Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 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?

5. were fled ] i.e. were not gone merely on a pilgrimage, to ‘serve’ Jehovah (Exo 4:23, Exo 7:16, &c.), but had departed altogether.

the heart was changed ] i.e. their mind, or opinion, was altered; they regretted that they had given the permission of Exo 12:31 f.; they felt that they had lost the services of the Israelites, and wished, if possible, to get them back.

from serving us ] ch. 5, &c.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The people fled – This was a natural inference from the change of direction, which indicated a determination to escape from Egypt. Up to the time when that information reached Pharaoh both he and his people understood that the Israelites would return after keeping a festival in the district adjoining Etham. From Etham the intelligence would be forwarded by the commander of the garrison to Rameses in less than a day, and the cavalry, a highly-disciplined force, would be ready for immediate departure.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Exo 14:5-10

The Egyptians marched after them.

Israel pursued

Notice some analogies between the flight of Israel from Egypt and the progress of the sinner from the captivity of the devil. In both eases we have a debased condition of mankind, a powerful enemy, a pursuing foe, a perilous road, a human ministry, and an omnipotent and gracious Redeemer.

I. The state of Israel in Egypt was a state of the utmost abasement. Every sinner is a slave. The wicked man serves a cruel master. He is watched on every hand; all his movements are understood: every desire or aspiration after liberty is turned into an occasion of augmented suffering. Wickedness reduces the volume and quality of manhood. Every bad thought and every wicked deed is so much taken from the completeness and dignity of human nature.

II. The enemy of israel was powerful. So with the great enemy of man. His resources are all but inexhaustible. He is not confined to one series of temptations. The diabolic genius in luring and seducing men to evil dispositions and courses is fertile beyond all parallel. He assaults us through the flesh; he insinuates ruinous ideas into the mind; he secretly touches the very fountains of life. He can touch our nature with a light hand, or he can smite us with tremendous force.

III. Israel was pursued–so is the redeemed man. It is too frequently expected that when a man forsakes his evil ways, he will at once become an exemplary saint. It is forgotten that the devil relinquishes his hold reluctantly. Years upon years after our conversion to God we are conscious of the presence of the old nature; there are sudden uprisings of forces which we supposed to be extinct.

IV. There is an omnipotent and gracious redeemer. In the course of our Christian experience we are often called upon simply to stand still. Herein is shown the tender grace of the living Redeemer. We are weak, we are weary, and there is no more strength left in us; at that point He says, Waiting shall be accounted as serving, and standing still as the progress of triumphant strength. Israel was not self-redeemed, nor are we; Jesus Christ is the angel of our redemption; trusting to His leadership, neither mountain nor sea shall keep us back from the Canaan of God. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Difficulty in duty

I. Difficulty in duty deeply felt.

1. Our temporary well-being here greatly depends upon the conduct of our contemporaries toward us.

2. The majority of our contemporaries are governed by corrupt principle,

3. The man, therefore, who carries out in his daily life the principles of duty, must more or less excite the anger and create the antagonism of his contemporaries.

II. Difficulties in duty testing character.

1. Look at the influence of this difficulty upon the Israelites.

(1) Their cowardice.

(2) Their ingratitude.

(3) Their apostacy.

2. Look at the influences of difficulty upon Moses. He now rises into the majesty of the hero.

III. Difficulty in duty Divinely overcome. Thus it is ever.

1. The nature of moral progress shows this.

2. The promises of Gods Word ensure this. (Homilist.)

The good pursued by old enemies

I. That the good, in seeking to come out of the bondage of sin, are frequently pursued by old enemies.

1. Satan. He is powerful. He has great resources. He will arouse indwelling corruption. To sense all seems dark. To faith all is bright. We cannot get to the Promised Land without much resistance from the devil.

2. Wicked habits. The habits of youth are not easily conquered, hence they should be carefully formed, or they may impair the Christian career of the future.

3. Wicked companions pursuing with taunts and slanders even to the banks of the Red Sea. These are a terror to many a godly soul. Thus we see that Satan pursues the good with a great army, with many allies, in splendid array, and often strikes fear into their hearts.

II. That sometimes the circumstances of life appear to favour the pursuit of the old enemies of the soul. And overtook them encamping by the sea, etc. The world in which we live is a Pi-hahiroth, and the devil knows it: but the God who has brought us from Egypt can bring us from before Pi-hahiroth, if we trust in Him–He is greater than the pursuing enemies.

III. That the pursuit of the old enemies of the soul often awakens the sorrowful apprehension of the good. And when Pharaoh drew near . . . sore afraid. How often does it happen that when the good are followed by their old enemies, they forget the mercies of the past, the power of God, and look only to the on-coming foe. They think they will have to yield to the prowess of Satan, and go back to the old bondage of the soul. But we see in this narrative the folly of allowing the advance of old enemies to awaken terror in the heart of the good; for they are only advancing that the power of God may be seen in their defeat. Good people of melancholy temperament sometimes think that they made a mistake in coming out of Egypt, and that they will never reach Canaan. Such fears are dishonouring to the grace of God.

IV. That the pursuit of the old enemies of the soul must be met under the guidance of heaven. Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. It is a blessed fact that God adapts the method of His redemption to the weak condition of His people.

1. The enemies of the soul are overcome by God. He alone can give salvation from the enmity of Satan, from the weakness of self, and from the perilous circumstances of the wilderness life.

2. The soul must wait patiently the outcome of this aid. The good know not by what method of discipline the Lord will deliver them from their old habits of evil. We see here the advantage of having God as our Helper, in that He can make a way for our feet through the sea.

Lessons:

1. That the good, being pursued by the enemies of their old life, are in constant need of Divine grace.

2. That progress in the freedom of the soul is in spite of the enmity of Satan.

3. That all moral progress is the outcome of the help of God to the soul. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Pursuit of the entangled

The things of the world are so many purveyors for Satan. When Pharaoh had let the people go, he heard after a while that they were entangled in the wilderness, and supposes that he shall, therefore, now overtake them and destroy them. This stirs him up to pursue them. Satan, finding those whom he has been cast out from entangled in the things of the world, by which he is sure to find an easy access unto them, is encouraged to attempt upon them afresh, as the spider to come down upon the strongest fly that is entangled in his web: for he comes by his temptations only to impel them unto that whereunto by their own lusts they are inclined, by adding poison to their lusts, and painting to the objects of them. And oftentimes by this advantage he gets so in upon the souls of men, that they are never well free of him more whilst they live. And as mens diversions increase from the world, so do their entanglements from Satan. When they have more to do in the world than they can well manage, they shall have more to do from Satan than they can well withstand. When men are made spiritually faint, Satan sets on them as Amalek did on the faint and weak of the people that came out of Egypt. (J. Owen, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 5. And it was told the king – that the people fled] Of their departure he could not be ignorant, because himself had given them liberty to depart: but the word fled here may be understood as implying that they had utterly left Egypt without any intention to return, which is probably what he did not expect, for he had only given them permission to go three days’ journey into the wilderness, in order to sacrifice to Jehovah; but from the circumstances of their departure, and the property they had got from the Egyptians, it was taken for granted that they had no design to return; and this was in all likelihood the consideration that weighed most with this avaricious king, and determined him to pursue, and either recover the spoil or bring them back, or both. Thus the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we let Israel go from serving us? Here was the grand incentive to pursuit; their service was profitable to the state, and they were determined not to give it up.

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

That the people fled; did not only depart for three days to sacrifice at Horeb, as Moses pretended, but designed an escape and flight, as appeared by their speedy march, and other circumstances.

Why have we done this? They who never truly repented of their sins, now heartily repent of their only good action. That the people fled; did not only depart for three days to sacrifice at Horeb, as Moses pretended, but designed an escape and flight, as appeared by their speedy march, and other circumstances.

