear to him? God gave him up to these passions of his own heart, and so hardened it. It is said (v. 8), The children of Israel went out with a high hand, that is, with a great deal of courage and bravery, triumphing in their release, and resolved to break through the difficulties that lay in their way. But the Egyptians (v. 9) pursued after them. Note, Those that in good earnest set their faces heaven-ward, and will live godly in Christ Jesus, must expect to be set upon by Satan’s temptations and terrors. He will not tamely part with any out of his service, nor go out without raging, Mark ix. 26.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

EXODUS – CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Verses 1-4:

God changed the direction of Israel’s march, from Southeast, to due south. Had they continued in their original course, they would have shortly come to the arid, treeless wastes east of the Bitter Lakes. Here they would have had little or no food for their flocks, and no water for themselves. To the south lay a well-watered district more suitable for their journey, though it was still within Egypt’s borders. To the east was the “sea,” or the Red Sea.

The present sites of the cities mentioned are unknown. However, they were familiar to the writer of Exodus, and were important cities of that time.

Piha-hiroth is from a Semitic word meaning “entrance to the caves.”

Migdol means “tower” or “fortified post,” likely denoting a military post not far from the modern Suez.

Baal-zephon is a name of uncertain origin and meaning. Some scholars identify it as “Baal-Zebub,” or “Baal-Sutech,” personifying evil.

One cannot assume that only one or two days elapsed between the start of Israel’s journey and this present text. The logistics of moving such a huge number with all their goods and herds would require considerable time. It is likely that many days passed following the Passover, until Israel’s change of direction and present encampment.

The Lord informed Moses that Pharaoh would pursue Israel with the intent of returning the people to Egypt as slaves. This would give opportunity for a final demonstration of His power and glory.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. And the Lord spoke unto Moses. God, by closing up all the ways by which the Israelites might have escaped, now opens a course for His wonderful power, and by bringing them for one moment to despair, provided for the safety of His Church through a long period of time. This final act, then, marvelously illustrated the grace of God, so that the people, however ungrateful and disaffected they might be, should still acknowledge God as their deliverer; besides, its consequence was, that the forces of Egypt not only being broken, but the whole nation being destroyed, or, at least, the flower of it extinguished, it brought no further trouble upon the people until they were established in the land of Canaan. If they had freely and peacefully gone forth, with the king and the people of Egypt quiet, the former miracles would not have sufficiently availed to testify their redemption; but when, being everywhere shut in, they see nothing but death before them, whilst the sea suddenly and unexpectedly affords them a passage, and overwhelms their enemies pressing on them from behind, they are obliged to confess that they were not only saved from death but from the deepest abysses by the hand of God. But it appears that, when they were commanded by Moses to cast themselves, and, as it were, to ingulf themselves in the narrow passage, of which mention is made, they were astonished by the miracles, and like them that dream, since they obeyed without hesitation, although the very aspect of the place must have inspired them with horror. For, if they had apprehended danger, their readiness to obey would not have been so great, as we shall presently see. Wherefore it was the intention of Moses not so much to praise them, as the providence of God. For it is plain, that unless they had been amazed by the miracles, of which they had seen so many, they scarcely could have been induced willingly to throw themselves into. defiles from whence there was no retreat. From the word מגדל, migdol, we may conjecture that a fortress was built on the rock to prevent access to it. I do not quite understand the meaning of החירת (151) hachiroth, nor do I see why the Greeks should have translated it “the mouth of the valley;” yet from the word signifying “a mouth,” it may be probably conjectured that it was contracted by piles. Because the word חור, chor, signifies a cave or hole, I know not whether the place might not have obtained its name, as the mouth of the holes or caverns; for the letter ו, vau, is often converted into י, yod, and the change of the gender in the plural number is frequent with the Hebrews. Or perhaps some may think it more likely, that though it was written החירות, hachiroth, the letter ח crept in in place of ה from its similarity. If we so take it, the feminine gender is put for the masculine, and it will be “the mouth of the mountains.” But although we may be ignorant of the etymology of the second word, the word “mouth” makes it certain that the defile was inclosed by rocks, and of narrow access. Although, if I may tender my own judgment in a doubtful matter, I rather consider that it is derived from the word חרת charath, which means to engrave, or to furrow, because the rocks were cut as by a mallet. But on the opposite side, the place was surrounded by the sea, as though the Israelites had been cast into a sepulcher.

(151) פיהחירת C. has not borrowed anything from S.M. here. In Dr. Wilson’s “Lands of the Bible,” vol. 1, chap. 5, he has observed that if Pi-hahiroth is to be supposed to be a name given to the place, in the Hebrew tongue, it is well fitted to describe the mouth of the defiles, on emerging from which, the traveler comes in sight of the Red Sea, and enters on ground shut in between mountain barriers and that sea; but he also mentions that Gesenius has said, on the authority of Tablonski, that these syllables form the Egyptian name for a place where sedges grow. — W.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

ISRAELS BONDAGE. MOSES AND THE EXODUS

Exo 1:1 to Exo 15:21.

DR. J. M. Grays five rules for Bible reading: Read the Book, Read the Book Continuously, Read the Book Repeatedly, Read the Book Independently, Read the Book Prayerfully, are all excellent; but the one upon which I would lay emphasis in this study of Exodus is the second of those rules, or, Read the Book Continuously. It is doubtful if there is any Book in the Bible which comes so nearly containing an outline, at least, of all revelation, as does the Book of Exodus. There is scarcely a doctrine in the New Testament, or a truth in the Old, which may not be traced in fair delineation in these forty chapters.

God speaks in this Book out of the burning bush. Sin, with its baneful effects, has a prominent place in its pages; and Salvation, for all them that trust in Him, with judgment for their opposers, is a conspicuous doctrine in this Old Testament document. God, Sin, Salvation, and Judgmentthese are great words! The Book that reveals each of them in fair outline is a great Book indeed, and its study will well repay the man of serious mind.

Exodus is a Book of bold outlines also! Its author, like a certain school of modern painters, draws his picture quickly and with but few strokes, and yet the product of his work approaches perfection. How much of time and history is put into these three verses:

And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the Children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them (Exo 1:5-7).

These three verses contain 215 years of time, and all the events that crowded into that period would, if they were recorded, fill volumes without end. And, while there are instances of delineation in detail in the Book of Exodus, the greater part of the volume is given to the bolder outlines which sweep much history into single sentences.

In looking into these fifteen chapters, I have been engaged with the question of such arrangement as would best meet the demands of memory, and thereby make the lesson of this hour a permanent article in our mental furniture. Possibly, to do that, we must seize upon a few of the greater subjects that characterize these chapters, and so phrase them as to provide mental promontories from which to survey the field of our present study. Surely, The Bondage of Israel, The Rise of Moses, and the Exodus from Egypt, are such fundamentals.

THE BONDAGE OF ISRAEL.

The bondage of Israel, like her growth, requires but a few sentences for its expression.

Now, there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the Children of Israel are more and mightier than we; Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pit horn and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the Children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the Children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour (Exo 1:8-22).

There are several features in Egypts conduct in effecting the bondage of Israel which characterize the conduct of all imperial nations.

The bondage began with injustice. Israel was in Egypt by invitation. When they came, Pharaoh welcomed them, and set apart for their use the fat of the land. The record is,

Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Raamses, as Pharaoh had commanded (Gen 47:11).

There they flourished until a king arose which knew not Joseph. Then a tax was laid upon them; eventually taskmasters were set over them, and those who came in response to Pharaohs invitation, Come unto me and I will give you the good of the, land of Egypt, and ye shall eat of the fat of the land, were compelled by his successors to take the place of slaves. It seems as difficult for a nation as it is for an individual to refrain from the abuse of power. A writer says, Revolution is caused by seeking to substitute expediency for justice, and that is exactly what the King of Egypt and his confederates attempted in the instance of these Israelites. It would seem that the result of that endeavor ought to be a lesson to the times in which we live, and to the nations entrusted with power. Injustice toward a supposedly weaker people is one of those offences against God which do not go unpunished, and its very practice always provokes a rebellion which converts a profitable people into powerful enemies.

It ought never to be forgotten either that injustice easily leads to oppression. We may suppose the tax at first imposed upon this people was comparatively slight, and honorable Egyptians found for it a satisfactory excuse, hardly expecting that the time would ever come when the Israelites should be regarded chattel-slaves. But he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. It is doubtful if there is any wrong in mans moral relations which blinds him so quickly and so effectually as the exercise of power against weakness.

Joseph Parker, in speaking of the combat between Moses and the Egyptian, says, Every honorable-minded man is a trustee of social justice and common fair play. We have nothing to do with the petty quarrels that fret society, but we certainly have to do with every controversysocial, imperial, or internationalwhich violates human right and impairs the claims of Divine honor. We must all fight for the right. We feel safer by so much if we know there are amongst us men who will not be silent in the presence of wrong, and will lift up a testimony in the name of righteousness, though there be none to cheer them with one word of encouragement.

It is only a step from enslaving to slaughter. That step was speedily taken, for Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river (Exo 1:22). Unquestionably there is a two-fold thought in this fact. Primarily this, whom the tyrant cannot control to his profit, he will slay to his pleasure; and then, in its deeper and more spiritual significance, it is Satans effort to bring an end to the people of God. The same serpent that effected the downfall of Adam and Eve whispered into Cains ear, Murder Abel; and into the ears of the Patriarchs, Put Joseph out of the way; and to Herod, Throttle all the male children of the land; and to the Pharisee and Roman soldier, Crucify Jesus of Nazareth. It remains for us of more modern times to learn that the slaughter of the weak may be accomplished in other ways than by the knife, the Nile, or the Cross. It was no worse to send a sword against a feeble people, than, for the sake of filthy lucre, to plant among them the accursed saloon. Benjamin Harrison, in a notable address before the Ecumenical Missionary Conference held in the City of New York years ago, said, The men who, like Paul, have gone to heathen lands with the message, We seek not yours but you, have been hindered by those who, coming after, have reversed the message. Rum and other corrupting agencies come in with our boasted civilization, and the feeble races wither before the breath of the white mans vices.

Egypt sought to take away from Israel the physical life which Egypt feared; but God has forewarned us against a greater enemy when He said, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. * * Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him. If in this hour of almost universal disturbance the sword cannot be sheathed, let us praise God that our Congress and Senate have removed the saloona slaughter-house from the midst of our soldiers, and our amended Constitution has swept it from the land.

THE RISE OF MOSES.

I do not know whether you have ever been impressed in studying this Book of Exodus with what is so evidently a Divine ordering of events. It is when the slaughter is on that we expect the Saviour to come. And that God who sits beside the dying sparrow never overlooks the affliction of His people. When an edict goes forth against them, then it is that He brings their deliverer to the birth; hence we read, And there went a man of the house of Levi and took to wife a daughter of the house of Levi, and the woman conceived and bare a son (Exo 2:1-2),

That is Moses; that is Gods man! It is no chance element that brings him to the kingdom at such a time as this. It is no mere happening that he is bred in Pharaohs house, and instructed by Jochebed. It is no accident that he is taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. It is all in perfect consequence of the fact that God is looking upon the Children of Israel, and is having respect unto them.

Against Pharaohs injustice He sets Moses keen sense of right. When Moses sees an Egyptian slay an oppressed Israelite, he cannot withhold his hand. And, when after forty years in the wilderness he comes back to behold afresh the affliction of his people, he chooses to suffer with them rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. God never does a better thing for a nation than when He raises up in it such a man. We have heard a great deal of Socrates wisdom, but it is not in the science of philosophy alone that that ancient shines; for when Athens was governed by thirty tyrants, who one day summoned him to the Senate House, and ordered him to go with others named to seize Leon, a man of rank and fortune, whose life was to be sacrificed that these rulers might enjoy his estate, the great philosopher flatly refused, saying, I will not willingly assist in an unjust act. Thereupon Chericles sharply asked, Dost thou think, Socrates, to talk in this high tone and not to suffer? Far from it, replied the philosopher, I expect to suffer a thousand ills, but none so great as to do unjustly. That day Socrates was a statesman of the very sort that would have saved Athens had his ideas of righteousness obtained.

Against Pharaohs oppression He sets Moses Divine appointment. There were many times when Moses was tempted to falter, but Gods commission constrained his service. When Moses said, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh? God answered, Surely I will be with thee. When Moses feared his own people who would not believe in his commission, God answered, Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel, I AM hath sent you. When Moses feared that the Israelites would doubt his Divine appointment, God turned the rod in his hand into a worker of wonders. And, when Moses excused himself on the ground of no eloquence, God replied, Go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. With any man, a conviction of Divine appointment is a power, but for him who would be a saviour of his fellows, it is an absolute essential.

Pastor Stalker, speaking to the subject of a Divine call to the service of soul-winning, said, Enthusiasm for humanity is a noble passion and sheds a beautiful glow over the first efforts of an unselfish life, but it is hardly stern enough for the uses of the world. There come hours of despair when men seem hardly worth our devotion. * * Worse still is the sickening consciousness that we have but little to give; perhaps we have mistaken our vocation; it is a world out of joint, but were we born to put it right? This is where a sterner motive is needed than love for men. Our retreating zeal requires to be rallied by the command of God. It is His work; these souls are His; He has committed them to our care, and at the judgment-seat He will demand an account of them. All Prophets and Apostles who have dealt with men for God have been driven on by this impulse which has recovered them in hours of weakness and enabled them to face the opposition of the world. * * This command came to Moses in the wilderness and drove him into public life in spite of strong resistance; and it bore him through the unparalleled trials of his subsequent career. How many times he would have surrendered the battle and left his fellows to suffer under Pharaohs heels, but for the sound of that voice which Joan of Arc heard, saying to him as it said to her, Go on! Go on!

Against Pharaohs slaughter God set up Moses as a Saviour. History has recorded the salvation of his people to many a man, who, either by his counsels in the time of peace or his valor in the time of war, has brought abiding victory. But where in annals, secular or sacred, can you find a philosopher who had such grave difficulties to deal with as Moses met in lifting his people from chattel slaves to a ruling nation? And where so many enemies to be fought as Moses faced in his journey from the place of the Pyramids to Pisgahs Heights?

Titus Flaminius freed the Grecians from the bondage with which they had long been oppressed. When the herald proclaimed the Articles of Peace, and the Greeks understood perfectly what Flaminius had accomplished for them, they cried out for joy, A Saviour! a Saviour! till the Heavens rang with their acclamations.

But Moses was worthy of greater honor because his was a more difficult deed. I dont know, but I suppose one reason why Moses name is coupled with that of the Lamb in the Oratorio of the Heavens, is because he saved Israel out of a bondage which was a mighty symbol of Satans power, and led them by a journey, which is the best type of the pilgrims wanderings in this world, and brought them at last to the borders of Canaan, which has always been regarded as representative of the rest that remaineth for the people of God.

THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT

involves some items of the deepest interest.

The ten plagues prepare for it. The river is turned into blood; frogs literally cover the land; the dust is changed to lice; flies swarm until all the houses are filled; the beasts are smitten with murrain; boils and blains, hail, locusts and darkness do their worst, and the death of the first-born furnishes the climax of Egyptian affliction, and compels the haughty Pharaoh to bow in humility and grief before the will of the Most High God (chaps. 7-12).

There is one feature of these plagues that ought never to be forgotten. Without exception, they spake in thunder tones against Egyptian idolatry. The Nile River had long been an object of their adoration. In a long poem dedicated to the Nile, these lines are found:

Oh, Nile, hymns are sung to thee on the harp,

Offerings are made to thee: oxen are slain to thee;

Great festivals are kept for thee;

Fowls are sacrificed to thee.

But when the waters of that river were turned to blood, the Egyptians supposed Typhon, the God of Evil, with whom blood had always been associated, had conquered over their bountiful and beautiful Osiristhe name under which the Nile was worshiped.

The second plague was no less a stroke at their hope of a resurrection, for a frog had long symbolized to them the subject of life coming out of death. The soil also they had worshiped, and now to see the dust of it turned suddenly into living pests, was to suffer under the very power from which they had hoped to receive greatest success. The flies that came in clouds were not all of one kind, but their countless myriads, according to the Hebrew word used, included winged pests of every sort, even the scarabaeus, or sacred beetle. Heretofore, it had been to them the emblem of the creative principle; but now God makes it the instrument of destruction instead. When the murrain came upon the beasts, the sacred cow and the sacred ox-Apis were humbled. And ~when the ashes from the furnace smote the skin of the Egyptians, they could not forget that they had often sprinkled ashes toward Heaven, believing that thus to throw the ashes of their sacrifices into the wind would be to avert evil from every part of the land whither they were blown. Geikie says that the seventh plague brought these devout worshipers of false gods to see that the waters, the earth and the air, the growth of the fields, the cattle, and even their own persons, all under the care of a host of divinities, were yet in succession smitten by a power against which these protectors were impotent. When the clouds of locusts had devoured the land, there remained another stroke to their idolatry more severe still, and that was to see the Sun, the supreme god of Egypt, veil his face and leave his worshipers in total darkness. It is no wonder that Pharaoh then called to Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; but it is an amazing thing that even yet his greed of gain goads him on to claim their flocks and their herds as an indemnity against the exodus of the people. There remained nothing, therefore, for God to do but lift His hand again, and lo, death succeeded darkness, and Pharaoh himself became the subject of suffering, and the greatest idol of the nation was humbled to the dust, for the king was the supreme object of worship.

He is a foolish man who sets himself up to oppose the Almighty God. And that is a foolish people who think to afflict Gods faithful ones without feeling the mighty hand of that Father who never forgets His own.

One day I was talking with a woman whose husband formerly followed the habit of gambling. By this means he had amassed considerable wealth, and when she was converted and desired to unite with the church, he employed every power to prevent it, and even denied her the privilege of church attendance. One morning he awoke to find that he was a defeated man; his money had fled in the night, and in the humiliation of his losses, he begged his wifes pardon for ever having opposed her spirit of devotion. Since that time, though living in comparative poverty, she has been privileged to serve God as she pleased; and, as she said to me, finds in that service a daily joy such as she at one time feared she would never feel again. Gods plagues are always preparing the way for an exodus on the part of Gods oppressed.

The Passover interpreted this exodus. That greatest of all Jewish feasts stands as a memorial of Israels flight from Egypt as a symbol of Gods salvation for His own, and as an illustration of the saving power of the Blood of the Lamb.

The opponents of the exodus perished. Our study concludes with Israels Song of Deliverance, beginning, The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation, and concluding in the words of Miriam, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. See Exo 15:1-21. Such will ever be the end of those who oppress Gods people and oppose the Divine will.

When one studies the symbolism in all of this, and sees how Israel typifies Gods present-day people, and Moses, their deliverer, Jesus our Saviour, and defeated Pharaoh, the enemy of our souls, destined to be overthrown, he feels like joining in the same song of deliverance, changing the words only so far as to ascribe the greater praise to Him who gave His life a deliverance for all men; and with James Montgomery sing:

Hail to the Lords Anointed

Great Davids greater Son

Who, in the time appointed,

His reign on earth begun.

He comes to break oppression,

To set the captive free,

To take away transgression,

And rule in equity.

He comes, with succor speedy,

To those who suffer wrong;

To help the poor and needy,

And bid the weak be strong;

To give them songs for sighing,

Their darkness turn to light,

Whose souls, condemned and dying.

Were precious in His sight.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.

Exo. 14:2. Pi-hahiroth.] Probably a Coptic word, meaning the place of sedgesGesenius, Frst, Davies, Kalisch. We can scarcely expect to determine the precise route taken by the Israelites in their march out of Egypt, or the exact spot at which they crossed the Red Sea. Positive identifications, says Kalisch, of ancient localities are the more precarious in this region, as it is certain that the northern part of the Gulf of Suez has formed itself, in the course of centuries, into firm land, a fact which, besides other reasons, is indisputably established by the circumstance that towns, as Muzza, which are mentioned by the ancients as sea-places and harbours, are now situated in the interior of the land. Two or three points alone, bearing on the Israelites line of march, seem to be of any real importance; viz.,

(1) that the passage through the sea must have been at a spot where the bed of the sea was narrow enough to be crossed by the Hebrew host in one night;
(2) that the breadth of the waters must yet have been great enough to make the passage on dry land the evident result of Divine interposition;
(3) that, relatively to the ancient extension northward of the Gulf, the line of the Israelites approach to it must have been observably and notoriously too far to the south, to consist with the most southerly caravan route around the northern point of the Gulf;
(4) that the route actually taken was a deflection from that on which the Hebrews started, so as to disappoint natural anticipation, and give the Egyptians the impression that their late slaves were entangled in the (Egyptian) desert, and had lost their way; and

(5) that all this took place under express Divine guidance (ch. Exo. 13:17-18; Exo. 13:21-22), indeed there can be little if any doubt that Jehovah Himself, by His angel, in the cloudy pillar, assumed the Leadership of the departing host at least as far back as where the short north road to the land of the Philistines was left. To attribute the ordering of the whole line of march to the Red Sea to the sagacity of Moses, as Kalisch does, is as little complimentary to him, who by this hypothesis missed his way, as it is reverential to the sacred narrative, which it thus hopelessly contradicts.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 14:1-4

THE GOOD IN THE TRYING SITUATIONS OF LIFE

The children of Israel had now arrived near the head of the Red Sea, and at the limit of the three days journey into the wilderness, for which they had appealed to Pharaoh. It was a critical time with them. Will they return to Egypt? Will they go forward on their march of freedom? At the command of God, as made known to Moses, they continue their journey, and soon find themselves in very perilous circumstances. We cannot advance far into life without meeting with things to perplex us. The Israelites are commanded to change the direction of their march; now they go south to a place called Pi-hahiroth. They could not have been in a more trying position, and yet here they are Divinely lead.

I. That the good are often brought, by the providence of God, into the most trying situations in life (Exo. 14:1). The children of Israel were commanded by God to encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal zephon (Exo. 14:1). Here they are led south, in an opposite direction to the Land of Promise. How often are the good conducted along paths which are apparently contrary to their high destiny. This is a trial of their faith. If, at such times, they obey the Divine word, they go right, even though they may seem to be going wrong. No situation could have been, to all appearance, more adverse to the Israelites than that into which they are now Divinely led. The white crest of the great billows was before them. The huge mountains, which they could not climb, were on either side of them Pharaoh and his enraged hosts were behind them. It was indeed a trying situation for them. They could not help themselves. Their best prowess was vain, they could not defeat their enemy. Their best ingenuity was futile, they could not level the mountains. Here they are brought by God; this is to the carnal mind a mystery. Thus, we have a type of the trying circumstances into which the good are sometimes conducted by the wondrous providence of God. They are in search of moral freedom. They are led by Heaven, and yet are brought into great peril. Had they been led by their own judgment, they would have avoided the southward route, and have escaped the sorrow in which they now find themselves. But the sequel of this history proves that Gods way is the wisest, even though it be the roughest, for if between Migdol and the sea we realise our greatest peril, we also realise His richest mercy and His most glorious help. It is in the trying situations of life that we get the best revelations of the love and power of God. When men feel that they cannot help themselves, then God helps them. Thus they are humbled. They are brought to despair of creature aids. Then the promises become precious. The circumstances of life are all divinely ordered with immediate reference to the moral culture of the good; the Israelites were taught a great lesson before Pi-hahiroth. When God fixes our position, it is sure to be a salutary one, even though it be perplexing.

II. That the trying circumstances into which the good are providentially brought are vigilantly observed by the wicked. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land; the wilderness hath shut them in (Exo. 14:3). It is probable that Pharaoh had employed spies to report to him the movements of the Israelites; at all events, he would be kept well informed in reference thereto. Thus we see how soon the wicked repent of any good action they may have done: they give up their sins, but soon go after them again. The besetting sin of the King was only subdued for a time by judgment,affliction is not necessarily regenerative. It would seem as though the Spirit of God had now ceased to strive with Pharaoh, and that he is given up to pride and malice. With the keen eye of a warrior he sees the position of Israel in the wilderness.

1. The wicked are vigilant observers of the life and circumstances of the good. Pharaoh watched with the utmost vigilance the flight and circumstances of the Israelites, and all connected with their march was eagerly reported to him. Satan sets the wicked to watch the good, with malicious intent, that they may observe the most favourable opportunity of doing them moral injury. He is politic in his effort to ruin the soul,he not merely leads a host against it, but seeks to render circumstances helpful to its overthrow. Hence, when the good are in difficulty, they are generally pursued by the devil.

2. The wicked are malicious observers of the life and circumstances of the good. Why did Pharaoh follow the Israelites in this great haste? Did he wish to render them assistance in their perplexity, and to aid them in their march of liberty? No! he came to render their circumstances more trying, and, if possible, to complete their defeat. But malice is not always right in its calculations; it cannot always achieve its unholy purpose, especially when seeking the ruin of the good. It cannot pierce the shield which Heaven throws round about the life committed to its care.

3. The wicked are politic observers of the life and circumstances of the good. Pharaoh watched the march of the Israelites, and when he saw them surrounded by the mountains and the waters, he sought by his army to put the final obstacle in the way of their escape. And so Satan watches the best opportunity of frustrating the march of the soul into freedom. But, the wicked often misinterpret the providence of God in reference to the good, and hence pursue their plans to their own ruin.

III. That the trying situations into which the good are brought are designed ultimately to enhance the glory of God, and the retribution of wicked men I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, That the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. God could have conducted the Israelites through the Red Sea before Pharaoh came to their encampment, but that would not have so fully glorified His name,it would not have shown the terrible retribution of sin. The Divine Being so works the deliverance of the good as to destroy their enemies, and to teach a lesson of trust for the future. Men learn much about God when they are shut in by the land, and when earthly succour is denied them; they learn their own weakness and the all-sufficiency of Jehovah. God is honoured in the overthrow of the sinful. He teaches nations by terrible judgments. Thus all the trying circumstances in which the good are placed will work the glory of God. LESSONS:

1. Rest patiently in the circumstances in which God has placed you.

2. God is greater than all the hindrances to your true freedom.

3. Follow God, even though it be through the great waters.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Exo. 14:1-4. God alone orders the Church in all its varied movements.

Gods orders to the Church are generally made known through His ministers.
Ministers must speak, and Israel must hear the mind of God in reference to them.
Gods charge sometimes draws the Church back again when they are forward in redemption.
In the way of redemption, God brings His people into straits overwhelming to sense.
God is pleased to give a sufficient account of the perplexity of His people beforehand.
The plans of wicked persecutors are foreknown to God.
Upon such wicked prospects of persecutors, God gives them up to heart-hardening.
God provides for His own glory in the ruin of such persecutors.
Upon the discovery of Gods will, the Church may submit calmly to sit down in straits.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON

ExodusRoute! Exo. 14:2. It is supposed that Moses started from Rameses with the main bodythat other divisions took their route from different points in the land of Goshen. If so, all would meet at Succoththe place of booths. Thence, they proceeded to Etham (Pithorn) on the edge of the wilderness, about three or four miles west of the head of the Gulf of Suez. Thence their natural route would be round its head into the Sinaitic peninsula. But God ordered them to turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth. There were two ways by which Israel could reach Canaan: the near through Philistiathe far by the wilderness. The near or direct route to Palestine and to Sinai itself lay between Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes. These lakes at that time formed part of the Gulf of Suez, and near them stood the frontier city of Etham. They are now distinct from the gulf, but communicate with it by means of the Suez Canalthat wonderful structure which runs across the straight course of Israel to Palestine and to Sinai. These lakes were a kind of salt water marshthe higher grounds being dotted on the eastern side with tamarisk shrubs, and strewn with shells, presenting almost the appearance of a sea-beach. Through this region Israel wished to pass as the nearest, and, therefore, the most natural route to Syria and Sinai; but God selected for them the far path.

1. Israel was incapable of contending with the warlike hosts of the Philistines.
2. Israel must acquire vigour and experience through the moral discipline of the wilderness.
3. Israel must receive instruction in the great principles of Divine morality and truth at the foot of Sinai. Therefore, at Etham, the way was suddenly changed; and Israel was directed to march towards Pi-hahiroth, i.e., the place where sedge growsor, the bed of reeds. Clearly this was a more or less marshy locality, and would prove a terrible barrier to any beleaguered host. Behind it stood the frontier watch-tower of Migdol, and on the other hand was Baalzephon, another watch-tower towards the sea. Thus surrounded and entangled, they would seem an easy prey for the vengeful and pursuing foe, who, with twin-horsed chariots, drove madly over meads and sands in fierce array. Like the prophets servant, Israel saw but the human foe; while Moses, like the prophet himself, descried the Divine Friend. The eye of faith saw

The distant hills with flaming chariots gleam,
The wild waste valleys with Gods legions teem.

Shipton.

First Steps! Exo. 14:2. An emigrants first night at sea, or in the remote backwoods, how dreary the scene! How lonely his heart! How weary the frame! How full of home-longings the heart! Often during the silent night-watches, he hears the fitful meaning of the wind and wave at sea, or the screech and howl of the beasts of prey on land, he wishes himself back in the old countrywishes that he had never left the familiar haunt, even though but the land of brown heath and shaggy wood. The emigrant host of Israel were thus circumstanced. The first joy of setting out had subsided; the terrors of the desert, the mounts, and the seathe weariness, the hunger, and thirst of their long march over yielding sand and amid soaking marsh, now made them long for Egypt. The green pastures of Goshenthe waving palmsthe blooming gardensthe shining water-courses of their forsaken homes rise up before them. They become heartsick. So the Christian pilgrimas he plunges into the Slough of Despond, falls heavily on the jagged rock, and cuts himself cruelly, or is pursued by armed robberswishes himself back in the city, with its palaces of marble and goldits halls of beauty and lightits homes of gaiety and merriment. It is the first backwater of temptationthe early subsidence of the flood of spiritual enthusiasm!

When the sky is black and lowering, when the path in life is drear,
Upward lift thy steadfast glances; mid the maze of sorrow here.

Luther.

Entangled! Exo. 14:3. History tells too vividly the story of Flodden field. The strongly embattled host of Scotland, with its Royal leaderthe well-nigh impregnable position, which made Surreys heart sink as he led his English ranks within sight of itthe inexplicable folly of the brave monarch in forsaking the place of safety, and placing his army in such a position as to make defeat certain, are all too familiar to the schoolboy. The Scottish soldiers wondered, yet obeyed. Israel wondered at the course their leader took, but they followed. They do not know where they are going, or why they are being led into an inextricable network of difficulties. Well might Pharaoh, trained in all the art of military tactics, feel confident that the vast host were at the mercy of his panoplied warriors. It is said that when the gallant six hundred were bidden ride into the jaws of death at Balaclava, they looked at each other significantly and obeyed. Each read his fellow-soldiers glance to mean: A mad act, ending in our death; but English soldiers always obey. The Russian chronicler has left on record that the Muscovite generals and staff were confident of the total hemming in of the English armies upon the Crimean sea-shore. Pharaoh had a similar conviction that an easy triumph, ending in the complete extirpation of his hated serfs, was before him. He was soon to learn that

Morning is ever the daughter of night;
All that is black will be all that is bright.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

THE TEXT OF EXODUS
TRANSLATION

14 And Je-ho-vah spake unto Mo-ses, saying (2) Speak unto the children of Is-ra-el, that they turn back and encamp before Pi-ha-hi-roth, between Mig-dol and the sea, before Ba-al-ze-phon: over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. (3) And Pha-raoh will say of the children of Is-ra-el, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. (4) And I will harden Pha-raohs heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pha-raoh, and upon all his host; and the E-gyp-tians shall know that I am Je-ho-vah. And they did so. (5) And it was told the king of E-gypt that the people were fled: and the heart of Pha-raoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Is-ra-el go from serving us? (6) And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: (7) and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of E-gypt, and captains over all of them. (8) And Je-ho-vah hardened the heart of Pha-raoh king of E-gypt, and he pursued after the children of Is-ra-el: for the children of Is-ra-el went out with a high hand. (9) And the E-gyp-tains pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pha-raoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-ha-hi-roth, before Ba-al-ze-phon.

(10) And when Pha-raoh drew nigh, the children of Is-ra-el lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the E-gyp-tains were marching after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Is-ra-el cried out unto Je-ho-vah. (11) And they said unto Mo-ses, Because there were no graves in E-gypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of E-gypt? (12) Is not this the word that we spake unto thee in E-gypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the E-gyp-tains? For it were better for us to serve the E-gyp-tians, than that we should die in the wilderness. (13) And Mo-ses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Je-ho-vah, which he will work for you to-day: for the E-gyp-tains whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (14) Je-ho-vah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

(15) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Is-ra-el, that they go forward. (16) And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Is-ra-el shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. (17) And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the E-gyp-tians, and they shall go in after them: and I will get me honor upon Pha-raoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. (18) And the E-gyp-tians shall know that I am Je-ho-vah, when I have gotten me honor upon Pha-raoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. (19) And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Is-ra-el, 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 E-gypt and the camp of Is-ra-el; 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 Mo-ses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Je-ho-vah 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 Is-ra-el 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 E-gyp-tians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pha-raohs horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. (24) And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Je-ho-vah looked forth upon the host of the E-gyp-tians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the E-gyp-tians. (25) And he took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the E-gyp-tians said, Let us flee from the face of Is-ra-el; for Je-ho-vah fighteth for them against the E-gyp-tians.

(26) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the E-gyp-tians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. (27) And Mo-ses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the E-gyp-tians fled against it; and Je-ho-vah overthrew the E-gyp-tians in the midst of the sea. (28) And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pha-raoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them. (29) But the children of Is-ra-el 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. (30) Thus Je-ho-vah saved Is-ra-el that day out of the hand of the E-gyp-tians; and Is-ra-el saw the E-gyp-tians dead upon the sea-shore. (31) And Is-ra-el saw the great work which Je-ho-vah did upon the E-gyp-tiahs, and the people feared Je-ho-vah: and they believed in Je-ho-vah, and in his servant Mo-ses.

EXPLORING EXODUS: CHAPTER FOURTEEN
QUESTIONS ANSWERABLE FROM THE BIBLE

Propose a theme or topic for chapter fourteen.

What change of directions did God have the Israelites make? (Exo. 14:1-2)

What place were the Israelites to encamp in front of? (Exo. 14:2)

Between what places were they to encamp? (Exo. 14:2)

On which side of the sea was Baal-zephon? (Exo. 14:2)

What would Pharaoh say when he heard where Israel had gone? (Exo. 14:3)

What would cause Pharaoh to follow Israel? (Exo. 14:4)

What would bring honor to God? (Exo. 14:4; Exo. 14:18)

What would the Egyptians know after their host was destroyed? (Exo. 14:4)

10.

What was told to Pharaoh about the Israelites activities? (Exo. 14:5; Compare Num. 33:3-4)

11.

What was changed within Pharaoh and his servants? (Exo. 14:5)

12.

What did Pharaoh take to pursue Israel? (Exo. 14:6)

13.

How many chariots did Pharaoh take? (Exo. 14:7)

14.

What did Jehovah do to Pharaohs heart? (Exo. 14:8)

15.

In what manner had the Israelites gone out? (Exo. 14:8)

16.

At what place did Pharaoh overtake Israel? (Exo. 14:9)

17.

What was Israels reaction upon seeing Pharaoh? (Exo. 14:10)

18.

To whom did the Israelites first cry out? (Exo. 14:10)

19.

What taunt did Israel make to Moses? (Exo. 14:11)

20.

What was the feeling of the Israelites toward Moses? (Exo. 14:11)

21.

What words had Israel previously spoken to Moses? (Exo. 14:12) When?

22.

What heroic words did Moses utter? (Exo. 14:13)

23.

What did Moses predict would be the fate of the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:13)

24.

Who would fight for Israel? (Exo. 14:14)

25.

What did God tell Israel to do? (Exo. 14:15)

26.

What did God tell Moses to do? (Exo. 14:16)

27.

What would Pharaoh do when Israel crossed the sea? (Exo. 14:17)

28.

Who or what went before the Israelite camp? (Exo. 14:19)

29.

What separated Israel from the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:20)

30.

What gave light to the Israelites? (Exo. 14:20)

31.

What did God use to divide the waters? (Exo. 14:21)

32.

What was the sea like on the right and left sides? (Exo. 14:22)

33.

Who followed Israel into the sea? (Exo. 14:23)

34.

At what hour did the LORD look forth upon the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:24)

35.

