When I exegete a book, I tend to get very bogged down in the details and so, I decided to develop a series of a few short lessons on various books of the Bible, where I attempt to simply deal with the primary points of each verse without getting too bogged down in detail. Each lesson is 4–5 pages long and designed to be read at one sitting. Although it is always nice to have a Bible open when studying this, I have, in almost all cases, included the relevant Scripture within the study.

I anticipate that the study of the book of Exodus will be considerably shorter than the book of Genesis.

As these lessons are completed in real time, only the two sets of links are to be found.

Exodus 14:4c ...and I will gain honor over Pharaoh... (at this point, I return to the New King James Version, which is the default translation in this study)

God continues speaking to Moses. He says that Pharaoh’s negative volition and his actions will glorify God. How do I explain that? Pharaoh hates God; he hates Moses, and he would like nothing more than to destroy the Hebrew people. This proposed destruction of Israel would make Pharaoh appear to be a great man to his people, many of whom must want revenge for all that has happened to them. However, what Pharaoh will end up doing is, he will make God look great; he will glorify the God of the Hebrew people. Pharaoh’s power—his entire army—will be puny before God.

This is a point of confusion for many unbelievers. They think that God has the most massive of egos and He has this great need for people to recognize Him and praise Him. That is very human viewpoint thinking. This would be the view of a skeptic, superimposing his own thinking upon God. God does not think as we do.

Think about this: how is man saved? Today, by believing in Jesus Christ. When a person believes in Jesus, then God the Father is able to forgive man his sins and place him into Christ (= positional truth). In the Old Testament, salvation was received when one exercised faith in the Revealed God (Jesus is the Revealed God of the Old Testament). In that era, God is Revealed in many ways—one of those ways is by Him being glorified. It is not as if God has this ego which requires recognition; He simply wants many people brought into His kingdom. No doubt some or even many people believed in God, based upon this glorification over Pharaoh and over Egypt’s gods. And all those people who exercised faith in Him will enter into His eternal kingdom.

The glorification of God results in more people being saved; not fewer. God is glorified, but there is a reason for God to be glorified—to reach a maximum number of unbelievers so that He might be revealed to them.

Exodus 14:4d ...and over all his army,...

This is the Egyptian army, what remains of it; and God would be glorified by them. They would all drown; and this glorifies God. It means that the God of the Jews is greater than the military of Egypt and, logically, He is also mightier than their gods.

The Hebrew people themselves were enslaved. They had beaten into their mentality their position in life as slaves. So, they were not fighters. They were not warriors. If the battle was between Israel alone and the army of Egypt, the army of Egypt would annihilate the people of Israel. There is no question. And because Pharaoh had rejected Israel’s God, he saw no downside to attacking and destroying the people of Israel.

Now, speaking of these soldiers in Egypt, bear in mind, they had to be willing to follow Pharaoh. At this point, many of them possibly even opted out of this raid. They simply did not show up for work, having been so devastated (this is speculative, mind you). But many did respond to the call of Pharaoh, hoping to gain some kind of revenge over the God of the Hebrews. Their intention was not going to be to bring back their slaves; their desire was to slaughter the Hebrew people, whom they believed to be helpless and wandering. The narrative concentrates on the actions of Pharaoh and reveals his thinking; but bear in mind that Pharaoh is representative of much of Egypt. He could not gather an army without his people supporting him and his thinking.

Exodus 14:4e ...that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.”

The Hebrews left Pharaoh in his palace a beaten and destroyed man. Many in his position would have committed suicide by now and have ended it all. Such is all that is left to him as he refused to believe in and yield to the God of the Hebrews, Jesus Christ. However, God is giving him enough strength to continue on in his blind hatred of the Hebrews and of their God. God's purpose is to evangelize even more Egyptians; and to make His power known throughout that part of the world. People of that era would hear about these events and they would exercise faith in the God of the Hebrews.

Logically, Egypt would have had small outposts along its border, along with a system to communicate information from these outposts back to Pharaoh. All of this time, these outposts would have been reporting to Pharaoh the movement of the Israelites. Pharaoh may have even sent others to specifically watch the movements of the Hebrew people.

And then we read this:

Exodus 14:4f And they did so.

These are 3 words in the Hebrew text, literally translating to, And so / they were doing / thus. Who is they and what were they doing? They refers back to the Israeli peoples, and God told Moses to tell them, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and [tell them that] they [should] turn back and encamp before Pi-Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Ba‘al-Zephon; you encamp in front of it by the sea,...” This is the NKJV, but I have inserted the bracketed material.

God's directions to Moses are very specific. Because Moses is a genius in geography as well as in many other areas, Moses recalled in his writing exactly where God wanted them to be. This was a matter of being in God's directive and geographical will. Moses, knowing geography, understood that God was not taking them a direct route to wherever (Moses knows that he is not guiding the people towards Canaan, but he probably does not know where God intends to take them). The sons of Israel also suffered from hardness of the heart. Taking all things into consideration, God is leading the Israelites correctly, even though, at this point, it is unclear as to the eventual destination. Considering the heart of Pharaoh and the heart of the Israelites, this is the most direct route that they could take.

Exodus 14:4 (ESV) (a graphic); from Biblia; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:4 Then I will harden [or, strengthen] Pharaoh’s heart, so that he [and his army] will pursue them [the Hebrew people]; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they [the Hebrew people] did so [they did what God commanded Moses to command them to do back in v. 2]. (NKJV, with bracketed material from me)

Originally, Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew people to leave Egypt. However, now he is going to change his mind and pursue them. He has free will and he could have simply let the Hebrew people leave. However, Pharaoh, knowing the tactics of war, can see that he essentially has the people of Israel trapped, if he exploits the situation. If he wants to have revenge, now is the time to act (obviously, this is from Pharaoh’s point of view).

At this stage in the narrative, God has directed Moses to guide the people to a particular place, with the intent that Pharaoh would find out where they are and gather an army to quickly move against them.

In v. 5, the intelligence report comes to Pharaoh:

Exodus 14:5a Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled,...

Interestingly enough, we not only have a mandate from Pharaoh, saying, “Get out, you people of Israel;” but the citizens of Egypt gave gold and silver to the sons of Israel and they told them to leave as well (Exodus 12:30–33). The people of Israel moved out and quickly—so quickly that they did not even allow their bread to rise. However, the speed of movement of 2 million Jews is easily outmatched by the spies watching them and their communication system back to Pharaoh. The army of Pharaoh is using horses and chariots as their means of advance. They will move much more quickly than Israel ever could.

Even though all we have in this report is, the people had fled, one must assume, based upon God’s aforementioned strategy, the report must have also included the fact that they people of Israel appear to be aimlessly wandering. They appear to observers unable to leave the borders of Egypt because of the desert-wilderness. Their exact location would be given, and it is clear to the scouts (spies) and to Pharaoh that the Hebrew people are trapped. Or, more likely, given their current route, the Hebrew people are moving toward a place where they will be trapped.

There are a couple of verbs that I would like to examine here. The 3^rd person, masculine singular, Qal perfect of bârach (בָּרַח) [pronounced baw-RAHKH] and it means bolt, flee suddenly, drive away. Strong’s #1272 BDB #137. People is in the masculine singular, therefore it is the subject of this verb.

Pharaoh has been given additional strength by God in order to oppose Him. Every atheist alive is given the daily provisions and strength by God to actively oppose Him. All those who are negative towards God, including the insidious religious types, are given enough strength each day to oppose the living God. Pharaoh was a beaten man and God continued to strengthen his ability to actively oppose Him. Therefore, he was strong enough to change his mind about letting the Hebrews go. A weaker man—a man who had been beaten down—might have chosen to just ignore what was happening. “Do not concern yourselves with the Hebrew people—let them do whatever they want; let them go wherever they want.” is not what Pharaoh said. Pharaoh is no longer a weak man; God has given him the strength to act. But the direction of Pharaoh’s volition is on Pharaoh.

Exodus 14:5b ...and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people [of Israel];...

The verb here is the Niphal imperfect of hâphak^e (הָפַ) [pronounced haw-FAHK^e], which means, to turn oneself about; to be overthrown; to be turned, to be changed [mostly for the worst]. Strong’s #2015 BDB #245. Some would translate this, was changed. Although the Niphal is the passive stem, it can also stress the individual effect on each member of the group; it also is a verb stem which expresses progression or development. Pharaoh and his men have just allowed the Hebrews to leave and all of them have suffered the loss of their firstborn. In being together as they are, they begin to talk things over, to express their anger toward Y^ehowah and their hatred toward the Hebrew people. In this venting of their anger, they talk each other into changing their minds about the Hebrews and just allowing them to exit Egypt unscathed. They have lost their major economic commodity—their slaves. Therefore, Pharaoh and those who serve him are progressively changing their minds about they have allowed. In other words, they are dogs returning to their vomit.

The decision of Pharaoh and the Egyptians to send Israel out originally was the right one. His previous decisions to keep Israel in the land of Egypt were wrong decisions. After making the right decision, Pharaoh decides to revisit his wrong decisions. He is a dog returning to its vomit.

Messengers have come into Pharaoh, to tell him the position of the Hebrew people; and Pharaoh understands completely their vulnerable position (or, in the alternative, he has military advisors there who inform him of the situation the Hebrew people are in).

Sometimes servants can refer to Pharaoh’s immediate underlings; but I think this might be applied to all of his citizens. Pharaoh and the citizens told Israel to leave; but now, they are changing their minds. It seemed expedient to dismiss all of the Israeli people from Egypt. But now, they are rethinking their position, given the current location and movement of the Hebrew people.

For a month or two, God’s judgments against Egypt rained down upon them. It made sense to simply get these people out of Egypt. However, the people of Egypt have become emboldened and they are filled with anger and hatred and revenge motivation (a mental attitude sin cluster). Their desire will be to kill all of the Hebrew people. No matter what they say, they are not going out to recapture their slaves and bring them back. They are going out on a genocide mission.

Spies show pharaoh that the people of Israel are trapped (a graphic); from Free Bible Images; accessed January 26, 2022.

Exodus 14:5c ...and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

At this point, we have the 1^st person plural, Piel perfect of shâlach (שָלַח) [pronounced shaw-LAKH] and this means to send out, to send for, to send away. Strong’s #7971 BDB #1018. Context determines the direction, if you will, of the sending. This is in the Piel, the intensive stem, meaning that they were forced out, they were sent away, they were dismissed. They did not simply let the Hebrew people go; they demanded that they leave Egypt.

The final verb in this verse is the Qal infinitive construct, 1^st person plural suffix of ʿâbad (עָבַד) [pronounced ģaw^b-VAHD], which means, to serve. We have seen this verb in Exodus 12:31 13:5 and it means to serve, to work. Strong's #5647 BDB #712. The Hebrew people have gone from serving Pharaoh and the Egyptians to serving the Lord.

Exodus 14:5c ...and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

With his added strength, Pharaoh stands up, smites himself in the head, and says what have I done? His servants follow suit.

This is exactly what they thought: “What have we done? Why did we send Israel away from us?” So, here they are, after 10 severe plagues, and they are rethinking their position. They let Israel go; in fact, the people of Egypt actually told Israel to get out. And now, they are rethinking that decision.

For whatever reason, despite what God did to Egypt, Pharaoh and his people are feeling empowered, given where the Hebrew people are right now. In the view of the scouts, Israel is moving into a very vulnerable position.

Psychology is an interesting thing. It appears to me that Pharaoh and his military advisors and the messengers are meeting and discussing this situation; and it appears to me that they are working themselves up (remember, this is one use of the Niphal stem).