Why have we done this? They who never truly repented of their sins, now heartily repent of their only good action.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. the heart of Pharaoh and of hisservants was turned against the people, &c.Alas, how soonthe obduracy of this reprobate king reappears! He had been convinced,but not convertedoverawed, but not sanctified by the appallingjudgments of heaven. He bitterly repented of what he now thought ahasty concession. Pride and revenge, the honor of his kingdom, andthe interests of his subjects, all prompted him to recall hispermission to reclaim those runaway slaves and force them to theirwonted labor. Strange that he should yet allow such considerations toobliterate or outweigh all his painful experience of the danger ofoppressing that people. But those whom the Lord has doomed todestruction are first infatuated by sin.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And it was told the king of Egypt,…. By some of the Egyptians, or mixed multitude that went out with Israel, but returned upon their encampment at the Red sea, or by some spies Pharaoh sent with them to observe their motions: the Targums of Jonathan and Jarchi make use of a word which Buxtorf translates military officers: and the latter says, they went out with them the three days’ journey, but the Israelites not returning to Egypt (as expected), they tell Pharaoh of it the fourth day; and on the fifth and sixth he pursued them, and in the night of the seventh went into the sea after them, and on the morning they (the Israelites) sung the song, which was the seventh of the passover: these reported to Pharaoh:

that the people fled; that under a pretence of going three days’ journey into the wilderness, to serve and sacrifice to the Lord, they were about to make their escape out of the land:

and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants were turned against the people; who had so much favour in their sight, not only to give them leave to go, and to hasten their departure, but to lend and give them things of great value; but now their hearts were filled with hatred of them, and with malice and revenge:

and they said, why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? not Pharaoh only, but his servants said so, even those who had entreated him to let them go, Ex 10:7 yet now repent of it, and cannot think what reason they had to do it, when at that time they saw reason, and gave a very sufficient one, namely, the destruction of Egypt; but now the judgments and plagues of God being no more upon them, they recollect the great service of the Israelites to them and the benefits and advantages they had reaped by it, and the loss they had sustained by parting with them, and therefore reflect upon themselves for such a piece of conduct.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Verses 5-9:

Pharaoh learned of Israel’s change of direction. He realized that Israel had no intention of returning to Egypt. By now the grief of the Passover night had abated, and Pharaoh’s heart was once more hardened against the evident working of Jehovah. His servants joined the complaint about letting Israel go, and incurring such economic loss.

Egyptian kings always went to war in a chariot. These war chariots were similar to Greek and Assyrian vehicles. They were open to the rear, and consisted of a wooden platform of semicircular design. A curved armored piece rose about two and a half feet from the front of the platform. Each chariot had an axle with two wheels, and was drawn by two horses. Two warriors rode in each chariot; one drove, the other was a fully-armed fighter.

The “six hundred chosen chariots” were likely Pharaoh’s

personal body-guard. The “chariots of Egypt” would include chariots from such Egyptian cities as Memphis, Heliopolis, Bubastis, and others.

“Captains over every one of them” in the Septuagint, “warriors in each of them.”

The Egyptian troops included three kinds of armored divisions: (chariots), cavalry, and infantry. They overtook the Israelites at their encampment by the sea, at Piha-hiroth.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

5. And it was told the king. Moses does not simply mean, that the king then first heard of the flight of the people, which had been anything but secret; but that the circumstances were reported to him, which stirred him up to make an attack upon them. When, then, he hears that the people fled in haste, he thinks that they may be retained by the slightest obstacle. Nor is he alone influenced by this foolish thought, but all his courtiers blame their own inertness for letting the people go. They inquire among themselves, Why they have let the children of Israel depart? as if they had not endeavored in every way to prevent their free exit — as if their pertinacity had not been ten times divinely overcome — as if God had not at length torn the people from them, in spite of their reluctance. But this is the stupidity of the wicked, that they only dread God’s present hand, and immediately forget all that they have seen. They were worn out by the fierce and dreadful punishments; but now, as if nothing had happened, they discuss why they had not resisted God even to the end, when he had compelled them to submit with extreme reluctance, after they had ten times found out that they struggled against Him in vain. But such is the pride by which the reprobate must be blinded, that they may be driven onwards to their own destruction, while they are persuaded that there is nothing difficult to them, and fight against. God.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 14:5-14

THE GOOD PURSUED BY OLD ENEMIES

I. That the good, in seeking to come out of the bondage of sin, are frequently pursued by old enemies. Thus was it with the children of Israel. They had not gone far on their march of freedom before Pharaoh made ready his chariot and pursued them. He pursued them with great hatred. He reproached himself for letting them go free. And thus is it with those who have just entered upon the freedom of the soul, and who are setting out for the Land of Promise. They are pursued by old enemies before they have passed three or four days march.

1. The good are pursued by Satan. As Pharaoh pursued the Israelites with his best armaments, so Satan gathers his chosen chariots and Captains and follows the young Christian with all the energy and skill he can command. At first Satan appears defeated, like Pharaoh; but he does not like to lose his profitable servants, he will not without a desperate struggle. He will employ the flower of his army. He will try error. He will try despair. He will tempt to sin. He is powerful. He has great resources. He is gifted with cunning genius. He will arouse indwelling corruption. To sense all seems dark. To faith all is bright. We cannot get to the Promised Land without much resistance from the devil.

2. The good are pursued by wicked habits. When the good enter upon the march of the new life, they soon see the old sinful habits coming after them. In the first joy of freedom, the young Christian imagines that all his sinful past is overcome, and that he will be troubled no more by the depraved habit of the soul, but a march of three days in the wilderness will convince him of his error. Habit pursues men with great pertinacity, even to the end of life. The habits of youth are not easily conquered, hence they should be carefully formed, or they may impair the Christian career of the future.

3. The good are pursued by wicked companions. When the good are first freed from the companionship of Egypt, they may imagine that they leave them behind for ever, and perhaps will be a little surprised to find them shortly afterwards in hot pursuit. The friendships of a wicked life are not easily got rid of,they follow with taunts and slanders even to the banks of the Red Sea. These are a terror to many a godly soul. Thus we see that Satan pursues the good with a great army, with many allies, in splendid array, and often strikes fear into their hearts.

II. That sometimes the circumstances of life appear to favour the pursuit of the old enemies of the soul. And overtook them encamping by the sea, &c., (Exo. 14:9). Thus Pharaoh and his hosts overtook the Israelites when they were entangled in the land, and when they had not the opportunity of equal conflict. The host of Pharaoh was well armed. The Israelites were without arms or drill, they were a disorderly crowd. Hell always pursues the soul when it is least prepared for the attack, in the hour of unusual difficulty, and when all its resources are weak. When it is entangled by temptation, by the deceitful allurements of the world, or by the providential circumstances of lifethen Satan comes to work ruin. How often do circumstances favour the pursuit of our old enemies when they would awaken passion, pride, or selfishness within us. The world in which we live is a Pi-hahiroth, and the devil knows it; but the God who has brought us from Egypt can bring us from before Pi-hahiroth, if we trust in Him,He is greater than the pursuing enemies.

III. That the pursuit of the old enemies of the soul often awakens the sorrowful apprehension of the good. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid (Exo. 14:10). Thus, when the Israelites saw the Egyptians pursuing them, they gave way to fear and panic, they thought only of the advancing foe and their own certain destruction. They did not remember the mercy and power which had redeemed them from the tyranny of Egypt, they did not call to mind the promise which had been given them of Canaan, they did not even look to the pillar of cloud above them. And thus, how often does it happen that when the good are followed by their old enemies, they forget the mercies of the past, the power of God, and look only to the on-coming foe. They think they will have to yield to the prowess of Satan, and go back to the old bondage of the soul. But we see in this narrative, the folly of allowing the advance of old enemies to awaken terror in the heart of the good, for they are only advancing that the power of God may be seen in their defeat. Good people of melancholy temperament sometimes think that they made a mistake in coming out of Egypt, and that they will never reach Canaan. Such fears are dishonouring to the grace of God.

IV. That the pursuit of the old enemies of the soul must be met under the guidance of Heaven. Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show you to-day. Thus the Israelites were to leave all to God. They could not defeat their enemies, they were not required to do so. They could not dry up the sea. It was just the moment for Heaven to interfere, and to win a glorious victory; and so with the good who are pursued by sin and Satan. They must not look so much at the mountains by which they are encompassedat their inward corruption, as at the salvation of God; they must be content to let God work for and in them to the destruction of Satans devices. The human soul is restless and likes to be doing something to escape its enemies; God only can give the needed aid. The penitent sinner cannot deliver himself from the enemies which pursue; the believer cannot deliver himself from the corruption of the evil heart of unbelief; God must work in both cases. Hence in thinking of victory over our spiritual enemies, we have not to contemplate our own ability to repulse them, but the Divine. It is a blessed fact that God adapts the method of His redemption to the weak condition of His people.

1. The enemies of the soul are overcome by God. He alone can give salvation from the enmity of Satan, from the weakness of self, and from the perilous circumstances of the wilderness life.