What did the LORD do to slow down the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:25)

36.

What was the reaction of the Egyptians to their difficulties in crossing? (Exo. 14:25)

37.

What was used to cause the waters to return to their usual position? (Exo. 14:26)

38.

Did the Egyptians attempt to escape? (Exo. 14:27)

39.

How many Egyptians survived? (Exo. 14:28)

40.

What was Israels last view of the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:30)

41.

What was Israels reaction when they saw all that had happened to the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:31)

EXODUS FOURTEEN: BAPTIZED UNTO MOSES

A point of transition.

II.

A place of triumph.

GODS PEOPLE IN TRYING SITUATIONS (Exo. 14:2-4)

Situations unexpected; (Exo. 14:2.)

II.

Situations under enemy observation; (Exo. 14:3)

III.

Situations where God gets honor; (Exo. 14:4)

FEELINGS OF WEAK SAINTS (Exo. 14:10-12)

Fear; Exo. 14:10.

II.

Suspicion of leaders; Exo. 14:11.

III.

Forgetting past misery; Exo. 14:12.

IV.

Choosing slavery over freedom; Exo. 14:12.

MOSES MARVELOUS FAITH (Exo. 14:13-15)

Held in the face of fearful multitudes; Exo. 14:10.

II.

Publicly declared; Exo. 14:13.

III.

Pointed the people to God; Exo. 14:13-14.

IV.

Sought God in private prayer; Exo. 14:15.

DIRECTIONS IN DILEMMA (Exo. 14:13-16.)

Fear not; Exo. 14:13.

Stand still (be silent); Exo. 14:13-14.

See the salvation of Jehovah; Exo. 14:13.

Go forward! (Exo. 14:15)

GODS TROUBLING OF THE WICKED (Exo. 14:23-28)

Done in the midst of their sin; Exo. 14:23.

Recognized too late; Exo. 14:25.

Precedes total destruction; Exo. 14:27-28.

THE MIRACLE-CROSSING!!

Miraculous light and darkness; Exo. 14:20.

Miraculous wind and storm; Exo. 14:21; Psa. 77:16-18.

Miraculous wall of water; Exo. 14:22; Exo. 14:29.

Miraculous safe crossing; Exo. 14:22; Exo. 14:30.

Miraculous motivation upon the Egyptians; Exo. 14:4; Exo. 14:17.

Miraculous hindrance of Egyptians; Exo. 14:25.

Miraculous return of waters; Exo. 14:28.

EXPLORING EXODUS: NOTES ON CHAPTER FOURTEEN

What is in Exodus fourteen?

The chapter tells of Israels miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the Egyptians who pursued them.

What is the spiritual significance of this chapter?

The chapter is an eternal illustration of the truth that God is able to deliver his people. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joe. 2:32; Act. 2:21).

The chapter makes the meaning of baptism clear. We are told in 1Co. 10:2 that Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. By the same words we are said to be baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3).

Up until the crossing of the Red Sea Israel was in Egyptian territory and in danger from Egypt. Similarly up until our baptism we are yet in sins. Though Saul of Tarsus came to believe in Jesus upon the road to Damascus, and had changed his mind (repented) toward Jesus, and though he had prayed for three days, yet the preacher sent by the Lord himself said to him, Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling-on his name. (Act. 22:16)

When Israel crossed the sea, they were baptized unto Moses. They came completely under his authority and rule. Egypt had no more dominion over them. Similarly, in Romans six, where Paul talks about our being baptized into Christ, he writes that Sin shall not have dominion over you. (Rom. 6:11; Rom. 6:14)

By mighty works done by Moses, God made it possible for the Israelites to step forth in FAITH to forsake Egypt. By mighty works done through Christ (such as raising Him from the dead), God has made it possible for us to step forth in FAITH to escape sin. After that act of faith, we are baptized into Christ. It is at that point that we are saved (1Pe. 3:21; Mar. 16:16; Act. 2:38; Act. 22:16). It is the point of transition. Baptism must be preceded by faith; indeed it is an act of faith. God has called us unto obedience of faith (Rom. 2:5; Rom. 16:26). Noah and Abraham by faith obeyed Gods commands (Heb. 11:7-8). We do not have Biblical faith if we take lightly Gods commands, such as to be baptized.

What unexpected directions did God give to Israel? (Exo. 14:1-2)

The Lord told Moses to tell Israel to TURN BACK toward the sea and camp in front of Pihahiroth, between Migdol (the tower) and the sea, in front of (east of) Baal-zephon.
Israel was to encamp in a vulnerable place, as if just waiting for Pharaoh to respond.
The identifications of Pihahiroth, Migdol, and Baal-zephon are as numerous as the commentaries on the subject! Every body of water along the east edge of Egypt has been identified by some interpreter as the sea spoken of. Identifications of the sea include Lake Sirbonis (Martin Noth, Aharoni), Lake Menzaleh (G. E. Wright), Lake Timsah (Naiville),[226] the Bitter Lakes (Cassuto, John Davis), and the Red Sea (Gulf of Suez) (S. C. Bartlett, J. W. McGarvey).

[226] See J. H. Hertz, Pentateuch and Haftorahs (London: Soncino, 1969), p. 266.

We feel that the sea referred to in Exo. 14:2 (and subsequently) is the Red Sea Gulf of Suez. See Introductory Study II of this book for our reasons for holding this view. Acceptance of this view certainly requires acceptance of miraculous features in the crossing! We assuredly regard the crossing as miraculous in many respects.

When God told Israel to Turn back, he probably meant for them to turn west. To the Hebrews the west side of anything was spoken of as the back side. See Exo. 3:1. In Gen. 14:7 we have the account of how the four kings from the east turned back from Mt. Seir (Edom) to Kadesh (presumably Kadesh-barnea). This was a generally westward turn, as a check of a map will show.

Israel had been travelling in the wilderness (Exo. 13:18; Exo. 13:20), probably going southward in the area east and southeast of the Bitter Lakes. Now they are directed to turn back, meaning westward, toward the north tip of the Gulf of Suez.

The Hebrew verb translated turn back may simply mean turn. It has both meanings. We mention this to show that Turn back does not necessarily have to mean a complete reversal of direction, as from south to north. A turn to the west would fulfill the command completely.
The exact locations of Pihahiroth, Migdol, and Baal-zephon are not known. We feel that all three were near the north tip of the Red Sea Gulf of Suez.

Pihahiroth is a name having a definite Egyptian sound.[227] Num. 33:8 gives it as Hahiroth, omitting the Pi, which is the Egyptian article the.

[227] Alan Cole (op. cit., p. 119) says Pihahiroth means region of salt marshes. We have seen no other authorities who confirm this meaning.

Several places called Migdol, meaning watchtower, are known. We propose that a tower on one of the summits of Mt. Atakah, just west of the Gulf of Suez tip, would be a most probable location.[228]

[228] International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, IV, p. 2396, concurs with this suggested location.

Baal-zephon, meaning Baal of the North, was the name of a Canaanite god that was evidently worshipped in Egypt. G. E. Wright tells of one site called Baal-zephon in later centuries, located on the south tip of Lake Menzaleh.[229] But another site named Baal-zephon must be referred to here, since Lake Menzaleh is far more than a three-days journey from Marah (Ain Hawwarah). See Num. 33:8; Exo. 15:22. U. Cassuto refers to an Egyptian papyrus which refers to a tower of Baal-zephon located near the Bitter Lakes.[230] The existence of this second site called Baal-zephon certainly shows us that we are not forced to accept Wrights location of Baal-zephon near Lake Menzaleh as the only possible one.

[229] Biblical Archaeology, p. 61. The same view is in Broadman Bible Commentary, (1969), 381.

[230] Commentary on Exodus, p. 159.

What would Pharaoh think when he heard of Israels detour? (Exo. 14:3)

He would think they were entrapped in the land. Our suggested location of the Israelite camp is in an area hemmed in by Mt. Atakah on the west and south and by the sea on the east. They were definitely shut in by the wilderness. (A wilderness is any desert, whether mountainous or level, sandy or rocky.)

Why was God going to harden Pharaohs heart again? (Exo. 14:4)

Three reasons are given: (1) so that Pharaoh would pursue the Israelites (a suicidal mission); (2) so God would get honor through what He did to Pharaoh and his host (compare Exo. 14:17; Exo. 9:16); (3) so that the Egyptians would know that God was the LORD (Jehovah). This third goal has been mentioned time and again in Exodus (Exo. 7:5; Exo. 7:17; Exo. 8:10; Exo. 8:22; Exo. 14:18).

Concerning the hardening of Pharaohs heart, see notes on Exo. 4:21; Exo. 7:3. See pp. 116119.

The paragraph Exo. 14:1-4 closes with a picture of the people encamped near the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) tranquil and trusting in the LORD and in Moses his servant.[231]

[231] Cassuto, op. cit., p. 160.

If it should seem to you harsh that God should again harden Pharaohs heart, after having already slain all of Egypts firstborn, observe the text carefully! We are first told that Pharaoh would take notice of Israels detour, as if in exultant amazement (Exo. 14:3). Obviously the Egyptians had spies, trackers, and runners reporting on the journey of Israel. After telling of Pharaohs own reaction to Israels detour, God declared that He would harden Pharaohs heart (Exo. 14:4). This occurred just as God predicted. When Pharaoh heard of Israels position, his heart was changed toward the people and he regretted having let them go (Exo. 14:5). At that point, AFTER Pharaoh had already expressed his own real feelings, God hardened his heart, causing him to pursue Israel suicidally (Exo. 14:8).

What was Pharaohs reaction when he heard that Israel had fled? (Exo. 14:5)

His heart was changed maliciously changed and so were the hearts of his servants, presumably his government officers. Previously they were very glad to get the Israelites out of the land (Exo. 12:30-34). Now they regret it.

The upper classes of Egypt had depended on the manual labor of Israel to do the physical labor that made their comforts possible. Many nations even now have peasant, or working, classes, whose toils enable the upper crust to live grandly. The Egyptians now see Goshen empty, the brickyards deserted, the fields forsaken (Exo. 1:14). This loss was socially and economically paralyzing.

Besides the pain of the economic loss, the Egyptians had a spiritual and emotional fury in them, a frustration born of defeat in the ten plagues, a desire for revenge, a religious resentment and hatred. The Egyptians said, I will pursue; I will overtake; I will divide the spoil! (Exo. 15:9)

Fled does not suggest that Israel left surreptitiously, without Pharaohs being aware of it.[232] Far from it! They left in full view of the Egyptians, with a high hand, defiantly (Exo. 14:8; Num. 33:3-4). The word fled here probably is intended to give the idea that they had utterly left the country. Moses had previously proposed to Pharaoh that Israel should go a three-days journey into the wilderness to worship the LORD (Exo. 5:3). Probably when Israel left, Pharaoh supposed that they would only go a short ways, stop, worship, and return. Now he learns that they have FLED the country! Indeed they had. By this time Israel had almost certainly been travelling four days and probably more, and had gone about sixty miles and were still going, But suddenly news comes to Pharaoh that the Israelites are entrapped in the wilderness as the result of an unexpected detour.

[232] Martin Noth, Exodus (Philadelphia: Westminister, 1962), p. 111, argues that fled is a fragment from an E tradition, that Israel fled without Pharaohs notice; and that this contradicts the other descriptions of Israels escape as given in Exodus. This dissection of the text is unnecessary and unproven. Fled does not always imply to flee secretly. Compare Gen. 16:16; Num. 24:11.

What Egyptian forces were sent after the Israelites? (Exo. 14:6-7; Exo. 14:9)

Pharaoh prepared his chariot, and took his people with him. He took six hundred chosen (or tested and selected) chariots of Egypt, and all the chariots of Egypt, with captains (warriors) over all of them. Besides these, there were horses and horsemen (Exo. 15:1), and an army (footmen) (Exo. 14:7; Exo. 14:9; Exo. 14:17).

The word chariot in Exo. 14:6 is singular in Hebrew. But so also is the obviously plural chariots in Exo. 14:7; Exo. 14:9. The Hebrew rekeb often means chariotry, or chariots, in a collective sense. Compare Jdg. 4:3. Thus here it probably refers to Pharaohs chariots generally, rather than to Pharaohs own personal chariot.

Chosen chariots refers to those specially tested, or proved, chariots, selected because of their proven effectiveness in battle. Such chariots won many victories for the Egyptian eighteenth dynasty kings in battles in Canaan and Syria.

The captains in the chariots were chariot warriors. The Hebrew word for captains (shalishim) resembles the word for three, suggesting three men were in each chariot. Since pictures of ancient Egyptian chariots show only two men in each chariot, this led Martin Noth[233] to assert that the Biblical record is here in error. However, the significance of a related word in the Ugaritic texts[234] means only chariot warriors, without reference to the number of them.[235] It is a joy to believers to see again and again how false accusations against Gods book are always refuted when all the facts are known.

[233] Op. cit., p. 112.

[234] Ugaritic is a Semitic language related to Hebrew, and written by the Canaanites at the ancient city of Ugarit (now called Ras Shamra).
[235] Cassuto, op. cit., p. 162.

During the ten plagues the military forces of Egypt were never mentioned. They were the sleeper, the silent threat in the shadows. Now the chariots are a terribly present danger. The memory of this pursuit by the Egyptians was vivid to the Israelites in later centuries (Jos. 24:6).

Where did the Egyptians overtake Israel? (Exo. 14:9)

By the sea, by Pihahiroth, before (in front of, east of) Baal-zephon. See notes on Exo. 14:2. Overtake means only that they drew near enough to see Israel. The time required for preparation of this military force and its pursuit was surely several days in length.

What was Israels reaction upon seeing the Egyptian host? (Exo. 14:10)

They were in great fear and cried out to the LORD. However, their cry seems to have been a cry to dismay and terror, rather than a prayer for deliverance. The Israelites had been enslaved so long that they were not yet emotionally and spiritually conditioned to respond to danger with faith. Nonetheless, God heard their cry and hearkened to them.

10.

What bitter words did Israel say to Moses? (Exo. 14:11-12)

Are there no graves in Egypt, so that you have brought us to die in the desert?
Probably the Israelites were too frightened to sense the almost humorous sarcasm in these words. No people in the world have ever been more preoccupied with the making of tombs and regular attention to the dead than the Egyptians. There are millions of tombs in Egypt. Even the pyramids were just tombs. Many tombs had an adjoining room where rituals were conducted daily for the feeding and care of the dead in their after-life.

We have no record that the Israelites had spoken the exact words quoted in Exo. 14:11-12 in Egypt. However, the fearful spirit expressed by these words is quite similar to that expressed in Exo. 5:21. Possibly they had indeed uttered these words, even though we have no record of it.

Psa. 106:7-8 : Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy loving-kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his names sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

The Israelites had been slaves too long to realize that death in freedom is preferable to existence in slavery. Young Christians facing tests soon after accepting Christ, may, like the Israelites, long for the lack of responsibility in the old life.

11.

With what words did Moses reassure Israel? (Exo. 14:13-14)

Fear not; stand firm, and see the salvation of JEHOVAH!

Moses faith is truly remarkable. He urged them to be quiet, for the LORD would fight for them. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength (Isa. 30:15). They were to stop their outcries.

The word salvation here means deliverance and victory. Compare 1Sa. 14:45. However, we must not interpret it as if it referred exclusively to physical and material deliverance. Its use in Psa. 51:12 suggests that it bore a spiritual connotation as well. Their deliverance at the Red Sea was a faith-producing salvation experience. Observe how it produced courage to face future battles. (Deu. 1:30)

Moses said, You will see the salvation of the LORD; but never see the Egyptians again.

The concept of the LORD fighting for his people is a common one in the Old Testament. See Jos. 10:14; Psa. 35:1; Neh. 4:20; Isa. 30:22; Isa. 63:3-5. Even the Egyptians soon sensed that God was fighting against them and for the Israelites (Exo. 14:25).

12.

What did God tell Moses and Israel to do? (Exo. 14:15-16)

Go forward! Lift up your rod! Divide the sea! Go across!

When Gods people have learned to trust God and stand still, then they are prepared to go forward.

From Exo. 14:15 we learn that Moses had cried (prayed) unto God. Moses prayed a great deal. See Exo. 5:22; Exo. 8:12; Exo. 8:29-30.)

Moses use of the rod again probably brought back memories to the Israelites of what that rod had done in Egypt. See Exo. 4:17; Exo. 7:15; Exo. 7:19. Moses stretched out his hand and rod both to open and to close the waters. See Exo. 14:21; Exo. 14:26.

13.

What would cause the Egyptians to pursue Israel? (Exo. 14:17)

God would harden their hearts. See notes on Exo. 14:4. This was to be the final fatal hardening. The words of Exo. 14:17 give the first specific clue as to the exact means by which Egypt would be defeated.

The word I in Exo. 14:17 comes first for emphasis, as You was stressed at the start of Exo. 14:16. YOU lift up your rod; I will harden their hearts.

14.

What would the Egyptians know by their defeat? (Exo. 14:18)

They would know that the Israelites God was the LORD Jehovah! (At least their surviving relatives would know it!) This thought has been stated repeatedly in Exodus. See notes on Exo. 7:5; Exo. 7:17; Exo. 8:10; Exo. 8:22; Exo. 14:4.

Dear reader, I pray that you also know that God is the LORD!

15.

What shielded the Israelites from the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:19-20)

The angel of God and the pillar of cloud went between the Israelites and the Egyptians, and separated them all the night.
The angel of God is almost certainly the same person as the angel of the LORD who appeared to Moses at the burning bush (Exo. 3:2). The angel of his presence saved them (Isa. 63:9.). (The Hebrew word for angel means messenger.) This angel was no one other than Jehovah himself (see Exo. 14:24), specifically Jehovah the WORD, the one who was later sent to earth by God the Father, and is known to us as Jesus of Nazareth. Many passages in the Old Testament tell of the angel of Jehovah who appeared unto men, and had all the qualities of God. See Gen. 22:15-16; Gen. 32:24; Gen. 32:30; Jdg. 6:22-23; Jdg. 13:21-22. No man has ever seen God the father (Joh. 1:18). But God the WORD (Jesus) was indeed seen many times in the world, even before He emptied Himself of His divine glory and was conceived in Mary. Note Joh. 12:41; Isa. 6:1.

This divine angel of the LORD travelled before Israel in the pillar of cloud (Exo. 13:21; compare Exo. 23:20-23). Thus, when the cloud moved behind the camp of Israel, GOD himself was separating Israel from the Egyptians. Certainly we believe that Gods presence is universal (Jer. 23:23-24). But God has often condescended to make His presence perceivable to men by manifesting Himself in limited places, like the cloud. Compare Exo. 25:22.

Exo. 14:20 clearly indicates that during that night it was dark on the Egyptians side of the cloud. Probably so utterly dark that it stopped movement and reminded them of the plague of darkness. However, the cloud gave light on the Israelites side of it. They did not walk in darkness.

The Greek Bible (LXX) has a different wording in Exo. 14:20 : There was . . . darkness, and the night passed. It does not mention the light. The Revised Standard Version follows this reading. But the Hebrew reading is very definite about the cloud lighting up the night. This was indeed a miracle to top all miracles! We accept the scriptural record of this event with joyful faith.

16.

What divided the sea? (Exo. 14:21)

Three things: (1) Moses rod;[236] (2) the LORD; (3) a strong east wind. The dividing of the sea was fundamentally a miracle by God. No other explanation can fully account for it.

[236] Josephus (Ant. II, xvi, 2) tells the fanciful story that Moses smote the sea with his rod, and it parted asunder at the stroke. Josephus consistently tries to glorify Moses by unnecessary exaggerations.

Nonetheless, the east wind played a big part in the dividing of the sea. The strong east wind blew all night, and made the sea before the Israelites to be dry land. Undoubtedly this wind was unique and miraculous in its strength, its precise points of applying pressure, and its timing. Nevertheless, it had certain natural characteristics.

S. C. Bartlett,[237] who was an eyewitness traveler over the route of the Israelites, refers to the words of M. de Lesseps, who told of the effects on the Red Sea waters by severe storms, such as occur only at intervals of fifteen or twenty years. De Lesseps had seen the northern end of the sea in places blown almost dry. Bartlett refers also to the map of the Maritime Canal Co., which reported that the ordinary difference between high and low tide in a calm sea was only eight-tenths of a meter (about thirty-one inches). However, the difference between the highest and lowest known seas during a storm was 324 meters (over ten feet),. This is a remarkable confirmation of the Biblical information about the effect of the powerful winds on this part of the sea.

[237] From Egypt to Palestine (New York: Harper, 1879), pp. 180181.

If it should seem irreverent that we state that the wind was such a basic force in making the path dry across the sea, we reply that the greater irreverence lies in a refusal to accept the plain statement of the narrative, which clearly indicates that the result was in a great measure brought about by use of the wind.

17.

Did the waters form a WALL? (Exo. 14:21-22)

They surely did a wall on the right and on the left. The waters were piled up, the floods stood upright as a heap; the deeps were congealed in the midst of the sea. (Exo. 15:8)

According to the official Israel survey map, the waters at the north end of the Gulf of Suez have a depth of at least five meters (1520 feet). This would be the height of the wall of water on either side of the Israelites path.
The views of various interpreters that the wall was a figure of speech, or an exaggeration simply do not agree with the wording of the text.
From both sides of the sea the sea bottom gently slopes down into the water. There are no sudden drop-offs. The crossing place would be about four miles across.

We should not picture in our minds Israels crossing path as narrow; it was probably more than a mile wide.

18.

What was the sea bottom like where Israel crossed? (Exo. 14:22; Exo. 14:29)

They walked across on dry ground, through the sea!

Dr. Edward Robinson[238] argued very plausibly that the Israelites probably could not have entered the passage much before midnight, because the blowing of the wind would require some time for its full effect. Their march was completed (or nearly so) by the time of the morning watch, about two oclock. They must have marched slowly because of encumbrances. If the column moved one thousand abreast, it would occupy a space more than half a mile wide, and being at least 2000 people in depth, would extend for not less than two miles from front to rear. It would require an hour for all to enter the sea, and two hours more for the column to traverse a space of four miles across. The whole body of Israelites could have passed over the distance of four miles before the morning watch time, when the Egyptians were troubled as they tried to pursue Israel.

[238] Cited in Bartlett, op. cit., p. 178.

Heb. 11:29 : By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, which the Egyptians attempting to do were drowned.

Isa. 63:12-13 : He divided the waters before them to make himself an everlasting name, (and) led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they stumbled not. Compare Psa. 77:19-20; Psa. 66:6.

19.

What was the weather like when Israel crossed?

Psa. 77:16-18 refers to a terrible storm that occurred as the Israelites crossed. There was rain and thunder. The lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and shook. Josephus (Ant. II, xvi, 3) also tells of this storm. He says that it struck when the Egyptians tried to cross. (Of course this is uncertain.)

Inasmuch as the wind blew all night (Exo. 14:21), we might wonder if the Israelites had to buck the east wind in their faces as they crossed eastward. We do not know, but we suspect that God directed the main force of the wind at the walls of water on either side, leaving the center of the path relatively calm.

20.

When did the Egyptians follow the Israelites? (Exo. 14:23-24)

They followed after the Israelites when they were mostly all across, if not indeed all completely across. They started across some time before the morning watch, about 2:00 a.m.
We doubt that the Egyptians even noticed the walls of water on either side. A fifteen-foot wall of water a half-mile away might not appear too threatening, especially at night when it was the dark, and more especially if your attention was diverted by lightning flashes and howling wind.

The Egyptian host surely had to be aware that the whole experience had very unusual features! First the dark cloud utterly blocked out their view for hours. Then the cloud moved from before them. And in the middle of the night they see the Israelites several miles away, almost all far across the sea. They surely recalled how the Israelites had been blocked by the sea a few hours before. They probably wondered how in the world the sea had been cleared before them! Then there was that light from the cloud, lighting up the path, even though it was two oclock in the morning! Besides that, a storm overhead began to flash lightning, and to boom thunder, and pour rain, while the wind blew violently. All of this was so unusual, even eerie, that we feel that if the LORD had not hardened their hearts, they would never have gone in after the Israelites.[239]

[239] Skeptical critics have outdone themselves in seeking to dissect and discredit this passage (Exo. 14:22-28). For example, Noth (op. cit., p. 119) says the Priestly writer simply thought the Israelites passed through the sea and the Egyptians wanted to follow. The Jehovist writer, or source, is mysterious, and indicates that the Egyptians were driven into the sea by the fear of God. The Elohistic writer suggests that they were engulfed by the return of the sea that had been driven back. What such critics seem unwilling to acknowledge is that all of these facts are true, and they all easily harmonize into the one story. There is simply no solid evidence for proposing that such contradictory sources ever existed.

21.

What hindered the pursuit by the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:24-25)

The LORD looked down upon them through the pillar of cloud and fire and discomfited the Egyptians. Discomfit means to perplex, confound, trouble, confuse, agitate, make to panic, thwart.

The look, or glance, of the Lord, which discomfited the Egyptians, often overwhelms evil doers: Pour forth the overflowings of thine anger, And look on every one that is proud, and abase him (Job. 40:11).

This discomfiture came as a result of the thunderstorm (Psa. 77:16-18), and their chariots breaking down. The LORD took off their chariot wheels. Wagon wheels can most certainly come off their axles. And the axles can break, leaving the wheels in useless positions. The chosen chariots did not prove to be equal to the test. Any effort to move a one-wheeled chariot, or a wheelless chariot, would panic and frustrate both horses and charioteers.

The Egyptians correctly diagnosed the problem: The LORD fighteth for them. These were the Egyptians last recorded words. They decided to turn and flee, but it was too late. See notes on Exo. 14:14.

The Greek Bible says the Lord clogged their chariot wheels. This reading is followed in the R.S.V. Possibly the sand may have balled up in their chariot wheels, jamming and immobilizing them, and even producing the breakoff of the wheels. But the Hebrew verb (sur) means to turn aside, turn away, depart, be removed, cease, disappear. These meanings make good sense without adopting the Greek reading as a substitute.

THE WORKS OF THE LORD

Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw thee, O God;

The waters saw thee, they were afraid:
The depths also trembled.

The clouds poured out water;

The skies sent out a sound:
Thine arrows also went abroad.

The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lightened the world:
The earth trembled and shook.
Thy way was in the sea,

And thy paths in the great waters,
And thy footsteps were not known.

Thou leddest thy people like a flock,

By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

(Psa. 77:15-20)

22.

How were the Egyptians destroyed? (Exo. 14:26-28)

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The waters that had been walled up were released, and returned to their strength, to their usual position of overflowing the sea bed.
The word strength (Heb. ethan) in Exo. 14:27 is rendered wonted flow in R.S.V. In Gen. 49:24 it refers to the strength of weapons (a bow). Parallels in other Semitic languages suggest it means a stream that never dries up.

The text here in Exodus seems to say that the sea at that place always covered the sea-bed with strong waters. They were too powerful for swimmers; the Egyptians were no match for this water.

The Egyptians fled against it (R.S.V., into it). This expression carries the idea of an encounter, or meeting.[240] Thus, it appears that when the wall of water was released it first filled up along the west shore, making sort of an end run. As the Egyptians began to retreat they ran right into (or against) this water. Then it rapidly swept eastward, filling all the seabed in a rushing tide. What horror the Egyptians felt as they saw themselves trapped and unavoidably confronted by this water. Their bodies and chariots were swept eastward by the waters and dumped on the seashore (Exo. 14:29). Not so many as one escaped. All there covered chariots, horsemen, and all the army. See Neh. 9:11; Psa. 106:11; Psa. 78:53; Exo. 15:1; Exo. 15:7.

[240] This Hebrew expression (leqeratho) is used to tell of meeting people (Gen. 29:13; Exo. 18:7), and to describe the position of things like armies opposite (or against) one another (Gen. 15:10; 1Sa. 17:21).

Jehovah overthrew the Egyptians. This literally says that he shook off the Egyptians. (The same word is in Neh. 5:13 and Psa. 136:15.) We cannot press this figure of speech too literally, but in a very real way God did shake off the Egyptians from the Israelites; and he shook them off from himself. They would no longer stick to him as an annoying, persecuting, hard-hearted people. He shook them off as we might shake off a crawling bug from our hand.

23.

Did Pharaoh himself perish in the sea?

We believe that he did. Absolutely all of those going into the sea perished (Exo. 14:28). Seemingly Pharaoh went with the host. He shall follow after them (Exo. 14:4). I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host (Exo. 14:4). The king took his people with him (Exo. 14:6). When Pharaoh drew nigh. . . . (Exo. 14:10). God overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea (Psa. 136:15).

This poses a big question for us: Who then was this Pharaoh? We have been suggesting in this book that he was Amenhotep II, and we still hold this view. However, the mummy of Amenhotep II (with his great bow alongside it) is preserved to this day, something that would not be true if he perished in the Red Sea. It is most unlikely that his body would have been retrieved from the east shore of the Red Sea (or even be identifiable).
Possibly the verses quoted above that refer to the destruction of Pharaoh mean that he was overthrown representatively when his army was overthrown in the sea, as he beheld from the west shore. Admittedly the text does not convey this impression.
Dr. Donovan Courville[241] proposes that the drowned Pharaoh was Koncharis, a king listed in the Sothis list of Egyptian kings. Courville dates the exodus about the same time as we do, but maintains that the usually-accepted dates for the kings of Egypt are several hundred years too far back. Some of Courvilles ideas could prove correct, but they surely are not held by most Egyptologists.

[241] The Exodus Problem and Its Ramifications, Vol. 1 (Loma Linda, Calif.: Challenge, 1971), p. 122.

24.

Why is the record of Israels crossing repeated in Exo. 14:29?

Probably it is repeated for emphasis. What a marvelous event! What a cause for exultation! Even with repetition the story cannot do justice to the event.

Possibly the repetition is made to stress the contrasting fates of Egypt and Israel. Note Exo. 14:28-29.

Concerning the wall of water, see notes on Exo. 14:21-22.

25.

Where did Israel last see the Egyptians? (Exo. 14:30)

Dead upon the seashore! Obviously this was the east shore. They could not have seen them four miles away on the west shore. This was final retribution, measure for measure. For casting the infant sons of Israelites into the water (Exo. 1:12), Egypt had perished in the water.

The Egyptians considered that being exposed in death and fed to the vultures, was the greatest of all misfortunes. According to their beliefs the soul could not find rest till the body was properly interred. One is reminded of Rev. 19:17-18.

Josephus (Ant. II, xvi, 6) says that Moses the next day gathered the weapons of the Egyptians, which were brought to the camp of the Hebrews by the current of the sea and the force of the winds. And Moses conjectured that this also happened by divine providence, that they might not be destitute of weapons. This is a possibility, but not a certainty.

The death of these enemies suggests to OUR minds the death of our old man, the sinful nature. In being baptized unto Moses, the Israelites beheld the death of their old enemies. In being baptized into Christ, our old man (our old nature and life) was crucified with Christ. We are dead unto sin (Rom. 6:3-6; Rom. 6:11).

26.

What effects did the crossing of the Red Sea have upon the Israelites? (Exo. 14:31)

(1) They feared the LORD.

(2) They believed the Lord and his servant Moses. Israel had once before believed (Exo. 4:31). Now their faith is renewed and enlarged.

Israel had been saved from the hand of the Egyptians (Exo. 4:30). They had now seen the power (literally, hand) of the LORD. Compare Exo. 15:6.

27.

Did the crossing of the Red Sea involve a battle between spiritual powers?

It surely seems to have done so. At its root, the crossing of the sea was a triumph over the old Devil, Satan, who has always opposed God and His people, even more than it was a triumph over Pharaoh. He hath sent redemption unto His people (Psa. 111:9).

Some interpreters have attempted to link the story of the Red Sea crossing with ancient legends, such as the Babylonian creation story. This story (called Enuma Elish) interprets creation as the consequence of a battle between Marduk, the god of the city of Babylon, and Tiamat, a goddess who was the personification of the deep, the sea waters.[242] After this battle Tiamats body was cut in half, and the halves made into the heavens and earth.

[242] As an example, see Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 1 (1969), p. 385.

Even Cassuto,[243] a usually careful interpreter, links the crossing of the Red Sea with ancient mythological legends about the rebellion of the Sea against the Lord. He thinks the Song in Exodus 15 is an adaptation of a lost ancient epic Poem on The Lords Triumph Over the Rebellious Sea.

[243] Op. cit., pp. 178181.

Several scripture verses are thought to allude to this legendary battle between the Lord and the Sea. These include (1) Isa. 51:9-10; (2) Eze. 29:3; (3) Psa. 74:13-14; (4) Psa. 93:3-4; (5) Hab. 3:13-15.

A check of all of these passages (all of which are poetic) will show that they do not positively teach such a view. (1) Isa. 51:9-10 refers to Rahab, a monster, that was destroyed, apparently when the Red Sea dried up. Rahab seems here to be a poetic name for Egypt. See Psa. 87:4; Psa. 89:10. (2) Eze. 29:3 figuratively refers to Egypt as the great monster. (3) Psa. 74:13-14 pictures the division of the Red Sea waters as killing numerous sea-monsters (which it surely did). These monsters became food for the people, for inhabitants[244] of the desert, probably referring to wild beasts that ate their carcasses. (4) Psa. 93:3-4 says that the floods have lifted up their voices (roaring waves), but God is high above even these. There is no clear indication here that the sea was in conflict with God. It says only that Gods voice was greater than the sound of the roaring sea. (5) Hab. 3:13-15 alludes to Gods acts in punishing the enemies of His people, without any reference to a mythological battle: At the sea Thou didst tread the sea with thy horses (probably angelic horses; Compare 2Ki. 6:17).

[244] The Hebrew words in Psa. 74:14 translated people inhabiting the wilderness (tsiyim) refer to wild beasts in Isa. 13:21; Isa. 34:14. Probably they also do so in Psa. 74:14. The RSV translation creatures of the wilderness probably gives the correct meaning.

In none of the references suggested is there clear and certain statement about an ancient battle between the LORD and the sea. It seems to us that this idea has little or no support from the holy scriptures.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

THE RED SEA DELIVERANCE, Exodus 14.

2, 3. That they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth The Hebrews were now at Etham, near the head of the Gulf, whence the direct route to Palestine would be northeast, by way of the plain of Philistia, and the route to Mount Sinai southeast, along the eastern shore of the Gulf; but instead of taking either of these direct routes to their destination, they turned southwest into the great plain west of the modern Suez, came down the west shore of the Gulf, and encamped north and east of Mount Attakah. Thus the Sea was in front and Mount Attakah on the right flank, and partially in the rear. When, then, the Egyptians came upon them from the northwest, either by the Bubastis or Belteis road, they seemed to be completely entrapped, especially if Pharaoh sent a small detachment around Mount Attakah to block the defile and thus cut off all retreat on the south. (See map of Goshen.)

Pi-hahiroth Migdol Baal-zephon These were all known places in the time of Moses, all traces of which seem to have been lost in the changes of these thousands of years, although the names are all suggestive of the localities. Migdol, tower, implies that this was a fortified spot, perhaps on one of the summits of Attakah, Baal-zephon ( , to watch) was probably a frontier watch-tower, and the name Pi-hahiroth, if, as generally supposed, an Egyptian word meaning the “place of reeds,” seems to have been a coast fortress or station. They are entangled Probably the word is better rendered by bewildered. (Gesenius, De Wette, Knobel.) Their “turn” into this trap between the mountain and the sea seemed to arise from confusion and perplexity when they found themselves “on the edge” of the terrible desert.

The wilderness hath shut them in Literally, closed upon them, like a trap.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exodus 14 . Yahweh Destroys the Forces of Egypt ( Exo 14:1-31 ).

In this chapter we discover how Pharaoh changed his mind and determined to bring the Israelites back. Once the first grieving over the deaths of the firstborns was over things did not seem quite so black and, angry at being thwarted, he began to wonder why he had given in. So he gave chase with a comparatively powerful force. But this was all within Yahweh’s purpose and the destruction of his forces finally meant that the Israelites no longer had a fear of immediate pursuit.

The Pursuit By The Egyptians Will Result in Deliverance By Yahweh ( Exo 14:1-14 ).