Exodus 14:5 Now it was told the king of Egypt [by messengers] that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants [Pharaoh’s military advisors] was turned against [or, changed towards] the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” (NKJV with bracketed insertions from me)

Now, on the one hand, they certainly have a point that they have allowed their slaves to escape and to leave Egypt. However, it will be clear by Pharaoh’s plan and by the execution of this plan that the army of Egypt was not going there to recover their slaves; they were going their to wipe this people out. The intention of this army is to destroy every man, woman and child.

Some of those close to Pharaoh spoke to him, and the question is, “How could we do this? How could we let all of our slaves go?” Bear in mind, whoever said this, had faced all of the exact same plagues that the rest of Egypt had. This entire month or more have been much more difficult for Pharaoh, because every time that he made a decision, he was making a decision for all of the people of Egypt. Let me suggest that the man who said this was a close aide to the Pharaoh; and he was a man who wanted revenge. His personal feelings were shared by the other people there.

Bear in mind, any one of these men could have said, “Do you not remember the destruction rained down upon us by their God? Should we not just let them go? They are in the hands of their God now.” But, that was not the reaction of anyone there, insofar as we know.

Exodus 14:5 Now it was told the king of Egypt [by messengers] that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants [Pharaoh’s military advisors] was turned against [or, changed towards] the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” (NKJV, bracketed portions added by me)

There is one more thing which needs to be considered: it sounds like their reasoning is all about losing Israel as a workforce and that they need to rethink that they allowed Israel to go. But they are not going to go after Israel in order to bring them back. They will go after Israel with the intention of slaughtering them. My point being, their reasoning is entirely erroneous. People in emotional revolt of the soul are unable to reason, and arguing with such a person is completely futile. They way that they justify their actions makes little or no sense.

Exodus 14:6a So he made ready his chariot...

I am assuming here that the subject of the verb is Pharaoh. He is the closest masculine singular noun in context.

The verb used here can mean a variety of things, but its basic meaning is to yoke, to hitch; and from that comes the meaning, to prepare. Context determines the proper application.

As is so often the case, when a person in authority is involved, Pharaoh may not personally prepare his chariot, but he would order it to be prepared.

Pharaoh is not simply sending his army out against Israel; he is going with them possibly in the lead.

Pharaoh knows that the Hebrews have doubled back once and that they were moving slowly and not in any sort of a straight course. He would rather slaughter these Hebrews than allow them to go. Therefore, he gets all of his people, those who still support him, to prepare themselves for war. The verb which is often translated made ready, prepare is the Qal imperfect of ʾâçar (אָסַר) [pronounced aw-SAWHR] and it means bind, tie, imprison. He was attaching his chariot to his horses; or binding the chariot to the horses. However, this verb also applies to his people. They were brought along under coercion—they were bound and imprisoned, so to speak. These Egyptians may not have had his strength, having endured the same torments and plagues that he did, but they were coerced into joining him. This does not mean that Pharaoh of himself was strong enough to coerce all of these men. They coerced one another using faulty arguments.

Exodus 14:6b ...and took his people with him.

Pharaoh is acting on intelligence that the Hebrew people do not seem to be going in the right direction and that they doubled-back at one point. Therefore, Pharaoh believes them to be wandering aimlessly. At this point, they appear to be in a place where they cannot go east (outside of Egypt), being trapped right there by the water. Therefore, he concludes that they are vulnerable.

Pharaoh assembles an army and leads them against the Hebrew people.

Exodus 14:6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him.

Had God not given him the strength, Pharaoh would have laid exhausted upon his bed, having trouble even getting up. However, because he has strength, he expresses his negative volition by hopping into his chariot with much of his elite army in tow.

Exodus 14:7a Also, he took six hundred choice chariots,...

The word which modifies chariots is the Qal passive participle of bâchar (בָּחַר) [pronounced baw-KHAHR]. It means, to choose, to try (test), to select. It is a verb, but in the participle, it acts as a verbal adjective. My impression here is that when he is about to mobilize his army, he puts together the very best chariots, having officers and high ranking warriors to man them, and then he finds that he has enough men who have come, many out of personal revenge, thinking that they can attack the Hebrews. However, they do not appreciate that their fight is really with God, and all their chariots for war will not be able to stand up against Him.

The more elite army is going to be those in chariots. These are their Navy SEALS or their Army Rangers. They have the very best and most modern equipment of the day. They believe that they can move quickly against their enemies, the Israelites, and destroy them. Furthermore, this ought to be easy because, as is well-known, these Israelites do not have weapons with which they may use to defend themselves. A well-trained and tightly-organized army should be able to destroy them completely. Given their overwhelming military advantage, they might not even have any casualties on the Egyptian side (which is probably what they are thinking).

Exodus 14:7b ...and all the chariots of Egypt...

Pharaoh is going to lead an army of elite chariots—they will be in the forefront—followed by the rest of Egypt’s chariot force. However, this portion of v. 7 may also be translated: ...every rider of Egypt,... The word translated chariot is the masculine singular construct of rekeb (רֶכֶב) [pronounced REH-khe^bv], which means, riders, cavalry; chariot; horses. It can refer to any part of the chariot assembly, including the rider/driver himself. Strong’s #7393 BDB #939. Let me suggest that a significant portion of Pharaoh’s attacking army would be these 600 chariots, having both riders and chariot drivers. There will be an additional force, also moving by means of chariots (I would assume that these are the older chariots).

From Manners and Customs of the Bible, we have the following description: The Egyptian chariot was a framework of wood, nearly semicircular in front, having straight sides and open behind. The front was of wood and the sides were strengthened and ornamented with leather and metal bindings. The floor was of rope net-work, to give a springy footing. The fittings of the inside and the harness were of raw hide or tanned leather. On the sides quivers and bow-cases were fastened, crossing each other. The wheels were low, have six spoke, and were kept on the axle by a leather thong or lynch-pin. There was no sea in the chariot. The number of horses to each chariot was two. The chariot of the king did not differ materially from ordinary war-chariots. He, however, usually rode alone into battle, having the reins fastened around his waist, leaving both hands free to manage his weapons of war. Jehu seems to have imitated the custom of Egyptian monarchs in driving his own chariot. See 2Kings 9:20.

Exodus 14:7c ...with captains over every one of them.

Some understand this to refer to 3 captains (over the entire Egyptian army, and under Pharaoh’s instructions). Perhaps this refers to men with authority in each chariot. Certainly, a well-organized army is going to have a chain of authorities.

Exodus 14:7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots [or, every rider] of Egypt with captains over every one of them.

Although one might understand there to be only 600 choice chariots and then all the manpower needed; my assumption is that, the Egyptian army has an elite chariot force, and a much larger, older chariot army.

Obviously, there were a significant number of horses who were kept under shelter during most of these plagues; and most of them survived.

An attack of a people on foot by a chariot army would be devastating. Chariots would have speed and mobility. They would find it easy to strike and slaughter their opposition at will. Human viewpoint told the Egyptian army that the Hebrew people would not stand a chance.

Chariot Attack on Israel (a graphic); from Free Bible Images; accessed January 26, 2022.

Exodus 14:8a And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt,...

Again, there is no need to think that God changed Pharaoh’s thinking. Pharaoh is not sitting in his palace, somewhat depressed, but with a few kind thoughts towards Israel; and then God comes along and gets Pharaoh all riled up about the Israelites again. God gave pharaoh the strength to exercise his volition. The hatred and anger was already there; God gave Pharaoh the strength to act upon his emotions.

An experience which hard workers have had: we have had work to do—a job that needed to be finished—and we are just about out of strength—we don’t think we can go on. Sometimes, something can give us just a little bit of strength—perhaps we sit down for 20 minutes or even take a 5 minute power nap or grab a cup of hot coffee (I have heard that there are these things called energy drinks)—and then we have the strength to complete the task. We needed something in order to finish what we started; and once we have this something (and I am not talking about dangerous stimulates here), we can finish it. This is what God has done for Pharaoh. God has given Pharaoh strength to do that which is already in his heart.

This is the last time that we will see our Lord strengthen the heart of Pharaoh. This is the word châzaq (חָזַק) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK] and it is used several hundred times in the Bible and usually translated strengthen, fortify, repaired, and only in this portion of Exodus do we find it translated harden over and over again. Strong’s #2388 BDB #304. What caused the translators to translate this word differently in the book of Exodus, we do not know. In any case, Pharaoh was not acting because he simply lacked the strength. Now, he has this strength, and so he acts.

Pharaoh knows what he has faced over the past two months and he has witnessed the power of Y^ehowah. He can fall to the ground and worship Y^ehowah out of fear and respect. However, Pharaoh seems to lose track of what he has gone through in the previous few months. How does this happen? His soul is so covered with scar tissue that cannot think straight with regards to the Hebrew people. His anger and mental attitude sins make it impossible for him to take an objective account of what he might be doing.

Have you ever known people to act irrationally? As an outsider, you observe their actions and you think, what is wrong with them? Can’t they see what they are doing? And, point in fact, they cannot. Mental attitude sins cover the soul with scar tissue so that they are unable to be rational about some things.

Pharaoh ought to realize that in advancing toward the Hebrew people, he will be facing their God. Given the 10^th judgment, could he not himself determine, “The next judgment will be the end of me.” But scar tissue makes him unable to consider this very logical outcome.

What Pharaoh and those who are with him understand is, they despise the Hebrew people and it will be sweet revenge for them to destroy the Hebrew people. All that has changed his this: Pharaoh did not have the strength to do this a few hours ago; but now he has the strength, which was given to him by God. He is supplying his own negative volition.

Exodus 14:8b ...and he pursued the children of Israel;...

It is already in Pharaoh’s heart to get Israel. He wants to harm them; he wants to hurt them. He did not have the strength earlier to act on his volition; but God has given him this strength. So Pharaoh chases after the sons of Israel. Now, quite obviously, he does not do this on his own.

Exodus 14:8c ...and the children of Israel went out with boldness.

All the while that Pharaoh is in his palace—being strengthened by God—the sons of Israel were on the move, away from Egypt, with great feelings of power and confidence.

Many translations are similar, that the sons of Israel go out with boldness; but this literally reads, with a hand lifted up or with a hand being held high. The Hebrews are moving forward with an uplifted hand. This is a way of saying that they were going forward boldly, defiantly. To understand that, recall the black power symbol of raising the clenched fist or the thing that some supporters of sports teams as they raise their hand with the outstretch index finger in the air, indicating that they are number one; or the driver that you just cut off in traffic and he raises his hand and middle finger with reference to you. This illustrates that the uplifted hand even up to today represents boldness and defiance.

Why is this mentioned? I believe that this is the picture which Pharaoh sees in his own mind over and over again. The people of Israel walking out of Egypt, with a hand held high in victory. Pharaoh sees this; he thinks about this; and his desire increases to destroy this people.

Exodus 14:8 (NIV) (a graphic); from Slide Player; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness.

The children of Israel are going out with boldness; and Pharaoh is going to lead his army, intent on destroying them all.

Pharaoh cannot let this go, despite the fact that every plague to come upon him and his country, he was warned about; and that he made decisions which resulted in the plague coming down upon them.

Pharaoh has been given renewed strength by God. His spies tell him that Israel appears to be lost and confused in the desert-wilderness. These things give Pharaoh the power to gather up an army of men who have the same revenge motivation. God did not plant Pharaoh’s mental attitude sins into his head; God simply gave him the strength to act on what was in his heart.

Exodus 14:9a So the Egyptians pursued them,...

Pharaoh has intelligence reports in hand. He knows exactly where the Hebrew people are. He believes them to be wandering aimlessly, and he knows that they have walked into a difficult situation, where they have water to their backs—a large enough body of water that they cannot cross over it. This strikes Pharaoh as very poor planning on the part of Moses, their leader. He may have completely discounted their God in his own mind at this point.

Exodus 14:9b ...all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.