2. The soul must wait patiently the outcome of this aid. Neither Moses nor the Israelites knew in what way the Lord would deliver them from their advancing enemy; they had to wait in order to see the salvation of God. The good know not by what method of discipline the Lord will deliver them from their old habits of evil. We see here the advantage of having God as our Helper, in that He can make a way for our feet through the sea. LESSONS:

1. That the good, being pursued by the enemies of their old life, are in constant need of Divine grace.

2. That progress in the freedom of the soul is in spite of the enmity of Satan.

3. That all moral progress is the outcome of the help of God to the soul.

THE FOOLISH WAY IN WHICH MANY PEOPLE ANTICIPATE DIFFICULTIES.Exo. 14:10-14

I. That many people meet anticipated difficulties in a spirit of great fear. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. Thus, when the Israelites saw the Egyptians advancing towards them in battle array, they gave way to fear. They imagined immediate destruction. They saw only the warlike host. And in this way men anticipate sorrow now. They see all the circumstances which conspire against them; and at once imagine that the worst will befall them. They look to self; they look not to God. They are filled with gloom. Religion ought to make men brave and trustful in the face of advancing perplexities; God is more than all that can oppose.

II. That many people meet anticipated difficulty in a spirit of complaint against those who have generously aided them in their enterprise. 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. Thus, when the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming after them, they began to complain against Moses. How ungenerous! He had led them out of bondage. He was their best friend, yet they blame him for a peril he could not help. And this is often the way of men, when all goes well in the enterprise they have undertaken little of praise is spoken, but when difficulties are seen coming much of blame is given. The best friend is derided in the hour of danger. The Israelites not merely murmured against Moses, but against God. And any man who murmurs at approaching difficulty is not merely in conflict with secondary agencies, but with what may turn out to be a sublime providence of heaven. Unbelief sees graves where there are none. Men over-estimate sorrow in meeting it before it comes upon them. It is base to turn upon men who have spent their best energy and wisdom in our service, when trouble seems to threaten. But this is the way of the world, a momentary cloud will eclipse a lifetime of heroic work.

III. That many people meet anticipated difficulties in a spirit which degrades previous events of a glorious character. The Israelites now reproach Moses for bringing them out of Egyptian bondage,they intimate that death would have been as well in the land they had left as in the wilderness. They had no public spirit. They had been slaves almost too long to learn that death in freedom is preferable to life in slavery. And thus men who meet the approaching difficulties of life in a spirit of fear and unbelief, are very likely to bring contempt upon the most glorious events of their past history, they will even darken the glad memoir of national freedom. All the events of life tend to a unity, and it is impossible to murmur at the present without maligning the past. Sometimes weak people will, in the hour of anticipated trial, refer to their past advice as the wisest that could have been followed, and which if taken would have averted the threatening danger; thus they unknowingly make their folly their glory.

IV. That anticipated difficulties should be met in a spirit of confidence in God. As the difficulties advance we must wait and see the salvation of God. We must not allow anticipated trial to shut out the vision of God from the soul. View the Divine purpose in the sorrows of life, that they are a discipline for our good; contemplate the promises of God to the perplexed; and in all probability the enemies, fears, and circumstances which harass you shall be drowned in the sea in a vain pursuit. LESSONS:

1. That when trials threaten we should trust in God.

2. That fear weakens men in the hour of trial.

3. That it is ungenerous to murmur against those who earnestly seek our good.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Exo. 14:5. Under providence, tidings of the difficulties and fears of the Church may come to the enemy to move them.

Wicked tyrants take occasion from tidings of the straits of the Church to plan against it.
The hearts of the wicked are soon turned from forced favours to hate Gods Israel.
The wicked do not like to see the freedom of the good.

Exo. 14:6-7. Hardened persons against God not only consult but are the first to lead in persecuting the Church. Horses and chariots are the best strength of earthly powers.

Wicked men want no auxiliaries for their work of injurying the Church.
An attack on the Church:

1. Well calculated.
2. Grand in array.
3. Terrible in defeat.

Exo. 14:8. Ten times hardening in sin calls for ten times hardening in judgment.

Such tenfold hardening drives men to tenfold more wickedness in persecution.
The high hand of God in favouring His Church will not persuade hardened sinners from persecution.
When pride of enemies sets them against the Church, Gods hand will be above them.

THE INFATUATION OF SIN

And he pursued after the children of Israel.

I. The infatuation of sin is seen in that favourable circumstances often awaken in men their old desires to do evil. The King of Egypt had allowed the Israelites to go out on their march of freedom, but when he saw them entangled in the wilderness, his old passion came back, and he immediately sent his army to regain possession of them. This appeared a favourable opportunity for the accomplishment of his evil purpose. And there are many men who yield to the better impulses of their nature, but they commence a life of sin again upon the first temptation. The heart must be renewed, or the old sins will come forth again at the first opportunity.

II. The infatuation of sin is seen in that it takes no thought of God, or of consequences. We read that Pharaoh took his chariots and captains on the errand on which he was bent. He did not think of that God with whom he was in conflict, and whose anger he was provoking. He thought not of what might be the disastrous consequences to himself and nation. He little imagined that not one of his splendid army would ever return from the conflict, and that he was making all the preparation for destruction. And so those who despise the good impulses of their nature, and who pursue a course of sin, think not of God, or of the probable consequences of their conduct.

III. The infatuation of sin is unmindful of the past painful discipline it has experienced. Had not Pharaoh endured enough punishment in the plagues which had been sent upon him in the past? Had they not destroyed the wealth and hope of the nation, and yet they do not deter him from setting out again on his old sinful course. Some men will not learn wisdom by past experience, and thus they pursue their sins to eternal destruction. Sin is a terrible infatuation.

Exo. 14:9-12. Providence may allow terrible enemies to pursue and overtake the pilgrim Church.

Gods mighty hand may order enemies to see His Church in their camp, but not hurt them.
God may open the eyes of the redeemed to see approaching dangers.
Such discoveries of danger may affect unbelieving souls with amazing fear.
Unbelief in danger:

1. It cries out for fear of death.
2. It unjustly charges the ministers of God.
3. It gives men longings after bondage.
4. It seeks to be reckoned a prophet.
5. It forecasts danger which never will happen.

DIRECTION IN DILEMMA

Exo. 14:13. Gods great design in all His works is the manifestation of His own glory. Any aim less than this would be unworthy of Himself. It is His will to manifest His glory to man. But how? Vanity covers the eye of man, and puts a high estimate on self. Self must stand out of the way that God may be seen; and this is why God brings His people into straits that, seeing its weakness, it may behold the majesty of God. A smooth life will see but little of the glory of God. Among the huge Atlantic waves of bereavement and reproach we learn the power of Jehovah. Trouble gives a wealth of knowledge to be obtained no other way. Our text exhibits the posture in which men should be found in trouble.

I. A picture of the believer when he is reduced to great straits. Stand still, &c. Here are two things conspicuous:

1. What is to be done? The man is in difficulty. He cannot retreat. What to do? Despair says, Die. Not so, saith the God of our salvation; He loves us too well to bid us yield to despondency. Cowardice says, Retreat. Better to go back to Egypt. Relinquish the ways of God. The sun turns not back when the clouds veil its splendour. Precipitancy cries, Do something, there is no time to be lost. Presumption says, Neck or nothing. March into the sea. Expect a miracle. But we are to stand still,we are to wait in prayer.

2. What is to be seen? I cannot deliver myself. I cannot see how God can deliver me. Soon you shall see all nature and all providence subservient to Gods love. You shall be a wonder to yourself. You shall see your enemies utterly destroyed.

II. I take the text in reference to the sinner brought into the same condition in a moral sense. You are being brought out of the Egypt of your sins, and to feel the Divine awakenings. You have as yet found no peace. Your sins are around you? What are you to do? Stand still! The sinner cannot keep the law. See the salvation of Godordained of oldwrought by a mediator. Then looktrustnow.C. H. Spurgeon.