There is a further example of a chiasmus within a chiasmus in this passage which again brings out how Yahweh fulfils His promises:

a Pharaoh will say they are entangled in the land and the wilderness has shut them in (Exo 14:3).

b Yahweh will get Himself honour on Pharaoh and all his hosts and the Egyptians will know that He is Yahweh (Exo 14:4).

c The Egyptians say, ‘Why have we let Israel go from slaving for us?’ (Exo 14:5).

d Pharaoh makes ready his chariot forces and takes them forward (Exo 14:6-7).

e Pharaoh pursues the children of Israel (Exo 14:8).

e The Egyptians pursue the children of Israel and get them in their sights (Exo 14:9).

d The children of Israel lift up their eyes and see the forces of Pharaoh (Exo 14:10).

c Israel cry out with a desire to slave for the Egyptians (Exo 14:11-12).

b The salvation of Yahweh will be revealed. The Egyptians will be seen no more (Exo 14:13).

a Yahweh will fight for them and they will hold their peace (Exo 14:14).

Note how in ‘a’ Pharaoh will say they are entangled in the land and the wilderness has shut them in, a devastating situation, in the parallel Yahweh fights for them and they will confidently hold their peace. In ‘b’ Yahweh will get Himself honour on Pharaoh and all his hosts and the Egyptians will know that He is Yahweh, while in the parallel the salvation of Yahweh will be revealed, and the Egyptians will be seen no more (truly they now ‘know that He is Yahweh’). In ‘c’ the Egyptians say, ‘Why have we let Israel go from slaving for us?’, while in the parallel it is the Israelites who in craven fear cry out with a desire to slave for the Egyptians. In ‘d’ Pharaoh makes ready his chariot forces and takes them forward, while in the parallel the children of Israel lift up their eyes and see their forces. In ‘e’ Pharaoh pursues the children of Israel, while in the parallel the Egyptians pursue the children of Israel and get them in their sights.

Exo 14:1-4

‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to the children of Israel that they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea before Baal-zephon. You will encamp over against it by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will follow after them. And I will get for myself honour on Pharaoh and on all his host. And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” And they did so.’

The withdrawal from Etham, where they had encamped, was probably caused because the children of Israel panicked when they saw the border fortresses. So Yahweh graciously incorporated the withdrawal in His plan. They were to turn back and encamp at Pi-hahiroth. This would be reported back to Pharaoh by the men at the frontier forts who would then gloat as he realised that they were afraid and were trapped in the wilderness by the sea.

There could be no doubt that Pharaoh was seething. He had been humiliated in a way to which he was unaccustomed. Yahweh will thus use this to make him determine to humiliate the children of Israel and their God in turn. Because of false reports (Exo 14:5) he will follow them and seek to drag them back by force, possibly after taking great revenge on their leaders. We must remember that to some extent he himself had been sheltered from the effects of the plagues. But this too was in Yahweh’s plan for He will defeat them, revealing once for all that He is Yahweh.

“Pi-hahiroth” — ‘Migdol’ — ‘Baal-zephon’. This defines their next encampment. As with all the cities and places mentioned identification is uncertain. Pi-hahiroth could mean ‘house of the goddess Hrt’, or ‘mouth of the canals’ (P’-hr was a canal near Raamses), connecting it with the watery borders of Egypt. Baal-zephon (‘lord of the north’) has been tentatively identified with Tahpahnes (Tell Dephne), but this is uncertain. This identification is based on a Phoenician letter of 6th century BC which refers to ‘Baal-zephon and all the gods of Tahpahnes’. Baal-zephon was a Canaanite god known to have been worshipped in lower Egypt. ‘Migdol’ means a tower and this was presumably a prominent tower on the border, but there were many Migdols.

“I will get for myself honour.” It was the boast of many ancient would-be conquerors that they would go out with their armies and ‘get themselves honour’ by the defeat of great foes. This thus refers to the defeat and humiliation of Pharaoh and his forces.

“And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” Yahweh’s revelation of Himself as the One Who acts continues. The Egyptians already know of Yahweh but they will have the revelation of what He is made abundantly clearer in the defeat of their armies (compare on Exo 6:3). It is not only Israel who come to a deeper knowledge of the name of Yahweh by the experiencing of His power.

“And they did so.” The people did what Yahweh commanded.

Exo 14:5

‘And the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled. And the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” ’

It is clear that the reports or rumours coming back to Pharaoh probably suggested that the children of Israel were not only going into the wilderness to worship but were showing signs of a permanent departure. This made him and his high officials finally rethink their position and they determined to bring them back immediately. The recognition that they may have lost so many useful slaves was more than they could bear.

“Was told that the people had fled.” That is, permanently. This was the suggestion made by suspicious minds. It was how they saw it. We must not accuse Moses of duplicity. It is probable that Moses intention was to follow out Yahweh’s orders whatever they were. Thus he had not made up his mind one way or the other. Whatever Yahweh said he would do it.

“Israel”. Pharaoh mostly speaks of ‘the children of Israel’ as ‘Israel’ (Exo 5:2 but see Exo 12:31).

Exo 14:6-9

‘And he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. And Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart strong, and he pursued after the children of Israel, for the children of Israel went out with a high hand, and the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth before Baal-zephon.’

Pharaoh’s preparations reveal that he was still in awe of Yahweh. He gathered a large force of Egyptians and pursued them, and eventually his scouts told him that they had been spotted in the distance and that they had ‘overtaken’ them, that is, had come within contactable range of them.

“He made ready his chariot.” Pharaoh was determined that he would personally go with his army. He had his chariot made ready.

“He took six hundred chosen chariots.” These were no doubt his elite force. The number six hundred indicates full completeness three doubled for intensity times ‘a hundred’). It is probably the writer’s intention that we see this as one to each of the groups of Israel (13:37). Each chariot would carry a driver and a fighting man. It may be that a ‘hundred’ represents a fighting group (compare 2Sa 18:1 and the ‘century’ under the centurion in the later Roman legions). Thus there would be six elite fighting groups.

“And all the chariots of Egypt.” Speed was necessary. But the elite chariot group was reinforced by summoning all other available chariots. Pharaoh was taking no chances. What a terrifying sight this would be to the children of Israel. What chance would they, untrained and badly armed slaves, have against this supreme force?

“Captains over all of them.” The word for captains can mean ‘a third’. However in its use it can clearly mean someone of some considerable importance militarily. In 2Sa 23:8 it is used of the mighty men of David. In 1Ki 9:22 they come after ‘the princes’ and are superior to ‘the rulers of his chariots’. In 2Ki 7:2 it refers to the man on whose arm the king leans. Thus Pharaoh is taking his elite commanders.

“And his horsemen.” Possibly although not necessarily those who drove the chariots rather than cavalry.

Possibly accompanying the chariots were part of the main Egyptian army. The latter, however, would have to follow behind the speedy chariots with a view to catching up later (see Exo 14:23). They would be necessary in order to escort back what remained of the defeated and dispirited Israelites.

“Yahweh made Pharaoh” s heart strong.’ Paradoxically this explains why he was able to overcome his dread of Yahweh. Yahweh’s act of hardening hearts is mentioned three times (Exo 14:4; Exo 14:8; Exo 14:17) indicating the completeness of His activity.

“For the children of Israel went out with a high hand.” This was Pharaoh’s view of the position. They had become high handed and were taking the opportunity of deserting. Alternatively RSV translates ‘triumphantly’. Thus it may be a contrast to explain why Pharaoh took such a large force. He had to deal with a newly confident people. But the next verses suggest otherwise. Or it may signify that they went out by the hand of Yahweh.

Exo 14:10-12

‘And when Pharaoh drew near the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians came after them, and they were terrified, and the children of Israel cried out to Yahweh. And they said to Moses, “Did you take us out to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt? Why have you dealt with us like this, to bring us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians.’ For it would be better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

When the children of Israel saw the approaching Egyptian chariot forces they were terrified and cried out to Yahweh. But this was in fear, not in hope. They clearly expected no help for they then turned on Moses and criticised him bitterly. They forgot what Yahweh had already done through Moses. This serves to demonstrate how subservient they had become. They were cowed. They had no pride, only fear. It would take much to change their outlook on life. When we tend to criticise them we must remember how low they had come.

Their slave mentality then comes out. Rather than die proudly they were willing to cringe before their masters. They now regretted that they had not remained as slaves. How quickly their previous jubilation has turned to sourness and grief, for they believe that the wilderness in which they find themselves will now be their grave. Instead of jubilation they now remembered how they had constantly told Moses to leave them alone in their misery. They were a people without heart and in no condition to fight the Egyptians

Yet there was some justification for their fear. In front of them was an impassable stretch of water. Border fortresses and mountains were on both sides. Behind them were the powerful Egyptian chariotry. They had nowhere to go but into the sea.

Exo 14:13-14

‘And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still and watch God’s deliverance, which he will accomplish for you today. For you will never ever see again the Egyptians whom you have seen this day. Yahweh will fight for you and you will hold your peace” ’

The contrast between the cringing people and the confident Moses is outstanding. He recognises their dilemma but He has no doubts that Yahweh will act and tells them that they will not need to fight. They have only to stand and watch, for Yahweh will fight for them. He is certain that the Egyptians will be dealt with in such a way that they will never again try to interfere with the journeying children of Israel. But he does not think of trying to cross the water for, while some might manage to get through, the majority will be stranded with their cattle and flocks and possessions.

Then having expressed his confidence he comes to Yahweh to ask Him to act on their behalf. He ‘cries to Yahweh’ as Exo 14:15 indicates.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Israel Crosses the Red Sea Exo 14:1-31 records the story of Israel crossing the Read Sea. The crossing of the Red Sea served as a way to cut Israel off from the advancement of Pharaoh’s army. It also served to cut Israel off from returning back into Egypt; for this had been a concern to the Lord as Moses led them out of Egypt and into the wilderness (Exo 13:17).

Exo 13:17, “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt :”

The Principle of Sowing and Reaping – Just as the Egyptians has been drowning the Hebrew babies in the waters of the Nile, so did God choose to drown the Egyptian army in the depths of the Red Sea. This very likely sent a message to a superstitious people that the God of the Israel had taken vengeance upon act of cruelty by the Egyptians.

A Type and Figure of the Tribulation Period – After looking at the Exodus, the Lord quickened to me Luk 21:21. The children of Israel were fleeing God’s wrath upon Egypt much like God tells believers in Luk 21:21 to flee God’s wrath upon Israel during the Tribulation Period.

Luk 21:21, “Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.”

Exo 14:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Exo 14:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

Exo 14:2 Word Study on “Pihahiroth” Gesenius says the Hebrew name “Pihahiroth” ( ) (H6367) means, “the mouth of caverns.” He says in the Egyptian language this name means, “a place adorned with green grass.” Strong translates it to mean, “mouth of the gorges.” PTW translates the word to mean, “the mouth.” It comes from two words; the Hebrew word ( ) (H6310), meaning, “mouth,” and the Hebrew word ( ) (H2356), meaning, “a cave, or hole.” This word is used only four times in the Scriptures, the other uses being:

Exo 14:9, “But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth , before Baalzephon.”

Num 33:7, “And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pihahiroth , which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol.”

Num 33:8, “And they departed from before Pihahiroth , and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.”

Since the third century A.D., the location of Mount Sinai has traditionally been located in the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. However, if Mt. Sinai were located in Midian, which was located in Arabia, as archeological evidence is now indicating, then the crossing of the Red Sea could have taken place in the Gulf of Aqaba, on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula and not at one of five traditional sites located on the west or north side of the Sinai and the Gulf of Suez. Since the Sinai Peninsula was under the domain of Egypt during the time of the Exodus, this location in Arabia would have placed Moses and the children of Israel just outside Egyptian ancient territory and thus, outside of their diplomatic reach.

Regarding the route of the Exodus, Moses could have crossed through the middle of the Sinai Peninsula following a familiar east-west trade route in a three-week period, which matches the biblical time period of these events (see Exo 16:1).

Exo 16:1, “And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt .”

Just before reaching the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba along this route, Moses could have veered due south, following a dry river bed, which empties into the Red Sea midway up the Gulf of Aqaba. Exo 14:2 says, “that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth,” an indication of veering from the common path. Philo goes into more detail explaining this alternate route:

“ Therefore, turning aside from the direct road he found an oblique path, and thinking that it must extend as far as the Red Sea, he began to march by that roadBut when the king of Egypt saw them proceeding along a pathless track, as he fancied, and marching through a rough and untrodden wilderness, he was delighted with the blunder they were making respecting their line of march, thinking that now they were hemmed in, having no way of escape whatever. ” (Philo Judaes, A Treatise On the Life of Moses, 1.29-30) [69]

[69] C. D. Young, The Works of Philo Judaes vol. 3 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855), 37.

At the place where this dry riverbed enters the Gulf of Aqaba is a dry, sandy bank, hedged in by two tall mountain peaks. This gorge, which passes between two high mountainous peaks, would fit the biblical description of Pihahiroth, “the mouth of the gorges.” It is at this site that scientists searched for archeological evidence of the events of the biblical Exodus in 2000 to support this site. Therefore, these archeologists searched the underwater terrain of the Gulf of Aqaba at this location for signs of Egyptian wreckage, primarily the six hundred chariots (Exo 14:7). In their search, they found sea coral shaped into the circular forms of chariot wheels and axles. Metal detectors were used on these circular corals to confirm that there was metal content within the coral, which metal was circular in shape. They actually filmed several 4-spoke and 6-spoke metal wheels encrusted with coral, and one shiny wheel untouched by coral. These chariot wheels were determined to be of Egyptian design for this period of their history. Unfortunately, strict Egyptian law forbids the removal of these coral and artifacts.

In addition, although the Gulf of Aqaba is deep, reaching one mile in depth, it is at this crossing that the Gulf is relatively shallow. The sea bottom is not made up of silt as is the Gulf of Suez, but is a layer of sand. This relatively shallow, sandy bottom would have allowed for the passing of the children of Israel. Although the five proposed sites north of the Gulf of Suez are all relatively shallow, this location in the Gulf of Aqaba would better fit the biblical description of these mighty, deep waters (Exo 15:8; Exo 15:10, Psa 106:9). [70]

[70] Ron Wyatt, The Exodus Revealed: Search for the Red Sea Crossing, prod. Discovery Media Productions, Portland, Oregon, 82 min., 2000, 2004, DVD; See also Colin Humphreys, The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist’s Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories (New York: Continuum International Publishing Group , 2004).

Exo 15:8, “And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea .”

Exo 15:10, “Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters .”

Psa 106:9, “He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths , as through the wilderness.”

Exo 14:2 Word Study on “Migdol” – PTW says the name “Migdol” means “tower.”

Exo 14:2 Word Study on “Baalzephon” – PTW says the name “Baalzephon” means “lord of the North.”

Exo 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

Exo 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

Exo 14:4 Comments – Pharaoh’s heart hardened for the twelfth time in Exo 14:5; Exo 14:8. We can list the previous references to his hardened heart:

1) Exo 7:14 (Rod) 6) Exo 9:7 (Murrain) 2) Exo 7:22-23 (Water to Blood) 7) Exo 9:12 (Boils) 3) Exo 8:15 (frogs) 8) Exo 9:34-35 (Hail) 4) Exo 8:19 (lice) 9) Exo 10:20 (Locusts) 5) Exo 8:32 (Swarms) 10) Exo 10:27 (darkness)

Why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart: so that God might be glorified (Exo 14:4) and “that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.”

Exo 14:13-14 Comments The Salvation of the Lord – Note a similar situation in 2Ch 20:15, “And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.”

Exo 14:16 “lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea,” – Comments – Moses has been doing this as a way of starting almost every plague.

The first plague of water turned to blood:

Exo 7:19, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt , upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.”

The second plague of frogs:

Exo 8:5, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams , over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.”

The third plague of lice:

Exo 8:16, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land , that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”

The seventh plague of hail:

Exo 9:23, “And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven : and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.”

The eighth plague of locusts:

Exo 10:13, “And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt , and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.”

Exo 14:19 Comments – Note other references to the angel of the Lord’s presence with the children of Israel:

Exo 23:20, “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.”

Exo 23:23, “For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.”

Exo 32:34, “Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.”

Exo 33:2, “And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.”

Exo 14:20 Comments – Note how the cloud gave darkness to the Egyptians, but light to God’s people. We see a similar example of how God uses nature to protect His children and to confound the enemy in the story of the kings of Israel and Judah when they fought against the king of Edom (2Ki 3:20-23). In this story the pools of water refreshed the children of Israel and of Judah, but it confused the Edomites.

2Ki 3:20-23, “And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border. And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.”

We also see that the Ark of the Covenant brought blessings upon the nation of Israel, but it brought curses upon the land of the Philistines when they stole it from the Israelites (2Sa 5:1-12).

God’s ways act in a similar manner today (2Sa 22:26-27, Psa 18:26). His ways bless His children and confuse the ungodly. God’s ways are foolish and not understood by the world, but give revelation to His people. For example, the foolishness of preaching confounds the wise and noble, but brings salvation to the poor in spirit (1Co 1:17-31). The gifts of the Spirit, such as praying in tongues, confound the wise, but bless and strengthen the believer (1Co 14:4; 1Co 14:23).

2Sa 22:26-27, “With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.”

Psa 18:26, “With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.”

Exo 14:22 Word Study on “Pihahiroth” – Gesenius says the Hebrew “Pihahiroth” ( ) (H6367) means, “the mouth of caverns.” He says in the Egyptian language this name means, “a place adorned with green grass.” Strong translates it to mean, “mouth of the gorges.” PTW translates the word to mean, “the mouth.” It comes from two words; the Hebrew word ( ) (H6310), meaning, “mouth,” and the Hebrew word ( ) (H2356), meaning, “a cave, or hole.”

Exo 14:28 Comments – As I was praying in the spirit and with the interpretation one day (1Co 14:13-15), I began to say that Pharaoh’s army was forewarned of God’s pending wrath before they were destroyed in the Red Sea. They had seen the ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. They knew that God was mighty to judge. Yet, in the hardness of their hearts, they chose to persecute the people of God.

Scripture References – Note Pro 29:1, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Escape Thru the Red Sea Exo 13:17 to Exo 15:21 records the flight of Israel from Egypt through the Red Sea. This journey has strong symbolism of the Christian’s salvation experience and water baptism. The next passage of Scripture (Exo 15:22 to Exo 18:27) will symbolize a Christian’s early journey towards the phase of indoctrination as a part of discipleship, which is demanded of them at Mount Sinai.

1. Israel Journeys Through the Wilderness ( Exo 13:17-22 ) – Israel’s initial journey into the wilderness is characterized by God’s total provision for them. They did not have to do anything to walk in victory except follow Moses. This event could symbolize the Christian’s days immediately following the salvation experience. A new believer finds God at work in every aspect of his life, in his prayers, in miracles of deliverance, being provided everything he needs with little or no effort to exercise his faith.

2. Israel Crosses the Red Sea ( Exo 14:1-31 ) The crossing of the Red Sea could symbolize a Christian’s water baptism, a time when he feels deliverance from all bondages of sin. Water baptism confirms his commitment to follow Christ.

3. The Song of Moses ( Exo 15:1-19 ) and the Song of Miriam ( Exo 15:20-21 ) The songs of Moses and Miriam reflect joy that a new believer experiences by his cleansing from sin and guilt and bondages of this world. He is free and his joy is overflowing.

Illustration – I have known a number of people who were instantly delivered from addictions and illnesses at the time of salvation. One church member testified to us that he was delivered from cigarettes when he gave his life to the Lord. One day he started to buy a pack of cigarettes and the Lord spoke to him, “I delivered you the first time. You will have to deliver yourself the second time.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Pharaoh Pursues Israel

v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

v. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon; before it ye shall encamp by the sea. Instead of proceeding on their journey into the desert, the children of Israel were to turn back, toward the west, and pitch their tents over against Hahiroth and Baalzephon, on the west side of an arm of the Red Sea.

v. 3. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, their turning back from Etham might seem like an act of bewilderment, of uncertainty, causing them to march back and forth without definite object; the wilderness hath shut them in; there was no road toward Canaan on the west side of the Gulf of Suez, and so the children of Israel would be held fast in the desert.

v. 4. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. This was the final hardening which the Lord wanted to inflict upon Pharaoh, and it would result in bringing honor and glory to the Lord as the one true, just, and mighty God. And they, the children of Israel, did so; they encamped at a place where they were apparently shut in as in a prison, a fact which caused Pharaoh to plan their capture and return to their former slavery in Egypt.

v. 5. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, the report of all the events that transpired was brought to him; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? What foolishness possessed us that we let these excellent workmen go? The apparent aimlessness of the journeying may have caused Pharaoh to believe that the Lord had withdrawn His hand from the people, and that he would have no difficulty in recapturing them.

v. 6. And he made ready his chariot, he had his servants hitch the horses to his own chariot, and took his people, his army, with him, all the soldiers that were available upon short notice.

v. 7. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, the pick of his supply, the flower of his army, and all the chariots of Egypt, whatever other wagons were available, and captains over everyone of them, all the necessary officers.

v. 8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, he was blinded in his foolishness by the apparent helplessness of his former slaves. And the children of Israel went out with an high hand. It was not a case of secret flight with them, but of a bold departure in the sight of all the Egyptians.

v. 9. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon. The detailed enumeration of Pharaoh’s host serves to emphasize the greatness of his destruction. It is thus that obdurate sinners deliberately close their eyes against the manifest works of God and force God, as it were, to execute justice and judgment upon them.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE DIRECTION OF THE JOURNEY CHANGED. Hitherto the march of the Israelites had been to the south-east. Another day’s journey in this direction would have taken them beyond the limits of Egypt, into the desert region east of the Bitter Lakes, which was dry, treeless, and waterless. In this tract there would have been but scant nourishment for their flocks and herds, and absolutely no water for themselves, unless it had been obtained by miracle. God therefore changed the direction of their route from south-east to due south, and made them take a course by which they placed the Bitter Lakes on their left hand, and so remained within the limits of Egypt, in a district fairly well watered, but shut off from the wilderness by the Bitter Lakes and the northern prolongation of the Gulf of Suez, with which they were connected. This route suited the immediate convenience of the host; and, having no suspicion of any hostile movement on the part of the Egyptians, theynot unnaturallymade no objection to it. It had, however, the disadvantage, in case of a hostile movement, of shutting them in between their assailants on the one hand, and the sea upon the other; and this circumstance seems to have led Pharaoh to make his pursuit.

Exo 14:2

Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn. Kalisch translates “return”i.e; “retrace their steps,” and supposes that Etham lay far south of Pihahiroth, on the west coast of the Gulf of Suez. But the Hebrew word means either “turn back” or “turn aside,” and is translated here and not by the LXX. Dr. Brugsch supposes that the turn made was to the north, and the “sea” reached the Mediterranean; but all other writers, regarding the sea spoken of as the Red Sea (compare Exo 13:18), believe the divergence from the previous route to have been towards the south, and place Pihahiroth, Migdol, and Baal-Zephon in this quarter. Pihahiroth. The exact position is nnknown. Neither the Egyptian remains nor the writings of the Greeks or Romans present us with any similar geographic name. If Semitic, the word should mean “the entrance to the caves,” but it is quite possible that it may be Egyptian. Migdol. There was undoubtedly a famous Migdol, or Maktal, on the eastern frontier of Egypt, which was a strong fortified post, and which is often mentioned. Hecataeus called it Magdolos. In the Itinerary of Antonine it is said to be twelve Roman miles from Pelusium. But this is too northern a position for the Migdol of the present passage; which must represent a “tower” or “fortified post” not very remote from the modern Suez. Over against Baal-Zephon. The accumulation of names, otherwise unknown to the sacred writers, is a strong indication of the familiarity possessed by the author of Exodus with the geography of the country. No late writer could have ventured on such local details. A name resembling “Baal-Zephon” is said to occur in the Egyptian monuments. Dr. Brugsch reads it as “Baal-Zapuna.” He regards it as the designation of a Phoenician god, and compares “Baal-Zebub.” Others have compared the “Zephon” with the Graeco-Egyptian form “Typhon,” and have supposed “Baal-Zephon” to be equivalent to “Baal-Set” or “Baal. Sutech”a personification of the principle of evil.

Exo 14:3

They are entangled in the land. Or “they are confused,” “perplexed”i.e. “they have lost their way.” Pharaoh could not conceive that they would have taken the route to the west of the Bitter Lakes, which conducted to no tolerable territory, unless they were hopelessly at sea with respect to the geography of the country. In this “perplexity” of theirs he thought he saw his own opportunity. The wilderness hath shut them in. Pharaoh is thinking of his own “wilderness,” the desert country between the Nile valley and the Red Sea. This desert, he says, “blocks their way, and shuts them in “they cannot escape if he follows in their steps, for they will have the sea on one hand, the desert on the other, and in their front, while he himself presses upon their rear.

Exo 14:4

I will be honoured. See the comment on Exo 9:16. That the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. Compare above, Exo 7:1-25.

HOMILETICS

Exo 14:1 4

God’s trials of His faithful ones.

All hitherto had gone well with the departing Israelites. The Egyptians indeed had “thrust them out”had hurried their departurehad felt insecure till they were beyond the borders. But they had freely given of their treasures to speed the parting guests, and had in every way facilitated their setting forth. The multitude, vast as it was, had in no respect suffered as yet; it had proceeded in good military order (Exo 13:18), had found abundant pasture for its flocks and herds, and was now on the very verge of the desert which alone separated it from Canaan. Egypt was behind them; freedom and safety were in front; no foe forbade their entrance into the vast expanse which met their gaze as they looked eastward, stretching away to the distant horizon’ of hot haze, behind which lay the Promised Land. The question, how they were to support themselves in the desert had not perhaps occurred to them as yet. They had come out provisioned with bread for certain number of days, and probably with many sacks of grain laden upon their asses. If the spring rains had been heavy, as is likely to have been the case, since in Egypt there had been both rain and hail (Exo 9:23-33), the desert itself would have been covered at this season with a thin coat of verdure and “thickly jewelled with bright and. fragrant flowers”. The hearts of many were, no doubt, bounding at the thought of quite quitting Egypt at last, and entering on the absolute freedom of the illimitable desert. But at this point God interposed. “Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn, and encamp before Pihahiroth” Egypt is not yet to be quitted; they are still to skirt itto remain among Egyptian citiesto turn away from Palestineto interpose a sea between themselves and Asiato pursue a route which leads into one of the most unproductive portions of the whole African continent. Sore must the trial have been to those who had knowledge of the localitiesdark and inscrutable must have seemed the ways of Providence. What was the Almighty intending? How could Canaan ever be reached if they turned their backs on it? Whither was God taking them? Even apart from any pursuit by Pharaoh, the situation must have been perplexing in the extreme, and must have severely exercised the more thoughtful. What then must not the universal feeling have been, when it appeared that the monarch, informed of their movements, had started in pursuit? What but that they were God-forsaken or, worse, led by God himself into a trap from which there was no escape? Readily intelligible is the bitterness which showed itself in their address to Moses”Because there were no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us?” And so God’s peoplehis faithful and elect childrenat all times and under all circumstances, are subject to severe trials. These come upon them either

I. FOR THEIR MORAL IMPROVEMENT. “The trial of our faith worketh patience,” and God wills that “patience should have her perfect work,” that his saints may be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (Jas 1:3, Jas 1:4). “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Difficulties, dangers, temptations, perplexities, disappointments, constitute a moral discipline which is to most men absolutely needful for the due training and elevation of their moral characters. By such trials the dross is purged away from themthe pure metal remains. Their love of God and trust in God are tested, and by being tested strengthened. “Tribulation worketh patience; and patience experience; and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed.” The man who is perfect in each good word and work has in almost every case passed through a furnace of affliction to attain his perfection.

II. FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. God’s glory is often shown forth in the sight of men most conspicuously by the trials of his faithful ones. In Israel’s case this was brought about by miracle. But the rule holds good in the ordinary course of human affairs equally. What has so shown forth the glory of God in the past as the endurance of trials, insults, torments, death, by his martyrs? What even now so impresses men with the reality of religion, as suffering on account of the truth? Afflictions, crosses, disappointments, patiently borne, not only strengthen our own spirits, but are a witness for God in a world that for the most part disregards him, and. to a considerable extent “get him honour.”

III. FROM THE NECESSITY OF THE CASE, BECAUSE GOD‘S WAYS ARE NOT AS OUR WAYS. If the children of Israel could have foreseen that God would divide the Red Sea for them and lead them through it, the route southwards to the point of crossing would have been seen to be the fittest and best, securing as it did the continuance of water and of forage, and avoiding one of the worst parts of the wilderness. But it was impossible for them to surmise this; and hence their perplexity, alarm, and anger against Moses. In our ordinary trials it often happens that our inability to understand how we are being dealt with lies at the root of our sufferings. The disappointment which most vexes us may be a necessary preliminary to the success of which we have no thought. The “thorn in the flesh” may bring us to a higher moral condition than we should have reached without it. “God’s ways are in the deep, and his paths in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known.” He deals with us as he sees to be best, and we cannot see that so it is best. He has surprises in reserve for us, sometimes as little looked for as the division of the Red Sea by the Israelites. Hence, if in cases of this kind we would suffer less, we must trust God more; we must give ourselves wholly up to him, place ourselves in his hands, accept whatever he sends as assuredly, whether we can see it or not, what is fittest for us.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 14:1-5

The command to encamp by the sea.

These verses introduce the narrative of what the Lord “did in the Red Sea” (Num 21:14), when his people “passed through as by dry land; which the Egyptians, assaying to do, were drowned” (Heb 11:29). This crossing of the Red Sea was no after-thought. God had it in view when he turned aside the path of the children of Israel from the direct route, and ordered them to encamp before Pi-hahiroth, near the northern end of the gulf. His design in this event was to give a new and signal display of his Jehovah attributes, in the destruction of Pharaoh’s host (Exo 14:4), and in working a great salvation for his Church. By the events of the Red Sea, he would be shown to be at once a God of mercy and judgment (Isa 30:18); Supreme Ruler in heaven and in earth (Psa 135:6); disposing events, great and small, according to his good pleasure, and for the glory of his name; making even the wrath of man instrumental to the accomplishment of his purposes (Psa 76:10). Consider

I. THE MYSTERIOUS TURN IN THE ROUTE. The command was to turn to the south, and encamp between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-Zephon (Exo 14:2). This route was

1. Not necessarily an arbitrary one. We need not suppose that God brought the Israelites into this perplexityshutting them up between the sea and the mountains, simply for the purpose of showing how easily he could again extricate them. The choice of routes was not great.

(1) The way of the Philistines was blocked (Exo 13:17).

(2) The way by the north of the Red Seabetween it and the Bitter Lakesprobably did not then exist. The Red Sea seems at that time to have extended much further north than it does at present.

(3) To go round by the upper end of the Lakes would have been to take the host far out of its way, besides exposing it to the risk of collision with outlying tribes.

(4) The remaining alternative was to march southwards, and ford the Red Sea. The route was, nevertheless

2. A mysterious and perplexing one. Pharaoh at once pronounced it a strategic blunder (Exo 14:3). Supposing the intention to be to cross the Red Sea, no one could hazard a conjecture as to how this was to be accomplished. Ordinary fords were out of the question for so vast a multitude. Hemmed in by the mountains, with an impassable stretch of water in front, and no way of escape from an enemy bearing down upon them from behind, the Egyptian king mighty, well judge their, situation to be a hopeless, one. Yet how strangely like the straits of life into which God’s people are sometimes led by following faithfully the guiding pillar of their duty; or into which, irrespective of their choice, God’s providence sometimes brings them! Observe, further,

3. No hint was given of how the difficulty was to be solved. This is God’s way. Thus does he test his people’s faith, and form them to habits of obedience. He does not show them everything at once. Light is given for present duty, but for nothing beyond. Fain would we know, when difficulties crowd upon us, how our path is to be opened; but this God does not reveal. He would have us leave the future to him, and think only of the duty of the moment. Time enough, when the first command has been obeyed, to say what is to be done next. “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2Co 5:7).

II. GOD‘S ENDS IN LEADING THEM BY THIS ROUTE. God had ends. He was not guiding the children of Israel blindly. His knowledge, his purpose, no less than his presence, go before his saints, as guiding pillars, to prepare places for them. God had a definite purpose, not only in leading the people by this route, but in planting them down at this particular spotbetween Migdol and the sea. His ends embraced

1. The humiliation of Pharaoh. That unhappy monarch was still hard in heart. He was torn with vain regrets at having let the people go. He had a disposition to pursue them. God would permit him to gratify that disposition. He would so arrange his providence as even to seem to invite him to do it. He would lure him into the snare he had prepared for him, and so would complete the judgment which the iniquity of Pharaoh and of his servants had moved him to visit upon Egypt. This was God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart (Exo 14:4). Note

(1) If God is not honoured by men, he will be honoured upon them (Scott).

(2) Retributive providence frequently acts by snaring men through the evil of their own hearts. Situations are prepared for them in which they fall a prey to the evil principles or dispositions which, in spite of warnings and of their own better knowledge, they have persisted in cherishing. They wish for something, and the opportunity is presented to them of gratifying their wish. They harbour an evil disposition (say lust, or dishonesty), when suddenly they find themselves in a situation in which, like a wild beast leaping from its covert, their evil nature springs out upon them and devours them. It was in this way that God spread his net for Pharaoh, and brought upon him “swift destruction.”

2. The education of Israel. The extremity of peril through which Israel was permitted to passcoupled with the sudden and marvellous deliverance which so unexpectedly turned their “shadow of death into the morning” (Amo 5:8), filling their mouth with laughter and their tongue with singing (Psa 126:1)while their pursuers were overwhelmed in the Red Sea, was fitted to leave a profound and lasting impression on their minds. It taught them

(1) That all creatures and agencies are at God’s disposal, and that his resources for the help of his Church, and for the discomfiture of his enemies, are absolutely unlimited. As said of Christ, “even the winds and the sea obey him” (Mat 8:27).

(2) That the Lord knoweth, not only “how to deliver the godly out of temptations,” but also how “to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2Pe 2:9). It was thus

(3) A rebuke to distrust, and a Powerful encouragement to faith.

3. The complete separation of Israel as a people to himself. Paul says”all our fathers Were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1Co 10:2). Connect this with the spiritual significance of baptism. Baptism, especially as administered by immersion, figures dying to sin, and rising again to righteousness (Rom 6:4). It is thus the analogue of the passage through the Red Sea, which was a symbolic death and resurrection of the hosts of Israel. By saving the people from the waves which engulfed their enemies, Jehovah had, as it were, purchased the nation a second time for himself, giving them “life from the, dead.” The baptism of the sea was thus a sort of “outward and visible sign” of the final termination of the connection with Egypt. Its waters were thereafter “a silver streak” between the Israelites and the land of their former bondage, telling of a pursuer from whom their had been delivered, and of a new life on which they had entered.J.O.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Exo 14:1-12

Israel stricken with terror by reason of a deliverance not yet completed.

It is plain that the Israelites, going out of Egypt. in such circumstances as they did, must have gone out in a state of great exhilaration, almost beside themselves with joy at such a complete reversal of all their past experiences at the hands of Pharaoh. Moreover we are assured in Exo 14:8 that they went out with a high hand. The power of God for the deliverance of Israel was manifested in great fulness. What he had done in the past, and especially in the recent past, if only well considered and kept in the mind, was sufficient to inspire trust, banish fear, and show the wisdom of most diligent obedience to every direction that he gave. Nevertheless in Exo 14:10 we find this humiliating statement, “they were sore afraid”sore afraid, so soon after deliverance, and such a deliverance! Whence could their danger have come, and what could have made them so quickly to forget their God? These are the matters we have now to consider.