Pharaoh does not hop on a horse to pursue the Israelites by himself—he gathers up his chariots, his horses, his chariot horsemen, and his army; and they all go together to beat down Israel for their defiance.

You will remember that, at the beginning of chapter, God had Israel change direction and double back. God did that, knowing that the sons of Israel were being watched, and this gave the impression to the casual observer that Israel was confused and uncertain as to how to proceed. Essentially, God was luring Egypt into a trap. The movements of the Israeli people was the bait. If the Egyptians were willing to let things go, then there is no trap. But they were not willing at this point. They wanted revenge. They were filled with mental attitude sins; and they were thinking irrationally. It is important to note that this was a significant portion of Egypt. It was not simply Pharaoh who wanted to act.

Theologically, this is important, because Israel is being led by a cloud-pillar by day and a pillar of fire by night—so how does God get it wrong? Did God get it wrong and decide, “Hmmm, better double-back here and let Me think about this some more.” It is this change of direction, initiated by God, that actually got Pharaoh thinking that he now has a chance to challenge and destroy Israel.

Pharaoh has two options at this point—simply let the Israelites go and expect that they will simply all die out in the desert; or, go after them and kill them one-by-one.

The Hebrews were roughly two million people, they had no chariots, and they were doubling back; so it was easy for Pharaoh to prepare and to catch up to them. This is what God had intended to occur. The Hebrews were at the edge of the sea, unable to cross over, camped out, not expecting the Egyptians.

Pi-hahiroth means mouth of the canals; which suggests that freshwater canals were run to this area for farming and personal use, and this had resulted in reeds growing up beside and it the canals. Its proximity to the sea and the unusual fact that there were papyrus growing near the sea caused this portion of the sea to be called the Sea of Reeds (or, it is just as possible that here the Hebrews had crossed over from a freshwater tributary to the Red Sea—I don’t know that they are that far from where they started). With what will occur, there is no doubt that the tidal wave produced by God spilled far out of the shores and ruined the canal system, if not the city.

J. B. Scott makes the argument that by comparing Exodus 14:2, 3, & 9 to Num. 33:7 that the Hebrews were perhaps even encamped on a large peninsula. It may have looked as though they had found a place to cross over, but they were unable to. They possibly had two large bodies of water on both sides of them and had march to a place where it appeared as though they might cross, but there was a raging river between the two salt lakes (this might have been above Lake Ballah or between Lake Ballah and Lake Timsah). And it is equally likely that the topology of the land in the area was totally changed by this tidal wave which is to come.

Or, in the alternative, they were going south and came to a place where the mountains moved into the sea, allowing them no passage. Their only option was to double back and try a different route (perhaps by going around the mountains).

To Pharaoh and his Egyptian scouts, the Hebrew people appear to be trapped, if the Egyptian army can get there in time.

Exodus 14:9 So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.

It is fascinating that where the Israelites were camping is laid out here so carefully, with two locations that we do not know today. The Israelites had lived in this area for the past 400 years, so some of them may have known all of these various nearby cities and towns. It is almost certain that Moses, given his education in the royal palace, knew these places and had a map in his head of where they were and where they had traveled. In fact, a travelogue will be written by Moses in Num. 33.

Here is what we do know: when the Egyptian army (the cavalry, the chariots and the infantry) moved toward the Israelites, it was clear that the Israelite people were in a trap and there was nowhere to go from this trap. Or, at least, this is how it seemed to Pharaoh.

Note that the negative volition is not simply exclusive to Pharaoh. He has an entire army behind him (or with him). How many of these men could have protested and said, “Haven’t we been beaten down enough as it is? Their God has killed our firstborn and pretty much all of our cattle and crops. Might not be smart to rile Him any more.” But Pharaoh’s army is filled with men with negative volition toward the people of Israel; and therefore, against their God. No doubt, their intention is to destroy the Hebrew people.

There was a clear choice that needed to be made. The people of Egypt needed to choose the people and God of Israel if they were to be saved. Insofar as we know, there was only a mixed multitude of those who did so (some of whom probably were Egyptian).

Exodus 14:10a And when Pharaoh drew near,...

Pharaoh has gathered up an army and chariots, so that they are able to move swiftly to where Israel is. We may presume that Pharaoh had eyes on Israel all of this time. The Egyptians from that area observed the movements of the children of Israel and reported them to Pharaoh. I make this assumption as, Pharaoh knows exactly what is happening with the people of Israel. A report of their movements was given to Pharaoh in vv. 3–5. His chariots will be able to quickly find the sons of Israel.

Exodus 14:10b ...the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them.

I would suggest at this point that the people of Israel were not expecting this. It would be reasonable that there were lookouts for this people, and, at some point, the lookouts are looking over the landscape, and they see and Egyptian army marching towards them.

The word here can mean marching, but it can also mean, pulling up [stakes], pulling out, breaking camp and moving out, setting out, making a journey. So, the Egyptian army was coming their way. Are they all in chariots and on horseback? Are there some infantry? We do not know; but it would be my guess that this is a very mobile army, moving quickly on horseback and by chariot.

Exodus 14:10c So they [the sons of Israel] were very afraid,...

This would be a time for applying faith-rest. The sons of Israel have observed God’s hand in moving them out of Egypt. Logically, if God has done this on their behalf, then God will continue to work in their lives. We have a similar principle expressed in Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV; capitalized) Beginning a good work in us is salvation. After salvation, there is spiritual growth, which is an option for every believer (however, we still maintain our free will after salvation and some believers never grow). Now, regardless of our failures or successes, God continues this good work into death and beyond, when we will spend eternity with Him.

But, instead of considering what God had done for them in the past, the sons of Israel enter into a state of fear, which short-circuits their spiritual lives. Once you have sinned, you are out of fellowship and useless to God. Your recovery is rebound—naming your sins to God. The believer has to wrest control of the soul away from the sin nature.

When something is in control of your soul—be it fear, alcohol, or drugs—you are unable to live the Christian life. The control of your soul has been given over to something else.

Exodus 14:10d ...and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

This first reaction from the Hebrew people was better than nothing. At least they realized, for a split second, that God had brought them to this place, and they cried God help, as people are wont to do when they are in a jam. Most people who cry to God for help have caused their own misery and their own problems. However, God did bring them to this place.

Pharaoh, having come upon them, was likely mustering his forces, arranging them to decide just how they would attack and slaughter the Hebrews. He was taking time to decide whether they should kill the men and let the children and women return with them into slavery; whether they should make an example of some of the men and save many; whether they should kill them all. Pharaoh knew the area and he knew the Hebrews were trapped. He did not have to do anything immediately and he knew that his army was absolutely intimidating. This gave Pharaoh a feeling of power; a rush of strength and invigoration. Even though I am reading some internal emotions and motivation into Pharaoh, I believe that my assessment of Pharaoh is reasonably accurate.

Exodus 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

The people did cry out in Exodus 2:23, but it does not say that they cried out to the Lord. Nevertheless, we read Num. 20:14–16 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: "Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. And when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. This passage indicates that some did cry out to the Lord back in Exodus 2. Moses says essentially the same thing in Deut. 26:6–8 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders.

I think the logical explanation is one of two: (1) When Israel is first said to cry out; when slavery had become so difficult, we could infer that they are crying out to God. Or (2) some of them cried out to God and some simply cried out, into the universe, if you will. However, all of them will be believers and looking to God (or to Moses) when they leave Egypt. For them to leave their homes and travel out of Egypt, this required faith. No doubt that, after the great plagues from God, all Israel exercised faith in God (which would explain why they did not suffer all of the judgments that God brought upon Egypt).

Moses himself on several occasions, will call out to the Lord (Exodus 15:25 17:4 Num. 12:13). We would expect this.

Exodus 14:9–10 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. (ESV)

Interestingly enough, the people of Israel will then say something which is quite clever.

Exodus 14:11a Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?

The panicked people, upon seeing the army of Pharaoh off in the distance, complain. “Have you brought us out into the desert-wilderness to die? Were there not enough graves in Egypt?”

This is a very odd thing to say, because it appears to take into consideration that God killed off the firstborn of the Egyptians. Because of the final plague, thousands would be buried in Egypt. Instead of coming up with this immensely clever thing to say, these complainers should have paused to consider the awesome power of their God. The problem was, they never put together the miracles which they saw with the words that Moses spoke, which should have led them to strong conclusions about the power and grace of their God. In fact, virtually every complaint lodged by the Exodus generation against Moses reveals a fundamental lack of faith in their God.

God’s manifestations to the people then and His manifestations to you and I today are different. The Exodus generation saw some incredible things. However, we today are not trapped in slavery, and God is not leading us out of slavery with great signs and wonders. However, what is happening to the Hebrew people historically is what happens to us spiritually when we exercise faith in Christ. They provide a parallel for us. We are in bondage to our sin nature, and God delivers us from that slavery—positionally, experientially and eternally. In fact, these 3 words correspond exactly to the 3 phases of our lives in Christ—phase 1 salvation (which establishes our position in Christ forever); phase 2 the Christian life (our lives experientially on earth in our human bodies); and phase 3 (eternal life with God). Every believer experiences all 3 stages of the Christian life. Some have a great life in phase 2 and others do not.

Now, just in case you are having trouble believing in this God, we have a parallel situation in United States history with regards to the slavery of the African people. Tens of thousands of Africans were brought to the United States as slaves; and do you know what happened in the southern slave states? Many of their masters taught these people the gospel of Jesus Christ; and taught them about faith in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, these slaves believed; and, we know by their spiritual music of the slave era that they believed strongly in Jesus Christ. Then what happened? God delivered them out of slavery, and God allowed them and their descendants to live in the greatest country on earth, the United States.

Furthermore, if you are a white Christian American, you should realize that much of God’s great blessing to the United States has been, in part, based upon the faith and practices of the early Black church in America (which, unfortunately, has left the truth and become far too politicized over the past 5 decades or so).

Back to our passage:

Exodus 14:11a Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?

At first, the people were thinking about God and they cried out to Him; but then they see Moses, and they decide to complain to him. The problem is with the focus of the Exodus generation. Rather than focusing their minds upon God, they are thinking about Egypt—and they seem to remember some weird, romanticized version of Egypt. 5 times we have the word Egypt (Egyptians) in vv. 11–12. That is a weird obsession for slaves to have who have just been freed from their slavery.

Have you ever, particularly when arguing with a spouse, thought about saying some that was quite clever, and you said it, even though it did not help the situation out a single bit and you knew it would not help out the situation (mostly anyone who is married can testify to doing that). But, it was so clever as to allow you to get your digs in.

This is actually a more clever thing to say than might appear on the surface. Recall that, when Israel was asked to leave Egypt, this was right after all of the firstborn of the Egyptians had died. Therefore, for the next few days, there would be mourning for the loss of these who died, and then they would be buried. If so many people died, then are there any graves remaining that might be used? Do you see what they are saying? These people might be in emotional revolt, but they are still very clever.

Exodus 14:11b Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?

They ask Moses straight out, why did you bring us out of Egypt? What was your purpose?

Several people are talking at once in this panic and they make these sarcastic remarks to Moses. These are the people who have witnessed these most incredible 10 plagues placed upon the Egyptians and they should realize that God has a plan for their lives and that God is leading Moses. However, in the past few days, they have done some backtracking and some wandering and some of them have begun to question whether Moses has any idea as to what he is doing. The first remark may have been thought up while pondering the significance of carrying with them Joseph's bones—who refused to be buried in Egypt.

Exodus 14:11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?

What they are saying is, Moses has taken them this far to let them die in the desert-wilderness. Despite the fact that this thinking lacks any sort of logic (people who are emotional rarely resort to actual logic), they still make these allegations. And because Moses is in the lead, they therefore blame him. Bear in mind that it is actually God who is leading them, so blaming Moses is illogical. But there is no logical in emotional revolt of the soul.