The ministers of God must reason quietly with a froward people in the time of trial.
God seeks by His ministers to remove the unbelief of His people.
The salvation of God is worth looking unto by His poor creatures in faith.
Salvation:

1. Needed.
2. Present.
3. Offered.
4. Sufficient.
5. Divine.
6. Visible.
7. Neglected.

Causes of fear which hinder faith God removes at His pleasure.
For the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

I. Then wicked men shall perish in the very hour of their splendour and pride. The Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day. Now Pharaoh and his army are advancing in all their strength and splendour, perhaps on no previous occasion had they been seen in such array. But the hour of their strength was to be the hour of their weakness,the hour of their pride was to be the hour of their downfall. When sin has collected all its forces, and when it is apparently in best array, then will the providence of God cause it to be seen no more. There will come a time when sin will be buried in the waters into which it has pursued the good. The collapse of sin is always sudden and unexpected. What a joy when the sin we see to-day shall be seen no more for ever. All the providences of God are working to this end. The wicked perish in the very act of sin.

II. Then wicked men are often powerless to inflict the injury they desire upon the good. Pharaoh and his army were stern foes of Israel, and they were viewed with great terror. The enemies of the good are powerless to injure whom God protects. Their pursuit is vain. The Church is often pursued, but the injury is often upon those who give it chase. If we will but trust in God, the enemies we see to-day,the scorn of the world, the pain of life, the inward corruption of the soul, and our doubts and fears,shall be seen no more for ever: they shall be overwhelmed in the atoning sacrifice of the cross, as were the Egyptians in the Red Sea. If we are injured by these enemies of the soul, it is because of our unbelief.

III. Then the wicked and the good will be eternally separated in the life to come. As the freed Israelites were to see Pharaoh and his army no more, so the good in heaven, after the final deliverance of life, shall see the wicked no more for ever. In heaven this separation will be complete and eternal. Now, the wheat and tares grow together; not so then. There are separations going on in this life based on moral character, in society, in commerce, and in the State. This is a prophecy of the future. An awful thing to be for ever in the company of the lost. A sublime privilege to be for ever in the company of the pure. Nothing that can defile shall enter heaven.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON

Christian Life! Exo. 14:5. Israel probably thought that, once freed from bondage, all persecution from Egypt was over. When they were deceived they expected nothing but death. A party sailing down the Amazon bivouacked on an open glade near the bank. Whilst resting here, they were suddenly aware of an approaching foe in the shape of a group of shaggy, naked savages, armed with bows and spears and blow pipes. They rushed at once to the canoe, and pushed out from the shore, only in time to escape a flight of poisoned arrows. Once more on the river they thought themselves safe from all pursuit. Quietly they paddled down the stream attracted by the lavish tropical vegetation, and the brilliantly-plumaged birds. Night came on, and as they were preparing for slumber, they were alarmed to find three large war-canoes in hot pursuit. They had reckoned themselves entirely free from their pursuers. So with the young Pilgrim! When he left the City of Destruction, he looked to have no more persecution; but he soon discovered his mistake. Israel is pursued! But the discipline is good: for are not the winds and tempests the school of the sailor-boy? Sharpe remarks that it is not every calamity that is a curse, and early adversity is often a blessing. It was so with youthful Israel; and it is so with the young Christian.

Many a foe is a friend in disguise,
Many a trouble a blessing most true,
Helping the heart to be happy and wise,
With love ever precious, and joys ever new.

Tupper.

Misgivings! Exo. 14:10.

1. Who does not admire and appreciate Swiss Family Robinson? It is perused and reperused with avidity and ever fresh interest by the young; and yet, too often its beauties are lost sight of. One of the most touching scenes in the book is where the father, exhausted by toil, distracted by anxiety, gives way to despair, and ventures to question whether he had at all acted rightly and wisely in leaving his native Switzerland. It was a time of great dread and danger.
2. The emigrant finds himself in the Brazilian forest. He has been struggling to hew down the giant trees, twisted and fastened together with the tortuous and tough lianas, in order to make a clearing for corn or maize. He finds himself unequal to the task, surrounded by difficulties, and succumbing to the enervating effects of extreme exertions in a tropical climate. Withal, he hears that the native Indians are in an unsettled condition, and likely at any moment to attack his humble wooden home. He wishes himself safe back in Old England!
3. It is said of Luther that there were moments when he half-regretted having launched on the Reformation path. Firm as the Eddystone Lighthouse while the waves toss, and roar, and leap against its base and sides, the solitary monk stood at the Imperial Diet of Worms, unawed by the presence, unterrified by the power on emperor, princes, and cardinals. But when alone, how he was ready to sinkto wish himself back in the quiet cloistered seclusion on his monastery. All Christians have this strain: especially

When truth is overborne, and error reigns,
When clamour lords it over patient love.

Bonar.

Red Sea fears! Exo. 14:11. As the Passover showed how guilt might be expiated and judgment escaped, so this passage shows how those whose guilt is removed shall be redeemed from all evil. And if God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not much more with Him freely give us all things? But Israel had not yet learned this great truth. They were ignorant, credulous, and impulsive, as bond-serfs always arewhether as the Helots of ancient Sparta or the Negroes of modern America. They had never been accustomed to habits of order, reflection, or self-command. The bondage-life had shut them up in religious ignorance, if not absolute indifference. They could not, therefore, rest, as Moses did, upon the Great Redeemer. Already, they felt themselves back among the brick-kilns and slime-pits of Egypt, with the cruel lash now become a scourge of scorpions. Had Pharaohs host rushed forward, what a confusion would have ensued. When the great theatre of Santiago in Chili took fire on the Papal Feast day, the vast throngs trampled each other to death in the effort to escape. Had the chariots and chivalry of Egypt rushed upon the undisciplined host, how they would have trodden upon one another in desperate struggle of flight! But Pharaoh, confident of his prey, is willing to wait till the morrows dawn. The sun has already set. The moon, which was full on the night of the departure out of Egypt, will not rise for three or four hours. Egypts host encamps for the night. Egypts monarch bids sentinels to be posted to watch the fugitive camp, and summons his nobles and officers to a council to decide whether the Israelites shall be driven, at dawn, into the depths of the sea, or back again to their former bondage. And of Israel it might be said

Yet with despairing face
Their way they would retrace;
Or on this desert place
Sink down and die.

French.

Sure provision! Exo. 14:13. Isaac was young in the Divine life, and perplexed himself sadly about the sacrificial lamb; but Abraham, who had more than once experienced the Divine faithfulness, was content to wait on the providence of God. The Israelites were comparatively inexperienced in the ways of God; whereas Moses, who had learned their mysteries often during the Midianite exile, could exhort his trembling host to stand still and see the salvation of God. He knew that God had become their salvation in the wonderful works and feast in Egypt; therefore, he was confident that He would not forsake them now. A carrier hastening homewards through the drifting snow came upon a human form. I was that of a mother frozen to death in seeking to save her infants life. Tenderly he born the babe home, adopted it as his own child and brought it up in comfort and kindness. As the child grew up, he felt that the one who had rescued and saved him would never fail to keep him in time of need. So with Moses, he was sure that God, who had delivered and adopted Israel as His firstborn, would not suffer His chosen child to be without sufficient succour.

Then rouse thee from desponding sleep,
Nor by the wayside lingering weep;
Nor fear to seek Him farther in the wild.

Pharaohs army! Exo. 14:7. Dr. Kitto comments that to the student of Egyptian antiquities, there is something of much interest in these allusions to the forces of Egypt. They were composed solely of chariots; and this is entirely in accordance with the existing testimony of the monuments, which exhibit no kind of military force but war-chariots and infantry. In a hot pursuit like this, the infantry could, from the nature of the case, take no part; and there being no mounted cavalry, the matter was left entirely to the chariot-warriors. On the other hand, Millington assumes that there were horsemen as well as charioteers, since Moses and Miriam speak of cavalry in their hymn in Exo. 15:21. Satan knows well the forces wherewith to hunt the fugitive slave. He will not willingly suffer one poor slave to escape. Even when we have turned from our sin-serfdom to follow the guidance of Gods Word, he pursues with manifold temptationsnot feeble ones, from whose pursuit we can escape, but charioteers which come thundering down upon us. Even as the eagle swoops upon the newly fledged dove, for the first time pluming its pinions in the sunny aireven as the tawny lion or spotted panther springs upon the slender, untried, sylphlike fawn; so Satans legions rush down upon the believers soul, confident of an easy triumph. But the Christian must not despond.

Oh! bear me up, when this weak flesh despairs,
And the one arm which faith can lean on is the Lords.