I. CONSIDER WHAT THERE WAS TO EXPLAIN THE LOCAL POSITION WHICH PRODUCED THEIR FEAR. They were in an awkward and dangerous position from an ordinary point of view. That position cannot be more forciby indicated than in the words of Pharaoh himself. “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.” They were going into a cul-de-sac. Before them lay the sea; on either hand, as we imagine, rose high ground; it only needed that Pharaoh should come in at the rear and close them up altogether, then they would be compelled to surrender. How then had they come into this position? It was not through any ignorance or carelessness on the part of their leader. Any general leading an army into such a trap would have been deservedly put to death for gross incompetency. It was God who had brought them exactly here, and if the word “trap” is to be mentioned, it was a trap with regard to Pharaoh and not with regard to Israel. The God who had led the Israelites out with a high hand, led them on with the pillar of cloud, and led them into the very position which, if they themselves had been consulted, was the last they would have chosen. It was not the only way God could have taken them, but it was the way in which, most effectually, speedily, and impressively, he could deliver them from Pharaoh. For God, of course, well knew that the deliverance of his people was not accomplished, simply because they had got out of Egypt. The exodus had been a miracle in many ways, and not least in this, that it had. compelled Pharaoh and his servants to act in contradiction to all the most dominating elements of their character. Just as afterwards in dealing with the waters of the Red Sea, God made the force of the wind to overcome the force of gravity; so he had already by another east wind, in the shape of the death of the first-born, completely set aside for a night all the most settled habits of Egypt. These habits had stood up on the right hand and on the left, and made a broad and open way for Israel to go out of the land. But presently, immediately and according to the natural order, these habits resumed their former sway. What else was to be expected? It mattered not in what direction Israel took their flight. Pharaoh and his hosts, smarting with injured pride, panting for vengeance and recovery of lost treasure, would be after them. There was a void in Egypt because of the death of the first-born, but after all the mothers would feel that void the most. There was another void by reason of the loss of all these slaves, these useful labourers, these accumulators of Egyptian wealth, and this void, we may be sure, was more operative in the vexation it produced than the loss of the first-born. It is a humiliating truth, but men, as a rule, can more easily bear the loss of kindred, even one so dear as the first-born, than the loss of fortune. A failure in business is more discomposing and fretting than a dozen bereavements, considered simply as bereavements; and thus it is certain that Pharaoh and his generals were very speedily in council as to the best way of securing the fugitives. While so engaged, the news comes to them of the direction in which the Israelites had gone. This news was the very thing to decide Pharaoh and make his preparations large and overwhelming, especially when God came to harden his heart to a greater pitch of stubbornness than it yet had reached. Either recapture or destruction seemed now certain. Therefore, seeing Pharaoh was now bound by the very force of the passions raging in his heart and the hearts of his people to follow Israel, it was well as soon as possible, to remove all danger to Israel consequent on this line of action. No good purpose was to be served either towards Israel or towards Pharaoh himself, by allowing him for any length of time, to harass their rear. A catastrophe of the Red Sea magnitude had to come, and the sooner it now came, the better. Israel had dangers enough in front and within; from Amalekites, Amorites, Canaanites, and all the rest of their opponents; from their own character, their own depravity, blindness of heart, sensuality, and idolatrous disposition. God does not allow all possible dangers to come upon us at once. Do not let us be so occupied, with the dangers that are present and pressing as to forget those which he has utterly swept out of the way, overwhelmed in a Red Sea, whence they will emerge against us no more for ever.

II. CONSIDER WHAT THERE WAS TO EXCUSE AND EXPLAIN THE FEAR WHICH ISRAEL EXPRESSED. In itself this fear was indefensible. There was no ground for it in the nature of things. God had done nothing to produce fear; everything indeed, if only it could be rightly seen, to produce the contrary; everything to call forth the utmost reverence and obedience from every right-minded Israelite. He was now, even while the Israelites were entangled in the land, Jehovah as much as ever, the great I Am, leading Israel by a way which, though they knew it not, was the best way. But we must also look at things from Israel’s point of view; we must really remember what God really remembers, that men are dust, and that even when they have the greatest reasons for confidence, those reasons get hidden up, or even presented in such forbidding aspects as to make them powerful in producing unbelief. Our great adversary, who can make evil appear good also makes good appear evil. Look then at what there was in the state of things, to excuse the Israelites in being sore afraid.

1. The magnitude of Pharaoh‘s preparations. In spite of all the crippling effects of the plague, he was able to muster a great array. Doubtless he had a big standing army, for chariots are not got ready at a moment’s notice. We may infer that he was a man who always had on hand some scheme of ambition and aggrandisement, and because the Israelites had long dwelt in his land, they knew all about the skill, valour and crushing force of the charioteers. Whatever strength there might be in the natural resources of Egypt they knew it well. When the unknown Caanan had to be faced, they gave Moses no rest, till spies were despatched to report on the land; but they needed no report of Egypt. The military strength of Pharaoh was only too deeply impressed on every mind.

2. There was the exasperation of a great loss. The people not only knew the strength with which Pharaoh came, but the spirit in which he came. He had lost 600,000 men, with their flocks and herds, and all the choice spoils of Egypt, in the way of gold, silver and raiment. Then there was a further loss of population in the mixed multitude. There was everything to exasperate the despot, and not one thing to soothe his pride or lessen his calamities. If only he had failed in trying to get hold of a new possession, it would not have been so hard. But he had failed in keeping the old; he had gone through ten plagues, and yet lost his treasures after all. We may fear that only too many among the Israelites, had just that spirit of greed and grasping in their own hearts which would enable them to appreciate the spirit of Pharaoh’s pursuit.

3. There was the degrading effect of the long oppression in which the Israelites had been kept. The spirit of the slave comes out in the way they talk. These are not imaginary words put in their lips; the very “touch of nature” is in them. These are the language and conduct that reveal a real experience. The present generation, and one knows not how many generations before, had been born in servitude. They had not only been in servitude, but they had felt and acknowledged the bitter misery of it. And now the servitude was ended in due course. Freedom was a necessity, a blessing, and a glory to Israel; but they could not be made fit for it all at once. Jehovah could show signs and wonders in many ways; he could by one blow slay the first-born of Egypt and let the oppressed go free; but it required an altogether different power and method to infuse into the liberated the spirit and courage of freemen.Y.

HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART

Exo 14:1-9

Trial and Judgment.

I. GOD LEADS INTO TRIAL BUT ASSURES Or VICTORY.

1. The command to turn and. shut themselves in between the wilderness and the sea. God leads us where troubles will assail us. Jesus was driven of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

(1) It proves us, and reveals needs which otherwise we might not have suspected. Our weaknesses are manifested.

(2) It reveals God. Through experiences of help his glory brightens for us.

2. The circumstances of God’s people are taken advantage of by their foes. Pharaoh imagined his time had now come. Earthly foes may strike at such a time; Satan surely will

3. The result will be God’s triumph over the foe, not the foe’s over us.

II. THE WICKED CANNOT BE SAVED BY JUDGMENTS.

1. Terrors are soon forgotten. Repression of evil is not conversion. So soon as the repressive force ceases, evil reasserts its sway.

2. Justice done through fear only is regretted, not rejoiced in, by the doer. “Why have we done this,” etc.? “As the dog returneth to his vomit.”

3. Past lessons are forgotten. Pharaoh might have asked what armies could do against the God of Israel; yet he assembles his forces, never dreaming that they are only marshalled for destruction. Those who have known only the discipline of terror have not found salvation. They have only heard a cry to flee and seek salvation. To linger upon the way is to allow evil to overtake them and lead them again into captivity.U.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

FOURTH SECTION
Direction of the Exodus. The Pursuit. The Distress. The Red Sea. The Song of Triumph

Exo 13:17 to Exo 15:21

A.Direction of the march. The distress. Passage through the Red Sea. Judgment and deliverance

Exo 13:17 to Exo 14:31

17And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through [by] the way of the land of the Philistines, although [for]2 that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the [Lest the] people repent, when they see war, and they return to Egypt: 18But God led the people about through [by] the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up harnessed 19[armed] out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had straitly [strictly] sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. 20And they took their journey [they journeyed] from Succoth, and encamped in Etham in 21[on] the edge of the wilderness. And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud [of cloud], to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. 22He took not away the pillar of the cloud [of cloud] by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

Chap. Exo 14:1-2 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn [turn back] and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against [before] Baal-zephon; before [over against] it shall 3ye encamp by the sea. For [And] Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled [bewildered] in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. 4And I will harden Pharaohs heart, that he shall [and he will] follow after them, and I will be honored [get me honor] upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that [and] the Egyptians may [shall] know that I am Jehovah. And they did Song of Solomon 5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this [What is this that we have done], that we have let Israel go from serving us? 6And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him. 7And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every 8one [all] of them. And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, 9and he pursued after the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with an [a] high hand. But [And] the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots [chariot-horses] of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. 10And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians [Egypt] marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto Jehovah. 11And they said unto Moses, Because [Is it because] there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou [that thou hast] taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with [what is this that thou hast done to] 12us, to carry [in bringing] us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell [spake unto] thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been [is] better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. 13And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will shew to [work for] you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall 14see them again no more forever. Jehovah shall fight for you, and ye shall hold 15your peace. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak 16unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But [And] lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine [thy] hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. 17And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 18And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have gotten [get] me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 19And the angel of God, which [who] went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud [of cloud] went [removed] from before their face 20[before them], and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them [and darkness], but it gave light by night to these [it lightened the night]:3 so that [and] the one came not near the other all the night. 21And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back [flow] by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land [bare ground],4 and the waters were divided. 22And 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. 23And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaohs horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24And it came to pass that in the morning watch Jehovah looked unto [looked down at] the host of the Egyptians through [in] the pillar of fire and of the cloud [of cloud], and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25And took off [turned aside] their chariot wheels, that they drave them [and made them drive] heavily: so that [and] the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians. 26And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thine [thy] hand over the sea, that the waters may come again [back] upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength [to its course] when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overthrew [shook] the Egyptians in [into] the midst of the sea. 28And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen and [of]5 all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them [of them not even one]. 29But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a 30wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus [And] Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. 31And Israel saw that [the] great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared Jehovah, and believed in Jehovah and his servant Moses.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Exo 13:17. For that was near. A. V., Murphy, Kalisch, Gesenius, Glaire, Alford retain the rendering although for in this sentence. But such a meaning for cannot be well substantiated. Psa 49:10, adduced by Frst, is certainly not an instance of such use. Psa 116:10 is more plausible. The A. V. rendering: I believed, therefore [] have I spoken, is incorrect. But it is not necessary, with some, to translate: I believed, although I speak. The particle here probably has the meaning when. In Psa 49:19, adduced by Gesenius (Thesaurus), it means because, the apodosis following in Exo 13:20. The same may be said of Gen 8:21; Job 15:27-29; Zec 8:6. The rendering when suffices in Jer 4:30; Jer 30:11; Jer 49:16; Jer 50:11; Jer 51:53; Mic 7:8; Psa 27:10; Psa 21:12. The rendering for suffices in Hos 13:15; Nah 1:10; Deu 18:14; Deu 29:19; Jer 46:23; Psa 71:10; 1Ch 28:5. The rendering where as, or while, may be adopted in Mal 1:4; Ecc 4:14. Probably these comprise all the passages in which the meaning though can with any plausibility be maintained. can be assumed to have the meaning although only as being equivalent to , even when. Even though this should be assumed sometimes to occur, still the case before us is not of that sort. The true explanation of such constructions is to assume a slight ellipsis in the expression: God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, [as might have been expected], seeing that was near. Or: for that was near [and return to Egypt in case of danger would be more readily resorted to].Tr.]

[Exo 14:20. . The construction is difficult. The only literal rendering is: And it was (or, became) the cloud and the darkness, and it illumined the night. The difficulty is gotten over by Knobel and Ewald by altering into , reading: And it came to pass us to the cloud, that it made darkness. But even with this conjectural change, it is no less necessary to assume an ellipsis of to the one and to the other, or on the one side and on the other, as is done by A. V. and the great majority of versions and commentators. The article may be explained as pointing back to Exo 13:21 : And it was the cloud and the darkness which have been already described. Or it is even possible to take (Exo 14:19) as the subject of the verb: And he became the cloud and darkness; but he illumined the night.Tr.]

[Exo 14:21. The Hebrew word here used, , is different from the one rendered dry ground in the next verse; and there is a clear distinction in the meaning, as is quite apparent from a comparison of Gen 8:13, where it is said, that on the first day of the first month the ground was , with Exo 14:14, where it is said, that on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was . The first means: free from water, drained; the second means: free from moisture, dry. The distinction is generally clear, though sometimes not exactly observed.Tr.]

[Exo 14:28. The preposition certainly cannot here be rendered and; but it may have a sort of resumptive force, equivalent to even, namely, in short.Tr.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Exo 13:17. Not by the way of the land of the Philistines. Decidedly wise, theocratic policy on the part of Moses, rightly ascribed to God. The people, disheartened by servitude, could not at once maintain a conflict with the warlike Philistines, without being driven back to Egypt. They must first acquire in the wilderness the qualities of heroes. And that, according to Goethe, was accomplished in a few years! On the exodus, comp. Introduction; Keil, II. p. 42; Knobel, p. 131.

Exo 13:18. Led the people about. It is a question whether the round-about way spoken of has reference simply to the absolutely direct route through the Philistine country, or to another more direct one which they had already begun to take, but which they were to give up. According to Exo 14:2, the latter is to be assumed. Moreover, reference is made not only to the small distance to the Red Sea, but to the whole distance through the wilderness along the Red Sea, first southward along the Gulf of Suez, then along the Elanitic Gulf northwards, (see Knobel, p. 131). For we have here to do with an introductory and summary account. It was natural that nothing but the prophetic divine word of Moses should have the control of the march, inasmuch as the people would have rushed impetuously towards the old caravan road of their fathers. Moses himself was further influenced by his former journey to Sinai and the revelation there made to him. From Raemses to the head of the Gulf would be a distance of some 35 miles, which might easily have been passed over by the Israelites in three days (Robinson I., 80). The deviation from the direct way must, however, be taken into consideration, even though it may have added little to the distance. On the three routes from Cairo to Suez, see Robinson, p. 73.Of the Red Sea. See the Lexicons, Travels, Knobel, p. 131, sqq.6Especially as the children of Israel went up armed for battle. So we understand the force of the before . A march in order of battle would have looked like a challenge to the Philistines. Moreover, signifies, among other things, to provoke to anger.7

Exo 13:19. The bones of Joseph. Another testimony to the tenacity with which the Israelites retained moral impressions and old traditions. The vow, 480 years old, and the oath which sealed it, were still fresh. Vid. Gen 1:25. On the fruitfulness of the land of Goshen, see Robinson, p. 76. From the Land of Goshen to the Red Sea the direct and only route was along the valley of the ancient canal (Ibid. p. 79).

Exo 13:20. From Succoth. Inasmuch as they had already, according to Exo 12:37, gone from Raemses to Succoth in battle array, Succoth (Tent-town, or Booths) would seem to designate not the first gathering-place of the people (Keil), but the point at which the first instinctive movement towards the Philistine border was checked by the oracle of Moses, and by the appearance of the pillar of fire and of smoke. While they at first wished to go from Succoth (say, by the northern extremity of the Bitter Lakes, or even farther on), directly to Palestine, they now had to go along on the west side of the Bitter Lakes towards the Red Sea. Thus they come from Succoth to Etham. Etham lay at the end of the wilderness, which in Num 33:8 is called the wilderness of Etham; but in Exo 15:22, the wilderness of Shur, that is, where Egypt ends and the desert of Arabia begins (Keil). Etham is to be looked for either on the isthmus of Arbek, in the region of the later Serapeum, or the south end of the Bitter Lakes. Against the first view (that of Stickel, Kurtz, Knobel), and for the second, a decisive consideration is the distance, which, although Seetzen went from Suez to Arbek in eight hours, yet according to the statement of the French scholar, Du Bois Aym, amounts to 60,000 metres (16 hours, about 37 miles), a distance such that the people of Israel could not in one day have traveled from Etham to Hahiroth. We must therefore look for Etham at the south end of the basin of the Bitter Lakes, whither Israel may have come in two days from Abu Keisheib, and then on the third day have reached the plain of Suez between Ajrud and the sea (Keil). Abu Keisheib is Heroopolis near Raemses; Ajrud is thought to be identical with Pi-Hahiroth. Vid. Num 33:5 sqq.8

Exo 13:21. And Jehovah went before them. According to Keil this first took place at Etham; but it is to be observed that the decisive movement began at Succoth. Keil says indeed that in verse 17 it reads that Elohim [God] led them, not till here that Jehovah went before them. But Jehovah and Elohim are not two different Gods. Jehovah, as Elohim, knew the Philistines well, and knew that Israel must avoid a contest with them. God, as Jehovah, was the miracle-working leader of His people.By day in a pillar of cloud.This sign of the divine presence and guidance has a natural analogue in the caravan fire, viz. small iron vessels or stoves containing a wood fire, which, fastened on the tops of long poles, are carried as way-marks before caravans, and according to Curtius (de gestis Alex. mag. Exo 5:2; Exo 5:7), in trackless regions, are also carried before armies on the march, the smoke indicating to the soldiers the direction by day, the flame, by night. Comp. Harmar, Observations II., p. 278, Pococke, Description of the East, II., p. 33. Still more analogous is the custom (mentioned by Curtius III. 3, 9) of the ancient Persians, who carried before the marching army on silver altars a fire quem ipsi sacrum et ternum vocant. Yet one must not identify the cloudy and fiery pillar of the Israelitish exodus with such caravan or army fires, and regard it as only a mythical conception or embellishment of this natural fact (Keil). He opposes Ksters view, that the cloud was produced by an ordinary caravan fire, and became a symbol of the divine presence, thus setting aside also Knobels theory (Comm., p. 134) of a legend which was derived from this usage. Here too Keil is concerned about supernaturalism in the abstract, and about something purely outward, so that we do not need here to move in the sphere of faith, of vision, of symbol, and of mystery. The internal world is left out of consideration, while the inspired letter has to serve as evidence for the miraculous appearance. According to him the phenomenon was a cloud which inclosed a fire, and which, when the Israelites were on the march, assumed the form of motion [a dark pillar of smoke rising towards heaven, Keil], but, when the tabernacle rested, perhaps more the form of a round ball of cloud. It was the same fire, he says further, in which the Lord revealed Himself to Moses out of the bush (Exo 3:2), and afterwards descended upon Sinai amidst thunder and lightning. He calls it the symbol of the divine fiery jealousy. Even the Prophets and Psalms are made to share in this literalness (Isa 4:5 sq.; Isa 49:10; Psa 91:5 sq.; Psa 121:6). A sort of solution is cited from Sartorius in his Meditations, to the effect that God, by special action on the earthly element, formed out of its sphere and atmosphere a body, which He then assumed and permeated, in order in it to reveal His real presence. But is not that Indian mythology as much as is the modern theological doctrine of the ? We leave the mystery in its uniqueness suspended between this world and the other, only observing that the problem will have to be solved, how, in later times, the smoke of the offering which rose up from the tabernacle was related to the pillar of cloud. Likewise the question arises: What was the relation between the light of the perpetual lamp, or the late expiring and early kindling fire of the burnt-offering, and the pillar of fire? Vid. Exo 29:39; Num 28:4. The burnt-offering derives its name from the notion of rising; comp. especially Jdg 13:20. The ark, as the central object in the tabernacle, which generally preceded the host, retired in decisive moments behind the host, according to Jos 4:11; so the pillar of cloud here, Exo 14:19. Rationalism finds nothing but a popular legend in the religious and symbolic contemplation of the guidance of the living God; literalism seeks to paint the letters with fantastic, golden arabesques. Assumption (ascension) of a cloud in the form of a ball whose interior consists of fire!

Exo 14:2. Turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth.9In Num 33:8 Hahiroth; Pi is the Egyptian article. This camping-place is identified by many with the place named Ajrud or Agirud, now a fortress with a well two hundred and fifty feet deep, which, however, contains such bitter water that camels can hardly drink it, on the pilgrims road from Cairo to Mecca, four hours distance northwest of Suez, comp. Niebuhr, Reise I., p. 216; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 626, and Robinson, Researches I, p. 68. From Ajrud there stretches out a plain, ten miles long and as many broad, towards the sea west of Suez, and from the foot of the Atakah to the arm of the sea north of Suez (Robinson I., p. 65). This plain very probably served the Israelites as a camping-place, so that they encamped before, i.e. east of Ajrud towards the sea. In the neighborhood of Hahiroth (Ajrud) must be sought also the other places, of which thus far no trace has been discovered (Keil). On Migdol and Baal-zephon, vid. Keil II., p. 43. Since the names Migdol and Baalzephon are without doubt designed to mark the line of travel, it is natural to assume that they indicate the whence and the whither of the route. According to Robinson (I., p. 64) a rocky defile called Muntula leads to the region of Ajrud (Pi-hahiroth) on the left, and Suez on the right, on the Red Sea. Strauss (Sinai und Golgotha, p. 122) called the defile Muktala, and identifies Baal-zephon with Suez. The question about the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea is obscured by theological bias in both directions. It is regarded as a natural event, raised by legendary tradition into a miracle, by Knobel, p. 135 sq., where the historical remarks on the Red Sea and the analogies of the passage are very noteworthy. Karl von Raumer, on the contrary (Palstina, p. 478, under the head, Zug der Israeliten aus Egypten nach Kanaan). regards as rationalistic even the view of Niebuhr, Robinson and others, that the passage took place at Suez or north of Suez, quoting the opinion of Wilson and other Americans (p. 480). He adopts the view of Schubert, Wilson and others, that the Israelites marched south of Suez by Bessantin to the Red Sea. Robinsons remark, that the hypothesis that the Israelites passed over from the plain of Bede (Wady Tawarik) is overthrown by the circumstance that there the sea is twelve miles wide, and that the people did not have but two hours for the passage, Von Raumer overthrows by means of a dictum of Luther s concerning the miraculous power of God. Von Raumer also will not hear to any natural event as the substratum of the miracle. The Holy Scriptures, he says, know nothing of a N. N. E. wind, but say that an east wind divided the waters, that they stood up on the right and the left like walls; there is nothing said about an ebb, hence the duration of the ebb is not to be taken into account. He seems even to be embarrassed by the fact that there is an alternation of ebb and flood in the Red Sea; and in places where others also, in individual cases, at the ebb-tide have ridden through, he holds that the passage could not have take place, e.g. where Napoleon in 1799 crossed the ford near Suez, and thus endangered his life (Robinson I., p. 85). Even the co-operation of the wind, he holds, can be taken into account only in the interest of the magnified miracle, although it is designated not only in Exo 14:21 as the cause of the drying of the sea, but the like fact is also referred to in Moses song of praise (Exo 15:8; comp. Psa 106:9 and other passages). Hence, too, he holds, the east wind must not be understood as being, more exactly, a north-east wind.10 Similar biblical passages are given by Knobel, p. 139. The objection that north of Suez there is not water enough to have overwhelmed Pharaohs host, is removed by the observation of Stickel and Kurtz, that, according to travellers, the Gulf of Suez formerly extended much farther north than now, and in course of time through the blowing in of sand has become shorter, and hence also more shallow (Knobel, p. 140). Also Strauss (Sinai und Golgotha, p. 123) regards the hypothesis that the passage took place as far south as below the mountain Atakah, where the sea is nearly twelve miles wide, as inadmissible, although he insists, on the other hand, that natural forces are insufficient to explain the event. While the subject has been very carefully examined in this aspect, two principal factors of the miracle have been too little regarded: (1) the assurance and foresight of the prophet that in the moment of the greatest need a miracle of deliverance would be performed; (2) the miraculously intensified natural phenomenon, corresponding to the harmonia prstabilita between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of nature, such that an extraordinary ebb, by the aid of a continuous night-storm which blew against the current, laid bare the whole ford for the entire passage of all the people of Israel with their flocks, and that an equally violent wind from the opposite direction might have made the flood, hitherto restrained, a high tide, which must have buried Pharaoh. He who in all this sees only a natural occurrence will of course even press the letter of the symbolic expression, that the water stood up on both sides like a wall.11

Exo 14:3. For Pharaoh will say.We must here remember the law regulating the writing of theocratic history, according to which, as the record of religious history, it puts foremost the divine purpose, and passes over the human motives and calculations, by means of which this purpose was effected, yet without leaving, in the spirit of an abstract supernaturalism, such motives out of the account. Here, accordingly, Moses cannot from the first have had the intention, in marching to the Red Sea, of alluring Pharaoh to the extreme of obduracy, and thereby into destruction. But he may well have anticipated that Pharaoh, pursuing him on the highway around the sea, might be quite as dangerous to him as a collision with the Philistines. As one long acquainted with the Red Sea, he saw only a single means of deliverance, viz., the taking advantage of the ebb for his people, who then by means of the returning flood could get a long distance ahead of Pharaoh, in case he should follow them. So far human calculation could reach; but it received a splendid transformation through the Spirit of revelation, who disclosed to the prophet, together with the certainty of deliverance, the ultimate object of this form of deliverance, viz, the final judgment on Pharaoh, which was yet to be inflicted.They are bewildered in the land.The round-about way from Etham to the sea might seem like an uncertain marching hither and thither.The wilderness hath shut them in.They cannot go through, and are held fast. The section Exo 14:1-4 is a comprehensive summary.

Exo 14:5. That the people fled.This statement probably preceded Pharaohs judgment, that the people wished to flee, but were arrested. So much seemed to be proved, that they were not thinking only of a three days journey in the wilderness in order to hold a festival.The heart of Pharaoh was turned.Pharaoh may have been stirred up alike by the thought of a fleeing host, and by that of one wandering about helplessly. For they seemed to be no longer a people of God protected by Gods servants, but smitten at the outset, and doomed to slavery. But the king and his courtiers needed to use an imposing military force in order to bring them back, seeing they were at least concentrated and armed. All the more, inasmuch as his pledge, their right, and the consciousness of perjury, determined the tyrant to assume the appearance of carrying on war against them. Whatever distinction may in other cases be made between camping places and days journeys, the three stations, Succoth, Etham and Pi-hahiroth, doubtless designate both, that there may be also no doubt concerning Pharaohs injustice.12 Useless trouble has been taken to determine when Pharaoh received the news, and pursued after the Israelites; also where he received the news, whether in Tanis or elsewhere. According to Num 33:7 they pitched in Pihahiroth; but this was probably not limited to an encampment for a night. Here then after three days journey they were to celebrate a feast of Jehovah in the wilderness in a much higher sense than they could before have imagined.

Exo 14:6-7. And he made ready his chariot.The grotesque preparations made by heathen powers are described in detail, as if with a sort of irony. So the arming of Goliath, 1 Samuel 17, comp. also 2 Chronicles 32; Daniel 4, 5. Knobel, in a droll manner, puts together Pharaohs army, from the several narratives of the Elohist and the Jehovist, Three men. On the Assyrian chariots one and two persons are represented, but sometimes three (Layard, Nineveh, Fig. 19, 51) [Knobel].

Exo 14:8. And Jehovah hardened.Not a repetition of Exo 14:4. There we have the summary pre-announcement, here the history itself. Over against Pharaohs obduracy (which here also is represented as effected by Jehovah, because occasioned by Israels seemingly bewildered flight, because Jehovah by the appearance of the impotence of Israel brought this judgment of blindness upon him) is raised the high hand of Jehovah; the divine sovereignty, which Pharaoh, to his own destruction, failed to recognize, has decided in favor of Israels deliverance.

Exo 14:10-12. The children of Israel lifted up their eyes.Their condition seemed to be desperate. On the east, the sea; on the south, the mountains; on the north-west, the host of Pharaoh. True, they cried unto the Lord; but the reproaches which they heap upon Moses show that the confidence of genuine prayer is wanting, or at least is disappearing.No graves in Egypt.As Egypt was so rich in sepulchral monuments and worship of the dead, this expression has a certain piquancy; it also expresses the thought that they saw death before their eyes.Is not this the word?Here he has the foretoken of all similar experiences which he is to encounter in leading the people. The exaggeration of their recollection of a doubt formerly expressed reaches the pitch of falsehood.

Exo 14:13-14. Over against the despondent people Moses appears in all the heroic courage of his confidence.

Exo 14:15. Wherefore criest thou unto me?The Israelites cried to Jehovah, and Jehovah did not hear them. Moses outwardly was silent; but Jehovah heard how he inwardly cried to Him. The confidence, therefore, which he displayed to the people was founded on a fervent inward struggle of spirit. While therefore Jehovahs word is no reproof, there is something of a contrast in what follows: Speak unto the children of Israel, etc. That is: No further continuance of the spiritual struggle; forward into the Red Sea!

Exo 14:16. And lift thou up thy rod.The miraculous rod is for the present still the banner of the people. It marks the foresight of Moses, his confidence, and the sacramental union of the divine help with this sign. Or shall we take this also literally: while Moses divides the water with his rod (Keil)?

Exo 14:17. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians.The obduracy which spread from Pharaoh over the whole host was brought on by the strong fascination of overtaking a fugitive people and by the miraculous condition of things on the sea.I will get me honor.Gods miraculous sway was to become manifest as His just judgment.

Exo 14:19. The angel of God.He is the angel of Elohim for the Egyptian heathen. The invisible movement of the angel was recognized in the visible motion of the pillar of cloud.

Exo 14:20. Darkness, but it lightened the night.What the pillar of cloud at other times was alternately, it was this time simultaneously: darkness for the one, light for the other. The direction of the smoke under the north-east wind is not sufficient to explain the symbolically highly-significant phenomenon. That which gives light to the believers constitutes nocturnal darkness for the unbelievers; and that is the irremovable barrier between the two. The Egyptians are unable for the whole night to find the Israelites; all night long the east wind blows, and dries the sea, and in the same night the passage of the Israelites through the sea began, and was finished in the morning.

Exo 14:21. East wind.The east wind, , under which term the south-east and north-east wind may be included, inasmuch as the Hebrew language has developed special terms only for the four cardinal points. The notion that a simple east wind could have divided the waters to the right and left, as Von Raumer and Keil hold, implies that the wind itself was a simple product of miraculous power. A mere natural east wind would have driven the water which remained against the Israelites. And this all the more, the more the wind operated, as Keil says, with omnipotent power; but, apart from that, it would, merely as an opposite wind, alone have made it almost impossible for the Israelites to proceed. The notion of such a wind enables us to hold fast the literal assertion that the water stood up on the north side also like a wall, although in regard to the phrase like a wall religious poetry and symbolism must be allowed to have a word. Keils quotations from Tischendorf and Schubert point to the natural substratum of the miracle. See also Knobel, p. 149. How wide the gulf was in the places made bare, cannot be exactly determined. At the narrowest place above Suez it is now only two-thirds of a mile wide, or according to Niebuhr 3450 [German] feet, but was probably formerly wider, and is also at present wider farther up, opposite Tell Kolzum (Robinson, p. 81 and 71). The place where the Israelites crossed must have been wider, since otherwise the Egyptian army with more than six hundred chariots and many horsemen could not have been overtaken and destroyed by the return of the water (Keil). According to Tischendorf (Reise I., p. 183), it is the north-east wind which still serves to increase the ebb-tide. When a strong north-west wind drives the floods southward, one can cross the gulf; but if the wind changes to the south-east, it drives the water northward, so that it then rises to a height of from six to nine feet (see Schubert, Reise II., p. 269; Dbel, Wanderungen II., p. 12; Knobel, p. 149).

Exo 14:24-25. Out of the pillar of cloud and fire.Without this addition, we should have to understand the effect to be purely supernatural. But since it is said: out of the pillar of cloud and fire, this must in some way have been made by Jehovah a token of terror to the Egyptians. It may be conjectured that, instead of cloudy darkness, the pillar of fire, when the further shore was reached, appeared to the Egyptians as a lofty body of light, and brought confusion into the Egyptian ranks, especially by its movement. So Keil. Josephus (Ant. II. 16, 3) and Rosenmller understand thunder and lightning to be meant, according to Psa 77:18. Keil regards a thunder-shower as something too slight in comparison with the fiery glance of Jehovah. But compare Psalms 18 and Psalms 29. Here, however, only the pillar of smoke and fire is spoken of. Fear now arises with the confusion, and with the fear new confusion, as so often happened in the history of the enemies of Israel. Comp. Jdg 7:21 sqq.; 1Sa 14:20; 2Ki 3:20 sqq.

Exo 14:26. Stretch out thy hand.Again the prophetico-symbolic action, with an opposite result. And again is the wind in league with Israel, this time to destroy the Egyptians. Vid. Exo 15:10. That can only mean that the wind, in accordance with Gods sovereign control, changed to the south, in order miraculously to increase the flood now released. According to Keil, the wind now blew from the west. But if the east wind made a dry path for the Jews, without reference to the ebb, we should expect that the west wind would have made a path for the Egyptians. According to Keil, we are also to assume that the host perished to the last man. But generally in this sphere of dynamic relations the important point is not that of absolute universality, but that of thorough effectiveness.

On the traces of the passage through the Red Sea in heathen legends and secular history, especially in Diodorus of Sicily (III. 39), in Justinus (Exo 36:2), in Artapanus, quoted by Eusebius, see the monograph of K. H. Sack, Die Lieder in den historischen Bchern des Alten Testaments, p. 51.13

Footnotes:

[1][Keil says: In what way they were to consecrate their life to the Lord depended on the Lord’s direction, which prescribed that they should perform the non-sacerdotal labors connected with the sanctuary, and so be the priests servants in the sacred service. Yet even this service was afterwards transferred to the Levites (Numbers 3); but in place of it the people were required to redeem their first-born sons from the service which was incumbent on them, and which had been transferred to the Levites who were substituted for them, i.e., to ransom them by the payment to the priests of five shekels of silver for every person, Num 3:47; Num 18:16. Num 3:12, above referred to as confuting keil’s view, says simply that the Levites were substituted for the firstborn, but does not say that the first-born were originally destined to be priests. Lange’s statement, therefore, seems to be unwarranted.Tr.].

[2][Exo 13:17. For that was near. A. V., Murphy, Kalisch, Gesenius, Glaire, Alford retain the rendering although for in this sentence. But such a meaning for cannot be well substantiated. Psa 49:10, adduced by Frst, is certainly not an instance of such use. Psa 116:10 is more plausible. The A. V. rendering: I believed, therefore [] have I spoken, is incorrect. But it is not necessary, with some, to translate: I believed, although I speak. The particle here probably has the meaning when. In Psa 49:19, adduced by Gesenius (Thesaurus), it means because, the apodosis following in Exo 13:20. The same may be said of Gen 8:21; Job 15:27-29; Zec 8:6. The rendering when suffices in Jer 4:30; Jer 30:11; Jer 49:16; Jer 50:11; Jer 51:53; Mic 7:8; Psa 27:10; Psa 21:12. The rendering for suffices in Hos 13:15; Nah 1:10; Deu 18:14; Deu 29:19; Jer 46:23; Psa 71:10; 1Ch 28:5. The rendering where as, or while, may be adopted in Mal 1:4; Ecc 4:14. Probably these comprise all the passages in which the meaning though can with any plausibility be maintained. can be assumed to have the meaning although only as being equivalent to , even when. Even though this should be assumed sometimes to occur, still the case before us is not of that sort. The true explanation of such constructions is to assume a slight ellipsis in the expression: God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, [as might have been expected], seeing that was near. Or: for that was near [and return to Egypt in case of danger would be more readily resorted to].Tr.]

[3][Exo 14:20. . The construction is difficult. The only literal rendering is: And it was (or, became) the cloud and the darkness, and it illumined the night. The difficulty is gotten over by Knobel and Ewald by altering into , reading: And it came to pass us to the cloud, that it made darkness. But even with this conjectural change, it is no less necessary to assume an ellipsis of to the one and to the other, or on the one side and on the other, as is done by A. V. and the great majority of versions and commentators. The article may be explained as pointing back to Exo 13:21 : And it was the cloud and the darkness which have been already described. Or it is even possible to take (Exo 14:19) as the subject of the verb: And he became the cloud and darkness; but he illumined the night.Tr.]

[4][Exo 14:21. The Hebrew word here used, , is different from the one rendered dry ground in the next verse; and there is a clear distinction in the meaning, as is quite apparent from a comparison of Gen 8:13, where it is said, that on the first day of the first month the ground was , with Exo 14:14, where it is said, that on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was . The first means: free from water, drained; the second means: free from moisture, dry. The distinction is generally clear, though sometimes not exactly observed.Tr.]

[5][Exo 14:28. The preposition certainly cannot here be rendered and; but it may have a sort of resumptive force, equivalent to even, namely, in short.Tr.]

[6][Knobel after a learned discussion comes to the conclusion that the Hebrew name for the Red Sea, (literally sea of sedge) was probably derived from some town on the sea, named from the abundance of sedge growing near it. He takes this view in preference to the one which derives the name of the sea directly from the sedge, for the reason that the sedge is not a general feature of the sea, and from the uniform omission of the article before .Tr.].