First they cry out to the Lord, but they also take time to get their digs in against Moses. These are insults which they engage in here.

Application: Why do we study this? And if you know how it turns out, why do you study it? This is because we apply the lesson here that, God had all of this planned out in eternity past. Rather than crying, complaining or thinking up clever complaints, the people of Israel should have their eyes open so that they can appreciate seeing what God planned our for them in eternity past. Life for us is the same way (and I fully appreciate that it is easier to say this than it is to exercise faith in God’s plan when we ought to).

Exodus 14:11 (ESV) (a graphic); from Bible Verses; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:12a Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone...

The elders of Israel did say this to Moses. Remember back on what we studied. Moses and Aaron showed up—seemingly out of nowhere—and they spoke to the elders and then they spoke to Pharaoh. They said, “God has said that you need to let His people go and worship Him in the desert-wilderness.” Do you recall how Pharaoh responded to that demand? Pharaoh not only refused, but he also gave them additional work to do. Previously, Pharaoh had farmers supply the straw (the chaff of the wheat and other grains), but after this request, he made the Israelite slaves find their own straw. The people were greatly burdened by this requirement, and they told Moses that it would have been better not to have interfered in the first place. Now they are reminding Moses of their original position. “Remember, we told you, just leave us alone!”

You may recall that we studied that particular meeting with Pharaoh twice—once from the human viewpoint, as is expressed here, and once from divine viewpoint. The divine viewpoint is, Pharaoh’s response was minor and temporary. What God did afterward made Pharaoh’s proclamation quite irrelevant.

So you see, these people have the ability to remember. What they are saying is quite true, but this is a very selective memory. Between that point of view, given to Moses and Aaron, and now, they Israelites have seen 10 judgments against Egypt, followed by God leading them supernaturally by pillars of fire and cloud. How can they focus in on what they said two months ago, and not think about all that happened between then and now?

Furthermore, prior to all of this—right before Moses came onto the scene—the sons of Israel had cried out in pain and frustration over their slavery. Did they not think that God would hear them?

We learn from those early chapters how God works. God could have killed every Egyptian on day one, pointed the Israelites in the right direction, and turn the land behind them into some great gaping hole, so that they had to keep on moving. But God does not work like that. God works through specific men and God requires people to make decisions.

It is also clear from these past 5 or so chapters in Exodus that the same stimulus can result in a variety of reactions. The Israelites and the Egyptians viewed the exact same plagues. The Israelites—at least in the beginning—trusted God and followed God’s servant (Moses). The Egyptians resisted these judgements up until the end.

The people of Israel see that they are boxed in, so they are worried that the Egyptian army will slaughter them all. They continue their complaint to Moses:

Exodus 14:12a Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone...

At first, Moses had the support of the elders; and therefore, of the people. However, when he went into speak to Pharaoh the first time, the Pharaoh shut him down and imposed heavier work restrictions on the people. As soon as Israel faced these difficulties, they complained to Aaron and Moses and told them that they made everything worse.

Exodus 14:12b ...that we may serve the Egyptians’?

The people said this after the first meeting with Pharaoh, when Moses and Aaron demanded that he let the people go. Pharaoh did not appreciate this demand so he put a lot of additional work on the people for even entertaining such a wild notion as going out into the desert-wilderness to serve their God.

Exodus 14:12a-b Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’?

This is the selective memory of the Israelites. Originally before Moses even came on the scene, the people were crying out due to being so overworked by Pharaoh.

God responded to their cries. But now, they remember things in a different way. They remember that Moses just showed up and started messing with everything. They contend that he should have just let them alone; that he should not have messed with their lives as he did. Simple logic, at this point, seems to elude these sons of Israel. Remember Exodus 2:23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. They are where they are now because God heard them crying out over their lives in Egypt.

They seem to be saying this to Moses: Listen, we were fine in Egypt; we had lives and we enjoyed them. Why did you inflict all of this on us?

There are two problems with this complaint: (1) The people cried out over their servitude prior to Moses coming on the scene; so their slavery, even before Moses came onto the scene, was quite harsh. (2) Their complaint completely leaves God out of the equation. Moses is not there simply because he felt like interfering with their lives. If it were up to Moses, he’d still be back tending his own livestock in Midian and taking care of his family. His life has been upended easily as much as theirs has. In fact, he had a much easier life before. He was free, he lived out in the country, he was married with two sons, and he spent a great deal of time communing with nature.

The people of Israel cried out for deliverance, and God sent them a deliverer. That is the big picture. Their response should have been, “If you are God’s deliverer, then show us what to do next.”

But, they do not say that. They just continue with their complaint.

Exodus 14:12c For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

The sons of Israel are completely at odds with the plan of God. They had no understanding of what was going on; and no faith in the faithfulness of God. Therefore, they could make such a preposterous claim.

Their slavery had gotten so bad that they called out for deliverance (Exodus 2:23) and the situation continued to degenerate (Exodus 5:6–9). However, even with how difficult their slavery was, they had absolutely no appreciation whatsoever for freedom and they were not willing to make any of the sacrifices which were necessary in order to provide freedom for themselves and for the generations that followed them. It seems like every sacrifice that God required of them caused the Hebrews to complain and occasionally to foment revolution against the very God Who bought them. This is certainly not a good start.

Furthermore, we will see that this generation of Hebrews, although they were saved, were really quite unappreciative of what God was doing. They have seen miracle after miracle and yet they continue to question God and the man that God put in charge.

People claim today that they would believe if God would only fill their lives with verifiable miracles. However, miracles mean nothing. We have many instances of intense miraculous activity where the percentage of those saved is no different than it is today. Furthermore, miracles do not cause any kind of spiritual growth. This comes from the study of God's Word. A person exposed to no miracles and no overt signs of God's provision can grow to be a much greater believer than one who has witnessed a thousand miracles. This is one reason why we do not see miracles in generation after generation (the chief reason is, God uses miracles to indicate big program changes).

Consider your own life. If you were saved 5 years ago or more and have been learning Bible doctrine, then certainly you can see that you life is on a much different trajectory than it was before you were saved. Does this mean that you have perfect faith in God? Does this mean that, no matter what life has thrown you, you have responded with divine guidance? As imperfect creatures, we fail, we stumble, we sin against God. And yet God is merciful and so many of us are enjoying great blessings in this life, despite our numerous imperfections.

Exodus 14:12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Do you see how illogical this is? The Israelites were crying out in pain and suffering as slaves to Egypt, which is documented in the book of Exodus. But now they are saying, “You should have just allowed us to remain in Egypt, serving the Egyptians.”

In these few minutes, the people also decide that serving the Egyptians would have been far preferable to dying where they are in the desert. Do you see how warped their thinking has become? They were crying out to be delivered previously from slavery; and, just because they are in a tight spot right now, that does not mean that they are going to die in the desert. In fact, the only reason these people will die in the desert is, they did not mix the promises of God with faith.

Their situation is this: there is water behind them; they have no direction that they can go in; and they see the Egyptians off in the distance riding towards them. They fully understand that, when the Egyptians catch up to them, they will kill them all. These are the same Egyptians that they are speaking so wistfully about. The same Egyptians who have enslaved them for hundreds of years, the same Egyptians who are about to slaughter them in the desert—these Hebrew people are speaking nostalgically about.

Exodus 14:13a And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid.

Moses tells them first, “You need to stop being afraid.” They cannot think while they are afraid; they cannot act while they are afraid. When your emotions control your soul, you cannot function spiritually. It is fine to have emotions—we all do. But your emotions are not designed to make decisions for you (which is the fundamental problem with liberalism).

To start out, Moses just needs these people to be quiet and to listen to him.

Recognize that Moses is speaking extemporaneously at this point. He has no specific guidance from God. First thing he knows is, he needs to tell the people to shut up and not be afraid. Fear never helps a situation. It only short-circuits the brain.

Exodus 14:13b Stand still, and see the salvation [or, deliverance] of the Lord,...

Moses orders the people to not fear and then he uses Hithpael imperative of yâtsab (יָצַב) [pronounced yaw-TSAHB^V]; which was the verb used of Moses and Aaron when they would station themselves before the Pharaoh when he was to go out for his morning bath. The Hithpael is the reflexive of the Piel so it is the intensive reflexive. This verb means, station yourselves, stand still, take your stand, stand up, stand here; take a stand. Strong’s #3320 BDB #426.

The Hebrews were running about expressing their fears, working each other up. They are continually expressing their disappointment with Moses and being out in the desert (actually, they were on the edge of the desert-wilderness). Moses tells them to stop being afraid and to stand still (and I would take the implication of shut up as well).

Moses says, “Obviously, you are afraid. Here is something that you should be able to do: stand still, don’t move; freeze right there.” When people are afraid, they often lose the ability to do anything; so Moses accommodates them here.

“All you need to do,” Moses tells them, “is to stand still watch God deliver you.” The sons of Israel did not have much going for them, but this is something that they could easily do.

I want you to notice what happened here. It does not appear that Moses said, “Hey, step back; let me commune with God, and I will get back to you on this.” Instead, Moses makes a determination about what God will do, right then and there without having to check in with God. Moses knows Who God is; Moses knows about the special bond between God and the Hebrew people. Moses has seen God act on behalf of this people 10 times; so there is no reason for him to think, “God may not do anything this time around. I am a bit worried.” I suspect that Moses is more irritated with the complainers at this point.

What Moses expects here is quite reasonable. If God is going to take Israel out of Egypt; and here they are, their backs to the sea, with no weapons, and here comes the Egyptian army—and these people are too petrified with fear to do anything—that leaves them with a single set of options: stand still, shut up and watch. Moses tells them, stop being afraid! Take a stand, stand firm, get a grip, get stabilized.

Now Moses is revealing some spiritual growth here—a great deal of it in fact. He has not panicked. He is not running to God crying for help. He knows that God made provision for this time in eternity past. Moses does not even know how God will deliver them; he just knows that God will. God has promises to fulfill to the children of Israel and God fulfills all of his promises.

The Hebrew people, on the other hand, are out of control, running around, crying to God, complaining to Moses; thinking of new and cleaver things to say to express their fear. Moses tells them to stop squirreling around like a bunch of babies and to stand fast; to take a stand; to hold their ground. Moses knows that there are not a lot of alternatives here.

If Pharaoh has the gumption to put together a huge army to pursue the Hebrews and the Egyptians are in chariots while many of the Hebrews are on foot, it is pretty obvious that the Egyptians are not just going to walk away and that they are not going to simply change their minds about attacking them. Right now, both the Egyptians and the Israelites are at a point of no return and the only way God can fulfill His promises to the Hebrews is for Him to annihilate the Egyptian army before their eyes. There is no clear alternative to this end result.

Exodus 14:13c ...which He will accomplish for you today.

Given all that has happened so far, Moses believes the promises which God has made to him. Therefore, Moses can logically expect God to step in at this time and do what needs to be done.

Let me guarantee you that Moses may have some ideas about what God might do, but he does not really know. There is no indication that God revealed to Moses some great plan at this point (although God has done that on previous occasions). It is simply logical that God would have to act on behalf of His people right here and now. Moses has faith in God; he trusts God and he understands God—at least in relation to the Hebrew people.

This is a fortiori logic: if God has done the most difficult thing already (He brought the people out of Egypt, despite every barrier in their way), then God can do the less difficult thing (which is, to rescue them right now as Egypt’s army draws near to them).

As believers, this is an important point of logic for everyday life. God has already done the greatest thing on our behalf; He has provided us with our salvation. Therefore, it stands to reason that God can do the lesser thing, which is to get us out of this or that jam that we are in right now.

At birth and for many years of our lives, we stood in natural opposition to God. We were born with a sin nature; Adam’s original sin had been imputed to us; and we all sin personally. Of all the enemies in life, there is not a greater enemy to have than God. We are inherently in rebellion against God.