Divine paths! Exo. 14:9-12 Krummacher relates how a wanderer had to go a long and dangerous journey over a rugged and rocky mountain. The road was pointed out to him by a guide clearly and distinctly, together with all the bye-ways and precipices of which he must beware. He gave him also a leaf of paper describing the way exactly. The wanderer observed all this attentively; but as he journeyed the rocks grew steeperthe path seemed to lose itself in lonely dreary ravines. Discouraged, he meditated a return by the way he came, when he heard a voice exclaiming, Take courage, and follow me. He looked round and beheld the guide. They walked on between the ravines, and precipices, and rushing mountain torrents, until they reached a lovely valley, where blossomed myrtle and pomegranate trees. Thus was Israel led. There they were, a sea before them far wider than their familiar Nile, and with the wild tumult of its waters very terrible: a sea before them, and on their rear, with his jingling chargers and sounding chariots, an angry and ruthless despot. Unarmed and unused to conflict, to face round and fight was for a flock of sheep to charge a pack of wolves or lions, and across that gulf they had neither wings to fly nor boats to ferry. In their moment of despair came their Deliverer. The man of God

Oer the wide waters lifts his mighty rod,
And onward treads,the circling waves retreat.

Heber.

Providence! Exo. 14:13. A small boat on the wide sea! A crew of three shipwrecked mariners in the Eastern seas! In the distance, a Malay prow heading straight for the boat with long sweeps. The boat sees the foe, and struggles desperately by hard rowing to escape; but the pursuer gains fast. The effort is useless:the oars are unshipped, and soon the pirates have seized the boat, fastened it to the clumsy stern of their war-prow, and dragged the sailors on board. Hardly is this done, and the head of the native vessel once more headed East, than a fearful hurricane comes on. Those who have never been in the seas of the East Indian Archipelago can form little idea of the appalling fury of these tornadoes. They last only for a short period, but the wildness of the tempest passes expression. The natives struggled with the winds and waves,every moment expecting to be hurled beneath the vast mountain-masses of water. Again and again, had they given up all hope, when mast, and sail, and bulwarks were wrenched away, and, borne on by the breeze, fell at some distance into the foaming deep. But the storm lulled as quickly as it arose: the vessel was borne towards the shore of an island, and all landed. As soon as the Malays had restored their vessel, they set sail, leaving the mariners behind. They had been saved their cruel fate in having fallen into the hands of the pirate crew, but they now realised that this very capture was a great blessing. Their own frail shell of a boat was shattered to pieces at the first onset of the blast, so that had they been in her, they must have inevitably perished. The Christian often finds himself pursued by foes, or surrounded by dangers; but let him hold fast to the conviction that all things work together for good, and he will soon find, like Israel, that the very things which seem to bar his progress and mar his prospects, become the means of safety and deliverance.

His love can turn earths worst and least
Into a conquerors royal feast.

Keble.

Sins End! Exo. 14:13. There is a marvellous tenacity of life in sin, which has therefore secured for it the simile of the fabled Hydra destroyed by Hercules. The sea-anemone is not unlike sin:

1. In its beauty;
2. in its voracity; and
3. in its tenacity of life. It would be difficult to find anything more beautiful than the sea-anemones, emulating the daisies of the field when they expand their lustrous discs. Yet this wonderful daisy of the watersthis flower-like creature which charms the dullest eye, is a very shark for voracity. Crustaceans larger than itself are gulped into its miser-stomach, and woe to the nimble cyclops and annelide which comes within its reach. But its voracity of appetite seems almost surpassed by its uncommon tenacity of life. Dip it into water warm enough to raise blisters on the skinexpose it to the frost of winterplace it under the exhausted bell of an air-pump, its powerful vital principle will triumph over all these ordeals. Cut off the tentacles, and new ones sprout forth; nay, divide the animal in two, and like the Lernean hydra, it will produce a reduplication of itself. Possessing such wonderful powers of reproduction, there is, however, one means of destruction; for these apparently indestructible creatures die when plunged into fresh water. And such is sinoftentimes graceful and bewitching in beauty; always voracious, devouring all good that comes in its way; yet susceptible only to destruction when plunged in the pure river of the water of lifewhen placed under the mortifying influences of the Holy Spirit.

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowd,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Toplady.

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

(5) The heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people.No doubt the change began as soon as Israel commenced its march. The emigration left Eastern Egypt a solitude, suspended all the royal works that were in progress, threw the whole course of commerce and business into disorder. Beforehand, neither the king nor the people had understood what the loss of six hundred thousand labourerssome of them highly skilledwould be. When Israel was gone they realised it; consequently both king and people regretted what they had done.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. Why have we done this? What (is) this (that) we have done? The panic having subsided, Pharaoh’s hard heart rises in rage and revenge . The pride and obstinacy of Pharaoh may appear incredible, but this representation of his character is in perfect harmony with the pictures of the Egyptian kings, as they have themselves left them upon the walls of their tombs . The magnificent engravings in the great works of Lepsius and of the artists of Napoleon spread before our eyes pictures of the conquests, coronations, and deifications of these Pharaohs, as they may now be seen in their rock-hewn tombs, from the Delta to the Cataracts perpetual monuments of their haughty might and heaven-defying pride, as well as vast and enduring commentaries upon this narrative of Moses. (See Introduction to the History of the Plagues, 1.)

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

EXPOSITION

THE PURSUIT OF ISRAEL BY THE EGYPTIANS. A short respite from suffering was sufficient to enable Pharaoh to recover from his extreme alarm. No further deaths had followed on the destruction of the firstborn; and he might think no further danger was to be apprehended. The worst of Moses’ threats had been accomplished- perhaps Jehovah had no more arrows in his quiver. At any rate, as he realised to himself what it would be to lose altogether the services of so vast a body of slaves, many of them highly skilled in different arts, he more and more regretted the permission which he had given. Under these circumstances intelligence was brought him of the change which the Israelites had made in their route, and the dangerous position into which they had Brought themselves. Upon this he resolved to start in pursuit, with such troops as he could hastily muster. As his chariots were six hundred, we may presume that his footmen were at least 100,000, all trained and disciplined soldiers, accustomed to warfare. The timid horde of escaped slaves, unused to war, though it might be five or six times as numerous as his host, was not likely to resist it. Pharaoh no doubt expected an unconditional surrender on the part of the Israelites, as soon as they saw his forces.

Exo 14:5

It was told the King of Egypt that the people fled. Pharaoh, when he let the Israelites go, must have felt tolerably certain that they would not voluntarily return. Formally, however, he had only consented to their going a three days’ journey into the wilderness (Exo 12:31). When, being at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness, they did not enter it, but marched southward to Pi-hahiroth, the Egyptians might naturally report that instead of sacrificing, they were flyinghasting forwardsplacing as much distance as they could between themselves and the Egyptian headquarters. But this report alone would scarcely have moved Pharaoh to action. It was in the accompanying circumstances, in the particular line of route, that he thought to find his opportunity. The people “were entangled” (Exo 14:3). They might be taken at a disadvantage, and might be reduced to choosing between starvation and a. return to Egypt. The heart of Pharaoh, and of his servants, was turned against the people. The reaction of feeling was not confined to Pharaoh. His subjects participated in it. The loss of such a large body of labourers would be generally felt as a severe blow to the prosperity of the nation. It would affect all classes. The poor labourers might be benefited; but the employers of labour are the influential classes, and they would be injured. So “Pharaoh’s servants” were of one mind with their master, and they “turned against” the Israelites. Why have we done this? In the retrospect, the afflictions which they had suffered did not seem so very great. They at any rate had survived them, and were not perhaps even seriously impoverished. Royal favour will find a way of making up any losses which court minions have suffered, out of the general taxation of the country. But in prospect, the loss of 600,000 (more or less skilled) labourers appeared a terrible thing. The official class was quite ready to make a strenuous effort to avert the loss.

Exo 14:6

He made ready his chariot. The Egyptian monarchs, from the time of the eighteenth dynasty, always went out to war in a chariot. The chariots were, like the Greek and the Assyrian, open behind, and consisted of a semicircular standing-beard of wood, from which rose in a graceful curve the antyx or rim to the height of about two feet and a half above the standing-beard. The chariot had two wheels and a pole, and was drawn by two horses. It ordinarily contained two men only, the warrior and the charioteer.