[7][It is hardly possible to translate the simple conjunction by especially as. If any such connection of thought had been intended would more probably have been used. Besides, such a statement would be almost contradictory of that in the preceding verse. The fact that they were armed, would make them less likely to be afraid of war than if they were unarmed. The remark that signifies, among other things, to provoke to anger, has little force in this connection, for the reasons: (1) that it is doubtful whether that is its etymological significance; (2) that, even if this were its etymological significance, it is a meaning nowhere found in actual use; (3) that this meaning cannot possibly have any application here, since the participle is passive, and we should have to translate, went up provoked to anger.Tr.].

[8][Notice may here be taken of a theory of the Exodus propounded by Brugsch at the International Congress of Orientalists in London, Sept. 1874, also published at Alexandria in French (La Sartie des Hebreux d Egypte et les monuments Egyptiens). The theory is stated and criticised by Dr. J. P. Thompson in the Bibliotheca Sacra for Jan. 1875. In brief it is as follows: Rameses he identifies with Zan, the Zoan of the Scriptures, situated near the moath of the Tanitic branch of the Nile. Succoth is identified with Thukut, a place mentioned on the Egyptian monuments as lying to the right of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. Etham is found in the place known by the Egyptians as Khatom, east of Lake Menzaleh. Migdol is identified with the town called Magdolos by the Greeks, a fortress on the edge of the desert, not far from the Mediterranean. Thus Brugsch holds that the line of the journey lay much farther north than is commonly assumed. And the sea which the Israelites crossed was, according to him, not the Red Sea, but Lake Serbonis, between which and the Mediterranean the Israelites marched in their flight from Pharaoh, and in which the latter with his host was destroyed. The principal objections to this theory are stated by Dr. Thompson: (1) In order to reach their rendezvous, the Israelites, according to Brugsch, must have travelled nearly twenty miles north, crossing the Pelusiac branch of the Nile; and then on the next day must have recrossed ita great improbability. (2) It would have been a blunder in strategy for Moses to have led the people into the treacherous Serbonian bog. (3) The sacred narrative plainly declares that the Israelites were commanded not to go by the way towards the Philistine country (Exo 13:17), whereas this way led directly towards it. (4) The Scriptures declare that it was by the way of the Red Sea that the Israelites were to go (Exo 13:18). and that it wast the Red Sea through which they passed (Exo 15:4).Tr.].

[9][The significance of the term , used here and in Num 33:7, is generally overlooked or unwarrantably modified by the commentators. Knobel (on Exo 5:22 and here) argues that it means here only to turn; but the passages he adduces (among them one, Psa 35:11 (Psa 35:13?), in which the word does not occur at all) are none of them in point. The word uniformly means to turn back, return, especially when physical motion is intended. If merely turning aside had been meant, or would have been used. The use of this word is conclusive against the hypothesis, that Etham lay on the west of the Bitter Lakes. Ewald (Hist. of the People of Israel, II. p. 68) argues that the use of it also disproves the more current view of Robinson and others, that it lay south of the basin of these lakes. Possibly, however, this is not necessary; for Etham, being in the edge of the wilderness, may have been just east of the line of the Gulf or canal (as Robinson suggests); and if Pi-hahiroth is to be found in the present Ajrud, the people may, indeed, in going from Etham thither, have had to turn back. Still there is no conclusive evidence that Etham may not have been north or north-east of the Bitter Lakes, and that, in stead of passing down on the east side of the basin, they turned back, and went along the west side. So, among others, Canon Cook (in the Speakers Commentary).Tr.]

[10][Hengstenberg also, History of the Kingdom of God, II. p. 292, while agreeing with Robinson, against Wilson, Von Baumer, etc., in regard to the place of the passage, rejects the theory of an. ebb tide, aided by a northeast wind, assenting that never denotes anything but an east wind.Tr.]

[11][This seems at first sight almost self-contradictory. Those who see in the events described only natural occurrences would seem to be just those who, disbelieving in anything supernatural, would not press, or would reject, the Biblical statement, that the water stood up as a wall on both sides. But probably Lange means that the literal, prosaic cast of mind which could not discern the supernatural element in the apparently natural phenomena, would also be unable to discern in the Biblical style the poetico-symbolic element, and so, whether accepting the Biblical statements or not, would understand them only in their most literal, prosaic sense.Tr.].

[12][I.e. Pharaoh must be supposed to have set out within the three days through which the furlough extended. But this is an unsafe and inconclusive mode of reasoning. Moreover, Pharaoh may in any case have begun to make his preperations for pursuit before the three days had expired, even though it may have been longer than that before he actually pursued the fugitives.Tr.].

[13][Diodorus of Sicily, who had been in Egypt shortly before the birth of Christ, tells of a saying prevalent among the Ichthyophagi, a people on the east of the Arabian Gulf, to the effect that the whole gulf once became dry, and that there then followed a violent flood. Justinus, the Roman historian, who drew from an older source, relates that the Egyptians pursued Moses and the Israelites, but were forced to return by a violent thunder-shower. Eusebius, the Christian Church historian, in his Preparatio Evangelica ix. 27, quotes from Artapanus, a Greek writer, who flourished some time before the birth of Christ, who reports that the priests at Memphis had a saying about Moses being acquainted with the ebbs and floods, and that the priests at Heliopolis had one about Moses miraculously smiting the waters with his rod, and the consequent destruction of the Egyptians. Sack, l. c.Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

As the foundation of the Church was in miracles, so every after-stage in the building is carried on with increasing wonder until the top stone is brought forth with shoutings of grace, grace, unto it. Israel being brought into the wilderness, on the south east side of Egypt, Pharaoh, as the Lord had forewarned Moses, pursues them with a powerful army. This Chapter relates the interesting account of this pursuit. The Israelites are shut in on every side, and, according to human calculation, there is no way left to escape. The Lord opens a new way for them. Israel is delivered; the Egyptians are destroyed; and the effect wrought on the mind of the Israelites is strikingly expressive of thankfulness.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

It is worthy the Reader’s closest observation, that the way the Lord commanded Israel to go was contrary to the direct road to Canaan. When they were at Etham in the edge of the wilderness, they were not a great way from Horeb, had they gone on, but the Lord bid them turn off to the right towards the sea. Observe what the Psalmist said, in after ages, concerning this; Psa 107:7 . It was not the way which flesh and blood would have chosen, but it was still the right way. Pihahiroth signifies the mouth of the hole. Migdol means a town. Baal-zephon was the name of one of their gods, meaning one that set there to watch after any run-away servants.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 14:13

In explaining ( Apologia, pp. 262 f.) why he had not come forward in defence of Catholic truth against the scientific heresies of the age, Newman writes: ‘It seemed to be specially a time in which Christians had a call to be patient, in which they had no other way of helping those who were alarmed than that of exhorting them to have a little faith and fortitude and to “beware,” as the poet says, “of dangerous steps.”‘ In this policy he also felt the Papal authorities would support him. ‘And I interpret recent acts of that authority as fulfilling my expectation; I interpret them as tying the hands of a controversialist, such as I should be, and teaching us that true wisdom which Moses inculcated on his people, when the Egyptians were pursuing them, “fear ye not, stand still; the Lord shall fight for you, ye shall hold your peace”.’

Faith, whether we receive it in the sense of adherence to resolution, obedience to law, regardfulness of promise, in which from all time it has been the test, as the shield, of the true being and life of man; or in the still higher sense of trustfulness in the presence, kindness, and word of God, in which form it has been exhibited under the Christian dispensation. For, whether in one or other form whether the faithfulness of men whose path is chosen and portion fixed, in the following and receiving of that portion, as in the Thermopyl camp; or the happier faithfulness of children in the good giving of their Father, and of subjects in the conduct of their king, as in the ‘Stand still and see the salvation of God’ of the Red Sea shore, there is rest and peacefulness, the ‘standing still’ in both, the quietness of action determined, of spirit unalarmed, of expectation unimpatient.

Ruskin, Modern Painters (vol. 11.).

References. XIV. 13. H. H. Snell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxviii. 1905, p. 395. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix. No. 541.

Exo 14:15

The Elizabethan seamen, says Froude in his essay on ‘England’s Forgotten Worthies,’ in all seas and spheres ‘are the same indomitable Godfearing men whose life was one great liturgy. “The ice was strong, but God was stronger,” says one of Frobisher’s men, after grinding a night and a day among the icebergs, not waiting for God to come down and split the ice for them, but toiling through the long hours himself and the rest fending all the vessel with poles and planks, with death glaring at them out of the rocks.’

Dr. W. C. Smith quoted this text at the Jubilee Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1893. He said: ‘When Moses first appeared before Pharaoh, all he asked was that the people might be allowed to go a three days’ journey into the desert that they might offer to the Lord those sacrifices which it was not lawful to offer in Egypt, where bulls and goats were not sacrifices but deities. There was no sort of deception in that request. Moses, you may be very certain, honestly meant to return as soon as the religious rites had been performed. But when Israel had left Goshen the very first word that God said to his servant was “Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward”. Nulla vestigia retrorsum . Their way lay onward and they were to realize the great history and the noble destiny to which they had been appointed.’

References. XIV. 15. R. Nicholls, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxviii. 1890, p. 138. F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lix. 1901, p. 1. J. H. Devonport, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxi. 1902, p. 253. W. Ross Taylor, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxvi. 1904, p. 168. H. H. Snell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxviii. 1905, p. 395. Bishop Creighton, University and other Sermons, p. 160. J. Vaughan, Sermons Preached in Christ Church, Brighton, (7th Series), p. 15. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x. No. 548; ibid. vol. xlix. No. 2851.

Exo 14:16

When Moses held the rod over the Red Sea, he was the sign of man holding up the serpent in triumph to the view of the creation, and in right of his victory exercising dominion, long lost but now recovered. That is still a prophecy…. The power by which this is now carrying forward is the spirit of Christ in man’s heart. This is the true preparation for the cleansing of the leprosy and the binding of Satan; and the signs are prophetic pictures to animate hope.

Thomas Erskine.

Perhaps it is not improbable that the grand moral improvements of a future age may be accomplished in a manner that shall leave nothing to man but humility and grateful adoration. His pride so obstinately ascribes to himself whatever good is effected on the globe, that perhaps the Deity will evince his own interposition by events as evidently independent of the right of man as the rising of the sun. It may be that some of them may take place in a manner but little connected even with human operation. Or if the activity of men shall be employed as the means of producing all of them, there will probably be as palpable a disproportion between the instrument and the events, as there was between the rod of Moses and the amazing phenomena which followed when it was stretched forth. No Israelite was foolish enough to ascribe to the rod the power that divided the sea; nor will the witnesses of the moral wonders to come attribute them to man.

John Foster, on the Application of the Epithet Romantic, v.

References. XIV. 16. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. iii. p. 320. XIV. 19. N. M. Wright, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxii. 1907, p. 57. XIV. 19, 20. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx. No. 1793. XIV. 19-31. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Exodus, etc., p. 52. XIV. 20. E. E. Cleal, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxiv. 1903, p. 425.

Exo 14:22

The Israelites, marching up to the edge of the Red Sea till the waves parted before their feet, step by step, are often taken as an illustration of what our faith should do advance to the brink of possibility, and then the seemingly impossible may be found to open.

Dr. John Ker, Thoughts for Heart and Life, p. 101.

Exo 14:24

Compare the dialogue between Helstone and Moore in the third chapter of Shirley, where in answer to the latter’s cynical remark that ‘God often defends the powerful,’ Helstone cries out: ‘What! I suppose the handful of Israelites standing dry-shod on the Asiatic side of the Red Sea, was more powerful than the host of the Egyptians drawn up on the African side? Were they more numerous? Were they better appointed? Were they more mighty, in a word eh? Don’t speak, or you’ll tell a lie, Moore; you know you will. They were a poor overwrought band of bondsmen. Tyrants had oppressed them through four hundred years; a feeble mixture of women and children diluted their thin ranks; their masters, who roared to follow them through the divided flood, were a set of pampered Ethiops, about as strong and brutal as the lions of Libya. They were armed, horsed, and charioted, the poor Hebrew wanderers were afoot; few of them, it is likely, had better weapons than their shepherds’ crooks, or their masons’ building-tools; their meek and mighty leader himself had only his rod. But bethink you, Robert Moore, right was with them; the God of Battles was on their side. Crime and the lost archangel generalled the ranks of Pharaoh, and which triumphed? We know that well: “The Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore”; yea, “the depths covered them, they sank to the bottom as a stone”. The right hand of the Lord became glorious in power; the right hand of the Lord dashed in pieces the enemy!’ ‘You are all right; only you forget the true parallel: France is Israel, and Napoleon is Moses. Europe, with her old over-gorged empires and rotten dynasties, is corrupt Egypt; gallant France is the Twelve Tribes, and her fresh and vigorous Usurper the Shepherd of Horeb.’ ‘I scorn to answer you.’

Exo 14:27

Napoleon, when at Suez, made an attempt to follow the supposed steps of Moses by passing the creek at this point; but it seems, according to the testimony of the people of Suez, that he and his horsemen managed the matter in a way more resembling the failure of the Egyptians than the success of the Israelites. According to the French account, Napoleon got out of the difficulty by that warrior-like presence of mind which served him so well when the fate of nations depended on the decision of a moment; he commanded his horsemen to disperse in all directions, in order to multiply the chances of finding shallow water, and was thus enabled to discover a line by which he and his people were extricated. The story told by the people of Suez is very different; they declare that Napoleon parted from his horse, got water-logged and nearly drowned, and was only fished out by the aid of the people on shore.

Kinglake, Eothen, chap. XXII.

Exo 14:29

The sack of Jewry after Jewry was the sign of popular triumph during the Barons’ War. With its close fell on the Jews the more terrible persecution of the law…. At last persecution could do no more, and on the eve of his struggle with Scotland, Edward, eager for popular favour, and himself swayed by the fanaticism of his subjects, ended the long agony of the Jews by their expulsion from the realm. Of the sixteen thousand who preferred exile to apostasy few reached the shores of France. Many were wrecked, others robbed and flung overboard. One shipmaster turned out a crew of wealthy merchants on to a sandbank, and bade them call a new Moses to save them from the sea. Green, Short History of English People, pp. 198-199.

References. XIV. 30. Phillips Brooks, The Mystery of Iniquity, p. 55. C. Brown, The Birth of a Nation, p. 130.

Exo 14:31

Some believe the better for seeing Christ’s sepulchre; and, when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt not of the miracle. Now contrarily, I bless myself and am thankful that I lived not in the days of miracles; that I never saw Christ nor His disciples. I would not have been one of those Israelites that passed the Red Sea; nor one of Christ’s patients, on whom he wrought His wonders; then had my faith been thrust upon me; nor should I enjoy that greater blessing pronounced to all who believe and saw not.

Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici (pt. i.).

References. XV. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxix. No. 2301. XV. 1, 2. Ibid. vol. xxxi. No. 1867. XV. 1-21. Ibid. vol. xliv. No. 2569.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Drowning of Pharaoh

Exo 13

“What, still talking about miracles? We thought that faith in miracles had been given up long ago by intelligent men.” Some such expression as this would not be unnatural from certain quarters. The answer is that “intelligent men” are just beginning to believe in miracles. They are nearly always the last men to come round to great conceptions and noble spiritual realisations. But even “intelligent men” are stirring themselves with somewhat of reluctance in the direction which we should term spiritual and evangelical. All the greatest books that are being written to-day, upon what would once have been called the hostile side, force upon their readers the consciousness of a hunger which nothing in time or space can satisfy a voracity of the soul. We may be more or less sated after having read arguments upon which we have been nourished for a lifetime, but we are pinched with gnawing and agonising hunger after perusing the pages which were intended to tell us all that can be told. Did the miracles as here reported actually occur? Why not? You can only be puzzled by a miracle when you are puzzled by a God. If your conception of God were like mine, no miracle that ever was reported could touch the region of impossibility. No wonder men are troubled, even to perplexity and sore distress of heart, by so-called miracles, when they have not acquainted themselves deeply with the power and spirit and purpose of God. The study is begun at the wrong point. To me it is easier to believe that the miracles occurred than that they could not have occurred. The difficulty from my point of view is wholly on the other side. Whether they did historically occur or not is not the immediate question. To me, I repeat, it is easier, with my conception of God, to believe that the miracles could have occurred than that it was impossible for them to occur. Everything turns upon our conception of the Worker of the miracles. We do not begin at the miracle itself. We begin with the Teacher, the Worker, the realised Jehovah, or the incarnate Logos. Having first entered into fellowship, we next pass into faith. Knowing by the penetration and sympathy of love what the spirit of the Worker is, we have no difficulty. We pass with him into all his action, and when the action is mightiest our rest is deepest, because the proportion between the Worker and the work impresses the mind with a sense of infinite harmony. The greater the miracle the easier to believe in it. The greatest miracle must be infinitely less than the Worker who accomplished it. If ever faith falters it must be because the miracle is too small. The great miracle challenges our best self like the trumpet of resurrection; as the miracle increases in volume and grandeur, in pomp and nobleness, something within us hitherto unknown rises and claims kinship with the Worker of that stupendous wonder. This was curiously illustrated in the life of Jesus Christ. When the people fell into unbelief it was because the miracle was of what may be termed a commonplace character, that is to say, some possible explanation of jugglery might in some degree account for it To open the eyes of the blind might be some trick of magic; but the man himself stood up and said, “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.” He seized the true emphasis and meaning of the action. To open the eyes of the blind might be accounted for by some species of cleverness or legerdemain; but, says the man: “I was born blind; I believe this miracle, not because it is little but because it is great.” Thus man is made to know subtly and profoundly that he was created in the image and likeness of God, and when God is, so to say, most God, man realises his human grandeur as he can realise it under no other circumstances. To heal the bruised or broken joint might be some successful trick in occult surgery; there might be pretence about it. We allow a miracle of that kind to pass under our review without being deeply moved by it, it comes not up to the level of our truest grandeur; but when a dead man is raised one who has been four days in the grave when he comes forth, a new feeling seizes the mind, and because the miracle enlarges and ennobles itself, we rise with corresponding and harmonious dignity of conception and sympathy. It is only, therefore, where the miracle is supposedly little or imitable, or commonplace, that faith hardly cares to stoop to take up a trifle so insignificant. The soul of man being really roused, and burning through and through with a celestial fire, asks for infinite miracles, asks for God. Grow in grace, and you will take up all the minor miracles as very little things, and yearn in sweet and ardent prayer for the greatest of all miracles the conscious presence of the Living God.

But there is another mode of treatment which we have not in these pastoral studies hesitated to adopt, which will enable us to seize the supernatural element with a firmer hand.

Let us in the first instance always inquire into the moral doctrine of these unusual events: asking what is the underlying truth, what the spiritual and moral meaning the narration of the exciting incidents is intended to convey to us. Having discovered the intent of the writer we shall have no difficulty about the romantic or amazing incidents. This is what we do with a parable, and a parable is a miracle in imagination. The great miracle has about it the touch and the mystery of the marvellous. It is not an off-hand thought It is reason at its best; or, to speak figuratively, it is reason on wings, no longer walking on the narrow earth but flying in the unmeasured heaven. We do not force a parable into literal meanings at every point; we ask, What is its central intent or meaning? and having seized that we treat all the outward and literal as decorative, suggestive, or merely incidentally helpful; but we do not risk the truth because of the peculiarity of the medium of its conveyance.

“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

“He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people” ( Exo 13:21-22 ).

What is the great doctrine of that expression?

This: The consciousness of the Divine presence is in proportion to the circumstances in which we are placed. In other words, our circumstances determine our consciousness of the Divine nearness. Sometimes life is all day almost a summer day with great spans of blue sky overhead, and where the clouds gather they gather in beautiful whiteness, as of purity akin to the holiness of the inner and upper cities of the universe. Then what do we want with fiery displays of God? they would be out of keeping, out of reason and out of proportion. There are days that are themselves so bright, so hospitable, so long ending, and so poetic in all their breezes, and suggestions, and ministries that we seem not to want any dogmatic teaching about the personality and nearness of God. All beauty represents him. Any more emphatic demonstration would be out of harmony with the splendid serenity of the occasion. Then there are periods in life all night, all darkness, all storm or weariness. We cannot say where the door of liberty is, nor dare we step out lest we fall over a precipice; all is dark, all is trouble; friends are as absent as if they were dead, and all the sanctuaries to which we have hitherto resorted are concealed by the infinite darkness. What do we want then? A bird to sing to us? That would be helpful. A little tiny voice to break the troubled silence? That would not be amiss. But what do we really want? A column of fire, a pillar of glory, an emphatic incarnation and vision of Providence; and the soul gets both these manifestations of God according to the circumstances under which the soul is living. Take it, therefore, simply as an analogy, and then it is a rational analogy; it is true to every man’s experience. And if the pillar of cloud and fire should drop off, there will remain the eternal truth, that according to the soul’s circumstances is the Divine revelation of itself. Where the visible is enough why add more? A man should not want much theology of a formal sort on a bright summer day. Some little tuft of cloud will represent the Infinite. Some almost invisible wing in the air more a thought than a thing hardly to be identified by the bodily eye, will symbolise the all-embracing power and the all-brooding love. Then at night we want what is called dogmatic teaching, broad emphasis, piercing declaration, vividness that cannot be mistaken, God almost within the clasping of the poor arms, God almost in sight of the eyes of the body. Thus God deals with us. This is true to our history. The mere cloud may go, the pillar of fire may be accepted as figurative; but the eternal truth that God comes to us in different ways under different circumstances now as a cloud, now as a fire, now as a judgment, now as without mercy, now a roaring tempest, now a still small voice, is a truth that remains whatever havoc may be wrought amid the mere figurativeness by which that truth is symbolised.

Then the cloud went behind the Israelites and separated between the camp of the chosen people and the camp of the Egyptians. That is occurring every day. Our circumstances have different readings from different points of view. It is possible for a life to be so lived that the enemy shall be afraid of it. The enemy shall say, “I do not understand this people; there is a mystery about them, say what you please, criticise them night and day with all possible sharpness and severity; there is a magic ring around them; there are circumstances attendant upon them which are the more perplexing in that they sometimes seem to be disasters: now we say, ‘Everything is against them,’ and presently the very things we thought to be against them turn out rather to the furtherance of their purposes.” This is a mystery; and thus the Divine Providence turns a different view upon the Church and the world, the son and the alien, the family and the rebel-camp. So long, therefore, as these central truths can be attested and positively verified, why should we fritter away a splendid occasion by a petty criticism of mere figure, and robe, and parabolic symbol and representation? Thus, take it from the literal side, take it from the imaginative and parabolical, my faith has no difficulty whatever with the miracles, except when they are small. It rises to their majesty. The greater they arc the more will every Nicodemus be compelled even at night time to steal out and say to the Worker, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” Mark how Nicodemus fixed upon the quality of the miracles the miracles that separated themselves from the magician’s wonders of heathen or cultivated lands.

“And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken, us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness” ( Exo 14:11-12 ).

That is a miracle in very deed! That is the marvel that astounds the reason, the heart, the imagination, and the conscience. That is the miracle which grieves Heaven. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” That is the upsetting of the law of continuity. That is the violation of things permanent. That is an ugly and wicked twist in the movement of the law which you call “the persistence of force.” After all they had seen, after all the miracles of love, and grace, and deliverance, and comfort, after all they had known of the government of God, they turned round with so base a falseness and smote, as with darts seven times whetted, the heart of Moses their leader. That is the impossible miracle. How mean we are and paltry in our judgment and in thinking that the dividing of a sea or the breaking up of a firmament is the impossible thing, when every day we are working in our own degree and region moral miracles that make the breaking up and reconstruction of the universe mere child’s fancy and child’s play. Why do we not fix our attention upon moral incongruities, violations of moral law, rebellion against natural instinct? He who smites his father or his mother violates every law of nature with a more forceful and violent hand than the God who interferes or intervenes in his own infinite machine the universe to do what pleaseth him for the good of his creatures. We like little intellectual puzzles; we flee away because “conscience makes cowards of us all,” from the violations of moral law of which we are guilty. We love to speak of “continuity,” it costs us nothing; it does not wring the conscience, it does not set up a bar of judgment in the life; it has a bold resonance which we can utter without moral expense or agony; therefore we play upon it; it delights our intellectual vanity. When we come to ourselves we shall know that we have sinned against Heaven and against ourselves and are no more worthy to be called children. In the sublime agony we shall forget all physical miracles in the stupendous wonder that we have grieved the Father’s heart.

“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” ( Exo 14:22 ).

Did they really do this? Why not? Suppose we set aside the miraculous incident for a moment and ask: What does the writer mean to convey by this high imagining? He means to convey this lesson, namely, that a way was found where a way was supposed to be impossible. Is that his meaning? Yes. If that is so, the doctrine is verifying and illustrating itself every day in the history of every man. This then is the true miracle: that when our poor life has been driven up to a point from which there seemed to be no escape, God has shown an opening in the rock, or a way through the deep; and we who expected to perish because the way was ended have been enabled to enter upon larger liberties. Who will swear to that? I will. Ten thousand times ten thousand witnesses will avouch it. There will be no halting in that oath; and if you represent to us these deliverances as the breaking up of mountains, the dividing of seas, the cleaving in twain of deep and rapid-flowing rivers, we will say, “Pile up the parables, stir your imagination to some nobler figurativeness, for you can never by symbol, or dream, or romantic art, represent the whole truth which we have realised as to the delivering, protecting, preserving, redeeming providence of God.”

Instead, therefore, of joining the unbelievers who waste life in trying to show that Almightiness cannot be Almighty, I prefer to begin the study from the other end and to say, “Even if this be a figure, it is a happy one, for I have been in circumstances just of this very kind: the enemy behind me, the foe almost with his hand upon my weary back, and no way out of the difficulty has presented itself, and yet suddenly my extremity became God’s opportunity, and at a bound I was beyond the reach of the destroyer.” We want personal testimony about matters of this kind. We want such incidents proved by modern consciousness and present-day facts. That can be done, and is being done. When the Church rises as one man and repeats the challenge of the psalmist “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul” the critic will first have to prove us false in our character and in our spirit before he can prove us false in our theology and our worship. Do not find fault with the manner in which the truth itself is presented. To find fault with the mere manner of conveying the truth is foolish, is unjust. We should seek the truth, realise it, own it, and abide by it.

Leaving the merely miraculous line, these incidents show us human life in a state of panic and distress.

“When Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord” ( Exo 14:10 ).

How soon we are driven into a panic! In the very midst of our prayers we are startled into atheism. A sudden fear shoots through the soul, sometimes in the very act of intercession, and petrifies the holy aspiration, so that we rise from the altar worse than when we bended down before its sacred stones. The incidents show us human nature in a spirit of rebellion and ingratitude. “And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” How we are like staves that break in the hands of those who use them! There is but a step between the truest friendship and the bitterest enmity. The brother who adores you to-day will hate you tomorrow, if you cross his will or stain his pride. Here is human life in a condition of utter helplessness.

“Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” ( Exo 14:13 ).

These are noble times times when we have to be everything by being nothing; days when our poor arms have to fall down at our sides unable to do the very simplest thing in the way of self-deliverance or self-extrication from difficulty. This threefold condition was the state of the world prior to the birth of Christ. The world was in a state of panic and distress; the spirit of rebellion and ingratitude urged itself against the heavens, it had exhausted every possible means of self-deliverance and self-pro-gress, and could go no further. It had begun a circular movement, and in its helpless rotation was dying of monotony. Suddenly there was a voice heard: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.” History took a new turn from that day. Account for it as you please again resent the miraculous and supernatural element, there is the fact, that to-day men will do more for Jesus Christ than for any other leader. The men who know him best love him most, and have entered most profoundly into his spirit. Paul was not a weak man, Paul could take hold of an argument by both hands and weigh it, measure it, test it; Paul was a man who is proved by his mere style of writing and of speech to have been a man of great intellectual capacity as well as of fine moral quality, a philosopher, a reasoner, a critic, a man of most penetrating intellect and of ample judgment; and he, having approached this great miracle from the hostile side, left it at last, when he was old, bruised, stripped, almost dead, saying “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” It was a philosopher who said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It was a critic who said, “I am crucified with Christ.” It was an aristocrat of the highest Pharisaic blood who gathered together all pedigrees and genealogies and prides of families and said, “I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” The Man who made such an impression on such a mind was himself a greater miracle than any wonder or sign which he performed before the imagination, the curiosity, or the unbelief of his contemporaries. Now unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, unto him be glory and dominion and all majesty day without end. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

THE MARCH OUT OF EGYPT, THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA, AND THE TRIUMPHAL SONG

Exo 14:1-15:21

Before taking up the regular discussion I will answer a question presented concerning the Passover Supper in connection with the Lord’s Supper, as follows: “Was the foot-washing supper at Bethany or at Jerusalem?” That Passover Supper, where the foot-washing was, occurred at the same place that the supper did; and if you put that foot-washing at Bethany you must put the Lord’s Supper there, because Christ took the material of the Passover Supper with which to institute the Lord’s Supper. They had just observed the Passover. Now when he got through that Old Testament feast he instituted the analogue ordinance, and used the unleavened bread of the Passover Supper and the wine that was used with the Passover Supper. All the elements were the same when he instituted the new ordinance for his church.

This chapter I will give catechetically.

1. What about the guide on this march? That is, what about the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night?

Ans. When these people started from one country to another in fulfillment of God’s promise, viz.: “I will go with you; my Presence shall go with you,” that’ pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, was first seen when they started that night; the night the first-born was slain there appeared a great fire column; its position was just over Moses, the place it occupied until the tabernacle was built, which we will see in subsequent discussions. The natural position of that cloud by day, and the fire by night, was over the tabernacle. . When they were moving, if that cloud stopped, everybody stopped. The next day, or if that cloud moved off in an hour, it meant to get ready to start, and then it would move forward, they moving after it. In the nighttime this cloud was a great, column of brilliant light, brighter than any electric light now to be seen in any great city, and all night long the radiance from that cloud brightly illuminated the entire camp; so that no night ever touched them in the forty years. As soon as day came and the sun rose, then that fire became a cloud, and it spread over them and kept between them and the sun, giving them a shade all day long; so that the sun never touched them in all that time. If an enemy was pursuing them that cloud moved around and got in the rear and turned a hot, fiery face, if it was night, to the adversary, very horrible; or it turned a dark face impenetrable in its blackness, and to the children of Israel brightness, the same face shining on God’s people, and frowning on his enemies. We see the last of this pillar when they got over into the Promised Land, i.e., you think you do. But that cloud becomes the Shekinah on the ark of the covenant and goes clear on to the building of Solomon’s Temple. Then it leaves the tabernacle and goes to the Temple; and when the Temple falls that cloud becomes the Holy Spirit, descended into the new temple, the church. The same thought runs all the way through the Bible, symbolizing the advocating presence of God to guide and guard and to cherish his people.

2. How many went out of Egypt and who?

Ans. The record states there were 600,000. The women and children are not enumerated, but on that basis it is easy to determine that there were between two and three millions of people in all. There went with them a mixed multitude of people who had not been circumcised, following the fortunes of the Jews, and causing them much trouble later.

3. Where was the starting point of this march?

Ans. On the map we shall see it to be Rameses. They were all over this land of Goshen; but they came together at Rameses as a rallying point for a start, the place which they built when they were slaves. And from this starting point there were three ways into the Holy Land.

4. What are the three ways to the Holy Land and why did they not go the first? Why not continue on the second, having started on it? Why the third?

Ans. There are three ways: the first is nearest the coast line through the Philistine country, a straight way, the nearest of all the ways; that way is there now. Why did they not go that way? God says that the Philistines are a formidable people, and trained to war; and if he took the Israelites that way they would get there before they were ready to meet such adversaries as the Philistines. That is why. The second way is the middle one of the three, going straight through the desert. Now why, having started that way, did they stop? Here is an important piece of history in the war between the Egyptians and the Hittites. The Egyptians had built a high wall following the line now occupied by the Suez Canal from the most northern point of the Red Sea and it had towers on it every few hundred yards filled with armed men. Why could not God have blown up that wall, and given them an easy passage through it? He could have done it, but that would not have allowed him to deal with Pharaoh as he wanted to; so they make a turn and come out the long way, coming to the most northern point of the Red Sea. They came to the end of the wall, not crossing it at all, but going across the tongue of the sea. Then they came down to the Sinaitic Peninsula, and along round by the way where there was nothing to obstruct. Now why was that way selected? In the first place, God said to Moses when he met him at the burning bush, “The token that I have given you that you will deliver these people is, that you will bring them to this mountain, and here worship God.” He wanted to take them a way sufficiently long for him to educate them for what he wanted them to do when they entered the Holy Land. Apparently he wanted to get them down there into this imperishable Sinaitic Peninsula, and there enter into a national covenant with them, giving them the moral law, the civil law, and the law of the altar, or the way of approach to God. He kept them there a year learning that lesson, and that is why he took the lower, more distant and most difficult road.

5. What was the hazard of the encampment by the sea in which he led them?

Ans. When he brought them down there they could not get out that way for the wall; then a mountain was on either side of them, and they could not go forward because of the I sea; nor backward because Pharaoh was coming behind closing up that way, a regular cul-de-sac; he wanted to get them’ in that corner where, humanly speaking, they could not dig: under a channel, and get out of the cul-de-sac; they could not go forward; they could not climb the mountains on the right F and left, nor could they go back because of Pharaoh’s armed chariots in hot pursuit. That was the hazard of the situation. God wanted to teach them that important lesson.

6. Explain the “stand still” of Moses and the “go forward” of God.

Ans. When the Israelites saw the situation they were frightened, perplexed inside and outside, and they whimpered like a whipped dog howling, or a whipped man cursing: “Why could you not let us abide over yonder in Egypt?” Moses says, “Stand still and see the salvation of God.” The thought of Moses is, “You have arrived at a position where there is nothing you can do, humanly speaking; and that cloud is not moving; and God, having brought you here, is going to save you. So don’t get scared; keep a stiff upper lip; stand still and have faith in the deliverance of God; he will get you out.” They felt a good deal like the fellows I saw during the Civil War the first time I was ever detailed by my company, lying down behind a battery, fighting four batteries. We were just right there on the ground. They would not let us shout, nor hoot nor stand up; and the shells from the enemy came hissing round, the battery popping off all around us, every w and then taking a fellow’s head off; and there we had to lie still. Now take the case of the Lord, “Say unto the people that they go forward.” And they beheld that pillar of cloud beginning to move. You stand still in a matter where you cannot do anything, but if there is anything you can do, do not stand still, but go forward. Now God is going to test their faith. Right in front of them is that sea, from one to three miles wide. “Go forward, forward, forward!” “Well, do you mean for us to just step off into that sea?” “Forward!” Directly Moses lifted his rod up, the staff of authority, and as he did it there came a mighty wind like a wedge and split that sea wide open, clear to the center. They did not have to step into the sea; they lifted their feet up at the edge of the sea, and when they were ready to put them down it was dry. The wind had split the sea open and they got on the other side.

When I was a boy my father preached a sermon on “Stand Still and See the Salvation of the Lord,” showing also that when the Lord says “Go forward,” you are to go forward. There was a Negro boy who could imitate to perfection my father’s preaching, especially as to voice. Standing on a box, he reproduced that sermon of my father’s, giving all the points, gestures, and intonations of voice. It beat anything I ever heard. Of course it very much impressed that sermon on my mind.

7. What is the natural explanation of this deliverance, and why is it not sufficient?

Ans. The natural explanation is that there was no miracle; that about this time the wind came and cleared away that water. History tells us about the Rhine being cleared away once by the power of the wind, just as the ebb of the tide will leave a strand almost dry, and the flux of the tide will put the feet in the middle. But why is that not sufficient explanation? In the first place, what was done took place at the hand of Moses; and in the second place, in the song of deliverance? that immediately followed the passage through the Red Sea, are these words: “The waters stood up in heaps and congealed.” What does congeal mean? To freeze. I never saw wind do that. There was an ice wall, perpendicular on each side, not that it was natural ice, but it stood as firm in that perpendicular position as if it had been frozen. The power, of the Lord held it there, as smooth-faced as a mirror. Then in the third place, it certainly was a remarkable coincidence that the wind should come just exactly at that time and by bringing those waters together again swallow up those that came after them. You must not depend much on their explanation; but take the coincidence, as the good boy said about I his father finding cow bells. He said that his papa had brought home a cow bell that he had “found” and his mamma, was glad that he found it because the cow needed a bell, and the next day he found another cow bell and his mamma was glad because they needed that cow bell; but the next day he found one for the calf, and the third day his mamma and he suspected where those cow bells came from. Things do not happen just that way. You don’t find three bells in succession. And when he found the third one something, they knew, was up.