Nevertheless, God, in His grace, overcame the barriers between Himself and us. There is no circumstance in our lives more difficult to deal with than the enmity between us and God. It is built into the equation of our lives from birth. Therefore, if God is able to deal with that, then His plan can take care of all difficulties that we face.

Exodus 14:13 (NLT) (a graphic); from I Live for Jesus; accessed January 5, 2022.

The people of Israel are trapped between the army of Egypt and a large body of water and possibly other natural barriers (like mountains). They believe that this marks their end as a people. They all expect to die.

Exodus 14:13a-c And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation [or, deliverance] of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.

The Israelites are upset. They have seen the Egyptians with their chariots and they know that, at any time, these Egyptians will come after them. And the Hebrew people have no place to run to, no place to hide. In their own minds, they will be the victims of a great slaughter.

Nevertheless, Moses makes this promise to them:

Exodus 14:13d For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

Moses sees exactly the same thing that his fellow Israelites see. However, Moses tells the people: “You will never see these Egyptian soldiers ever again. This is it; this is the end. You see them now; but you will never see them after today.” There are several adverbs and nouns in this phrase which indicate that the Hebrew people would never, no matter what, ever see the Egyptians again.

The Exegesis Companion Bible comes close to a literal translation: ...you see them never again any more eternally...

Why does Moses know this? Remember, he is just speaking off the top of his head. God has not communicated anything to him yet. God has not pulled Moses aside and said, “You need to calm these people down, and then I will tell you what to do next.” There are no words from God. This indicates to us that Moses is beginning to understand God and beginning to think like God.

As a result, Moses does not have to run to God for every single crisis (although, quite obviously, this is the greatest crisis for these people to date).

Exodus 14:13 (KJV) (a graphic); from Amazon; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation [or, deliverance] of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

Moses uses the verb râʾâh (רָאָה) [pronounced raw-AWH] three times in this single verse. The Qal imperative can be translated observe, watch or see ("Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD...). In v. 13d, we have râʾâh in the Qal perfect—the Egyptians are encamped right in front of them and they have nowhere to go. They have seen the Egyptians and they know they are not going away. This views the action in a completed state. The Egyptians right in front of them is an established fact; it is a given. Finally, this verb is accompanied by the lâmed preposition (to, for, in regard to) and the verb is in the Qal infinitive construct; it acts as a verbal noun. This time, râʾâh is preceded by the negative and the 2^nd masculine singular, Hiphil imperfect of the verb yâçaph (יָסַף) [pronounced yaw-SAHPH], which means to add, to augment, and often it is translated to continue to. This might be rendered with regards to them, you not continue to be seeing them again forever. Continue to and the negative means they will never see the Egyptians again. “Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord which He will do for you today. These Egyptians which you see right now, you will never see them again, ever.”

Moses reveals great confidence in God at this point, as well as a clear understanding of God’s character and intent. He knows that God did not haul all Israel out into the desert to die. Therefore, the only logical event which can occur next is God delivering His people from Pharaoh and his army—somehow in some way.

Moses likely has no idea what God has in mind at this point; but he had seen a series of miracles and signs, which lead to the people of Israel leaving Egypt—and so he continues to trust God. He does not know what God is going to do; he is certain that God will solve this problem.

Bear in mind that Moses’ life is on the line as well.

Moses is almost at the point where he can sit back and think to himself, “This is fascinating! I wonder how God is going to get us out of this jam?”

Application: This describes, in many ways, our lives today. God gives us a little doctrine; and we apply it. God gives us a little more doctrine and then we apply that. At some point, we will be in a jam, we will be under great pressure, or it will appear that the world is about to fall in on us—and what is the solution? Faith in God, faith in His Word; and faith in the doctrine which is resident in your soul (assuming that there is any).

Application: God has not told you how He is going to deliver you in advance. We have all been in difficult circumstances, and, in many cases, we have seen God deliver us out of those circumstances. This does not mean that God’s deliverances are going to be as spectacular as what we are studying here; but, if God can deliver the Hebrew people as described here, a fortiori logic then tells us that He is able to deliver us as well. (The a fortiori logic is, if God can do something as great as deliver the Israelites here, then He is able to do the lesser thing of delivering us from whatever personal jam we are in.)

Application: Just so there is no misperception here—the sons of Israel are in a time period when the canon of Scripture is not complete; and they have seen a great many signs and wonders. That is not our life. You are not going to be tripping over some great miracle every few steps. In fact, most believers today experience nothing even remotely resembling a miracle. That is fine; that is normal. God is not going to curse you with frogs; and God is not going to push aside the waters of a sea, so that you can walk across the bottom of where that sea used to be. That co-worker that you cannot stand—God is not going to strike them dead with lightning on some golf course.

What God has been doing thus far in Exodus is quite an amazing set of miracles and signs. That is because, the formation of Israel as a nation is one of the most important events in human history. Therefore, God is going to mark this event in such a way to make it incredibly memorable.

God is not going to take you and make a nation of you and your seed. 400 years later, God is not going to extract all of your ancestors in one nation and place them in another land. This happens one time in human history; it is an extraordinary event. Even just to read about. Therefore, these miracles are specific for a unique event in human history. An amazing God-caused event is called for at this time.

Application: When it comes to our own lives today, we need to lower our expectations considerably.

Application: It is a serious mistake for the believer in the Church Age to be a miracle chaser, to speak in tongues, to think that your church will hold healings at the front of the building, and that many people will believe as a result. These things really did happen in the past; and the God of 2000 years ago is the same God today. But, that does not mean that He has the exact same program today as He did 2000 years ago.

The fundament differences are two: (1) we have God the Holy Spirit with us from the moment of salvation; and (2) we have the complete canon of Scripture. These two things have never happened before. The canon was closed out in a.d. 95; and the miracles and the signs of the early Church Age began to die out only a few decades after that first Pentecost of the Church Age (there are actual examples of these gifts disappearing in the epistles).

Moses reassures the people:

Exodus 14:14a The Lord will fight for you,...”

A fortiori logic—God has already done the greatest thing, to get the people out of Egypt. Now, the lesser thing is, these Egyptians are on their tails, in chariots. Now, who is greater? God or the Egyptian army? Moses knows the answer to that, even if his people do not. Getting Israel out of Egypt in the first place is the great thing; keeping them safe afterwards is the lesser thing.

Moses does not have to be keyed in by God as to what He is going to do next. He knows that God must—based upon His promises and works—deliver Israel. “Right now,” Moses said, “We are going to stand and watch what God does.” Specifically, Moses, at this time, could not tell the Israelites exactly what God was going to do. However, Moses knows that the people will be able to see God fight for them.

Application: If Moses, the greatest man of his generation, a man close enough to God to hear God’s voice, does not know exactly what is coming next, why do we think we should?

Exodus 14:14b ...and you shall hold your peace.”

Chârash (חָרַש) [pronounced chaw-RASH] has two disjoint meanings. It means engrave, plough, fabricate and it means to be silent, speechless. It is likely two different words which are spelled the same but mean entirely different things (this is how BDB presents these words).

“Here is all you have to do,” Moses tells them, “Shut up, stand still and watch.”

These Hebrews are out of control with panic. They keep running up to Moses and they keep yelling out clever lines and slogans; and behind them, a hundred other voices are chiming in, yeah, tell it, right on.

What does Moses tell the people to calm down and hold their peace? Why not just let them do whatever, and let God surprise them with the magnificent solution? Fear and being controlled by emotions are sins—obviously, God does not need 2 million people filled with mental attitude sins at this moment. And, secondly, Moses expects there to be instructions from God as to what to do. There has to be some calm, some control in order for Moses to relay this information to the people.

Exodus 14:14 (NIV) (a graphic); from Etsy; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Moses knows that his people have no real weaponry; no ability to fight against a well-armed and well-trained army. Therefore, God would have to fight for them. God has no other choice. Moses does not know exactly how God is going to do this; he simply knows that is the only option.

In the book of Genesis, we find that there is a special bond between God and the Hebrew people. Moses has seen with his own eyes that God has brought this people out of Egypt, utilizing great power. Therefore, God is not going to allow them to be suddenly wiped out.

What do these people need to learn? They need to watch what God does. They need to look at what happens with their own eyes—and each one of them will experience what God will do for them—and they need to think about that. They need to take this information about God into their souls and believe it.

Then, something interesting takes place. After saying all of this—and what Moses said is dead-on accurate—he apparently goes to God and cries out to God (we assume this, based upon what God says to Moses).

Exodus 14:14 (ESV) (a graphic); from World Challenge; accessed January 5, 2022.

In between v. 14 and v. 15, Moses communed with God, and he is apparently quite upset. When God asks, “Why do you cry to me?” the verb is in the 2^nd person masculine singular. So God is speaking specifically to Moses.

Exodus 14:15a And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me?

You is the 2^nd person masculine singular; so God is speaking to Moses in particular, “Why are you crying out to Me in distress?” So, even though Moses appears to have it all together in the previous two verses, it is clear, by God’s words, that Moses is experiencing some personal anxiety over this situation. Obviously, he has no clue as to what will happen next.

In the alternative, Moses represents the people to God, and the people of Israel are crying to God through Moses. However, I think that is a convoluted way of reading this.

What seems to be clear is, Moses has prayed to God—in fact, he might be somewhat emotional and possibly even in a bit of a personal panic, given the verb that God uses.

The verb is in the imperfect tense, and here, it is an Ingressive imperfect. Moses has told the people what to do, but then, he gave his own words 2 minutes thought, and he is beginning to panic. Apparently, Moses, talking to God, says, “Listen, Lord, this is what I have told Your people; but now I am beginning to panic. What should we do?” God replied, “Why are you beginning to cry out to Me (in panic)?”

Moses thought he had this figured out. The sons of Israel were to shut up, stand at attention and watch. But this is not exactly what God wanted them to do. God has specific instructions for His people. Ideally speaking, they are ready to hear these instructions.

Exodus 14:15b Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

God then tells Moses, “Command the sons of Israel to move out.” This is certainly problematic because behind them are the Egyptian troops and right in front of them is the sea (we do not know which one). My impression is that they are at a section where the waters are partially surrounding them. They have no weapons to speak of, at this point. So, where exactly are they going to move out to? Straight ahead is water.

Exodus 14:15 And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

Although it is not written, Moses turned to God. What Y^ehowah said is interesting. It is almost insulting. Moses has, without talking to God, told the Hebrews to stop talking and to watch God's deliverance. This is good. Moses does not have to consult God for this. It is a logical conclusion based upon God's promises. God wants Moses to take this a step further. The Hebrews have no weapons, so they cannot turn around and march against the Egyptians; they are trapped where they are, so the only thing they can do is to march forward, away from the Egyptian. This means that they would be marching right into the sea. This is somewhat tongue in cheek. What do you think you are going to do? You are marching away from Egypt; get up and start marching! Furthermore, it is obvious in which direction the children of Israel are to go—the pillar of the cloud is in that direction (compare Exodus 14:19). At this point, Moses has no idea whatsoever as to what God plans to do.

Remember how the people were being guided by manifestations of God: And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Exodus 13:21–22; ESV) Therefore, God had a direction for them to move in. Apparently, they had stopped.

God then gives Moses some specific instructions.

Exodus 14:16a But lift up your rod,...

God is nothing if not theatric. I say this, regarding this matter, as there are two million Israelites here (as well as the Egyptian army). For them to see and all appreciate what God does, it has to be big. Throughout the Scriptures, the signs, miracles and wonders which God does are always audience appropriate. Therefore, since we have an audience of 2 million, what God does will have to be quite spectacular. It has to be something that all 2 million can see with their own eyes.