Exo 14:7

Six hundred chosen chariots. Diodorus Siculus assigns to one Egyptian king a force of 27,000 chariots (1. 54, 4), which however is probably beyond the truth. But the 1200 assigned to Shishak (2Ch 12:3) may well be regarded as historical; and the great kings of the nineteenth dynasty would possess at least an equal number. The “six hundred chosen chariots” set in motion on this occasion probably constituted a division of the royal body-guard (Herod. 2.168). The remaining force would be collected from the neighbouring cities of Northern Egypt, as Memphis, Heliopolis, Bubastis, Pithom, and Pelusium. Captains over every one of them. Rather, “Captains over the whole of them.” So the LXX. the Vulgate and SyriActs version. Some, however, understand “warriors in each of them ‘ (Gesenius, Bodiger, Kalisch).

Exo 14:8

The Children of Israel went out with a high handi.e; boldly and confidently, not as fugitives, but as men in the exercise of their just fightsperhaps with a certain amount of ostentation.

Exo 14:9

All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh Rather, “all the chariot horses.” There is no “and” in the original. His horsemen. Rather “his riders,” or “mounted men “i.e; those who rode in the chariots. That the Egyptians had a powerful cavalry at a later date appears from 2Ch 12:3; but the Hebrew text of Exodus, in remarkable accordance with the native monuments of the time, represents the army of this Pharaoh as composed of two descriptions of troops onlya chariot and an infantry force.. Overtook them. It is uncertain how long the Israelites remained encamped at Pi-hahiroth. They would wait so long as the pillar of the cloud did not move (Num 9:18-20). It must have taken Pharaoh a day to hear of their march from Etham, at least another day to collect his troops, and three or four days to effect the march from Tanis to Pi-hahiroth. The Jewish tradition that the Red Sea was crossed on the night of the 21st of Nisan (Abib) is therefore, conceivably, a true one.

HOMILETICS

Exo 14:5

The good resolutions of the worldly are short-lived.

By a long series of judgments, culminating in the destruction of all the first-born both of man and beast throughout his whole territory, Pharaoh had been brought down from his original hardness and pride, had acknowledged God’s hand, and allowed the Israelites to take their departure. He had even besought them to ask that God would bestow upon him his blessing (Exo 12:32). But a short time sufficed to change all his good resolutions. The more he reflected on it, the more grievous did it seem to him to lose the services of above half a million of industrious labourers. The further they became removed, the less terrible did God’s judgments appear. He had lost one son; but probably he had many others; and time, as it passed, brought consolation. He had quailed before Moses; but now, in Moses’ absence, he felt himself a king again, and could not bear to think that he had been made to yield. His state of mind was one ripe for revolt and reaction, when intelligence reached him which brought matters to a crisis. The report that he received seemed to show complete geographical ignorance on the part of the Hebrews, together with “a cessation of the special providence and guidance which their God had hitherto manifested in their favour” (Kalisch). Upon this his “heart was turned,” he cast his former good resolutions to the winds, and made up his mind either to detain the Israelites or to destroy them (Exo 15:9). In all this Pharaoh’s conduct is but an example of the general law, that “the good resolutions of the worldly are short-lived.” They arc so, because:

I. THEY ARE NOT GROUNDED ON ANY WISH TO DO RIGHT, BUT ON VIEWS OF PRESENT EXPEDIENCY. The immediate effect of the tenth plague was an impression, common no doubt to Pharaoh with the other Egyptians, such as found vent in the words, “We be all dead men” (Exo 12:33). They were intensely alarmed for their own safety. This and this alone produced the resolution to let Israel go. It was better to lose the services of even six hundred thousand labourers than to lose their own lives. Expediency was their rule and guide. But expediency changesor at any rate men’s views of it change. Were their lives really in danger? Had they not been over-hasty in assuming this? Or, if there had been danger, was it not now over? Might it not be really expedient to arrest the march of the Israelites, to detain them, and once more have them for slaves?

II. THEY ARE THE EFFECT OF IMPULSE RATHER THAN OF PRINCIPLE. Resolutions made upon principle can scarcely change, for they are grounded upon that which is the most fixed and settled thing in human nature. But resolutions based upon impulse are necessarily uncertain and unstable, for there is nothing so variable as impulse. All men have from time to time both good and bad impulses. Impulse exhausts itself from its very vehemence, and can never be counted on as a permanent force. It is here to-day, and gone to-morrow. No reliance can be placed upon it.

III. THEY ARE MADE MERELY BY A MAN TO HIMSELF, NOT MADE TO GOD. When the worldly man says, “I am resolved what to do,” he means no more than this: “Under present circumstances, I have come to the conclusion that I will act in this or that way.” He does not mean to bind himself, or, if he does, he soon finds that he cannot bind himself. There must be two parties to an obligation or engagement. If we wish our resolutions to be binding, and so lasting, we must make them solemnly, with prayer, in the sight of God, and to God. It is neglecting this which causes so many good resolutions to be broken, so many vows violated, so many pledges taken fruitlessly. Let men be sure, before they make a solemn resolution or a vow, that it is a right one to make, and then let them make the engagement, not to themselves only, or to their erring fellow-mortals, but to the Almighty.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 14:5-10

The pursuit

“It was told the King of Egypt that the people fled,” etc. Consider:

I. THE MOTIVES OF THE PURSUIT. The motives were various.

1. Pharaoh had already repented of having let the people go (Exo 14:5). Their departure was a sore humiliation to him. Wounded pride was aggravated by the sense of material loss. “As serfs and bondagers, the Israelites were invaluable, and to let them go was to annihilate the half of Egypt’s industry” (Hamilton). Pharaoh and his servants, accordingly, were ready to adopt any plan which promised them revenge.

2. Pharaoh found an excuse for pursuit, in the allegation that the Israelites had “fled.“ Fugitives, in the ordinary sense of the expression, the Israelites were not. Pharaoh having to the last refused to let them go to hold the required feast in the wilderness, God had taken the matter into his own hands, and had given them their freedom. The only sense in which they were “fleeing” was, that, fearing treachery, they were making all the haste they could to get beyond Pharaoh’s reach. They had left Egypt, unfettered by any stipulation to return. Return, indeed, after what had happened, was out of the question. When Pharaoh and his people thrust the Hebrews out from their midst (Exo 11:8; Exo 12:31-34), they neither desired nor expected to see their faces more. But now that the king had changed his mind, and wished them back again, it suited him to represent their withdrawal into the solitary regions by the Red Sea as a “flight”a breach of good faith. God had forced him to relax his grasp, and while his hand was open, the nation had escaped, like a bird escaped from the snare of the fowler. As reasonably might the fowler complain that, the bird, thus escaped, does not voluntarily return to its old quarters.

3. The determining, motive of the pursuit was the news that Israel was “entangled in the land.“ This decided Pharaoh. Almost would it seem to him as if, by permitting the escaped people to make this huge blunder in their movements, their Deity designed to give them back to his hand, As Saul said of David”God hath delivered him into mine hand, for he is shut up, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars” (1Sa 23:7).

II. ITS FORMIDABLE CHARACTER. Probably a pursuit of escaped slaves was never organised with greater chances of success.

1. The expedition was popular. “The heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people” (Exo 14:5). Court sentiment is not always a reliable index to the feelings of the commonalty; but it is probable that the movement to pursue Israel commanded a wide measure of popular support. The griefs and humiliations they had sustained would fill the Egyptians with hatred of the Israelitish name, and would make them willing co-partners in any scheme to inflict injury on the fugitives. They also, by this time, would be beginning to realise how great a loss, financially and industrially, they had sustained, by the withdrawal of so vast a body of labourers.

2. The whole available military force of Egypt was called into requisition. “All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army” (Exo 14:9). Pharaoh, at the head of this glorious cavalcade, amidst this sheen of weapons, must have felt himself a greater man, and would wonder anew how he could have been so befooled as to let his slaves depart. And little, truly, to all human appearance, would Israel, unpractised in the use of arms, be able to accomplish against this disciplined and splendidly-equipped host. Pharaoh doubtless thought he had the people this time securely in his grasp. It was no longer the unarmed Pharaoh of the palace that Moses had to deal with; but Pharaoh, at the head of the thousands of Egypt, with chariots, and horses, and men of war; and who was that God that would be able to deliver him out of his hand? Alas for Pharaoh, and his “pomp and circumstance of war!” It was soon to be seen what short work God can make on the earth of the proudest of his assailants, showing strength with his arm, and scattering the proud in the imagination of their hearts (Luk 1:51; cf. Isa 31:3).