8. What question of historical criticism comes up here?

Ans. Here are two or three millions of people leaving Egypt, one of the most prominent nations of the world, passing with their hordes of women and children through a point of the sea, migrating to another country. Is that history? That is the historical criticism. My answer is that this was just as much a historical transaction as the fact that you were born; it is true history.

9. What are the proofs that this incident was history?

Ans. The proofs are remarkable: (1) It was celebrated immediately afterward, and that memorial is preserved for all relations. We have it yet. Just as I would prove that something occurred at Bunker Hill; there stands a monument which tells on the very face of it in commemorative power that that incident took place.

(2) The next argument is the permanent impression it made on subsequent Hebrew literature. Looking at the nearby literature of that people, the references that you see in the book of Numbers and in Deuteronomy are still fresh and are living witnesses. Then turn to the great hymnbook of the nation, the poetry of the nation (every reader ought to do it), and read the portions of Psa 66 ; Psa 70 ; Psa 74 ; Psa 77 ; Psa 106 ; Psa 114 that refer to this incident. Is there on earth a poetry of a nation in such remarkable measure as these, and even of such a nature if there were no history? Then turn to the pages of Habakkuk and Zechariah, where you find it mentioned in days long afterward; and turn to the New Testament and here it is discussed, as in 1Co 10 and Rev 19 . So that at least 1,500 years after the event the literature of that nation is thrilling with it.

(3) Then consider this remarkable fact with the fact that the Egyptians in their monuments and in their hieroglyphics are profuse in telling of the glorious deeds of one king and another king, but they are silent about the triumphs of this one. Why is it that the preceding reigns of the Egyptian kings who had ended well are chronicled, as also the succeeding reigns, and they are silent concerning this king? Egypt lies helpless for many years after this event; its power was smitten. The historians did not like to tell about what caused it. They furnished corresponding facts.

10. Where in the New Testament is this passage through the Red Sea called a baptism? Explain it.

Ans 1Co 10 says, “I would not, brethren, have you ignorant that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” Our fathers were baptized eis Moses. In our chapter in the New Testament we will learn about the baptizo plus eis unto Moses. We will now explain how that was a baptism. In this way it was a baptism: On the right hand a perpendicular wall of water stood; on the left hand also was a perpendicular wall of water; and between, if was like a grave, and the cloud spread itself over the grave like the lid to a coffin, only that cloud lid was as bright as the brightest day that earth ever knew. This cloud and the two walls of the sea entirely encompassed the children of Israel, There in that grave they were buried in baptism, with the light of the pillar of cloud above them. The light was reflected in the mirrored face of the icy water; and the wall on the left flashed back in its reflection, striking the icy wall on the right, which in turn flashed back its reflection to the other side mirrored across; mirrored in light. All about them was stark darkness, but they were safe in the light. It was a baptism in light.

11. What did a Methodist preacher have to say about the explanation of it?

Ans. He quotes Psa 77:16-17 , concerning this passage through the Red Sea, thus: The waters saw thee, 0 God; The waters saw thee, they were afraid: The depths also trembled. The clouds poured out waters; The skies sent out a sound; Thine arrows also went abroad. He says that the clouds poured out water, and in the rain from that cloud they Were baptized. I debated with him one day, and said to him, “That passage in I Corinthians says they were baptized, not in clouds, but in a particular cloud.” I then asked if that particular cloud was a rain cloud. Did it ever rain anything? I said, “You have the cart before the horse. After they got through the cloud did pour out rain and there was nothing like it, but it fell on the Egyptians and not on the Israelites; they never got a drop of water on them. It was a figurative baptism. Cloud above them, cloud around them they were buried in a cloud of light.”

12. Was Pharaoh himself destroyed in the Red Sea?

Ans. The record seems to make it so. Historians say that be himself did not go down into the sea. But Egyptian historians would naturally hide that account of the death of their great king.

13. How was this event celebrated?

Ans. Moses wrote a song, a grand one, a song of deliverance. Talk about singing! That was an antiphonal, voice against voice, a responsive song; the choir or a man would sing one line and the rest of the congregation or the women with timbrels would sing the chorus; the men their part, and the women handing it back in the form of a chorus, accompanied with ‘instrumental music.

14. What of the effect on Egypt for many years?

Ans. It caused her to lie dormant for a long time.

15. What of the effect on the Canaanites?

Ans. It filled them with fear.

16. What of the effect on Israel?

Ans. It strengthened their faith in God and Moses.

17. Give and explain the last New Testament reference.

Ans. The last historical reference in connection with this passage is the passage in Revelation referring to this baptism. The redeemed host in heaven are represented as standing on a sea of glass mingled with fire, the glass reflecting the fire; as if you were to put a mirror here and another yonder, and you had a light between them. So this second type is the final redemption of God’s people in their emergence on the resurrection day. From the burial of death they come triumphantly and stand between the shores of heaven and look back on what is, as it were, a sea of glass, mingled with fire; that is, the light of redemption is shining into all of the graves from which they have emerged, and they are saved forever.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Exo 14:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Ver. 1. And the Lord spake. ] It was of God, then, that the people fell into such straits: that where human help failed, divine might come in. a

a Necesse est adesse divinum, ubi humanum cessat auxilium. – Philo Jud.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The next assault by Satan to destroy the whole Nation. See App-23.
the LORD (Hebrew. Jehovah. spake. See note on Exo 6:10, and compare note on Exo 3:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 14
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden [or make stiff] the Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And so he made ready his chariots, and he took his people with him: He took six hundred chosen chariots, and all of the chariots of Egypt, and the captains over every one of them. And the Lord made stiff the heart of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with a high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and he overtook them as they were encamping by the sea, besides Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon. And when Pharaoh drew night, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said to Moses, Hey was it because there weren’t enough graves in Egypt that you’ve taken us away to die in the wilderness? why have you dealt with us like this, to carry us out of Egypt? Is this not the word which we told you in Egypt saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? It would’ve been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than to die here in the wilderness ( Exo 14:1-12 ).
The Lord led the children of Israel, and He turned them down into this valley, towards Baalzephon, a mountain range. On the other side of them was Pihahiroth another mountain range. So they went right down into the valley towards the Red Sea. A mountain range on the right, a mountain range on their left, the Red Sea in front of them. Now the dust of the Egyptian army as they come up behind them and they seal off the valley.
When they told Pharaoh where the children of Israel had gone, he laughed. He said, “Oh they don’t know anything about this land. They’ve gone right into a trap. They can’t get out of there, the land has swallowed them up.” They were trapped.
Now at this point the people started to cry against Moses, and well might they cry at Moses. He showed here a bit of stupidity leading them into this valley of which there is no escape. No way out. They said, “Hey, what are you doing? I guess there just wasn’t enough graves back in Egypt, you brought us out here to bury us in the wilderness because there, didn’t we tell you to leave us alone? What are we doing following you? We’d be better off being servants back there than being dead here. Better dead than red”, or red than dead or something. “Why have you done this to us?” Really began to give Moses a rough time.
This is the beginning of it for Moses. He’s gonna have a rough time with these people from here on out. So many times we look at a leader in an envious way, thinking, “Oh my, he’s so lucky he gets to lead the people.” Just follow the account of Moses and you’ll see how lucky he was. “Why have you dealt with us to carry us out of Egypt? Didn’t we tell you to leave us alone? We’d been better to serve the Egyptians than to die here in the wilderness”.
Moses said unto the people, Fear not, [They cried out, “Oh great, our leader has a plan”, then he said,] stand still, see the salvation of the Lord ( Exo 14:13 ),
“Oh he’s crazy, we were crazy to follow him. What are we doing here?” “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, see the salvation of the Lord.” “Come on, Moses.”
which he will show you today: for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see them again. The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me ( Exo 14:13-15 )?
Now Moses assured the people, then he started crying unto God. “Don’t be afraid, stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. Those Egyptians? You’re never gonna see them again. God’s gonna fight for you, now you just hold your peace.” Then he gets in, “Oh God”, you know. “What are we gonna do?” I like this. The Lord said, “Hey, why are you crying unto Me?” “Well, I’ll tell you why I’m crying to you. I’m in trouble. We’re in a trap.” But God said, “Wherefore criest thou unto me?”
In other words, there’s a time to move. There’s a time for action. There’s a time when we get off of our knees and start moving. God has a time to pray for sure. But then there’s also the time when we need to start moving. That’s what God said, “Hey wherefore criest thou unto Me? Get moving. Now’s the time that you need to be moving.”
speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward ( Exo 14:15 ):
“I can’t do that Lord they’ll stone me for sure. There’s a Red Sea in front of them. How can I speak unto them to go forward?”
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, they’ll follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh ( Exo 14:16-17 ),
God says, “I’m gonna get that guy yet.” He says, “Who is the Lord? I don’t know him.”
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten honour upon the Pharaoh, and upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them ( Exo 14:18-19 ).
Now the cloud had been leading them, and now the Lord takes the cloud and puts it behind them, and lets it settle down so that the Egyptians find themselves in a heavy fog; can’t see a thing. Now the light is still out in front of the children of Israel so they can see what’s going on. The pillar of fire is still there. The children of Israel are walking still in the light of the pillar of fire, but the cloud is settled on the Egyptians; they don’t know what’s going on in there in the camp of Israel. But what is going on is that God brought a strong east wind, and it divided the Red Sea. He heaped it up on both sides, and by the east wind, dried the bottom of the sea so that,
The children of Israel walked through the midst of the Red sea on dry ground ( Exo 14:22 ):
You say, “Oh, I can’t believe that.” Well I feel sorry for you. Just how big is your god anyhow? You know I feel sorry for people that have to make excuses for God and say, “Well it was really the Sea of Reeds, and it’s really very shallow. It’s only a foot or so deep. Many times the strong winds will actually drive the sea back, and there are portions that you can cross that sea because it’s at the best two or three feet at the worst. And so it was just the Sea of Reeds, the shallow marshy pond, and they were able to cross it. You see it really wasn’t a miracle at all. God really didn’t heap up the waters on both sides as He said. It was just a shallow little marshy pond that they passed through.
My, what a marvelous miracle that God could drown a whole Egyptian army in a shallow, marshy pond. One way or another you’ve got to face a miracle in this story. You can’t get away from it. It’s there. Now I’d rather just believe it like it’s written. Just believe it like God said. God’s big enough. I have no problem with the power of God, the greatness of God. And as I told you, God is going to teach them now to trust in Him. But the first thing He has to teach them is that He can make a way when there is no way.
Now I want you to look at this thing again. They’re in a trap, very definitely in a trap. Why are they in the trap? Because God led them in the trap. God said to Moses, “All right, turn on down here towards Baalzephon.” It was God who led Moses and the children of Israel into the trap. God deliberately led them into a trap in order that He might manifest unto them His power of delivering them out of the trap, delivering them when there is no way of deliverance. God can make a way where there is no way.
Now many times in our lives, God leads us into impossible situations. Where we look to the right and the left, we see the mountains on both sides; we see the enemy behind and we say, “Oh woe is me. I’d have been better off if I’d stayed back there and died in slavery than to die out here in the wilderness. There’s no way out of this. There’s nothing we can do. Everything is gone. Oh there’s no hope.” We feel like God leads us into these places of just total desperation and desolation. There’s just nothing to do, in order that He might demonstrate unto us that He has resources we know nothing about. That He can make a way for us when there is no way.
It’s marvelous to be led by God because God will never lead you into anything that He won’t lead you and provide the way out. “There is no temptation taken unto you but what is common with all men, and God with the temptation will provide the way of escape” ( 1Co 10:13 ). “I can’t see any way out. I don’t know where to go. I don’t know where to turn. I’m surrounded. The outlook is dark. I look behind me and there’s the enemy. I look beside me and there are the mountains. I look in front of me and there’s the Red Sea.” Hey, don’t give up. Don’t despair; look up. When the outlook gets impossible, try the “up look”.
Now God has led them into the trap, and now God is gonna lead them out. Takes the cloud that’s been leading them, moves behind them, and the Egyptians get lost in the fog, while God is doing His work out here. He parts the Red Sea, and by the pillar of fire, all night long the children of Israel walked through the Red Sea. The wall of water, walled up on either side of them, as they walk through the path that God has created; for God makes a way where there is no way.
Verse twenty two,
And the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand, on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them in the mist of the sea, even all of Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 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 the cloud, and he troubled the host of the Egyptians. And they took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let’s flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. [They begin to get bogged down in the mire.] The Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, upon their horsemen. 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 mist of the sea. 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. 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. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses ( Exo 14:22-31 ).
So God now is beginning to build their faith. God is beginning a work in them that is going to prepare them to come into a land of promise.
God has for each of you a glorious life of victory in Jesus Christ; many, many blessed experiences of walking with Him. But God leads us; it seems first, through the wilderness for a purpose of training and teaching us to trust in Him. Lessons of faith that are so important if I’m going to conquer and take the land that God has promised because the taking of the land is actually the appropriation of faith. “Every place you put your foot”, God said to Joshua, “I have given it you. But you’ve gotta go in and put your foot there. You’ve got to claim it.”
God has given to us exceeding rich and precious promises. You’ve got to claim them by faith. You’ve got to move in and take that which God has promised to you as His child. But before you can do it, you need to learn about God. You need to learn to trust in God, and God is teaching us the lessons of faith, and trusting in Him, showing us His abilities and His powers. So we find here the purposes of God. “The people feared the Lord”, or reverenced the Lord, “and they believed in the Lord.” Their faith now is growing. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Exo 14:1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth between Migdol and sea, over against Baalzephon: before it ye shall encamp by the sea
It might have been sufficient for the pillar of cloud to move that way; but it was really such an extraordinary thing for the Lord to lead the people right down to the sea that he gave a special command as well as the movement of the cloud. That Moses himself might not be staggered by what would seem to him to be such strange guidance the Lord tells him what to say to the people and then gives him this explanation:
Exo 14:3-4. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden Pharaohs heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
Those four words, And they did so, though they are very short and very simple words, express a great deal. Oh, that it might always be said of all of us whenever God commands us to do anything, And they did so.
Exo 14:5. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
Nothing but the grace of God will truly humble men. These Egyptians had been crushed by terrible plagues into a false kind of humility, but they were soon as proud as ever. Nothing but the omnipotent grace of God can really subdue a proud and stubborn heart.
Exo 14:6-8. And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
They were resolute and brave as long as they realized that God was with them; and the Egyptians behind them were bold and proud although God was not with them. There were two high hands that day, the high hand of the proud, puny Pharaoh and the high hand of the ever-blessed omnipotent Jehovah.
Exo 14:9-10. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid:
Forgetting what God had done for them, and promised to them, they became timid at the sight of their old master. They knew the cruelty of the Egyptians in time of war, and their hearts failed them.
Exo 14:10. And the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Ah, dear friends, if they had cried to the Lord in true believing prayer, they would have been worthy of commendation; but they did not do so. They cried out unto the Lord in an unbelieving complaint, as the next verse plainly shows:
Exo 14:11-12. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
What cowards they were, and how faint-hearted! Were these the people that were to conquer Canaan? Were these Gods chosen people? Ah, judge them not, for you and I have often been quite as faint-hearted and quite as fickle as they were. May God forgive us as he again and again forgave them!
Exo 14:13-15. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians, whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
Moses was no doubt praying in his heart though it is not recorded the he uttered any words in prayer; but it was not the time for prayer, it was the time for action. When people sometimes say when they know their duty, We will make it a matter of prayer, they generally mean that they will try to find some excuse for not doing it. You need not pray about any matter when you know what you ought to do; go and do it.
Exo 14:16-20. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 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: and it came between the camp 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.
God was like a wall of fire between them and their enemies, so that they had no cause for fear even though the Egyptians were so near.
Exo 14:21-25. 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. 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. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaohs horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 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. And took of their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
They were now in the midst of the sea between the two high walls of water, and before they could flee see what happened to them:
Exo 14:26-31. 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. 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. And the water returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not much as one of them. 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. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.
And well they might! Yet how soon they murmured both against the Lord and against Moses!
This exposition consisted of readings from Exo 13:21-22; Exodus 14.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

The first movement of the emancipated people was to march into the place of danger. It eventuated in the trial of their faith, as we shall see, but the divine meaning of it was told to Moses and it is full of solemnity. Pharaoh’s final judgment must be carried out in such a way as to make its justice evident. The people were brought to a place where it would appear to the proud heart of the obstinate king that he could overcome them in spite of all previous divine intervention. Were ever the madness and blindness of sin persisted in more manifest than in the proud preparation of chariots and armies to overcome and destroy a people for whom God had so wondrously appeared?
The panic of the people is hardly to be wondered at when we think of their circumstances. Moses confronted them with magnificent courage and faith. The story of their deliverance needs no comment. It is full of life and color and dramatic power. The one great truth illustrated is that under divine government there can be no obstacles which cannot be overcome. What solemn awe must have inspired the hearts of the multitudes of Israel as they marched in silent companies along the strange highway, with the cloud of the divine Presence acting as their rear guard and the walls of the sea towering above them on the right hand and on the left. The new nation walked through a threatened death toward a new life in a consciousness of the presence and power of Jehovah from which they could not escape.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the People are Led out and Pursued
Exo 13:17-22; Exo 14:1-9
There were two routes to Canaan, the nearest through the land of the Philistines; but to take that would have exposed the Hebrews to the very sights that so dismayed the twelve spies. See Num 33:1-56. They might have had to fight every mile of advance. This would have been too great an ordeal for their young faith. So God, like the mother eagle, bore them on His wings. The Angel who conducted the march in the cloud chariot, led them about. Thus God deals with us still, tempering the wind to the shorn lamb. Patience and faith are still severely tested by the circuitous and laborious route, but when in the afterwards we understand Gods reasons, we are satisfied. There are many lessons learned on the wilderness route. How often God leads us into what seem to be impossible positions, that in our absolute extremity there may be room for Him to work. All is love. See Psa 136:1-26.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Exo 14:13
These words speak to us of the temper with which we should meet the great trials and crises of life, the temper which does all that can be done and leaves the result to God. Let us look at this temper or character and its opposite as they are seen working in politics, in religion, in the lives of individuals.
I. The question was once asked by an eminent thinker, whether nations, like individuals, could go mad. There certainly have been movements, like the Reformation or the French Revolution, of which no one could foretell the existence or power. But such movements, like the cataclysms of geology, have been rare, and they seem likely to be rarer as the world goes on. Yet this is not the aspect of the world which our imagination presents to us. There are the two opposite poles of feeling, the one exaggerating, the other minimising actions and events; the one all enthusiasm and alarm, the other cynical and hopeless. The true temper in politics is the temper of confidence and hope. “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” Be patient, and instead of changing every day with the gusts of public opinion, observe how curiously, not without a Divine providence, many things work themselves out into results which we never foresaw.
II. A temper of confidence and repose is needed in matters of religion. The great changes in religious opinion during the last forty years have taken two directions-Rome and Germany. These changes are far from unimportant, but the temper of alarm and exaggeration is not the right way of dealing with them. Amid the changes of religious opinions and the theological discord which distracts the world, we may possess our souls in peace. If sometimes our ears are thrilled and our minds confused by the Babel of voices which dins around us, we may turn from without, and listen calmly to that voice which speaks to us from within, of love, and righteousness, and peace.
III. Let us apply the same principle to our own lives. We need to see ourselves as we truly are, in all our relations to God and to our fellow-men. We need to carry into the whole of life that presence of mind which is required of the warrior who in the hour of conflict is calm, and sees what he foresaw.
B. Jowett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 193.
I. These words which to fleshly Israel must have seemed so strange, and which to weak faith echo so strangely still, contain two parts, a duty and a blessing. They were to “stand still,” and so should they see the salvation of God. And this condition of blessing runs continually through the whole history of the Jewish and Christian Church. When God has tried His chosen servants or His chosen people, the most frequent trial perhaps has been this, whether they would tarry the Lord’s leisure, be content to receive God’s gift in God’s way, hasten not, turn not to the right hand or the left, but “stand still” and see the salvation of God. By patient (the word implies suffering) waiting for God, an unresisting resistance unto blood, did the Church take root in the whole world.
II. It is for instruction only that we may ask why God should so have annexed the blessing of conquest to enduring suffering, and made patience mightier than what men call active virtues. (1) It may be that it has some mysterious connection with the sufferings of Christ. Vicarious suffering may be so far well-pleasing to God as having a communion with the sufferings of His beloved Son, and doubtless it may make those who are partakers of it more capable of the communication of the merits and influence of His passion. (2) Then, also, it may be needful, in the wisdom of God, for the perfecting of His saints. As all trial implies pain, so the trial of the most precious vessels, it may be, is to be accompanied by pains proportionate. (3) It is evident, that so God’s power and glory are most shown in averting suffering, or in crowning the enduring faith by His blessing. (4) Since man’s self-will was the cause of his fall, God would thus teach him to renounce dependence upon himself, to quit his own wisdom and his own schemes, and do God’s will.
F. B. Pusey, Nine Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford, No. ix.
References: Exo 14:13.-T.Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 66; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 206; G. Moberly, Plain Sermons, p. 256; A. Raleigh, Rest from Care and Sorrow, p. 186; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 541.
Exo 14:13-14
I. It was not the children of Israel who had brought themselves out of Egypt. They were a set of poor crouching slaves. It was not Moses who brought them out. It was the Lord who brought them out. This was what the Passover told them on the night they left Egypt, what it was to tell all future generations. The Lord was fighting for them. They were simply to follow where they were led, to accept the deliverance which He gave them and to remember whence it came.
II. The most wonderful of God’s processes of education was the institution of sacrifices and the whole economy which is connected with them. The ground of the national existence was laid in sacrifice. The killing of the lamb, the blood token upon the door, the consecration of all the firstborn, were the witnesses that the slaves of Pharaoh were redeemed to be the people of God. Sacrifice was not merely the redress of an evil: it was a return to the rightful, orderly state of each man and of the people. The setting up of a self-will is the disturbance of order; the sacrifice or giving up of the will is the restoration of it. Therefore the sacrifices in the Book of Leviticus are not like the heathen sacrifices-schemes to bring about a change in the Divine mind. They proceed, just as much as the law proceeds, from that mind.
III. A Jew who ate the paschal lamb mainly that he might commemorate the destruction of the Egyptians or the favour shown to Israelites may have hoped that the same power which slew one enemy of the nation would slay another. Yet this hope must often have been feeble, for analogies are but poor supports to the heart when crushed by actual miseries. But he who counted it his chief blessedness to see God asserting His order through Egyptians and Israelites, in despite of the unbelief and rebellion of both, would naturally conclude that He who is and was and is to come would go on asserting His order till He had put down every enemy of it, till He had completely made manifest His “own character and purposes.” The enemies of God’s order are sensuality, self-will, selfishness. It is God’s intention to wage perpetual war with these, till He has proved whether they or He are the stronger.
God must be the Deliverer in the least case as in the greatest. Man must be the instrument of deliverance. It must be a deliverance wrought by the Firstborn of many brethren for His brethren, by a High-Priest as the Representative of a society.
F. D. Maurice, Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 186.
Exo 14:15
I. The story from which these words are taken is a story of national progress. It is also one of supernatural progress. For us the supernatural is, in the highest and truest sense of the word, natural, for it is the revelation of the nature of God. We accept the possibility of the supernatural and miraculous, but all the more for that do we hold that if God interferes in the affairs of men miraculously, He will not do it capriciously, unnecessarily, wantonly. Upon the whole story of these Jewish miracles there is stamped a character which marks distinctly the reason for which they were wrought; that reason was the religious education of the world. By these miracles the Jew was taught that for nations and men there is a God, an eternal and a personal Will above us and around us that works for righteousness. This great fact was taught mm by illustrated lessons, by pictures illuminated with the Divine light and so filled with the Divine colour that they stand and last for all time.
II. The lesson that seems definitely stamped on the story of the miraculous passage of the Red Sea is the lesson of fearlessness in the discharge of duty, of resolute walking in the way that we know to be God’s way for us. We find this true: (1) in the case of individuals; (2) in the case of nations. For individuals and for nations God has appointed a law of progress. All who have ever striven to raise the tone of a nation’s life, to bring the nation onward on the path that leads to peace and righteousness, have been preaching to mankind this great word of God’s, “Go forward where God would have you go.”
Bishop Magee, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 55.
Exo 14:15
Progress is the great test of a Christian. It is not what we are absolutely, but what we are relatively, relatively to what we were. Religion must always be “a walk,” and the child of God a traveller. Old things get further and further behind, and as they recede look smaller and smaller; new things constantly come into view, and there is no stagnation. The man, though slowly, and with much struggle, and with many humiliations, is stretching on to the ever-rising level of his own spiritual and heaven-drawn conscience.
I. We may be discouraged because of past failures. Still we have no choice but to go on. Life is made up of rash beginnings and premature endings. We have nothing for it but to begin again.
II. We may feel ourselves utterly graceless and godless. The remedy is, at once to determine to be a great Christian. We must aim at things far in advance. We must go forward.
III. Perhaps some great temptation or sin bars the way. Then we must not stand calculating. We must not look at consequences, but simply “go forward” to the new life of self-denial and holiness.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 7th series, p. 15.
References: Exo 14:13-15.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 152. Exo 14:15.-C. J. Vaughan, The Days of the Son of Man, p. 251; Outline Sermons for Children, p. 17; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 2nd series, p. 120; J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, pp. 428, 436; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 52; S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 45; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 548; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 18; J. Hamilton, Works, vol. v., p. 166. Exo 14:15-31.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., pp. 130, 132. Exo 14:16.-J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 320. Exo 14:19, Exo 14:20.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1793.
Exo 14:20
The guiding cloud severed the camp of Egypt from the camp of Israel. It marched between them. To the one it was God’s presence, cheering despondency, comforting weakness, guaranteeing victory; to the other it was a perplexing, baffling, vexing apparition, betokening they knew not what, yet this at all events, that Israel had a friend, a guide, a comforter, and they must drive after him their chariots of earth, with such hope and such might as earth fighting against Heaven can muster.
I. Every word of God is at once a cloud and darkness to Egypt and a light by night to Israel. So far as revelation goes, it is to the believing what it calls itself-a light and a lamp. The real mysteries of our being were there before revelation: the mystery of life, the mystery of death, the mystery of an omnipotent God resisted, and the mystery of a holy God co-existent with evil. Whatever revelation does in reference to these aboriginal mysteries is in the direction of explanation.
II. Trinity Sunday is, in an especial sense, the Festival of Revelation. Trinity and unity are not contraries. The word Trinity was invented to preserve the unity. Trinity is tri-unity. The doctrine of the Trinity is this, that Holy Scripture, while tenaciously clinging to the unity, does present to us our Lord Jesus Christ as very God, and does present to us the Holy Spirit of God, not as a thing, but as a Person. Leave out of sight for one hour the Divinity of Jesus, and darkness settles again upon the soul which He died, which He lives, to redeem. Leave out of sight for one hour the personality of the Spirit, and darkness settles again upon the soul of which He is the Light, because the Life. We may listlessly dream or purposelessly loiter; but when a work is proposed to us, and we must do it or die, then we want that help, and must have it, which only a Trinity in unity can supply.
C. J. Vaughan, Half Hours in the Temple Church, p. 143; also Good Words, 1870, p. 747.
Reference: T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 114.
Exo 14:30-31
Had it not been for this great deliverance, the children of Israel would only have been remembered in the after history of the world as the slaves who helped to build the Pyramids. Their religion was fast perishing among them, their religious rites forgotten; and they would soon have been found among the worshippers of the monster gods of Egypt. But God had better things in store for them when He led them through the Red Sea, making a path for them amid the waters.
I. It was one of the greatest blessings for the human race that during the preservation of the Jewish people the great truth of the personality of God and His nearness to His people was set before them in language which could not be mistaken. And it is one of the greatest blessings which we enjoy that we have the same Lord thus personally presented to us, revealed in the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
II. God is set before us in this passage, not only as a Person, but as a Person who cares with all a father’s love, with all a father’s watchfulness, for His own people. Our hopes in days of doubt and difficulties are directed to the same personal fatherly care of the great God who loves all His creatures, and who loves Christians above all in the Lord Jesus Christ.
III. When a great national victory is achieved, what boots it to him who loses his life in the hour of victory? The question for us is, not whether God has wrought a great deliverance, but whether we as individuals are partakers of that deliverance, partakers of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. C. Tait, Penny Pulpit, No. 3, 100.
References: Exo 14:30, Exo 14:31.-J. Jackson, Sermons at St. Paul’s, No. 22. Exo 14:31 (with Exo 19:7 and Exo 36:5).-Parker, vol. ii., p. 100. 14-15.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 127. Exo 15:1, Exo 15:2.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1867. Exo 15:1-21.-Parker, vol. ii., p. 106. Exo 15:1-22.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 162. Exo 15:2.-Bishop Thorold, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 40; Parker, vol. ii., p. 317.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 14 The Pursuit of the Enemy and Redemption by Power
1. The coming of Pharaoh announced (Exo 14:1-4)
2. The pursuit and Israel troubled (Exo 14:5-12)
3. Moses speaks to the people (Exo 14:13-14)
4. The Lord speaks to Moses (Exo 14:15-18)
5. The passages through the Red Sea (Exo 14:19-22)
6. The Egyptians overthrown (Exo 14:23-29)
7. The great work accomplished (Exo 14:30-31)
While the marching host of Israel was ignorant of Pharaohs device and the threatening danger, Jehovahs eye was watching every move the enemy made. He knew what Pharaoh would do and Jehovah had planned how to deliver Israel completely by His power from the Egyptians. That Jehovah might be honored upon Pharaoh and all his host, He told His people to encamp in a place which made their position, from a human standpoint, almost hopeless. They were hemmed in by mountains and the sea was in front of them and behind them the Egyptian host was soon to appear. Only the outlook upward to heaven was unobstructed. From there help had to come. Pharaoh appeared to bring them back into bondage. Then the unbelief of the redeemed people, whom Jehovah had so marvelously led forth, is manifested. Though their lot had been so severe in Egypt and Jehovahs power upon Egypt had been seen in the terrible judgments, yet they regretted that they had left Egypt . It was unbelief. They feared that the God who had taken such pains to deliver them out of Egypt , who had led them out and was visibly present with them, would now abandon them, so that they would die in the wilderness. How many Christians give way again and again to such an unreasonable doubt. Unbelief leads to interpret God in the presence of the difficulty, instead of interpreting the difficulty in the presence of God. Faith gets behind the difficulty and there finds God in all His faithfulness, love and power.
Exo 14:13 and Exo 14:14 are the words to faith. The Lord was now taking up their case and fighting their battles. It was no longer the question of Pharaoh and Israel , but Pharaoh and Jehovah. But notice the words are Moses words, as given to him by the Spirit of God. After he had spoken them and assured the people that all their enemies were to be wiped out, he began to pray, for the Lord said to him, wherefore criest thou unto Me? This is followed by the command to go forward, to stretch out the rod over the sea and the assurance that the sea would be divided so that they should pass through to the other side.
In Exo 14:19 we learn that the Angel of God–that is Jehovah–who went before the camp of Israel , removed and went behind them. Thus the pillar of cloud descended between them and their enemies; they were involved in the deepest darkness, while Israel had light throughout the night. Moses did according to the word of the Lord. The east wind from the Lord caused the sea to go back; a strong wind, which blew all night, divided the sea. Higher criticism has tried to explain this miracle as a natural occurrence, but they overlooked the fact that on the right and on their left the waters were a wall. It was a grave; so to speak; into which Israel passed, when Gods power had made the way through it. It was faith which led them through. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land; which the Egyptians assaying to do, were drowned (Heb 11:29).
When Pharaoh and his army followed to pursue them, Jehovah acted in judgment. in the morning watch Jehovah looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire. It was not a thunderstorm which confused them, but they saw the Lord in His majesty and the fearful judgment overtook them after Moses had stretched out his hand over the sea. The overthrow of the Egyptians came when the morning appeared. Not one of them remained, but Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore.
This great deliverance by the power of God has many lessons. It foreshadows the future judgment which is in store for the enemies of Israel , when the Lord in the morning watch looks upon them. Greater still are the typical lessons in connection with our redemption in Christ. The Red Sea is a type of the death of Christ. Deliverance from sin by being dead with Christ is the aspect which the Red Sea passage illustrates. It is the truth so fully brought out in Romans 6, 7 and 8. When Israel had passed through the Red Sea and reached the other side, we have a type of resurrection. Dead with Christ and risen with Him; our old enemy is gone, and we can look upon our enemies as dead. Many pages of annotations could be given in following this story. We must leave the fuller application to our readers. Victory is on our side. Redeemed by blood, Gods power is with us, the power of His Spirit, who is given to us of God. We are not asked to fight our enemy, the old man, or to subdue him. God has done this for us in the death of Christ.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