Let me suggest an alternate miracle: God suddenly kills all of the Egyptians. Boom. All dead. It is simple, it easy, it is clean. So, why doesn’t God do that? Four reasons: (1) It is less spectacular; (2) this would not be actually seen by all 2 million Israelites. (3) The Egyptians would be given no chance for a last minute act of repentance (a change of mind). (4) Where exactly would the Israelites go from this point? They would pretty much have to backtrack quite a number of miles, and at what point would they cross the waters? My point is, if some sat down and thought about this, and what God could do, some approaches would be rejected—pretty much for these four reasons.

Exodus 14:16a But lift up your rod,...

It is going to be clear that God will exercise His power through Moses. Moses will take that staff in his hand and lift it up. No doubt, the people are aware of Moses’ staff and that it was used prior to this for many of the plagues. They may not have seen him do this, but nearly all of the Hebrews know what he did. So now, Moses is to lift up his staff—suggesting that God is about to act.

As before, Moses is not causing anything to happen. God is making these things happen. Moses is essentially signaling to the people where to look.

Exodus 14:16b ...and stretch out your hand over the sea...

Moses is to stretch out his hand over the sea. I picture this as his hand with the staff in it. But, he could be lifting up the staff with one hand, and stretching out his other hand towards the sea.

In any case, this is done so that many of the Hebrew people can see what Moses is doing; and he is directing their attention to the sea. They have been marching towards the sea, God tells them to pick up and keep marching; and now Moses raises up the staff over the sea.

Exodus 14:16c ...and divide it.

Quite obviously, there is nothing in Moses’s staff or in hiw own personal power that will divide the sea. Only God is able to do that. Moses is going to point out where the people should all look. God will divide the sea, so that the waters will pile up on this side and that side, as if they are stalks of grain.

I thought that this might be the same word for divide has we found in Gen. 1 where God separated the land from the sea, but this is a different word. We have here the 2^nd masculine singular, Qal imperative, 3^rd masculine singular suffix of bâqaʿ (בָּקַע) [pronounced baw-KAHĢ] and it means break open, break through, rip open, divide. Strong’s #1234 BDB #131. God is going to break through, or break open or divide the sea before Israel.

Exodus 14:16d And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

The sons of Israel will go through the midst of the sea walking on dry ground. They are to go forward, towards the sea, and the sea will be divided, allowing them to walk along the sea’s bed.

Dry ground is a word which means exactly that. God has given Moses the direction to send his people in. What God is telling Moses to do is totally unprecedented. However, Moses has seen enough miracles so he knows enough doctrine to trust God now.

Moses strikes a very familiar figure and the Israelites will know who he is from afar off. They will know his staff and they will watch him raise up his staff and his hand; and they will see the sea part. We do not know if the Egyptians can see any of this. At this point, I doubt it.

Exodus 14:16 But lift up your 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.

God tells Moses what to do. Notice, again, that this is very theatrical. Everyone’s eyes will be on Moses all the sons of Jacob will see it. So, God does not just simply divide the waters—again, He makes it known that He is working through Moses.

Like all of God’s miracles, this miracle is very crowd-specific. What I mean is, every person there will experience this miracle. They may not be able to see Moses holding up his staff, but every single man, woman and child is going to walk across the ground where a water way had been, moments previous (or however long this process took, whether it be a few minutes or a few hours).

Exodus 14:14–16 (KJV) (a graphic); from Pinterest; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:17a And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians,...

Again, we have the word châzaq (חָזַק) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK], which means, to strengthen. Egyptians here refers to the army of Pharaoh. This army has nothing but a desire to inflict harm upon the Israelites; this army is out for revenge. They are not going to bring these people back as slaves; they plan to kill every one of them. God will give the Egyptian army the strength in their souls so that they may act upon their desires. God does not put those desires in their souls; God gives them the strength to act.

Both Moses and the sons of Israel will need to be focused upon God and what He is doing. First of all, He has given the Egyptians the strength to exercise their volition against Israel. Remember, the firstborn in every household has died; and every household is in mourning. Their grief over the loss of their firstborn brings many families to a weakened state. Therefore, it requires great strength for them to suddenly reassume their positions as soldiers and to come after the sons of Israel. Their natural state at this time would be one of mourning. However, their hatred for the Hebrew people is stronger than their mourning. God did not place the hatred in their souls; God simply gave them the strength to act upon mental attitude sins in their souls.

Illustration: We have a modern view of this in the Palestinians today, who have souls filled with hatred for the Jews (not every Palestinian, of course). This anger foments and causes them to do things which result in great harm to themselves. As has been said, “They need to come to a point where they love their children more than they hate Israel.” As long as their hatred is stronger, there will be no peace for them.

God is speaking to Moses, telling him what he needed to do; and telling him what the Egyptians were going to do.

Exodus 14:15 The LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.

For the Hebrew people to go forward, they would be marching into the sea.

Exodus 14:16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. (ESV; capitalized)

If the people are to march forward, the sea must be removed.

Exodus 14:17a And I indeed will harden [lit., strengthen] the hearts of the Egyptians,...

God does not turn the Egyptians against the people of Israel. God is giving them the strength to exercise their negative volition towards Israel and towards God. Pharaoh gave the clarion call to his soldiers to come out against Israel (now, far out of their sight). God gives them the strength to respond. Instead of sitting at home in mourning for their firstborn and the destruction that they had all faced, the Egyptians had the strength to get up with the intention of avenging themselves.

Exodus 14:17b ...and they shall follow them.

They is the Egyptian army; and they follow them, the Israelites, into the sea (or, where the sea used to be). This has not taken place yet. God is describing what would happen in the near future.

Israel appears to be going down into the midst of the sea to walk along the sea bottom. The waters will be stacked up on both sides of them. The Egyptians will see them do this. Therefore, the Egyptians will follow right after them.

All of these soldiers know that the God of the Hebrews is a God of great miracles. No doubt, they realize that Israel is walking where there used to be water. However, no Egyptian in pursuit of Israel appears to stop and call out, “Listen, this could be a trap!”

Instead, what they see before them is 2 million unarmed people, moving forward, retreating from the Egyptians, leading their livestock and carrying all of their possessions. They are seen as sitting ducks by the Egyptian army. The Egyptian soldiers no doubt understand that their purpose here is to slaughter the people of Israel en masse. This is not a battle they are about to engage in, but a slaughter. The Egyptians are filled with hatred and blood-lust at this point. God has given them the strength to act according to what is in their souls. They have no intention of capturing their slaves and bringing them back.

Exodus 14:17c So I will gain honor over Pharaoh...

In this verse is the 1^st person singular, Niphal imperfect of kâbêd (כָבֵד) [pronounced kaw^b-VADE] and it can mean to be heavy, to be weighty and burdensome; but it can also mean to honor, to glorify. Strong's #3513 BDB #457. There appears to be quite a distance between these two sets of definitions. Context determines the meaning. The BDB in this case lists it as one word but with both sets of meanings. The Niphal is the passive of the Qal; however, the function of the Niphal can be more complex than simply being a passive verb. The Niphal can also describe action which is in progress or development. This is likely an aspect of the usage here. God will receive glorification and this glorification is an ongoing thing. As groups of people hear more and more about Egypt and what occurred in Egypt, the more God is glorified over Pharaoh and his chariots and his armies and his horsemen. A simple translation would be, “I will receive honor...”

God is speaking here, and that He would be glorified by Pharaoh. This means that God will be acknowledged and observed to be Who He is—the God of the universe.

God does not do this because He has some massive ego which requires massaging; God does this so that the sons of Israel will know that they can trust in Him and in His power. Furthermore, other peoples of other nations are able to, based upon reports of what is taking place, recognize God, as He has revealed Himself in Israel, is the Entity in Whom they should all believe.

Exodus 14:17d ...and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.

In vv. 17 & 18, chariot is actually in the singular. It is speaking of his mobilized force (singular) as opposed to the individual chariots, as in Exodus 14:25–26.

All that the army of Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen—they will all glorify and honor God. It is not what they want to do; but it is what they will do. These things are meant to be the glory of Egypt of the glory of Pharaoh, but God will, by the events of this chapter, be glorified by these things instead. Their negative volition, their actions against Israel, and their final defeat—all of these things glorify God. In fact, God will use these things and even Pharaoh to glorify Himself.

Illustration: In the 1940's, Adolf Hitler had one of the greatest, most disciplined armies in the world; and he was allied with Japan, whose army was vicious and unrelenting. But their were two problems: Hitler was also intent upon destroying the Jewish (Hebrew) people and Japan worshiped false gods. God would not tolerate either of those things for long.

Illustration (continued): God was certainly not going to allow Hitler to destroy the Jewish people. So God was glorified both by the defeat of the German army (and the rescue of the Jewish people from the concentration camps which had been established). God also allowed for a defeat of Japan so complete, that they placed themselves under complete subjection to their American enemies. These defeats glorified God. Many Jews were rescued and many in Japan turned toward the God of the West. General MacArthur, when he ruled over Japan, called for Americans to send Bibles and missionaries to Japan. Even to this day, about 20% of Japan is considered Christian; and they remain one of our greatest allies.

Illustration: For about 20 years, the United States army was in Afghanistan. Although many of the soldiers wanted to share their faith in Jesus with the people there, our government worked against that (this was true in both Iraq and Afghanistan). As a result, the countries of the United States and Afghanistan are not closely allied (and never will be). We may have a variety of reasons for taking our armed forces into another country; but if Jesus is not a part of it, then we are wasting time, lives and treasure. There are legitimate reasons to go to war; but if God is not glorified, then warfare will accomplish very little.

Application: We are in a precarious position as a nation today (I write this in 2022), and our future looks quite bleak. This has happened many times in the history of the United States. When we turn toward God—which people did a large numbers before, during and after World War II—God delivered us. The relationship between the United States and God is key to our future. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2Chronicles 7:13–14; NASB)

Exodus 14:17 And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them [the Hebrew peoples]. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.

God continues speaking to Moses, telling him all that will happen next.

By hardening the hearts of the Egyptians, God is not changing their volition. The Egyptians are not hanging around talking about how much they like the Hebrew people and God steps in to change that. God strengthens the resolve of the Egyptians, who are angry with the Hebrew people. They hold them responsible for all that has happened. Their intent and desire is to destroy the Hebrew people. God does not put that into their hearts; God gives them the strength and resolve to do what they want to do.

Exodus 14:18a Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord,...”

Let me suggest, that, as the Egyptians follow the sons of Israel onto the dry ground of the bottom of the sea, that some of them will actually believe in the Revealed God, the Y^ehowah of the Hebrews. I don’t doubt that there will be Egyptians in heaven from this time period and from this very incident.

Exodus 14:18b ...when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

And the actions of Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen will glorify God. God has said what would happen; they will do this in front of the eyes of the Hebrew people; and for many centuries to follow, God’s power was respected for what He did here.

There are still Egyptians who are alive at this time who are watching from the city gates; those who chose not to accompany Pharaoh in this endeavor. There are still Egyptians scattered throughout Egypt watching and listening for news. So are families whose husbands have gone to war against the Hebrews—that makes it sound too noble—they have gone out to slaughter the Hebrew people. Others are men who refused to participate, but had not yet believed in the Revealed God (Jesus Christ). This means that there is still some evangelization to take place. This final episode will cause evangelization throughout the entire world, which I believe will include some Egyptians.

Exodus 14:18 Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

I would assume, at this point, there are other Egyptians, not a part of the army, watching all that is transpiring, watching to see the sons of Jacob crushed. This is their desire as well.

All of this that we have studied between vv. 15–18 is God speaking to Moses, telling him what would take place. The emphasis is upon what Moses is to do and how God would be glorified by the Egyptian army (which army God will destroy).

We now leave the point where God is speaking to Moses to the series of events which correlate to that. The narrative which follows picks up at that exact point.