3. The situation of the Israelites seemed to make them an easy prey. They were “entangled in the land” (Exo 14:3). This was the mainstay of Pharaoh’s hopes. Israel could do nothing to resist him. Penned up like sheep for the slaughter, they could neither fight nor flee. Success was certain.

III. ITS SPIRITUAL LESSON. It will readily be felt that in this pursuit of Israel by Pharaoh, we have an imagefrom the typical character of the history, an intended imageof a not uncommon experience of the Christian life.

1. We are liable to be pursued by the evil from which we thought we had escaped. Whoever thinks to find it otherwise will live to be disappointed. Conversioneven though one has been led into Christian liberty with “an high hand” (Exo 14:8)is not the end of spiritual conflicts. We do not escape from the power of evil without many an attempt being made on the part of the enemies of the soul to reassert their dominion ever us. We have a Pharaoh in the evil of our own hearts, who, after we have left his service, will not fail to pursue us. Another such Pharaoh we have in the worldold companions, etc. A third is the evil One himself, who lets no soul slip from his grasp, without many an attempt to recover it. This goes on to some extent throughout the whole life. Pharaoh’s pursuit may be viewed as gathering up all these separate pursuits into a single picture.

2. This experience is usually most acute and perilous shortly after conversion. Naturally, after the first breaking of the soul with sin, there comes, at a little distance, a time of recoil and reaction. Passions formerly indulged, surge back upon the heart with something of the old fury. We thought we had got rid of them; but they return, pursuing us with a vehemence which reminds us of Pharaoh’s chariots and horses, and fills us with dismay. Old habits, we thought we had broken with them for ever; but they are back again, struggling for the mastery. The world tries all its arts to regain its former hold. Temptations come in floods. This is the time which tests the reality of conversion, and practically decides whether God is to have us, or Satan. It is the old experience of Israel, entangled in the land, and pursued by Pharaoh: if we gain the victory, we shall probably see our enemies no more, or only in greatly weakened, in semi-ghostlike forms.

3. The destruction of Pharaoh‘s host is the pledge of similar victories to the Church and to the individual in like crises of their history. It involves the promise that what God did for Israel here, he will do for us also, if we rely upon his help, every time we are spiritually tempted. Beyond this, it pledges and foreshadows the ultimate and complete defeat of all the enemies of the Church, and of the individual souleven to that “last enemy that shall be destroyed,” which is death (1Co 15:26). The victory, like the pursuit, is gathered up typically into a single picture, though in actual spiritual history it is spread over lifetimes and ages. It must, however, be sorrowfully admitted that in individual cases, type and reality too often fall asunder. Who has not to mourn partial victories gained over him by the pursuing Pharaohs of the soulvictories ofttimes almost amounting to the dragging of us back to bondage? And what extensive victories have frequently been gained by evil over sections of the Churchvictories which seem the very antithesis of this glorious Red Sea deliverance? These, however, are but ebbings in a tide, which on the whole is on the flow, and they do not touch the lesson of this incident. The pledge given in Pharaoh’s destruction, God will not fail to fulfil to those who seek his aid; and as to the final victory, that is secure, beyond all power of man to prevent it.J.O.

Exo 14:8

Jehovah hardening Pharaoh‘s heart. I. NOTICE THE EMPHASIS WITH WHICH THIS FACT IS STATED. The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is mentioned, not in one place only, but in many. If it were mentioned in one place only, it might be in some doubtful way, such as would excuse us for passing it over without much examination. But being mentioned so many times, we dare not leave it on one side as something, to lie in necessary obscurity, meanwhile consoling ourselves that the obscurity is unimportant. The statement meets us in the very midst of the way of Jehovah’s judgments on Pharaoh, and we must meet it in return with a resolution to understand it as far as believers in Jehovah may be able to do. Notice, then, exactly, how often the statement is repeated. Jehovah says to Moses, or ever he leaves Midian, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that he shall not let the people go” (Exo 4:21). Again, just as Jehovah’s dealings with Pharaoh were beginning, he says: “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt” (Exo 7:3). After the rod was changed to a serpent his heart was still hardened (Exo 7:13). Nor was there yet any change after the waters were turned to blood (Exo 7:22). He yielded a little when the frogs came, but as soon as they vanished and there was respite, he hardened his heart once more (Exo 8:15). When the magicians confessed the finger of God in the gnats, his heart remained the same (Exo 8:19). The flies were taken away, and “he hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go” (Exo 8:32). In Exo 9:12 we have an express statement that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. After the visitation of the hail there seems to have been a complete surrender; but as soon as it ceases the hardening returns (Exo 9:35); and so the references continue down to the end (Exo 10:1, Exo 10:20, Exo 10:27; Exo 11:10; Exo 14:4, Exo 14:8, Exo 14:17). Making these references, we are led to notice also the variety of expressions used. Sometimes it is simply said that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, sometimes that Pharaoh hardened it, sometimes that God hardened it; and once or twice the expression rises to the emphasis of the first person, and Jehovah himself says “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”

II. NOTICE THE CONSEQUENT OBLIGATION TO MAKE DEVOUT AND REVERENT INQUIRY INTO THIS MATTER.There is no way to escape from the feeling that Jehovah did actually harden Pharaoh’s heart. We must treat the hardening of his heart as a great fact just as Moses did the burning bush; not doubting at all that it did happen, but rather asking how and why it happened. We must turn aside and see this great sign, why Jehovah exercised such a fearful power over Pharaoh that the end of it was the destruction of his host in the waters of the Red Sea. It is a commonplace of speech to say that the expression here is one of the most difficult in all the Scriptures. It is also a commonplace of action to shake the head with what is meant for pious submission to an impenetrable mystery. But what if this be only an indolent and most censurable avoidance of earnest thought on the ways of God towards men? No one will pretend that the mystery of this expression is penetrable to all its depths; but so far as it is penetrable we are bound to explore. How are we really to know that a thing is unfathomable, until we make an attempt to fathom it? A devout Israelite, although excluded from the Holy of Holies, did not make that a reason for neglecting the temple altogether. Our duty then is to inquire what this hardening of the heart may be, in what sense it is reconcilable with the goodness and righteousness of God. One reason why this statement is put so prominently forward in one of the most prominent narratives of Scripture, and therefore one of the most prominent in all history, may be this, that we should be kept from wrong conclusions on man’s agency as a responsible being; conclusions dishonouring to God and perilous to ourselves. Is it not a great deal gained if only this narrative sets people thinking, so as to deliver them from the snares of fatalism?

III. Whatever View we take of this statement must evidently be IN THE LIGHT OF ALL WE ARE PERMITTED TO KNOW CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JEHOVAH. In considering all difficult statements as to the Divine dealings, we must start with certain postulates as to the Divine character. Before we can say that God does a thing we must know that the thing done is not out Of harmony with the rest of his ascertained doings. There may be plenty of evidence as to the thing done, when there is very little evidence as to the doer. That the streams of Egypt were actually turned to blood was a thing that could be certified by the senses of every one who inspected those streams. But that God wrought this strange work could only be made sure by asking, first, what evidence there was of God’s presence, and next, what consistency there was with his acknowledged dealings. It is only too plain that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, that he became ever more settled in his resolution to keep hold of Israel as long as he could. But when we are told that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, then we must at once bring to mind all that we have heard of God in the Scriptures. We must take back into our inspection of those distant times all we know of his character whom Jesus revealed; for the loving Father of our Saviour is the same with the great Jehovah. The same holy personality is at work in the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, as in the God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart. We must not tolerate any conception of the hardening which contradicts the Divine character. Any view of this expression which does not harmonise with the revelation of God in the New Testament is therefore condemned. There is certainly no word in the Old Testament that more needs to be looked at in the light of the New than this. We must then dismiss from our minds any sort of notion that in hardening Pharaoh’s heart, God dulled his moral sensibilities and made him proud, indifferent to pity and justice and the fulfilment of promises. God cannot put even the germs of these feelings into any human heart; much less can he increase them to such portentous magnitude as they attained in Pharaoh. We must start with the conviction and keep to it, that what God does is right, and that it is right not because he does it, but that he does it because it is right. It is not open for us first to fix our own interpretation of what may be meant by hardening the heart, and then call it an outrage on moral sense to say that God should do this. What if we have blundered in our interpretation?