the Lord spake: Exo 12:1, Exo 13:1
Reciprocal: Deu 6:22 – showed Jos 24:6 – Egyptians Neh 9:10 – showedst Psa 78:13 – He divided Jer 2:6 – brought us up Jer 21:2 – according Eze 20:6 – to bring Dan 9:15 – that hast
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Faith as Exemplified in Moses
Selections from Exo 3:1-22; Exo 6:1-30; Exo 7:1-25; Exo 8:1-32; Exo 14:1-31; Exo 15:1-27
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The Children of Israel had been captive in Egypt for several hundred years. During that time another Pharaoh had arisen who knew not Joseph. As the sons of Jacob multiplied, the king of Egypt became more and more afraid of their possible ascendancy in his empire. Therefore, moved with fear, he began to persecute them, and to force them to work as common slaves. Thus, God heard the groanings of His people under the iron hand of Pharaoh.
1. The birth of a deliverer. Finally an edict of Pharaoh was given forth that every male child should be killed. There were two, however, who were not afraid of the king’s commandment, and when a goodly child was born unto them, they hid him in an ark of bulrushes at the river’s brink, where the daughter of Pharaoh came to bathe. This little child was rescued by royalty and nursed by his own mother. Thus it was that God Himself brought up the deliverer in the home of the persecutor. A child who was under a sentence of death, became the giver of life to the people of God.
2. The deliverer’s attempt in the flesh. When the baby Moses had grown into a man of forty years of age, he spurned everything that the pleasures and the wealth of Egypt could give him. He turned his back on Pharaoh’s palace, and, with a heart aching because of the straits of his own people, he went down, bent upon delivering them, but forty years passed before God undertook to deliver Israel through Moses.
3. Hiding away. During the forty years that Moses was in Midian he married the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian. At the end of the forty years God came to Moses and spoke to him.
During the years that Moses was hid away with God he could meditate and think upon the glory of Jehovah.
4. A wonderful sight. God appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses stopped and looked, and, “behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Immediately he said, “I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” It was at that moment that the Lord called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “Here am I.” God told Moses to put off his shoes from off his feet, because the place on which he stood was holy ground.
Then it was that he said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Immediately God told Moses that He had surely seen the affliction of His people in Egypt; that He had heard their cry, and that He would send forth Moses to their deliverance.
5. A complaining, doubting spirit. We are amazed when we think of the man whom God had called to deliver His people, saying to the Lord, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the Children of Israel out of Egypt?” The Lord, however, gave him promises that He would be with him.
The story is familiar to all of us: we remember how the Lord gave him His Name, saying, “I Am that I Am.” When Moses still demurred, God wrought the miracle of the turning of a rod which Moses held in his hand into a serpent.
God furthermore commanded Moses to put his hand into bis bosom, and when he took it out, it was as leprous as snow. Then He told Moses to put his hand back into his bosom. This time, when he took it out, it was turned again as his other flesh.
Moses still demurred, and said, “I am not eloquent.” This time, God took away from him a wonderful privilege and gave it unto Aaron, the brother of Moses, telling him that he should be the spokesman of Moses, and that he should be to Moses instead of a mouth, and that Moses should be to him instead of God.
6. A few conclusions. As we think of what we have just set before you, let us weigh our own experience in its light. Have we not had a call from God? Have we not often warred in the flesh? Have we not often demurred, and hesitated to undertake the work to which we are called? Perhaps God has even given us a vision of His mighty power and work. Before we complain about Moses, and condemn him, let us ask if we have been faithful, and ready to launch out the moment that some Divine order came to us; perhaps Moses far outshines us in our obedience. Let us be careful, lest we miss God’s very best in service and spiritual attainments.
I. FAITH IN TRAINING (Exo 3:12-14)
When we feel that our faith is weak, we know of no better way to strengthen it than to study the dealings of the God in whom we are asked to believe, with men in the past. Listen to some of the things that God said to Moses:
1.In Exo 3:8 He said, “I am come down to deliver.”
2.In Exo 3:10 He said, “I will send thee unto Pharaoh.”
3.In Exo 3:12 He said, “Certainly I will be with thee.”
4.In Exo 3:14 He said, “I AM hath sent me unto you.”
5.In Exo 3:17 He said, “I will bring you up.”
6.In Exo 3:20 He said, “I will stretch out My hand.”
7.In Exo 3:21 He said, “I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians.”
When we look at the seven statements above, we see, in every instance, a definite promise from the Almighty. Why should Moses be afraid when God kept saying, “I will, I will; and I will”? When God promises to do it, it will surely be done. What God undertakes He is able to accomplish; if we are sent by Him; we are panoplied by Him.
If He is with us, we are armed with all power in Heaven and upon earth. If He is going to bring us through, we need not fear the terrors by the way; if He has said, “I will stretch out My hand,” we need not care how weak our hands may be.
There was one other thing that God did to encourage Moses. He said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, * * of Isaac, and * * of Jacob.” In other words, He said to Moses, “You are familiar with the wonderful dealings I had with your forefathers; and I was their God, and now I will be thine.” If the Lord comes with us, are we afraid to go? Do the silver and the gold not belong to Him? Does He not have all authority, in every realm?
Suppose Jesus Christ stood by us today, telling us to go; and then He said, “I have met the powers of Satan and have vanquished them; I was dead, and I am alive again, and I hold in My hand the keys of death and of hell; I have ascended up through principalities and powers, and am seated on the right hand of God, clothed with all authority.” When Christ says such things to us, shall we be weak in faith and afraid to obey His voice?
II. FAITH WARNED (Exo 3:19)
We often speak of the faith of Moses, and indeed it was a remarkable faith. Let none of us criticize him in his faith until we can do the things he did; let none of us enlarge upon his unbelief until our unbelief is less than his.
1. The warning. Exo 3:19 says, God speaking: “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.” The Lord never promises us that which we are not to receive; He never encourages us in giving us a false hope; He never tries to increase our faith by belittling the obstacles which will beset us by the way.
God very plainly and positively assured Moses that the Children of Israel would resist him, and that Pharaoh would not let the people go. However, God went on to tell him that He would do His wonders in Egypt, and “after that he will let you go.” He even told Moses that the Children of Israel should not go out empty, but they should go out with their hands filled with jewels of silver and gold and raiment, and with the spoil of the Egyptians.
2. The refusal. In the 5th chapter, and 1st verse, Moses said unto Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness.” Pharaoh did not hesitate a moment to reply, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”
A man of little faith would certainly have stumbled here. To be sure, God had told him that Pharaoh would not let Israel go; however, it was not easy for Moses and Aaron to be repulsed with such terrific onslaughts of unbelief.
Sometimes as we go forth in the service of God everything seems to fail which we had hoped would come to pass. Our prayers seem unanswered, our attempts seem futile, and our service seems in-vain.
We should remember that it is not always that our God delivers instantly. If we get our victories too easily, we might begin to think that our own hand had gotten us the victory, and that we had accomplished things by our own efforts and prowess.
3. The direct results. In the 4th verse of the 5th chapter, the king of Egypt said unto Moses and Aaron, “Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.” That same day the king commanded the taskmasters to cease giving straw to the Children of Israel. They were to get their own straw, and yet the same quantity of brick was required from them daily.
This caused a tremendous bitterness in the Children of Israel. They complained, and when they met Moses and Aaron as they came forth from Pharaoh, they said, “Ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.”
This was about all that Moses could bear, and he cried unto the Lord, “Why is it that Thou hast sent me?” He also said, “Neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all.” When the enemy seems to have every advantage, and is pressing us on every side, do we sometimes murmur and complain at the Lord? It is not easy to be condemned by the populace; it is not easy to see our leadership seemingly broken.
III. FAITH ASSURED (Exo 6:1-6)
When Moses talked with God, the Lord told him several things.
1. “Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh.” Defeat does not disturb the Almighty-He can see the end from the beginning. He knew that Pharaoh would rebel again and again, but God also knew that Pharaoh would be willing-yea, more than willing: he would be glad to have Israel go, before God had finished His judgments upon him.
2. Other things God said unto Moses.
1.”I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham * * by the Name of God Almighty.”
2.”I have also established My Covenant with them.”
3.”I have remembered My Covenant.”
4.”I will bring you out * * I will rid you out of their bondage.”
5.”I will redeem you with a stretched out arm.”
6.”I will take you to Me * * I will be to you a God.”
7.”I will bring you in unto the land.”
Three times in this passage, concluding at Exo 6:8, the Lord says, “I am the Lord.” Let every one of us write over every power of darkness the same word-“I am the Lord.” If God be for us, who can be against us?
3. Moses’ plea. It must have been a wonderful thing to have the privilege of speaking to the Lord face to face, as did Moses, God addressing him as we would an intimate friend. Moses said, “Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto Me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me?” He meant, If my own people, Thine own children, have not heard me, how shall I expect Pharaoh to hear me?
Sometimes we, too, get to the place where we want to give up. We hasten to belittle our successes and the possibility of our efforts. Beloved, we need, today, to get a fresh hold on God.
IV. Faith Encouraged (Exo 7:1-6)
The skies are brightening as far as Moses is concerned. While so far he has met nothing but rebuff and setback and disappointment; yet he has been learning, step by step to trust God. Now the Lord is speaking unto Moses, and He tells him one thing that, so far as we know, has never been repeated.
1. “I have made thee a God to Pharaoh.” In other words, God is saying unto Moses that he should go before Him in the power and might of Deity Himself. He was to speak everything that God commanded him; he was to do mighty works, even the works that only God could do.
God still warned Moses that Pharaoh would harden his heart, but He said that He would multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. The fact of the business was that every time Pharaoh refused Moses, it gave God an opportunity to magnify His own Name and power in the midst of the Egyptians, and to prove that God was Lord; and that the Children of Israel were His people.
2. “And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them.” They went forth and faced Pharaoh time and time again; with Pharaoh’s every refusal they were spurred to further attacks against the cruel king of the Egyptians. They both obeyed the voice of God implicitly; they obeyed, no matter what happened, how dark the skies, how rugged the way, how steep the road. They were learning that God is able to bring down every high thing, and every proud thing that exalts itself against the Lord. They were learning that the weapons of their warfare were mighty, through God, to the breaking down of strongholds.
V. FAITH WORKING (Exo 8:1-4)
The story of the ten plagues which were brought upon Egypt by the words of Moses, is nothing less than the story of faith at work.
1. The first three plagues. As Moses threw down his rod it became a serpent. How was it then, if this was a miracle, that the magicians threw down their rods, and they became serpents? The second great miracle of Moses was the turning of the water of Egypt into blood; this the magicians of Egypt also did.
The third was the miracle of the frogs; once again the magicians of Egypt did the same with their enchantments.
Moses, perhaps, was dumfounded when he saw that the magicians could duplicate, thus far, whatever he did. However, they could not get rid of the frogs; they could bring the curse, but could not relieve it. Perhaps God Himself permitted all of this, to make Moses lean the harder upon Him; and also to bring a deeper curse upon Pharaoh, because of his rebellion. One thing we know, that step by step, Moses was “as God” in moving God and nature to obey his voice.
2. Is the day of miracles past? My God is a God that still works miracles. If He did not, how could I trust Him in the many places where He commands me to travel and to labor? I have seen with mine own eyes the Lord our God doing the impossible.
When we think of the Apostles, and of Paul, we think of men who knew how to believe God, and to do things which could not be accounted for on any natural lines. In these days, when the modernist is seeking to discount every miracle that God has ever wrought, it is absolutely necessary for us to prove that our God is still the God who wrought the miracles of the Old Testament. We must do the same things as were done then.
VI. THE FINAL TRIUMPH (Exo 14:13-16)
We are passing very rapidly over many remarkable things that occurred, and now we come to the final great test.
1. Hemmed in on every side. When Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, he led them as he was directed, down by the way of the Red Sea. The news was taken to Pharaoh that Moses with his million and one half of people were entangled in the wilderness; then Pharaoh immediately started out to pursue them.
When the Children of Israel saw the hosts of the Egyptians approaching, they were filled with fear, and they said unto Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” Here was a real trial to faith.
Moses, however, did not waver: he said, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” He added, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
After Moses had told this unto the people, he sought the face of his God, and cried unto Him. Then the Lord said to him, “Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the Children of Israel, that they go forward.” How could they go forward?
They certainly could not go back; they certainly could not go to the left, or to the right, for, on the one hand were the fastnesses of the mountains and the hills, and on the other hand Pharaoh’s hosts. Before them was the impassable sea. It was under such circumstances that God said, “Go forward,” and forward they went.
Moses lifted up his rod, and God opened before them sufficient dry land that they might march in through the midst of the sea, and straight across to the other side.
VII. FAITH REJOICING (Exo 15:1-6)
1. The thrill of victory. It must have been a wonderful thing to the Children of Israel, as they marched up on the other side of the sea. Surely they knew that there was a God in Israel! If their joy, for the moment, was darkened by the approach of the hosts of the Egyptians who were marching upon the same path through the sea which God had prepared for them, their fear was quickly allayed when they saw that the armies of Pharaoh were having great trouble in passing, because their chariot wheels would come off, and because they were blinded in their route by a cloud of darkness.
Then, after the last one of Israel had passed over, how they must have rejoiced when Moses stretched forth his rod over the sea, and the waters returned to their strength, overthrowing the Egyptians in the midst thereof! Pharaoh’s army and chariots and horsemen were altogether overthrown, and there remained not so much as one.
2. The song of victory. Chapter 15 says, “Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song.” Have you ever accomplished something by faith which caused you to sing? You have read of faith’s miracles: Have you ever wrought them? You have heard of Daniel in the lions’ den: have you ever had any experience that even shadowed that? You have heard of the experience of the three Hebrew children in the burning fiery furnace: have you ever done or seen anything like that in your life?
Yes, every day there are things just as marvelous, but how few there are who know them, or see them, or believe them! Now when there is victory, there is song. After Moses had finished his rejoicing with the Children of Israel, then Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her, with timbrels and dances.
3. Experiences in the wilderness. After this wonderful miracle one would have thought that the Children of Israel would never again doubt God. They had seen everything that God had wrought by the hand of Moses; all of the miraculous plagues, all of their wonderful deliverances, and yet they were scarcely over the Red Sea and in the wilderness, until, as they journeyed, they struck a place where there was no water. Then they began to chide with Moses. One of the crowning acts of faith in the life of Moses was when he went out and struck the rock at the command of God. There is no water in a rock, and yet the smitten rock sent forth a stream. Beloved, let us never doubt God again, but rather let us believe that it will be even as He has spoken.
AN ILLUSTRATION
“Ask ye of the Lord rain” (Zec 10:1).
In the following lines we wish to relate something of the Lord’s goodness as suggested by the above text.
There had been many months of drought, very dry and hot weather. The previous N.E. monsoon had failed, resulting in only half the normal rainfall. Tanks and ponds had been dry for weeks. Many wells had failed in their supply of water. Droves of cattle were being driven miles to obtain a drink of water. Men and women, on returning late in the evening from work, had to go off in search of water before attempting to cook the food. One evening, two messengers, one following the other, came along to say our well was empty. We knew of only one resource at such a time. There were some clouds above. “Ask ye of the Lord rain.” Two of us knelt that evening and asked our Heavenly Father to command the clouds and to send the rain. We retired, believing our God would care for us. On rising next morning we looked but to see “floods on the dry ground.” Two and a quarter inches of rain had fallen!
“O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

HORSE AND RIDER THROWN
THROUGH THE RED SEA ( Exodus 14)
What was the command now given to Moses (Exo 14:2)? From Etham, their present stopping place, the next step was of great importance. That town
was near the head of the Red Sea at the border of the wilderness of Arabia and the limit of the three days journey for which they had applied to Pharaoh. Would they remain there and offer their sacrifices as proposed, or continue their journey and endeavor to leave the country of the Egyptians altogether? The latter people were watching them with keen eyes, doubtless. What must have been the surprise of all when this command began to be obeyed. The natural way to leave the country was by the north and around the head of the Red Sea, but Pi-hahiroth was in a southeasterly direction and would entangle them in the land.
A study of the map will add to the interest of the lesson even though all the localities are not absolutely identified. It is clear, that in their new station the Israelites had the mountains on the west and south and the sea on the east. As Pharaoh would follow them from the northwest it would seem at first as though they must become his easy prey, being in a snare from which it was impossible to escape.
What, however, is the divine purpose in this movement (Exo 14:3-4)?
How did the Hebrews behave in face of the new peril that now seemed to confront them (Exo 14:10-12)? Note their fear, unbelief, injustice, selfishness, cowardice and ingratitude. How does Moses character shine in comparison (Exo 14:13-14)? Note his meekness, forbearance, composure, faith.
How does Exo 14:15 indicate that there is a time for all things, even prayer? How does Exo 14:16 attest the authority of Moses before the people as an instrument of God? In what way do the next two verses illustrate that the providences of God have a two-fold aspect as between sinners and saints? By what method were the waters of the sea divided (Exo 14:21)? Compare here Psa 77:16-20. A strong northeast wind has always had much influence on the ebb of the tide in the Red Sea, but such an annual occurrence only drives out the old body of water further from the shore. It does not divide the waters, or make them a wall on each side of the dry ground, or leave space for the passage of a large multitude, or happen precisely at the moment when escape from a foe makes it convenient for the leader of a people to wave over the water a rod of power. In other words, this was a supernatural event, a miracle of divine power.
Do you suppose the Egyptians really knew they were walking into the bed of the sea (Exo 14:23)? May not the supernatural darkness of the pillar of cloud have kept them in ignorance of this? If so, what a fearful discovery they made subsequently!
No wonder that in view of the present and the past the Egyptians declared that the Lord fought for Israel.
Notice the closing phrase of Exo 14:30 Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore and compare Eze 32:4 which speaks of the latter judgment on the same people, and Rev 19:17-18 referring to that which shall fall upon the ungodly nations at the close of this age.
What effect had this awful judgment upon Israel?
THE SONG OF VICTORY (Exo 15:1-21) Compare the circumstances of this chapter with Rev 15:2-3 and see the likeness of the two events.
This is the most ancient of songs, whose poetical merits are of the first order, which we might suppose to be the case since it was given by divine inspiration.
A remarkable feature of the song is that almost all its verbs are in the future tense, carrying the implication that what happened on this occasion to Gods enemies would happen in like manner in all future time so far as utter discomfiture and signal perdition were concerned.
What is the prediction of Exo 15:14-18? Compare Jos 2:9-11 for an illustration of its fulfillment.
Who is once more introduced into the history at verse 20? Observe that the dancing mentioned was that of women alone, the method being to follow the leader, imitating her steps and if she sings to comprise the chorus. The song was probably sung alternately by the men and women ranged in two bands, Moses leading the one and Miriam the other; or possibly the men sung the song and women joined in the chorus of verse 21 after every period of five verses and at the end of the whole:
Sing ye to the Lord, For He hath triumphed gloriously, The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.
Observe the new name of God found in this song (Exo 15:2), and note that it occurs for the first time after the signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, just as the other name occurred before these events. This leads to the supposition that Jehovah is the name of God on His prophetic side and Jab His name on His historic side. As the first denotes Him who is about to manifest His being, so the second denotes Him who has manifested His being.
QUESTIONS
1.Have you sought to identify Etham and Pi-hahiroth on the map?
2.Prove the miraculous nature of the event at the Red Sea.
3.How does it and its attendant circumstances bear on the literalness of later earthly judgments?
4.Has the song of victory prophetic value, and how?
5.What is the meaning of the name Jah?
THE TYPICAL ASPECT OF ISRAELS VICTORY
Paul speaking of the early history of Israel says: Now these things happened unto them by way of example [or, as types], and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come (1Co 10:11).
At the Red Sea the question is no longer one between the Israelites and God. That was the status represented in the Passover, but the question now is between Israel and her enemy. The question with God had been settled in the Passover, and forever settled. They had been redeemed from bondage and had come into a new relationship to God in which He was pledged to certain things on their behalf.
The question now raised was the old question of servitude to Pharaoh or of liberty. This question God Himself now takes up on their behalf, and they find Him with them in a more manifest way than they had ever found Him as yet. From the very moment of the Passover God was with them, but it is the experience at the Red Sea that makes them understand how truly He is with them.
Epistle to the Romans Compared
The situation suggests the doctrinal part of Romans, in the first eight chapters of the epistle. If we consider the first half of this part, that is, down to the middle of the 5th chapter, it sets before us the teaching concerning our redemption through the blood of Christ and what it effects for us. We see that through the righteousness of God which this redemption declares, there has been provided for us in Christ a place of assured shelter. We are justified by His blood, and this justification reaches on in its effects to the final judgment of the world. Judgment for us is rolled away forever! Our standing before God is now of grace, our hope is now of glory, and we are enabled to glory, even in tribulations because all things are working together for our good.
All this may be called the Passover truth, for like the Israelites we are now sheltered from judgment, feeding upon the Lamb, and equipped for our journey.
But at this point the truth in Rom 5:12 becomes operative. That is the question of the experience of the new life. What then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? And finally, when the discovery of the hopeless evil and weakness of our old nature is made, we cry: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death!
Israels Bondage and the Christians Sin
Who can but think of Israels bondage in Egypt here, and of the divine method of deliverance? Did Israels bondage to Pharaoh cease on the night of the Passover? In one sense it did. There was a breaking of chains and a real start. God was now with them and could never allow His claim to them to be cancelled, for He had redeemed them to Himself. The enemy never could regain possession of His people. But when we pass from Gods point of view to that of the people themselves we find them losing their confidence and trembling again before their old tyrant in such fear that even the actual presence of God with them in the pillar of cloud could not remove. Shut up between the desert and the sea with Pharaoh in full pursuit, their cry is that of unbelieving despair. The controversy between them and their old enemy had to be taken up afresh by God in their behalf, and now to be ended forever. God interferes and fights for them, and they do nothing but stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
It is so with the soul who has found shelter under the blood of Christ and seen the judgment of God removed from him. The question of deliverance from the law of sin is settled for him, but he does not always come at once into the realization of it. In other words the first teaching of holiness is this, that in me as a believer in Christ, that is, in my old nature, there is no good thing. In order to have strength, in other words, we must learn the lesson of thorough and continual weakness.
What the Red Sea Means
At first, when salvation is new and one has seen death turned into life through faith in a risen Savior, it may seem as if sin could no more put shackles on the soul. But as yet there is little knowledge of the old self, and full deliverance from it is not known until this has been realized, that is, until the Red Sea is reached and Egypt is left behind forever. How many have begun to follow God in the way of holiness until He has led them where they had to cry and cry again that they cannot do the things that they would! Progress seems impossible, and hence they would stop here and imagine they must after all serve Pharaoh with the best grace they can.
They are at peace with God through the blood of Christ, yet so far as the sin which is within them is concerned they expect no special deliverance: With the mind they serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Such as these do not see that after all it is only the border of Egypt they have reached, and that where all progress seems to have stopped God is at hand to give them so great a deliverance from their enemy that their hearts shall sing aloud forever.
God Our Deliverer
Now look at the type again. Observe that God does not lead Israel up against Pharaoh. In other words, He does not strengthen their arm by His own to bring salvation to them, but rather they had to stand still and see His salvation. God does not call us to fight against the flesh and subdue it, nor does He point or lead in that direction at all. The sea divides, and a channel is made for His people to pass through. In other words, Christs death is for us so that we are dead in Him and are no longer in the flesh. His death has ended our history before God. In Him we have passed through death untouched, dry-shod, and are now beyond it.
There is a sense, of course, in which this is not a matter of attainment on our part, and yet there is another sense in which it is. It is ours already the moment we receive Christ, and yet we are to apprehend it as ours. All this was true of Israel on the night of the Passover, and yet it was a while after the Passover before they really came to know and enjoy its blessedness.
Faith is thus the principle of sanctification as it is of justification or the new nature. Faith is turning from myself to God and His Son Jesus Christ. By faith I pass through the sea to take my new position outside of my old nature altogether, and when I look back I find that my enemies are buried in the waters. Privileged to turn away from self, the conflict and the distress are over. In Christ is my place, in Him I find a satisfying object lifting me out of the old sphere of things in which the lust of the flesh finds what it seeks. In Him the new nature expands and develops and bears fruit. The fruit of the Spirit needs to be ripened in the Son. The least degree of occupation with Christ is glory. No wonder that they who know it should, like the Israelites, sing a song of victory!
Exo 15:22-26 PROVISION IN THE WILD
As we have entered upon a new sphere of Israels history it may be well again to briefly call attention to the way in which archaeological data corroborate it. These data are already so numerous, and every decade is bringing so many more to the front, that one hardly knows what to quote.
The flight of the Hebrews is not mentioned on any of the monuments of Egypt but there is a reason for that, since this escape of slaves meant a defeat of Pharaohs purposes. Monarchs are not in the habit of recording their defeats. And, such migrations are not infrequent in lands of shepherds and nomads. The route of the Exodus, however, is now known beyond all reasonable doubt. The Pharaoh of the Exodus is thought to be Menephtah II, whose mummy has been discovered with those of Rameses II and Seti I, all of whom were connected with the history of the Hebrews in Egypt.
The real character of the Wilderness is now known as never before, and is described as a rolling plain dotted with ridges, low terraces and knolls, and containing sufficient shrubs and herbs to give pasturage to the camels of the Bedouin. Water courses, dry in summer, and called by the Arabs wadys, cross the plain and in some cases are as much as a mile wide. The traveler occasionally discovers charming spots like the Elim of this lesson.
All these things help us to understand how the Israelites found sustenance through the Wilderness during wandering.
HEALING AND REFRESHING IN THE WILDERNESS OF SHUR (Exo 15:22-27)
By what general name was the section of the country known which is now entered (Exo 15:22)? What is their first stopping place (Exo 15:23)?
How was the peoples instability displayed at this crisis (Exo 15:24)? How was the difficulty remedied (Exo 15:25)? Someone may ask the difference between a statute and an ordinance as named inExodus 15:25. The first is a fixed decree, and the second an injunction accompanied with an intimation of the good and evil consequences of obedience and disobedience. When it is said that God proved them it means that this experience tested the qualities of their hearts and whether they had faith and patience or not.
The Lord Our Healer
What comforting words are these: I am the Lord that healeth thee! How shall they be taken? Do they mean that as He had healed the waters of Marah so would He heal them? Or have they a significance in the past tense, that is, had the bitter waters sickened them, and in healing the waters does the Lord mean that He had really healed them? In either case physical healing is referred to, and God declares Himself the healer.
But observe that the waters being the illustration, God uses means in healing. This is not to say that He never heals otherwise, but only that it is going too far to say that the use of means necessarily excludes the thought of God as the healer.
Nor should we omit another lesson, namely, the relation of sin and disease. If they hearkened unto God and did right, He would put none of these diseases on them. The converse therefore would be true, that either directly or indirectly God puts diseases upon men who disobey Him.
What location is next reached, and what distinguishes it (Exo 15:27)? Elim is identified with a place now called Wady Ghurendel, a few miles from Marah, a place fringed with trees and shrubbery, forming a charming oasis. Here the people seem to have remained, judging by the next chapter, for the space of three weeks, resting and preparing themselves for the journey to follow.
BREAD FROM HEAVEN IN THE WILDERNESS OF SIN ( Exodus 16)
Where did they now come, and how long after leaving Egypt (Exo 16:1)? The word Sin here is supposed to mean clay, although some give it the meaning bush or thorn.
What new ground of complaint arises (Exo 16:2-3)? How does the Lord propose to meet it (Exo 16:4-5)? Where did we find the word prove in this same connection before?
What warning is given the people in Exo 16:7? What further intimation of Gods provision for their immediate need in Exo 16:8? How is the warning realized in Exo 16:10?
What was the provision in Exo 16:13? It was natural for quails to be found in the region of Arabia at certain seasons of the year, but the miracle consisted in bringing them there at this particular time and in sufficient numbers for the supply of so many people, and also in announcing their arrival beforehand.
How is the deposit of the dew described (Exo 16:14)? Did the people clearly know its nature? It would appear then that they simply gave it the first name which suggested itself, for there is a certain scanty product of nature called manna to which this seemed to bear a resemblance. Does Moses reject the name? How does he explain the nature and origin of the substance, however? The natural manna is gathered early in June, a month later than the present time, and in small quantities, but this supernatural manna was gathered every day, Sabbaths excepted, throughout the whole year, and in quantities sufficient for the main support of a nation and during a period of forty years.
How were the people to gather it (Exo 16:16)? How was their covetousness in the matter curtailed (Exo 16:18)? How was their pride leveled (Exo 16:19)?
Had Moses revealed all the details to them at first (Exo 16:22).? What provision is made for the Sabbath (Exo 16:23-26)? What rebuke is necessary concerning this (Exo 16:27-30)? What further description of the manna is given (Exo 16:31)? What arrangement is made for a memorial of this miracle (Exo 16:32-36)?
How does Heb 9:4 interpret the character of the vessel in which the omerful of manna was laid up? The phrase before the Lord is how explained in Exo 16:34? And how is this in turn explained in the verse just referred to in Hebrews? Must not then the act of Aaron in Exo 16:35 have been performed at a later time, although recorded here?
The Sabbath Gods Gift to Man
The Sabbath, according to Exo 16:29, was a gift of God to man; how precious the thought! And think of Jesus comment upon it: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Man is doomed to labor in his fallen state, but how could his weariness have been endured without a periodical recurrence of relief from it? How much he needs this leisure for himself, and for fellowship with God and with his fellowmen!
It is interesting to know that the Israelite was at liberty to go abroad for any purpose accordant with the Sabbath (Lev 23:3; Act 15:21), and that works of necessity or mercy that could not be put off until the next day were not regarded as a breach thereof (Mat 12:1-13; Mar 2:23-28). There seems to have been no limit to the distance to be walked on the Sabbath beyond that of convenience, the Rabbinical rule of later times being an addition of man rather than a command of God.
What a happy world this would be if men would only obey God, and the land be permitted to keep her Sabbaths!
QUESTIONS
1.How does archaeology contribute to the interest of this lesson?
2.What three things about physical healing are here taught?
3.State the miraculous feature in the incident of the quails.
4.Do the same concerning the manna.
5.What have we learned about the Sabbath?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Exo 14:1-2. The Lord spake Or rather had spoken, before they came to Succoth, Exo 12:37. For what was there briefly and generally expressed, is here more largely and particularly declared, together with the occasion of it, which was Gods command. Speak unto the children of Israel They were got to the edge of the wilderness, Exo 13:20, and one stage or two would have brought them to Horeb, the place appointed for their serving God; but, instead of going forward, they are ordered to turn short off on the right hand from Canaan, and to march toward the Red sea. When they were at Etham, there was no sea in their way to obstruct their passage; but God himself orders them into straits, which might give them an assurance, that when his purposes were served, he would bring them out of those straits. Before Pi-hahiroth Or, the straits of Hiroth, two great mountains, between which they marched. Migdol and Baal-zephon were cities of Egypt, and probably garrisoned.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 14:2. Before Pi-hahiroth. The Lord led the people into the straits between the hills, in order that Pharaoh and his hosts might be overwhelmed in the sea; and that Israel might see his salvation, and find a quiet passage in the desert.
Exo 14:7. Six hundred chariots. A captain or valiant man was in each chariot, his armour bearer, a man of valour also, besides a man to guide the horses, who had a shield, and probably other weapons. The army of Pharaoh is estimated by Josephus at 50,000 horse, and 200,000 foot. All the host of Pharaoh was there, Exo 14:28. How bitter are the dregs of the cup to hardened men!
Exo 14:19. The Angel of God. The Messiah, as in other places, showing a dark and frowning aspect on the Egyptians, and a cheering light of joy on the Hebrews.
Exo 14:21. The waters were divided, as the Jordan on another occasion; they stood on a heap. Psa 78:13. It was not a driving back of the tongue of the sea, but a real division by Jehovahs presence. The bottom of the sea became dry, and formed a wide opening like the wilderness.
Exo 14:25. Took off the chariot wheels; that is, he entangled or overthrew their chariots.
REFLECTIONS.
In this chapter we see the Israelites saved, and the Egyptians destroyed; and consequently the whole land brought to the verge of ruin for its wicked counsel against the Lords people, and for rejecting the ministry and miracles of Moses. These things are written that all ages might fear; for a course of crimes, and the habitual neglect of devotion, originating in hardness of heart and unbelief, will surely bring families and nations to destruction. And it is very awful to add, that when once individuals, or nations, are in the full route of ruin, they seldom pause till precipitated into the gulph their wickedness has prepared.
In the weak faith and great fears of the Hebrews, on seeing themselves pursued, we see that the weakness of man is such as needs support every moment. The idea of danger seemed to banish even the recollection of past miracles. Conscious therefore of our utter insufficiency, let us for ourselves and children, live every moment dependent on providence and grace.
But their case was extraordinary, human means were insufficient; therefore they were exhorted to stand still, and see the salvation of God. In the treasures of his wisdom he had a salvation in store far above their expectation; and in all the calamities and exigencies of life, when our own counsel and efforts fail, let us calmly give up our affairs into the hands of providence. It is good that a man should hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of God.
In a moment the Lord dissipated their fears; the cloud removed from the head to the rear of their camp, and kept the enemy in awe. In like manner God has often stood between his trembling church and danger. Often would Zion have been destroyed, had not God become her shield and high defence. Often should we have run into ruin, had not the Lord interposed for our safety. Oh how much we owe to the arm of strength, and to the everlasting presence of God with his church.
The Israelites, notwithstanding all their fears, were commanded to go forward. What, go forward when the sea was before them, and the mountains on either hand! Yes, oh my soul, do not fear to obey the Lord under a dark and beclouded providence. There is nothing in this world but the alien host, armed against the Lord and against righteousness. Go forward, surrounded with mountains and hills; go forward through the deep, the Lord will open thy way, and the enemies thou seest today thou shalt see no more for ever.
The Lord saw the presumption of the Egyptian host, accustomed now to despise his word and miracles, till at length they despised them to their total destruction. He looked through the cloud. The fire of his countenance assailed their souls with the terrors of hell. Now they were entangled in the deep, and surrounded with the net of the Almighty. Now the oppression and murder of the Hebrews would obtrude on their sight. Now they would curse their gods, their magicians, and make no scruple to kill one another in efforts to escape. Now Pharaoh received the answer of his insolence, Who is the Lord that I should obey him? Oh what ragewhat horrors what fury! What cutting down with their swords of every man that stood in their way! Sinners, unless you get a new heart, this is the company with whom you must for ever dwell. All may see what awaits the ungodly in the great day, when the Lord Jesus shall look from heaven through his cloud, and be revealed in flaming fire, with his mighty angels, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel. Then Christ shall be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe. Israel also, when they saw this great work, believed the Lord, and Moses his servant. Let past deliverances strengthen our faith, and encourage us to hope for future mercies.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exodus 14
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.” (Ps. 107: 23, 24) How true is this! and yet our coward hearts do so shrink from those “great waters!” We prefer carrying on our traffic in the shallows, and, as a result, we fail to see “the works” and “wonders” of our God; for these can only be seen and known “in the deep.”
It is in the day of trial and difficulty that the soul experiences something of the deep and untold blessedness of being able to count on God. Were all to go on smoothly, this would not be so. It is not in gliding along the surface of a tranquil lake that the reality of the Master’s presence is felt; but actually when the tempest roars, and the waves roll over the ship. The Lord does not hold out to us the prospect of exemption from trial and tribulation; quite the opposite: He tells us we shall have to meet both the one and the other; but He promises to be with us in them; and this is infinitely better. God’s presence in the trial is much better than exemption from the trial. The sympathy of His heart with us is sweeter far than the power of His hand for us. The Master’s presence with His faithful servants, while passing through the furnace, was better far than the display of His power to keep them out of it. (Dan. 3) We would frequently desire to be allowed to pass on our way without trial, but this would involve serious loss. The Lord’s presence is never so sweet as in moments of appalling difficulty.
Thus it was in Israel’s case, as recorded in this chapter. They were brought into an overwhelming difficulty. They are called to “do business in great waters.” “They are at their wit’s end.” Pharaoh, repenting himself of having let them go out of his land, determines to make one desperate effort to recover them. “And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them……. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid; and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.” Here was a deeply-trying scene – one in which human effort could avail nothing. As well might they have attempted to put back with a straw the ocean’s mighty tide, as seek to extricate themselves by ought that they could do. The sea was before them, Pharaoh’s hosts behind them, and the mountains around them. And all this, be it observed, permitted and ordered of God. He had marked out their position before “Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon.” Moreover, He permitted Pharaoh to come upon them, And why? Just to display Himself in the salvation of His people, and the total overthrow of their enemies. “To him that divided the Red Sea into parts; for his mercy endureth for ever. And made Israel to pass through the midst of it; for his mercy endureth for ever: but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for his mercy endureth for ever.” (Ps. 136)
There is not so much as a single position in all the desert-wanderings of God’s redeemed, the boundaries of which are not marked off, with studious accuracy, by the hand of unerring wisdom and infinite love. The special bearings and peculiar influences of each position are carefully arranged. The Pi-hahiroths and the Migdols are all ordered with immediate reference to the moral condition of those whom God is conducting through the windings and labyrinths of the wilderness, and also to the display of His own character. Unbelief may ofttimes suggest the enquiry, “why is it thus?” God knows why; and He will, without doubt, reveal the why, whenever the revelation would promote His glory and His people’s good. How often do we feel disposed to question as to the why and the wherefore of our being placed in such and such circumstances! How often do we perplex ourselves as to the reason of our being exposed to such and such trials! How much better to bow our heads in meek subjection, and say, ‘it is well,’ and ‘it shall be well’ When God fixes our position for us, we may rest assured it is a wise and salutary one; and even when we foolishly and wilfully choose a position for ourselves, He most graciously overrules our folly, and causes the influences of our self-chosen circumstances to work for our spiritual benefit.
It is when the people of God are brought into the greatest straits and difficulties, that they are favoured with the finest displays of God’s character and actings; and for this reason He ofttimes leads them into a trying position, in order that He may the more markedly show Himself. He could have conducted Israel through the Red Sea, and far beyond the reach of Pharaoh’s hosts, before ever the latter had started from Egypt; but that would not have so fully glorified His own name, or so entirely confounded the enemy, upon whom He designed to “get him honour.” We too frequently lose sight of this great truth, and the consequence is that our hearts give way in the time of trial. If we could only look upon a difficult crisis as an occasion of bringing out, on our behalf, the sufficiency of divine grace, it would enable us to preserve the balance of our souls, and to glorify God, even in the deepest waters.
We feel disposed, it may be, to marvel at Israel’s language, on the occasion now before us. We may feel at a loss to account for it; but the more we know of our own evil hearts of unbelief, the more we shall see how marvellously like them we are. They would seem to have forgotten the recent display of divine power on their behalf. They had seen the gods of Egypt judged, and the power of Egypt laid prostrate beneath the stroke of Jehovah’s omnipotent hand. They had seen the iron chain of Egyptian bondage riven, and the furnace quenched by the same hand. All these things they had seen, and yet the moment a dark cloud appeared upon their horizon, their confidence gave way, their hearts failed, and they gave utterance to their unbelieving murmurings in the following language: Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt! ……It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Ver. 11, 12) Thus is “blind unbelief,” ever, “sure to err, and scan God’s ways in vain.” This unbelief is the same in all ages. It led David, in an evil hour, to say, “I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines.” (1 Sam. 27: 1) And how did it turn out? Saul fell on Mount Gilboa; and David’s throne was established for ever. Again, it led Elijah the Tishbite, in a moment of deep depression, to flee for his life, from the wrathful threatenings of Jezebel. How did it turn out? Jezebel was dashed to pieces on the pavement, and Elijah was taken in a chariot of fire to heaven.
So it was with Israel in their very first moment of trial. They really thought that the Lord had taken such pains to deliver them out of Egypt merely to let them die in the wilderness. They imagined that they had been preserved by the blood of the paschal lamb, in order that they might be buried in the wilderness. Thus it is that unbelief ever reasons. It leads us to interpret God in the presence of the difficulty, instead of interpreting the difficulty in the presence of God. Faith gets behind the difficulty, and there finds God, in all His faithfulness, love, and power. It is the believer’s privilege ever to be in the presence of God. He has been introduced thither by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing should be suffered to take him thence. The place itself he never can lose, inasmuch as his Head and Representative, Christ, occupies it on His behalf. But although he cannot lose the thing itself, he can, very easily, lose all enjoyment of it, the experience and power of it. Whenever his difficulties come between his heart and the Lord, he is, evidently, not enjoying the Lord’s presence, but suffering in the presence of his difficulties. Just as when a cloud comes between us and the sun, it robs us, for the time, of the enjoyment of his beams. It does not prevent him from shining, it merely hinders our enjoyment of him. Exactly so is it when we allow trials and sorrows, difficulties and perplexities, to hide from our souls the bright beams of our Father’s countenance, which ever shine, with changeless lustre, in the face of Jesus Christ. There is no difficulty too great for our God; yea, the greater the difficulty, the more room there is for Him to act in His proper character, as the God of all power and grace. No doubt, Israel’s position, in the opening of our chapter, was a deeply trying one – to flesh and blood perfectly overwhelming. But, then, the Maker of heaven and earth was there, and they had but to use Him.
Yet, alas! my reader, how speedily we fail when trial arises! These sentiments sound very nicely on the ear, and look very well upon paper; and, blessed be God, they are divinely true but, then, the thing is to practise them, when opportunity offers. It is in the practice of them that their power and blessedness are really proved. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.” (John 7: 17)
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” (Ver. 13, 14) Here is the first attitude which faith takes in the presence of a trial. “Stand still.” This is impossible to flesh and blood. All who know in any measure, the restlessness of the human heart, under anticipated trial and difficulty, will be able to form some conception of what is involved in standing still. Nature must be doing something. It will rush hither and thither. It would fain have some hand in the matter. And although it may attempt to justify and sanctify its worthless doings, by bestowing upon them the imposing and popular title of “a legitimate use of means,” yet are they the plain and positive fruits of unbelief which always shuts out God, and sees nought save the dark cloud of its own creation. Unbelief creates or magnifies difficulties, and then sets us about removing them by our own bustling and fruitless activities, which, in reality, do but raise a dust around us, which prevents our seeing God’s salvation.
Faith, on the contrary, raises the soul above the difficulty, straight to God Himself, and enables one to “stand still.” We gain nothing by our restless and anxious efforts. “We cannot make one hair white or black,” nor “add one cubit to our stature.” What could Israel do at the Red Sea? Could they dry it up? Could they level the mountains? Could they annihilate the hosts of Egypt Impossible. There they were, enclosed within an impenetrable wall of difficulties, in view of which nature could but tremble and feel its own perfect impotency. But this was just the time for God to act. When unbelief is driven from the scene, then God can enter; and, in order to get a proper view of His actings, we must “stand still.” Every movement of nature is, so far as it goes, a positive hindrance to our perception and enjoyment of divine interference on our behalf.
This is true of us in every single stage of our history. It is true of us as sinners when, under the uneasy sense of sin upon the conscience, we are tempted to resort to our own doings, in order to obtain relief. Then, truly, we must “stand still” in order to “see the salvation of God.” For what could we do in the matter of making an atonement for sin? Could we have stood with the Son of God upon the cross? Could we have accompanied Him down into the “horrible pit and the miry clay?” Could we have forced our passage upward to that eternal rock on which, in resurrection, He has taken His stand? Every right mind will at once pronounce the thought to be a daring blasphemy. God is alone in redemption; and as for us, we have but to “stand still and see the salvation of God.” The very fact of its being God’s salvation proves that man has nought to do in it.
The same is true of us, from the moment we have entered upon our Christian career. In every fresh difficulty, be it great or small, our wisdom is to stand still – to cease from our own works, and find our sweet repose in God’s salvation. Nor can we make any distinction as to difficulties. We cannot say that there are some trifling difficulties which we ourselves can compass; while there are others in which nought save the hand of God can avail. No; all are alike beyond us. We are as little able to change the colour of a hair as to remove a mountain – to form a blade of grass as to create a world. All are alike to us, and all are alike to God. We have only, therefore, in confiding faith, to cast ourselves on Him who “humbleth himself (alike) to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth.” We sometimes find ourselves carried triumphantly through the heaviest trials, while at other times, we quail, falter, and break down under the most ordinary dispensations. Why is this? Because, in the former, we are constrained to roll our burden over on the Lord; whereas, in the latter, we foolishly attempt to carry it ourselves. The Christian is, in himself, if he only realised it, like an exhausted receiver, in which a guinea and a feather have equal moments.
“The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Precious assurance How eminently calculated to tranquillise the spirit in view of the most appalling difficulties and dangers! The Lord not only places Himself between us and our sins, but also between us and our circumstances. By doing the former, He gives us peace of conscience; by doing the latter, He gives us peace of heart. That the two things are perfectly distinct, every experienced Christian knows. Very many have peace of conscience, who have not Peace of heart. They have, through grace and by faith, found Christ, in the divine efficacy of His blood, between them and all their sins; but they are not able, in the same simple way, to realise Him as standing, in His divine wisdom, love, and power, between them and their circumstances. This makes a material difference in the practical condition of the soul, as well as in the character of one’s testimony. Nothing tends more to glorify the name of Jesus than that quiet repose of spirit which results from having Him between us and everything that could be a matter of anxiety to our hearts. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.”
But some feel disposed to ask the question, “Are we not to do anything?” This may be answered by asking another, namely, what can we do? All who really know themselves must answer, nothing. If, therefore, we can do nothing, had we not better “stand still” If the Lord is acting for us, had we not better stand back? Shall we run before Him? Shall we busily intrude ourselves upon His sphere of action! Shall we come in His way? There can be no possible use in two acting, when one is so perfectly competent to do all. No one would think of bringing a lighted candle to add brightness to the sun at mid-day: and yet the man who would do so might well be accounted wise, in comparison with him who attempts to assist God by his bustling officiousness.
However, when God, in His great mercy, opens the way, faith can walk therein. It only ceases from man’s way in order to walk in God’s. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” It is only when we have learnt to “stand still” that we are able effectually to go forward. To attempt the latter, until we have learnt the former, is sure to issue in the exposure of our folly and weakness. It is, therefore, true wisdom, in all times of difficulty and perplexity, to “stand still” – to wait only upon God, and He will, assuredly, open a way for us; and then we can peacefully we happily “go forward.” There is no uncertainty when God makes a way for us; but every self-devised path must prove a path of doubt and hesitation. The unregenerate man may move along with great apparent firmness and decision in his own ways; but one of the most distinct elements, in the new creation, is self distrust, and the element which answers thereto is confidence in God. It is when our eyes have seen God’s salvation that we can walk therein; but this can never be distinctly seen until we have been brought to the end of our own poor doings.
There is peculiar force and beauty in the expression, “see the salvation of God.” The very fact of our being called to “see” God’s salvation, proves that the salvation is a complete one. It teaches that salvation is a thing wrought out and revealed by God, to be seen and enjoyed by us. It is not a thing made up partly of God’s doing, and partly of man’s. Were it so, it could not be called God’s salvation. In order to be His, it must be wholly divested of everything pertaining to man. The only possible effect of human efforts is to raise a dust which obscures the view of God’s salvation.
“Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward.” Moses himself seems to have been brought to a stand, as appears from the Lord’s question, “Wherefore criest thou to me?” Moses could tell the people to “stand still and see the salvation of God,” while his own spirit was giving forth its exercises in an earnest cry to God. However, there is no use in crying when we ought to be acting; just as there is no use in acting when we ought to be waiting. Yet such is, ever, our way. We attempt to move forward when we ought to stand still, and we stand still when we ought to move forward. In Israel’s case, the question might spring up in the heart, “whither are we to go?’ To all appearance there is an insurmountable barrier in the way of any movement forward. How were they to go through the sea? This was the point. Nature never could solve this question. But we may rest assured that God never gives a command without, at the same time, communicating the power to obey. The real condition of the heart may be tested by the command; but the soul that is, by grace, disposed to obey, receives power from above to do so. When Christ commanded the man with the withered hand to stretch it forth, the man might naturally have said, “How can I stretch forth an arm which hangs dead by my side?” But he did not raise any question whatever, for with the command, and from the same source, came the power to obey.
Thus, too, in Israel’s case, we see that with the command to go forward came the provision of grace. “But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.” Here was the path of faith. The hand of God opens the way for us to take the first step, and this is all that faith ever God never gives guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps the heart in abiding dependence upon God. “By faith they Passed through the Red Sea as by dry Land.” It is evident that the sea was not divided throughout, at once. Had it been so, it would have been “sight” and not “faith.” It does not require faith to begin a journey when I can see all the way through; but to begin when I can merely see the first step, this is faith. The sea opened as Israel moved forward, so that for every fresh step, they needed to be cast upon God. Such was the path along which the redeemed of the Lord moved, under His own conducting hand. They passed through the dark waters of death, and found these very waters to be “a wall unto them, on their right hand and on their left.”
The Egyptians could not move in such a path as this. They moved on because they saw the way open before them: with them it was sight, and not faith – “Which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” When people assay to do what faith alone can accomplish, they only encounter defeat and confusion. The path along which God calls His people to walk is one which nature can never tread – “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 15: 50) Neither can it walk in the ways of God. Faith is the great characteristic principle of God’s kingdom, and faith alone can enable us to walk in God’s ways. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Heb. 11) It glorifies God exceedingly when we move on with Him, as it were, blindfold. It proves that we have more confidence in His eyesight than in our own. If I know that God is looking out for me, I may well close my eyes, and move on in holy calmness and stability. In human affairs we know that when there is a sentinel or watchman at his post, others can sleep quietly. How much more may we rest in perfect security, when we know that He who neither slumbers nor sleeps has His eye upon us, and His everlasting arms around us!
“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. 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.” (Ver. 19, 20) Jehovah placed Himself right between Israel and the enemy – this was protection indeed. Before ever Pharaoh could touch a hair of Israel’s head, he should make his way through the very pavilion of the Almighty – yea, through the Almighty Himself. Thus it is that God ever places Himself between His people and every enemy, so that “no weapon formed against them can prosper.” He has placed Himself between us and our sins; and it is our happy privilege to find Him between us and every one and every thing that could be against us. This is the true way in which to find both peace of heart and peace of conscience. The believer may institute a diligent and anxious search for his sins, but he cannot find them. Why? Because God is between him and them. He has cast all our sins behind His back; while, at, the same time, He sheds forth upon us the light of His reconciled countenance.
In the same manner, the believer may look for his difficulties, and not find them, because God is between him and them. If, therefore, the eye, instead of resting on our sins and sorrows, could rest only upon Christ, it would sweeten many a bitter cup, and enlighten many a gloomy hour. But one finds constantly that nine-tenths of our trials and sorrows are made up of anticipated or imaginary evils, which only exist in our own disordered, because unbelieving, minds. May my reader know the solid peace both of heart and conscience which results from having Christ, in all His fullness, between him and all his sins, and all his sorrows.
It is, at once, most solemn and interesting to note the double aspect of the “pillar,” in this chapter. “It was a cloud and darkness” to the Egyptians, but “it gave light by night” to Israel. How like the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! Truly that cross has a double aspect, likewise. It forms the foundation of the believer’s peace; and, at the same time, seals the condemnation of a guilty world. The self-same blood which purges the believer’s conscience and gives him perfect peace, stains this earth and consummates its guilt. The very mission of the Son of God which strips the world of its cloak, and leaves it wholly without excuse, clothes the Church with a fair mantle of righteousness, and fills her month with ceaseless praise. The very same Lamb who will terrify, by His unmitigated wrath, all tribes and classes of earth, will lead, by His gentle hand, His blood-bought flock, through the green pastures, and beside the still waters for ever. (Compare Rev. 6: 15-17, with Rev. 7: 13-17)
The close of our chapter shows us Israel triumphant on the shore of the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s hosts submerged beneath its waves. The fears of the former and the boastings of the latter had both alike been proved utterly groundless. Jehovah’s glorious work had annihilated both the one and the other. The same waters which formed a wall for God’s redeemed, formed a grave for Pharaoh. Thus it is ever: those who walk by faith, find a path to walk in, while all who assay to do so find a grave. This is a solemn truth which is not, in any wise, weakened by the fact that Pharaoh was acting in avowed and positive hostility to God, when he “assayed” to pass through the Red Sea. It will ever be found true that all who attempt to imitate faith’s actings will be confounded. Happy are they who are enabled, however feebly, to walk by faith. They are moving along a path of unspeakable blessedness – a path which, though it may be marked by failure and infirmity, is, nevertheless, “begun, continued, and ended in God.” Oh! that we may all enter more fully into the divine reality, the calm elevation, and the holy independence of this path.
We ought not to turn from this fruitful section of our book without a reference to 1 Cor. 10 in which we have an allusion to “the cloud and the sea.” “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (Ver. 1, 2) There is much deep and precious instruction for the Christian in this passage. The apostle goes on to say, “now these things were our types,” thus furnishing us with a divine warrant for interpreting Israel’s baptism “in the sea and in the cloud,” in a typical way; and, assuredly, nothing could be more deeply significant or practical. It was as a people thus baptised that they entered upon their wilderness journey, for which provision was made in “the spiritual meat” and “spiritual drink,” provided by the hand of love. In other words, they were, typically, a people dead to Egypt and all pertaining thereto. The cloud and the sea were to them what the cross and grave of Christ are to us. The cloud secured them from their enemies; the sea separated them from Egypt: the cross, in like manner, shields us from all that could be against us, and we stand at heaven’s side of the empty tomb of Jesus. Here we commence our wilderness journey. Here we begin to taste the heavenly manna and to drink of the streams which emanate from “that spiritual Rock,” while, as a pilgrim people, we make our way onward to that land of rest of the which God has spoken to us.
I would further add here, that my reader should seek to understand the difference between the Red Sea and Jordan. They both have their antitype in the death of Christ. But, in the former, we see separation from Egypt; in the latter, introduction into the land of Canaan. The believer is not merely separated from this present evil world, by the cross of Christ; but he is quickened out of the grave of Christ, “raised up together, and made to sit together with Christ, in the heavenlies.” (Eph. 2: 5, 6) Hence, though surrounded by the things of Egypt, he is, as to his actual experience, in the wilderness; while, at the same time, he is borne upward, by the energy of faith, to that place where Jesus sits, at the right hand of God. Thus, the believer is not merely “forgiven all trespasses;” but actually associated with a risen Christ in heaven. He is not merely saved by Christ, but linked with Him, for ever. Nothing short of this could either satisfy God’s affections or actualise His purposes, in reference to the Church.
Reader, do we understand these things? Do we believe them? Are we realising them? Do we manifest the power of them? Blessed be the grace that has made them unalterably true with respect to every member of the body of Christ, whether it be an eye or an eye-lash, a hand or a foot. Their truth, therefore, does not depend upon our manifestation, our realisation, or our understanding, but upon “THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST,” which has cancelled all our guilt and laid the foundation of all God’s counsels respecting us. Here is true rest for every broken heart and every burdened conscience.
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