As an aside, this is a literary technique which is used in many books and movies. Someone narrates what is taking place (usually in the past) and, without any fanfare, the narration by someone turns into the actual event itself, playing out. The Bible does this on many occasions. I suspect that the Bible is the first book to ever do something like this.

Exodus 14:19a And the Angel of God...moved...

In this passage, there are two entities—the Angel of God and the Pillar of the Cloud. Both represent two Members of the Godhead. The Angel of God is the 2^nd Member of the Trinity and the Pillar of the Cloud is God the Father. Or, we might understand each one as being a manifestation of the Revealed God.

Whether two Members of the Godhead, or two manifestations of the Revealed God, the Angel moves from where He is.

Now, in all reality, God is everywhere—He is omnipresent. He is immanent and transcendent. However, He also chooses to manifest Himself in particular ways in a particular place for particular purposes.

Because of what is going to happen, I believe that each manifestation represents a different Member of the Godhead—the Angel of God is the Revealed Member of the Trinity; and the Pillar of the Cloud is God the Father guiding and protecting the people (or vice versa; I do not see any overwhelming evidence as to Who is Who).

Exodus 14:19b ...Who went before the camp of Israel,...

The Angel of God was in front of Israel, guiding them. At this point, Israel has stopped and they are camped in a place where they have water in front of them and Pharaoh’s army behind them. The Angel of God leaves His place of going before the people of God.

Exodus 14:19c ...and went behind them;...

The Angel of God was in front of the encampment of Israel, but now He goes behind them. Again, all of this refers to the manifestation of God—Who is able to manifest Himself in a diverse number of ways and forms.

Exodus 14:19d ...and the pillar of cloud went from before them...

Israel followed the Pillar of the Cloud, Who led them in the daytime. Night is coming upon them and usually, the Pillar of the Cloud gives way to the Pillar of Fire. However, now, the Pillar of the Cloud moves from where He usually is.

Jesus Christ is the visible member of the Trinity and He was guiding them as the pillar of cloud and as the pillar of fire (that would make the Angel of God, God).

Moses, once he organizes the Israelites, will lift up his hand and stretch it out over the sea and they will march toward the sea. The pillar of the cloud was in that direction, indicating that was the direction for them to move in. Pharaoh and his army are standing behind Israel making a plan of attack. They are not in any sort of a hurry because the Hebrews are trapped between them and the sea. This allows Pharaoh's men all the time they need to think about this. God now places the pillar of the cloud between Pharaoh and Moses and between their respective peoples.

Exodus 14:19e ...and stood behind them.

The Pillar of the Cloud was leading the sons of Israel at night. However, that night, It moves in right behind the encampment of Israel, stationing itself behind Israel and between the two camps. By this, God gave cover to the Israelites as they pulled up stakes and walked to where the sea used to be.

At this time, the camp of Israel and the army of Pharaoh are not too far from one another. In front of Israel is a large body of water called the Sea of Reeds. Somewhere, not too far behind is the army of Pharaoh.

Exodus 14:19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.

Usually, wherever the pillar of cloud was seen, that was the direction that the Hebrew people were to go in. That will not be the case here.

The Angel of God is Jesus Christ is the Old Testament. He is the manifest Person of the Godhead; He is the Person who interacts with the Hebrew people.

The pillar of cloud both guides and protects the Hebrew people.

In v. 19, the Pillar of Cloud was first leading them, but then it moved behind them, to stand between the people and the Egyptian army. To the Egyptian army, this probably appears to be a heavy fog suddenly descending upon them.

Exodus 14:20a So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel.

Came is the 3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect of bôwʾ (בּוֹא) [pronounced boh], which is a very common Hebrew verb. It means, to come in, to come, to go in, to go, to enter, to advance; to attain. Strong’s #935 BDB #97.

In the English, it is proper to have the word between just once. In the Hebrew, this is a preposition which is generally found twice, but meaning, in between X and Y.

The word translated camp is machăneh (מַחֲנֶה) [pronounced mah-khuh-NEH], which means, camp, encampment; an army camp; those who are camped [army, company, people]; the courts [of Jehovah]; the heavenly host. Strong’s #4264 BDB #334. Even though Israel did not see itself as an army, God certainly did.

So, there is the encampment of Egypt and the encampment of Israel, but the Pillar of the Cloud and the Angel of God are standing between them. In front of the camp of Israel is the Sea of Reeds.

Exodus 14:20b Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one,...

The NKJV translation above is fine, but the words to the one are not there. This does not mean that it is wrong to insert these words. Brenner’s mechanic translation above gives a fairly good reading of the original Hebrew; and Webster suggests which additional words help us to understand what is meant by the Hebrew.

Exodus 14:20c ...and it gave light by night to the other,...

Again, the NKJV translation above is fine, but the words to the other are also not there.

Exodus 14:20b-c Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other,...

V. 20b and 20c are very difficult to translate. Literally, it reads: So there is the cloud and the darkness and so light to the darkness.

If you read these two partial verses without the added words of the NKJV, and that is pretty much what you are left with. Those additional words are necessary in order to sort this out.

V. 20b appears to correlate with the camp of the Egyptians (named first) and v. 20c seems to correlate with the camp of Israel (named second).

If you want to see each and every Hebrew word and the morphology, see Exodus 14 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). I may have made it more confusing by what I revealed.

Exodus 14:20b-c Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other,...

I will go with the NKJV translation (directly above) and use that for the basis of my explanation. Most people would prefer not to give so much thought to this. However, when doing my own set of translations for this passage, I had to give a great deal of thought to each and every word in this section.

Because the Angel of God and the Pillar of the Cloud are between the two camps, one camp cannot see the other. The camp of the Egyptian army cannot see anything. They cannot see which way to go nor can they see the Israelites. However, this does not panic or confuse either group. It is night, this probably seems like a fog, and they are in the right position to keep Israel trapped. From the Egyptian side, nothing seems unusual or amiss. For some of the Egyptians, they are possibly fantasizing about the wholesale slaughter they want to do the next day.

When the Hebrew phrase is taken by itself, it is unclear whether the light was provided just for Israel (as it appears to be here) or if this was true for both camps. When we take these two phrases together, God appears to be keeping the Egyptian camp in darkness and He is giving light to the Israelis. In additional to all this, the one camp was unable to see the other because of the Pillar of the Cloud.

Both camps being unable to see one another benefitted Israel in two ways: (1) the Egyptians could not see them, see what they were doing and attack; and (2) the Israelites could not see the Egyptians, and so were less anxious about their situation.

Why are these specific events taking place and why does God do this and why is this recorded by God the Holy Spirit? God is giving time for the people of Egypt and time for the sons of Israel to consider themselves and their relationship to the Revealed God. The Egyptian army had moved fast, but now it is night—yet with some light—and although they had seen the people of God, they cannot see them now. They can hear the waters of the Sea of Reeds. During this time, the Egyptians have time to consider what they are doing. They have time to think about what has happened up to the point in time.

Every single Egyptian has seen with his own eyes the 10 great judgments Israel’s God brought upon them. They experienced each of these judgments personally. Ideally, some actually pondered this and what they were doing. Others in the Egyptian army, thinking about those things, only wanted revenge against Israel and her God.

In any case, there is a period of time for the people of Egypt to think.

I have observed this phenomenon on many occasions, where God gives a person some time—let’s just call it time off, but there is time for that person to ponder, to think about their lives and to think—ideally speaking—about their relationship to God. The Egyptians have an antagonistic relationship with Israel’s God, Nevertheless, they know that the God of Israel is far superior to their own pantheon of gods. They have all seen this with their own eyes. Here, at this moment, God gives them time to ponder their place in life and in time.

Illustration: I write this in 2022 and for the past 2 years, because of covid, many people had the chance to consider their lives, their futures and their relationship with God (if any). Unbelievers had a chance to consider God; believers had a chance to consider their spiritual growth or lack thereof. This gave time for believers to contact unbelieving friends and tell them about Christ (by phone, texting or email). This gave time for many unbelievers to consider their relationship with God. And this gave time for believers to learn more about God.

If God has given you time, what should you do? Use it to learn the Word of God. Today, there are so many ways to access the teaching of the Word of God. There are many doctrinal churches where the pastor’s primary focus is the teaching of the Word of God. Although it is a rare pastor who teaches an hour or even two a day, as R. B. Thieme, Jr. did. Nevertheless, there is the ability to access the entire ministry of a pastor electronically (including the teaching of R. B. Thieme, Jr. and R. B. Thieme III; and many other excellent Bible teachers). In grace oriented churches, the availability of these materials comes without any cost.

I have found that, even if I have already heard this or that series taught be R. B. Thieme, Jr.; when I have gone back to listen to it again, it is as if I had never heard it before. And the present-day applications are quite amazing.

Like many, Bob used the events of the day to sometimes illustrate points that he made; and I have made various applications and allusions to this or that historical event or current series of events, in order to draw some parallels between the words of Scripture and our lives today. We interpret Scripture according to the time and place of Scripture when it was written (known as the study of Isagogics); but we can nearly always draw parallels to our lives today, in one way or another (something that R. B. Thieme, Jr. was brilliant at doing).

Back to the narrative:

Exodus 14:20d ...so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

Although this passage could be somewhat confusing, the whole idea was, throughout the night, the Egyptian army was unable to find or see the Hebrew encampment. There might only be a kilometer or two between the two camps, but the Egyptians do not know where the Israelites are. There might as well be 100 miles between them.

God the Son is standing now as the rear guard for the children of Israel, who have never fought before. We have a huge group of Israelites that must be organized to cross over the sea. This requires time and organization. God gives them time as the cloud stands between Pharaoh and Moses. At night, the cloud illuminates the sky, but the army of Pharaoh is unable to see the army of Israel. The one not coming near the other one refers to the camps of Israel and Egypt.

To Israel, the cloud was one of light. To Egypt, the cloud was one of darkness. This sets up two different ways that the same God is manifested to man. To the Israelites, light; to the Egyptians darkness. For those who believe in Jesus Christ, God is our salvation, our deliverance, our light. For those who do not believe, God is darkness, a judgment cloud hanging over them.

During this period of time, each man in each camp reflects on all the events which have brought him to this place. Each man will make a decision as to what to do the next morning.

For each Israelite, the right decision is to move ahead, forward, as God will lead them. For each Egyptian, the right decision would be to simply let them go and then believe in their God.

Exodus 14:20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

God manifested Himself in such a way as to guide the Hebrew people in the direction that they should go. He also gave cover to them, protecting them from the Egyptians. The Egyptian camp was apparently enshrouded in darkness, but the Israeli camp had some light.

When the dawn broke the next morning, God’s great miracle occurred.

Illustration: God is justice, but that is seen in two different ways. To the believer, Jesus attained our justice for us. He paid for our sins on the cross. We deserve death, but we have been given life, because of God’s justice. However, to the unbeliever, God’s justice will eventually catch up to them, and God will separate them from Himself for all eternity.

Exodus 14:21a Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; ...

You cannot read the Bible without acknowledging just how theatrical God is. The great movie maker, Cecil B. DeMille, did a spectacular version of the Exodus, which was very theatric—but he was very much presenting the material as found in the Bible. God wanted the Israelites and the Egyptians to understand, by the things that Moses did, that God was active and powerful; and that He worked through His man, Moses. So, God does not merely divide the seas, but He has Moses lift up his hand over the seas in order for that process to begin.

Exodus 14:21b ...and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night,...

The word for wind is the same word as spirit. I believe that we have a manifestation for all 3 Members of the Trinity right here—the Wind, the Pillar of Cloud and the Angel of God. The Holy Spirit, God the Father and Jesus the Christ (perhaps in that same order).

Exodus 14:21c ...and made the sea into dry land,...

Sometimes, the lâmed preposition is used to indicate a transformation from one thing into another (it is the word into in v. 21c). What used to be the bottom of a sea is now dry land.