IV. A right view of this statement must evidently also be taken IN THE LIGHT OF ALL THAT WE KNOW BY AN APPEAL TO HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS. As no word God has ever spoken can contradict the facts of external nature, so neither can it contradict the facts of man’s consciousness within. That which is true, independently of the teaching of Scripture, does not become less true, nor does it become false when Scripture begins to speak. Man is a free agent; he acts as one; he resents being treated otherwise by his fellow men. He is degraded and impoverished just in proportion as he sinks to a mere machine. His own decision is required every day, and he finds that wise decisions lead to profit, and foolish ones to loss. The law treats him as a free agent. Nay, more; what can be clearer than that God treated Pharaoh as a free agent? The plain statement that God hardened his heart is not more frequent than the equally plain statement that God demanded from him the liberation of Israel. If the one word is to be taken as simple verity, so is the other. If when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, he really did something in his nature; then also when he asked Pharaoh to liberate Israel, he asked something which he was at liberty to grant or refuse. Moses does not mock us with a mere trick of rhetoric in saying that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart; neither did God mock Pharaoh with a useless appeal when he said, “Let my People go.” Pharaoh knew well in his heart that it only needed his resolution and the whole of Israel could march forth at very short notice. He himself would have been amazed to hear that God had hardened his heart. True as it was, he would have denied it most strenuously and indignantly; and he would have denied it with justice, if it had been taken to mean the destruction of his own free agency.

V. We may now Perhaps consider the ground sufficiently cleared for a positive conjecture as to what is meant by God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. It means, we take it, THAT HE WORKED A MIRACULOUS CHANGE IN ONE OF PHARAOH‘S NATURAL FACULTIES. There are certain things in every human being we do not hold that being responsible for, e.g; sex, features, temperament, acuteness and activity in senses and intellect. Some persons have good vision, others poor, others are altogether blind. In a similar way, some are naturally of a tenacious, determined will. Whatever they have set their mind upon, they hold to, with bull-dog grip. Others again are easily swayed about. Now clearly just as there are natural differences in sight, or hearing, or intellect, so there must be natural differences in this will-faculty. A man may have it very strong; he may be one who if he sets high and worthy aims before him, will be called resolute, inflexible, tenacious, indomitable, loyal to conscience; whereas if his aims be low, selfish and entirely without ground in reason, he will be called obstinate, stubborn, self-willed in the fullest sense of that word; and is it not plain that God may take this power of volition, this will-energy, and do with it, as we know that Jesus in many of his miracles did with defective or absent faculties? To the blind, Jesus gave vision, and he who could thus call a non-existent faculty into existence, evidently could increase a faculty actually existing to any degree such as man might be able to possess. And was it not something of this kind that God did in hardening Pharaoh’s heart? The term has come to have a dreadful meaning to us in connexion with Pharaoh, simply because of Pharaoh’s career. But the very miracle which God wrought in Pharaoh’s heart would have had good results, if only Pharaoh had been a different sort of man. Suppose the instance of a blind man who gets sight from Jesus. He goes into life again with a recovered faculty: and that life, with respect to its opportunities, is vastly larger than it was before. How will he use these opportunities? He may use them selfishly, and Christ’s own blessing will thus become a curse; or he may use them as Christ would have him use them, to become his efficient and grateful servant. There is a moral certainty that some who had faith enough in Jesus to have impaired natural faculties put right were yet destitute of that faith which went on to spiritual salvation and spiritual service. It was one thing to believe in Christ for a temporal gain, quite another to believe in him for a spiritual one; and the one faith while meant to lead on to the other, would not always have that effect. It is but a fond imagination to suppose that it would. So Pharaoh, if he had been a humane, compassionate and righteous man, a king with a true king’s feelings for his own people, would, through the very process of hardening his heart, have become a more efficient ruler. This is the way God helps men who are struggling with temptation, struggling towards truth and light, towards conquest over appetite, violent temper, evil habits. God does for them and in them exactly what he did in Pharaoh. What he did in Pharaoh happened to hasten him in the way where he was already disposed to go. If Pharaoh had been a blind man as well as a bad one, no one would have had any perplexity as to God’s dealings in restoring his sight and giving it the greatest perfection sight can attain. If Pharaoh had used that restored vision for bad, cruel purposes, he would have been blamed, and not Jehovah, and exactly the same remark applies if we change the name of the faculty. God strengthens the faculty of will, but Pharaoh is responsible for a right use of the strengthened faculty as much as he was for the use of the weaker faculty before. God dealt with a part of his nature where he had no power to resist any more than a blind man would have power to resist, if God were to restore vision to him. It was not against the hardening that Pharaoh struggled, but against the delivering. The hardening worked in a way he was not conscious of, but the delivering was by an appeal to him, and that appeal he was by no means disposed to entertain. It was not an awakened conscience that compelled him to his successive yieldings; these were but as the partial taming of a wild beast. Paul said, “When I would do good, evil is present with me;” but Pharaoh was steadily disposed to do evil. His cry would rather have been, “When I think to get my own way, one of those terrible plagues comes in to relax my resolutions and confuse my plans.”

VI. A certain amount of weight must also be allowed for PHARAOH‘S TYPICAL POSITION AND CHARACTER. We must distinguish between what he was typically and what he was personally. Far be it from us to diminish his guilt or attempt to whitewash his memory. Doubtless he was a bad man, and a very bad man; but for typical purposes it was needful to represent him as not having one redeeming feature. His name is not linked even with one virtue amid a thousand crimes. He had to be set before the whole world and all ages as the enemy of God’s people. He is the type of a permanent adversary far greater than himself. And just as the people of God, typically considered, appeared very much better than they actually were, so Pharaoh, typically considered, is described so as to appear worse. (e.g. in Num 23:21, it is said, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.”) We do no, Show all God’s dealings with Pharaoh. They are hidden beneath the waters of the Red Sea, and it is no duty of ours to pass judgment on the defeated and baffled opponent. God calls us to the more practical business of going on with the livings struggling people.Y.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Exo 14:5. It was told the king of Egypt, that the people fled That is, were flying away, and wholly removing out of the land. It appears from the whole tenor of the history, that Pharaoh never intended absolutely to part with the Israelites; and his disposition was such, that he never regarded his word or promise when the hand of punishment was removed from him: but now, perceiving that the Israelites were about to depart wholly from his kingdom, and the angel having ceased to destroy the first-born, he returns to his old temper, and, accordingly, meets the destruction which he so justly deserved.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Consider this spiritually, and the same is every day manifested; the freedom of God’s people is a galling thought to their enemies. Est 5:12-13 ; Psa 105:25 ; Act 5:33Act 5:33 ; Psa 112:10Psa 112:10 .

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

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?

Ver. 5. That the people fled, ] i.e., Ran quite away, without any resolution ever to return. This troubled the tyrant. Crowns have their cares. Little David likes his hook the better ever since he saw the court.

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

told. On the fourth day. See App-60. Why . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. See App-6.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

and the heart: Exo 12:33, Psa 105:25

Why have we: Jer 34:10-17, Luk 11:24-26, 2Pe 2:20-22

Reciprocal: Gen 31:22 – General Exo 7:16 – Let my Exo 8:8 – and I will Exo 8:15 – saw Exo 15:9 – destroy Jdg 15:14 – the Philistines Pro 27:22 – General Ecc 8:9 – there is Hab 3:14 – they Rom 3:7 – if the truth

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Exo 14:5. It was told the king that the people fled As they had been ordered by the Lord to turn a different way from that which led directly to mount Horeb, it is probable that, as soon as Pharaoh heard of it, he concluded they had no intention of going thither, but were escaping out of Egypt. He either forgot, or would not own, that they had departed with his consent; and therefore was willing it should be represented to him as a revolt from their allegiance. Why have we done this? They, who never truly repented of their sins, now heartily repent of their only good action.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This is the first of Israel’s many complaints against Moses and Yahweh that Moses recorded in Scripture. It is the first of ten that culminated in God’s judgment of them at Kadesh Barnea (Exo 14:11; Num 14:22-23).

"This is the first example in the Old Testament of what some scholars call ’holy war’ or ’Yahweh war.’ That is, this war was undertaken by the Lord in defense of His own reputation, promises, and self-interest (Exo 14:10-14; see also, for example, Exo 15:3; Deu 1:30; Deu 3:22; Deu 20:4). It is to be distinguished from ’ordinary’ war that Israel might undertake on her own (Num 14:39-45)." [Note: Merrill, in The Old . . ., p. 54.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)