Exodus 14. (Exo 14:1-4 P, Exo 14:5 f. J, Exo 14:7 a(b) E, Exo 14:8 P Exo 14:9 a E, Exo 14:9 (b)c Exo 14:10 a (afraid) J, Exo 14:10 b E, Exo 14:11-14 J, Exo 14:15 a E, Exo 14:15 b P, Exo 14:16 a (rod) E, Exo 14:16 b Exo 14:18 P, Exo 14:19 a E, Exo 14:19 b J, Exo 14:21 a P, Exo 14:21 b (dry land) J, Exo 14:21 c Exo 14:23 P, Exo 14:24 a (cloud) J, Exo 14:24 b E, Exo 14:25 J, Exo 14:26-27 a P, Exo 14:27 b (and the sea) J, Exo 14:28 a (sea) P, Exo 14:28 b J, Exo 14:29 Rp, Exo 14:30 J, Exo 14:31 Rje).The dramatic last phase of the escape of Israel from the Egyptians, by passing dryshod over the water barrier that seemed to hem them in, is unanimously presented by all the narrators. Space will not allow any display of the disentangling process by which the threads of narrative are identified. In J once more the scene, though wonderful, is built up of every-day elements. No sooner is Israel gone than Pharaoh (Exo 14:5) sees what he has lost. So the hard fact constantly belies the merely fancied future. He and his men pursue and bring terror (Exo 14:10). The Faintheart family give eloquent tongue (Exo 14:11 f.). Moses calms them (Exo 14:13) with a word, Stand firm (not still) and see the salvation (i.e. deliverance) of Yahweh. The pillar of fiery cloud moved to guard their rear (Exo 14:19 b); the east wind drove back the ebb tide till the shallows were dry; at dawn Yahweh flashed defiance from the cloud upon the pursuing foes, and bound (mg.) their chariot wheels and made them drive heavily (mg.), and Egypt said, Let me flee; the tide coming back to its wonted flow (mg.) caught and destroyed them (Exo 14:27 b); and Israel saw Egypt (so Heb.) dead upon the sea-shore (Exo 14:30). Of Es story we have less: the pursuit (Exo 14:7; Exo 14:9 a); the Israelites frenzied prayer, apparently (cf. Exo 14:15 a) echoed by Moses; the order to lift up his wonder-working rod (vv. Exo 14:16 a); the angel of God as rear-guard (Exo 14:19 a, Exo 14:20 a); and the discomfiting of the Egyptians (Exo 14:24 b). In P we find a seeming precision about places (Exo 14:2) which is of no avail since we cannot identify them; the purpose of Israels peril is the enhancement of Yahwehs honour (Exo 14:4); the pursuit is the result of Divine hardening, and Israel does not escape in haste but goes out defiantly (Exo 14:8); no wind, but the hand of Moses, like the mantle of Elijah, must divide the sea (Exo 16:6); the waters are a wall on either hand (Exo 14:22), in this writer perhaps not a mere metaphor for a barrier on either flank; and the pursuers are enveloped at the signal of the outstretched hand (Exo 14:26). The locality of this baptism unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1Co 10:2) has sometimes been fixed on either side of Suez, where there is a ford at low tide; but not a little historical and scientific evidence goes to prove that the sea penetrated far across the isthmus (cf. Exo 13:18*), and that at several points S. of L. Timsh, or N. or S. of the Bitter Lakes, the conditions would then have made the crossing possible. Driver discusses the evidence and alternatives fully (CB, 122128). Gressmann thoroughly carries through his idea (cf. Exo 13:21*) of a volcanic explanation. He refers to an eruption of Monte Nuovo near Naples in 1538, when the sea was laid bare for 200 paces, and waggon-loads of fish were gathered before the water returned. This attractive theory demands the further assumption that the crossing was over the Gulf of Akaba, as only there are volcanic rocks to be found. For the bearing of this on the site of Sinai, see Exo 19:1*.
Exo 14:4. follow after: pursue (Exo 14:8 f., Exo 14:23).
Exo 14:7. captains: rather knights (cf. Drivers note for the Heb. term).
Exo 14:9. all the horses . . . army: omit as a gloss. Horsemen here and elsewhere are an anachronism: Egyptians did not ride till much later, cf. Isa 31:1.
Exo 14:20 b. The text seems corrupt, cf. Jos 24:7 E.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

THE OBSTACLE OF THE RED SEA
(vs.1-2)
By the Word of the Lord Israel was brought now to a spot from which there was no natural way of escape. The Red Sea was before them, three mountains surrounded them except to their rearward. But they could not go back, for God informed them that Pharaoh was having his heart hardened by God so as to pursue them (v.4).
He tells Moses to command the children of Israel to encamp before Pihahiroth. This means “the mouth of wrath kinglings” (v.2). They are not simply to avoid the anger of the enemy: they are to face it. The enemy of our souls wants to put us in fear. If we are afraid, it is no use pretending not to be. How much better to take to heart the words of Psa 56:3, “When I am afraid I will put my trust in Thee” (NASB).
A second mountain is Migdol, which means “tower.” The towers of Egypt, standing out above the common level, are symbolical of the pride of man. This is another enemy within our own hearts that God makes us face. If we think we can do something to save ourselves, this is pride that must be brought down.
Baal-Zephon is the third mountain. It means “Lord of the north.” The north tells us of the cold winds of unbelief, which is determined to take the place of lordship, thus undermining the authority of God. These three evils, fear, pride and unbelief are enemies within our hearts. We must face them as enemies if we are to gain victory whatever.
The fear, pride and unbelief of the human heart are enemies that are most imposing, but the Red Sea was an enemy totally impossible for Israel to conquer. The sea speaks of death, called “the last enemy that will be destroyed” (1Co 15:26). We must face the fact that all are under sentence of death because all have sinned (Rom 5:12). People try to avoid even thinking of the possibility of their own death, but as God made Israel face the Red Sea, so He faces mankind with the stark reality of death. How much better to face it before it suddenly overtakes us, so that when it comes, its sting will not affect us at all.
God knew that Pharaoh would say that Israel had been overtaken by confusion and were “shut in” by the wilderness (v.3). It is true they were shut in, but it was God who had shut them in. Pharaoh seems to have reduced himself to a state of inability to reason sensibly, for after having been so devastated as to demand Israel’s expulsion, his mind was changed to consider it a mistake to let them go. Yet God was behind this hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, in order to display His own superior power.
Pharaoh mustered an imposing army with which he intended to recapture Israel to bring them back into bondage. Sin, the bitter enemy of our souls, is determined to hinder our being liberated to serve the living God, and the world is sin’s army that seems too formidable for us to oppose. Just as Israel had no organized army, so we have in ourselves no protection against the horrible power of sin. Such protection can come only from the living God. He had brought Israel out of Egypt, and He would not fail them.
However, God does not act until Israel sees the Egyptians marching after them. He will put them through the deep distress they need in order to learn His faithfulness. In seeing the Egyptians they were very afraid (v.10). This reminds us of Pihahiroth and its lesson of fear (v.2). They also complained against Moses, telling him that he had brought them out of Egypt only to die in the wilderness. Here was the pride that inferred they were wiser than God if only they had chosen their own way, just as Migdol teaches its lesson of pride (v.2). Coupled with this is their unbelief (Baal-zephon–v.2) that suggests it would be better to die in the wilderness, the only alternative their doubting hearts could conceive.
Finally Moses speaks (v.13). The man of God has words totally in contrast to theirs. “Do not be afraid.” This takes care of their fear. “Stand still.” What a message to bring down the pride or man! For pride has confidence in its own doings, even if those doings are nothing but complaints! There was nothing they could do: then let them be sensible and “stand still.” Thirdly, “see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today.” When we see the salvation of God, how this melts away our unbelief! Israel is assured they will not see the Egyptians again forever.
Israel had “cried out to the Lord,” but in unbelief. Moses had done so too (v.15), but with true confidence in God’s answer. The Lord then tells him to lift up his rod, stretch his hand over the sea and divide it, assuring him that Israel would pass through the sea on dry ground. Then God would harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that in haughty self-confidence they would follow Israel into the sea (v.17) in order that God would be honored in a way that Egypt would not anticipate.
However, God keeps Israel in suspense for another night, yet encouraging them by having the angel of God and the cloudy pillar removed from before them to behind them, leaving the Egyptians in darkness, but being light to Israel (vs.19-20). Thus God encourages believers even when in a state of apprehension, but their prolonged apprehension was necessary to make them all the more appreciative of the deliverance when it comes.
Moses stretched out his hand with his rod over the sea (v.21). Then the Lord caused the sea to divide by means of a strong east wind blowing all night. He could have done this more quickly, but He did not, for Israel needed the delay. The sea bottom did not remain muddy, but became dry land. The children of Israel did not linger to marvel over the wonder of this great miracle taking place before their eyes, but marched forward between the two vertical walls of water that had been formed altogether by the power of God.
The Egyptians also did not stop to consider the fact of the amazing miracle of water standing up, but marched in with the confident intention of recapturing Israel (v.23). But unbelief cannot succeed in imitating faith. The Lord slowed them down by taking off their chariot wheels (v.25), so that Israel was given time to get safely to the other side. The Egyptians realized that it must be the Lord fighting for Israel that caused their chariot wheels to come off, and decided that they ought to retreat. But it would be as difficult to retreat as to advance with no wheels!
The Egyptians’ decision to retreat was too late. The Lord told Moses to again stretch out his hand over the sea, and when he did this the waters of the sea returned with vehement force into the channel through which Israel had passed, and engulfed the army of Egypt (v.27). Not even a strong swimmer could escape from death in the inundation. Not one remained alive (v.28). In case we might think that Pharaoh himself might not have been with his army, Psa 136:15 tells us that God “overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea.”
Verse 29 emphasizes that the children of Israel walked on dry land through the sea, with the waters being a wall on either side. Thus, in type believer have “died with Christ.” They have passed through death without being touched by it. “For ye have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). When Israel reached the other side, this pictures the believer having been raised with Christ (Col 3:1), now safe on the other side of death. He is given resurrection life because he is identified with Christ both in His death and His resurrection.
This is not only the salvation of souls by virtue of the blood of Christ shed for our sins (as the Passover typifies), but salvation from the power of the enemy by the superior power of God, — salvation from the power of indwelling sin, with its fear, pride and unbelief. Israel saw their enemies dead on the seashore. Though actually this great work was no more wonderful than the shedding of the blood of Christ for our sins, yet it was salvation by power that so affected Israel to fear and believe the Lord, and His servant Moses.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

2. Israel’s passage through the Red Sea ch. 14
Scholars have not been able to locate definitely the sites referred to in Exo 14:2.
"An Egyptian papyrus associates Baal Zephon with Tahpahnes . . . a known site near Lake Menzaleh in the northeastern delta region." [Note: Youngblood, p. 75.]
However, it seems that the crossing took place farther south in view of the implication that it took the Israelites no less and no more than three days to reach Marah (Exo 15:22-23). The evidence for the location of Marah seems a bit stronger.
"Yahweh’s first intention was to give the appearance that Israel, fearful of the main road, then fearful of the wilderness, was starting first one way and then another, not knowing where to turn and so a ready prey for recapture or destruction. Yahweh’s second intention was to lure the Egyptians into a trap, first by making Pharaoh’s mind obstinate once again, and then by defeating Pharaoh and his forces, who were certain to come down in vengeance upon an apparently helpless and muddled Israel." [Note: Durham, p. 187.]
The Hebrew phrase yam sup that Moses used to describe the body of water through which the Israelites passed miraculously means "Red Sea," not "Reed Sea."
"If there is anything that sophisticated students of the Bible know, it is that yam sup, although traditionally translated Red Sea, really means Reed Sea, and that it was in fact the Reed Sea that the Israelites crossed on their way out of Egypt.
"Well it doesn’t and it wasn’t and they’re wrong!" [Note: Batto, p. 57.]
In the article quoted above, the writer explained that the word sup did not originate in the Egyptian language but in Hebrew. Many scholars have claimed it came from an Egyptian root word meaning "reed." He showed that it came from a Hebrew root word meaning "end." Yam is also a Hebrew word that means "sea." The yam sup is then the sea at the end. The ancients used the name yam sup to describe the body of water that lay beyond the farthest lands known to them. It meant the sea at the end of the world. It clearly refers to the Red Sea often in the Old Testament (Exo 15:4; Num 21:4; Num 33:8; Jos 2:10; Jos 4:23; 1Ki 9:26; Jer 49:21; et al.). The Greeks later used the same term, translated into Greek, to refer to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The translation of yam sup as Reed Sea is evidently both inaccurate and misleading. It implies that the Israelites simply crossed some shallow marsh when they left Egypt. Such an interpretation lacks support in the inspired record of Israel’s Exodus. [Note: For a summary of views on the site of crossing, see Davis, pp. 168-71, or Hyatt, pp. 156-61.]
"The Hebrew word sup, which corresponds closely to the Egyptian tjuf (’papyrus’), refers to the reeds along the bank of the Nile in Exo 2:3 and to the seaweed in the Mediterranean in Jon 2:5 [Hab 2:6]. Since there are a series of lakes with abundant supplies of reeds and papyrus north of the Red Sea (the Gulf of Suez)-such as Lake Manzaleh and Lake Timsah-it is felt that one of these may have been the ’Reed Sea’ crossed by the Israelites." [Note: Wolf, p. 140. See also The New Bible Dictionary, 1962, s.v. "Red Sea," by Kenneth A. Kitchen.]
Moses recorded that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart three times in this chapter (Exo 14:4; Exo 14:8; Exo 14:17).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER XIV.
THE RED SEA.
Exo 14:1-31.
It would seem that the Israelites recoiled before a frontier fortress of Egypt at Khetam (Etham). This is probable, whatever theory of the route of the Exodus one may adopt; and it is still open to every reader to adopt almost any theory he pleases, provided that two facts are borne in mind: viz., first, that the narrative certainly means to describe a miraculous interference, not superseding the forces of nature, but wielding them in a fashion impossible to man; and second, that the phrase translated “Red Sea”[25] (Exo 18:18, Exo 15:4) is the same which is confessed by all persons to have that meaning in Exo 23:31, and in Num 21:4 and Num 33:10.
Checked, without loss or with it, they were bidden to “turn back,” and encamp at Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. And since Migdol is simply a watch-tower (there were several in the Holy Land, including that which gave her name to Mary Magdal-ene), we are to infer that from thence their inexplicable movements were signalled back to Pharaoh. It was the natural signal for all the wild passions of a baffled and half-ruined tyrant to leap into flame. We are scarcely able to imagine the mental condition of men who conceived that a God Who had dealt out death and destruction might be far from invincible from another side. But ages after this, a campaign was planned upon the ingenious theory that “Jehovah is a god of the hills but He is not a god of the valleys” (1Ki 20:28); and plenty of people who would scorn this simple notion are still of opinion that He is a God of eternity and can save them from hell, but a little falsehood and knavery are much better able to save them from want in the meanwhile. Nay, there are many excellent persons who are not at all of opinion that the prince of this world has been dethroned.
Therefore, when his enemies recoiled from his fortresses and wandered away into the wilderness of Egypt, entangling themselves hopelessly between the sea, the mountains, and his own strongholds, it might well appear to Pharaoh that Jehovah was not a warlike deity, that he himself had now found out the weak point of his enemies, and could pursue and overtake and satisfy his lust upon them. There is a significant emphasis in the song of Miriam’s triumph–“Jehovah is a man of war.” At all events, it was through an imperfect sense of the universal and practical importance of Jehovah as a factor not to be neglected in his calculations, through exactly the same error which misleads every man who postpones religion, or limits the range of its influence in his daily life,–it was thus, and not through any rarer infatuation, that Pharaoh made ready six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. And his court was of the same mind, saying, “What is this that we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
These words are hard to reconcile with the strange notion that until now a return after three days was expected, despite the torrent of blood which rolled between them, and the demands by which the Israelitish women had spoiled the Egyptians. Upon this theory it is not their own error, but the bad faith of their servants, which they should have cried out against.
At the sight of the army, a panic seized the servile hearts of the fugitives. First they cried out unto the Lord. But how possible it is, without any real faith, to address to Heaven the mere clamours of our alarm, and to mistake natural agitation for earnestness in prayer, we learn by the reproaches with which, after thus crying to the Lord, they assailed His servant. Were there no graves in that land of superb sepulchres–that land, now, of universal mourning? Would God that they had perished with the firstborn! Why had they been treated thus? Had they not urged Moses to let them alone, that they might serve the Egyptians?
And yet these men had lately, for the very promise of so much emancipation as they now enjoyed, bowed their heads in adoring thankfulness. As it was their fear which now took the form of supplication, so then it was their hope which took the form of praise. And we, how shall we know whether that in us which seems to be religious gladness and religious grief, is mere emotion, or is truly sacred? By watching whether worship and love continue, when emotion has spent its force, or has gone round, like the wind, to another quarter.
How did Moses feel when this outcry told him of the unworthiness and cowardice of the nation of his heart? Much as we feel, perhaps, when we see the frailties and failures of converts in the mission-field, and the lapse of the intemperate who have seemed to be reclaimed for ever. We thought that perfection was to be reached at a bound. Now we think that the whole work was unreal. Both extremes are wrong: we have much to learn from the failures of that ancient church, in which was the germ of hero, psalmist, and prophet, which was indeed the church in the wilderness, and whose many relapses were so tenderly borne with by God and His messenger.
The settled faith of Moses, and the assurances which he could give the agitated people,[26] contrast nobly with their alarm. But his confidence also had its secret springs in prayer, for the Lord said to him, “Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.”
The words are remarkable on two accounts. Can prayer ever be out of place? Not if we mean a prayerful dependent mental attitude toward God. But certainly, yes, if God has already revealed that for which we still importune Him, and we are secretly disquieted lest His promise should fail. It is misplaced if our own duty has to be done, and we pass the golden moments in inactivity, however pious. Christ spoke of men who should leave their gift before the altar, unpresented, because of a neglected duty which should be discharged. And perhaps there are men who pray for the conversion of the heathen, or of friends at home, to whom God says, Wherefore criest thou unto Me? because their money and their faithful efforts must be given, as Moses must arouse himself to lead the people forward, and to stretch his wand over the sea.
And again the forces of nature are on the side of God: the strong wind makes the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over. History has no scene more picturesque than this wild night march, in the roar of tempest, amid the flying foam which “baptized” them unto Moses,[27] while the glimmering waters stood up like a rampart to protect their flanks; the full moon of passover above them, shown and hidden as the swift clouds raced before the storm, while high and steadfast overhead, unshaken by the fiercest blast, illumined by a mysterious splendour, “stood” the vast cloud which veiled like a curtain their whole host from the pursuer. This it was, and the experience of such protection that the Egyptians, overawed, came not near them, which gave them courage to enter the bed of the sea; and as they trod the strange road they found that not only were the waters driven off the surface, but the sands were left firm to traverse.
But when the blind fury of Pharaoh, “hardened” against everything but the sense that his prey was escaping, sent his army along the same track, and this after long delay, at a crisis when every moment was priceless, then a new element of terrible sublimity was added. Through the pillar of cloud and fire Jehovah looked forth on the Egyptian host, as they pressed on behind, unable to penetrate the supernatural gloom, cold fear creeping into every heart, while the chariot wheels laboured heavily in the wet sand. In that direful vision at last the question was answered, “Who is Jehovah, that I should let His people go?” Now it was the turn of those who said “Israel is entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in,” themselves to be taken in a worse net. For at that awful gaze the iron curb of military discipline gave way; their labouring chariots, the pride and defence of the nation, were forsaken; and a wild cry broke out, “Let us fly from the face of Israel, for Jehovah”–He who plagued us–“fighteth for them against the Egyptians.” But their humiliation came too late,–for in the morning watch, at a natural time for atmospheric changes, but in obedience to the rod of Moses, the furious wind veered or fell, and the sea returned to its accustomed limits; and first, as the sands beneath became saturated, the chariots were overturned and the mail-clad charioteers went down “like lead,” and then the hissing line of foam raced forward and closed around and over the shrieking mob which was the pride and strength of Egypt only an hour before.
But, as the story repeats twice over, with a very natural and glad reiteration, “the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left” (Exo 14:29, cf. Exo 14:22).
FOOTNOTES:
[25] The Sea of Zuph, or reeds, the word being used of the reeds in which Moses was laid by his mother and found by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exo 2:3, Exo 2:5), rendered “flags” in the Revised Version.
[26] But his assurance is, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” When Wellhausen would summarise the work of Moses, he tells us that “he taught them to regard self-assertion against the Egyptians as an article of religion” (History, p. 430). It would be impossible, within the compass of so many words, more completely to miss the remarkable characteristic which differentiates this whole narrative from all other revolutionary movements. Expectancy and dependence here take the place of “self-assertion.”
[27] Not the adults only; nor yet by immersion, whether in the rain-cloud or the surf.
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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