Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 63:13
That led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, [that] they should not stumble?
13. the deep ] R.V. the depths; Hebr. thmth, see on ch. Isa 51:10.
as a horse in the wilderness ] treading as firmly and securely as the horse on the open pasture. Comp. the parallelism Psa 106:9: “He led them through the depths as through a pasture-land.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That led them through the deep – They went through the deep on dry land – the waters having divided and left an unobstructed path.
As an horse in the wilderness – As an horse, or a courser, goes through a desert without stumbling. This is a most beautiful image. The reference is to vast level plains like those in Arabia, where there are no stones, no trees, no gullies, no obstacles, and where a fleet courser bounds over the plain without any danger of stumbling. So the Israelites were led on their way without falling. All obstacles were removed, and they were led along as if over a vast smooth plain. Our word wilderness, by no means expresses the idea here. We apply it to uncultivated regions that are covered with trees, and where there would be numerous obstacles to such a race-horse. But the Hebrew word ( midbar) rather refers to a desert, a waste – a place of level sands or plains where there was nothing to obstruct the fleet courser that should prance over them. Such is probably the meaning of this passage, but Harmer (Obs. i. 161ff) may be consulted for another view, which may possibly be the correct one.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. – 14. That led them through the deep – As a beast goeth down into the valley] In both these verses there is an allusion to the Israelites going through the Red Sea, in the bottom of which they found no more inconvenience than a horse would in running in the desert, where there was neither stone nor mud; nor a beast in the valley, where all was plain and smooth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That led them through the deep; showing that God did not dry up shallow places, but the very depth of the sea, the very channel, which is the deepest part. Or, between those heaps of waters that stood up as a wall on each side of them, which might make it seem terrible, and therefore it is ascribed to their faith, Heb 11:29.
As an horse in the wilderness; or, plain; for so wilderness is sometimes taken, and may be here meant, by comparing it to a valley in the next verse, viz. with as much safety as the horse runs up and down in the plain ground; or, with as much ease and tenderness as a horse led by the bridle; not as men affrighted, but soberly and orderly.
That they should not stumble: this may be taken metaphorically, they came to no harm; or properly, that though the sea were but newly divided, yet it was so dried, that the mud, as also the unevenness of the ground, was not any occasion of their stumbling, or their sticking in it; probably so dried and smoothed by the wind that God sent as it were to prepare the way before them. See Isa 40:3-5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. deepliterally, “thetossing and roaring sea.”
wildernessrather, the”open plain” [HORSLEY],wherein there is no obstacle to cause a horse in its course thedanger of stumbling.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That led them through the deep,…. The depths, the bottom of the sea; not through the shallow, but where the waters had been deepest, the descent greatest; and at the bottom of which might have been expected much filth and dirt to hinder them in their passage, yet through this he led them:
as an horse in the wilderness; or rather, “in a plain”, as the word b sometimes signifies; and so Kimchi renders it a plain land, and Jarchi smooth land. The sense is, that the Israelites passed through the sea with as much ease, and as little difficulty, as a good horse will run over a plain, where there is nothing to stop his course:
that they should not stumble? there being no clay to stick in, no stone to stumble at, but all like an even plain.
b “in planitie”, Calvin, Gataker, Vitringa; “in campis”, Grotius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. Who made them walk through the depths. These things are added for the purpose of setting that benefit in a stronger light. He likewise brings forward comparisons, in order to describe that extraordinary power of God: “As a horse in the desert, As a beast into a plain;” that is, he led out his people as gently as if one were leading a horse into a plain. By the word “desert” is not meant the wilderness of Paran in which the people dwelt forty years; but, in accordance with the ordinary usage of the Hebrew tongue, it denotes pasture, in which herds and flocks wander at large. This is still more evident from the following verse, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13, 14) That led them . . .Each comparison is singularly appropriate. Israel passes through the sea as a horse through the wide grassy plain (not the sandy desert, as wilderness suggests). Then, when its wanderings are over, it passes into Canaan, as a herd of cattle descends from the hills into the rich pasturage of the valleys, that guidance also coming from the Spirit of Jehovah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 63:13 That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, [that] they should not stumble?
Ver. 13. That led them through the deep. ] Which threatened to swallow them, but indeed preserved them; so doth every main affliction.
As a horse in the wilderness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 106:9, Hab 3:15
Reciprocal: Exo 3:19 – General Exo 14:22 – the children Exo 14:29 – walked Exo 15:13 – led Jos 24:6 – Egyptians Psa 66:6 – He turned Psa 78:13 – He divided Psa 107:7 – he led Psa 136:13 – General Isa 11:16 – like as it was Isa 50:2 – I dry Jer 31:9 – in a
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
63:13 That led them through the deep, as an {o} horse in the wilderness, [that] they should not stumble?
(o) Peaceably and gentle, as a horse is led to his pasture.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
He had led them through every obstacle as their deliverer, and made them as sure-footed as a horse traversing open country.
"God’s power enables His people to go in confidence and nobility, not being overcome or falling because of any obstacles in the way." [Note: Young, 3:486.]