God is certainly able to, instantly, change a flowing sea to dry land, where there is no trace of the sea. Then the sea can be instantly brought back. However, this is not what God does. Many times, the things which God does are spectacular, but often with a nod towards a series of natural events.

Exodus 14:21d ...and the waters were divided.

The waters are heaped up on both sides of the dry land across which, Israel will travel.

This verse gives some geographical clues as to where the Israelites were. The waters running into the Red Sea basically run South, South East. However, Moses and company are parked in front of a section which is moving due south. God brings a wind from the east to do two things: (1) to cut a path through the sea, and to hold back the waters from the north and from the south; and (2) very importantly to dry up the ground so that the Israelites can cross at this juncture. Had only the surface water been moved out of their way, crossing a wet and sloshy sea floor still would have been almost an impossible chore. The sea floor had to be dried enough so that the people could walk across it with all their animals and possessions.

Exodus 14:21 Then 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 into dry land, and the waters were divided.

The picture painted by v. 21 is that Moses has organized the Israelites, God the Son is standing between the two peoples as a pillar of cloud, keeping them invisible to one another (partially to calm the Israelites). At some time during the night, in the light provided by the pillar, Moses stretches his rod over the sea and God brings in an east wind, separating the water to the north and south. This does not occur in a few minutes—this wind blows for several hours; for perhaps as much as 8 hours. The water moves back almost immediately, but the ground must be dried for travel.

Moses Leads the People Between the Waters (a graphic); from God’s Hot Spot; accessed January 5, 2022.

Obviously, given that 2 million people are going across that sea, it would have been much wider than that.

In this passage which we are studying (Exodus 14:21–23), we are placed into the midst of the action. Some may consider that this is the event that we have been building up to.

We should bear in mind that God does not act in the same fashion in every generation. The miracle which we are studying here is quite amazing. Yet, if you watch any nature program narrated by David Attenborough, it is clear that natural miracles occur billions of times every day in nature. God has designed a world teeming with extraordinary life; and that life is beautiful, incredibly complex and interdependent. Such life is both mysterious and fascinating. If you ever feel as if God has somehow given you less than previous generations, then your eyes are not open.

What we are studying is an amazing feat of power. But it is only right to bear in mind that, all of these people who observe these amazing acts of God—they will become failures to the n^th degree. We do not grow spiritually from witnessing miracles.

I personally love watching nature programs to see the kinds of amazing things which God has designed for this world. But do you realize that many of the people who work on these programs do not believe in God. Their very job is watching, studying, filming, and/or film-editing these amazing creations designed and made by God—nature’s miracles; and yet, they do not see it. They think that it all happened and they believe that evolution (natural selection, survival of the fittest, gradual changes) explain everything.

Exodus 14:21 Then 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 into dry land, and the waters were divided.

God often uses natural forces to do His will. He used the wind from the east during all of that night pushing the waters back, so that the land behind the sons of Jacob is dry.

Crossing the Red Sea (By Nicolas Poussin) (a graphic); from Wikipedia; accessed January 5, 2022. One problem of many here is, it appears that maybe there are only one hundred or so Israelites gathered here.

Exodus 14:22a So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground,...

The people of Israel advanced, heading in their original direction, but now crossing over a sea which is now dry ground.

The people of Israel appear to began crossing over in the evening. Remember, there are 2 million people, which includes women and children and animals, going across this sea. They will get to the other side while it is still dark and cloudy for the Egyptians.

Recall that, on one side of the Pillar of Cloud is darkness; on the other side is light. The Egyptian army cannot move in this darkness, but they are confident that there is nowhere for the Israelites to go. They do not see what the Israelites see.

Exodus 14:22b ..,and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

There is a wall of water on one side and the other; and the people of Israel are passing between them. The water is stacked up on each side as if it were grain.

It would be difficult to naturalize any of this. All these events are clearly miraculous and only a person with a very hardened heart could read this and not recognize that these are miracles provided by God. Now you could read this and think that it is all a myth or just a story; however, the author's clear intent is to present what was miraculous to relay to the reader the incredible power of our God.

However one valid problem to deal with is the number of Hebrews crossing the Sea of Reeds at this time. There are two million, and there is no way that two million Hebrews can cross over a small area such as the width of a street or two streets (as per every graphical illustration ever done) in a reasonable amount of time. If you have witnessed or seen pictures of the Boston Marathon, you get a better picture of what is occurring. Add to this personal belongings, many animals and multiply by ten, and you can see that two million people plus livestock will not travel a narrow stretch in the space of a few hours. However, there is nothing in the Bible which suggests that this is a narrow stretch of road that they are traveling upon, nor is there this dramatic wall of water with a narrow passageway as shown in Cecil B. Demille's Ten Commandments. We have the wall of waters but with a very wide path before them. Recall that they were camped along the bank of the waters, not in some long line behind one another, and when they crossed, it would have been in the same width as their camp, which would have been several miles wide. Under those circumstances, which is clearly the case here, two million Hebrews plus livestock can travel across an distance of a mile or so in a few hours. Just as an army would move against an enemy, just as a large group would camp along side a river or a body of water, so would the encampment and subsequent movements of these people be. Furthermore, God knows how many men He has and how wide the opening needed to be to get these people across in a reasonable amount of time. God has determined what He will do on behalf of Israel back in eternity past. He is not coming up with solutions for Israel’s difficulties on the fly.

Exodus 14:22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

What is quite amazing is, the waters were like walls to the sons of Jacob, on both sides. How much of the sea had been opened up is unknown to us, but it was wide enough to get the people across in a few hours; and the section was far enough across to contain Pharaoh’s army (as we will see).

Exodus 14:21–22 (NIV) (a graphic); from Pinterest; accessed January 5, 2022.

Israel Crosses Dry Shod (a graphic); from Byron’s Babbles; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:23a And the Egyptians pursued...

It is the next morning; it is light. Whatever visual barriers that were between the sons of Israel and the army of Pharaoh were removed. The wall of cloud no longer obscured their vision.

The sea was a dry bed, just walked across by the sons of Israel. The Egyptians, seething with anger, took off after them, pursuing them. There had to be some space between the two groups—I would assume that all Israel was on the other side of this sea of reeds with perhaps some still crossing it; and that Pharaoh’s army could see them.

Exodus 14:23b ...and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses,...

There was a massive open area where the Israelites crossed over, and the army of Pharaoh went right into what had just been the dry bed of the sea. The people of Israel were in their sights (which is how the Egyptians knew which way to go).

Exodus 14:23c ...his chariots, and his horsemen.

Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen went right along with the horses of Pharaoh, following Israel by crossing over the dry bed where the sea once stood.

God allowed the Hebrews to have enough of a head start by blocking their movement from Pharaoh by the pillar of the cloud. Now, this cloud has been removed, Pharaoh's men have seen what was done, and they follow in right behind the Hebrews. This timing has to be perfect. The Hebrews must escape entirely from out of the sea and all of Pharaoh's men and chariots must be in the midst of the sea.

Exodus 14:23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

So the Israelites move along the drying land, and Pharaoh’s army pursue them there.

Given the number of Hebrews and the number of soldiers, this had to be a very large body of water for both sets of people to occupy at the same time, with considerable space between them. This suggests that there was a southern route taken by the Hebrew people before they came to this point, where they would cross over. I would assume that Pharaoh’s army could see the people of Israel exiting the sea on the other side.

Wherever this was, the Hebrews did not simply arrive here by chance; the Angel of God was guiding them to this point. All of this had to be occur in such a way that, all Israel has exited the dry sea bed; and all of Pharaoh’s army is in the midst of that dry sea bed.

Exodus 14:23 The Egyptians then took up in pursuit of Israel, and all Pharaoh’s horses went in after them, along with his chariots and horsemen, into the midst of the sea. (Kukis not-so-literal paraphrase)

The next morning, Pharaoh and his army can see where the Israelites are and how they got there—by crossing through the sea, with the waters piled up on both sides. Their hatred has overwhelmed their circumspection, and the entire army of Pharaoh pursued them, crossing over the sea of reeds in the same place.

We are not given any approximate dimensions. I would suspect that the crossing might have been a mile or two; and that the waters might be separated by 3 or 4 miles—maybe more. Bear in mind, we must get 2 million people across this sea in half a night or so. Now, one person crossing over a mile or two, just walking, can do this in 30 minutes easily—just walking. But the organization of 2 million is quite a different thing.

Let’s just say that each person travels in a 4x4' square and let’s say that the distance across the sea of reeds if 1 mile, which is 5280 feet. That is more than 1300 people in a column line, walking across. Let’s say that it is 4 miles from a wall of water to a wall of water. That would make 5280 rows of people crossing at any given time. That would give us over 6 million people who could stand in the sea of reeds walking across, where we have all of those people standing on the sea bed at the same time, the final group entering, and the first group ready to cross over, out of the sea bed. Given these dimensions—which I literally just made up on the spot—we could get everyone across pretty easily. My guess is, the sea of reeds may not be a mile across; and the distance between the walls of water may be less than 4 miles—but all of this is very doable, given an organized march (and there is every indication that, despite these all being civilians, that they were quite organized).

Now, the actual army of Pharaoh is going to be considerably smaller—perhaps a 10^th that size, but they have horses and chariots and weaponry. Furthermore, they are all trained to kill and to make each blow with whatever weapon count. So, 10 to 1 odds (or whatever) is reasonable to the Egyptian army.

We have seen in modern history, mobs of tens of thousands dispersed by a well-organized police force of a few thousand (at most) armed with tear gas and rubber bullets.

So, these numbers would not dissuade the Egyptian army’s intent to advance. Furthermore, approximately two-thirds of them would be women and children.

We studied these three verses last time:

Exo 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

Exo 14:22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Exo 14:23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

Exodus 14:24a Now it came to pass, in the morning watch,...

Prior to the Babylonian captivity, the Hebrews divided the night into three watches. This is apparently where they got the idea or where it originated from. The first watch was from sunset to 10 pm; the second from 10 to 2 am; and the third, called also the watch of the morning (we would of course say, third watch) occurred between 2 am and sunrise (see also 1Sam. 11:11). This was the time of the third watch. The first was called the beginning of the watches (Lam. 2:9) and the second was the middle watch (Judges 7:19).

Obviously, the reason for these watches is to monitor the situation when it is dark and people are sleeping.

What appears to be the case is, God gave light to Israel but kept the two camps from seeing one another that night. Then God the Holy Spirit blew back the waters, making a long stretch of sea open and dry. Then the people of Israel began to walk across the sea, as guided by God.

Quite obviously the Israelites heard Moses and observed him raising up his hand over the waters.

At this point, obviously the people are moving and not sleeping. The phrase morning watch simply tells us at what time this was taking place. Since we have morning watch rather than morning, we may reasonably assume that it is still dark (but light is being given by God to the Israelites).

Exodus 14:24b ...that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud,...

Generally speaking there was a pillar of fire or a pillar of cloud—here, we either have two pillars or one pillar with both characteristics to it (recall that is was light on Israel’s side and very foggy on Egypt’s side).

God does not have to look specifically here or there to see something, as He is omniscient. However, this language of accommodation is used so that we understand that God is concentrating upon Egypt’s encampment. It would appear to the people below that, God has noticed them and has decided to do something about them.

It is difficult to tell if it was the pillar of fire and cloud in part confused the Egyptian army. It took awhile for the army of Pharaoh to cross the sea and all still be in the sea; therefore, God caused them to become disoriented. The pillar of cloud and fire confused them and blinded them, until the entire army found itself in the midst of the sea.

Exodus 14:24c ...and He troubled the army of the Egyptians.

The verb here is the Qal imperfect of châmam (חָמַם) [pronounced chaw-MAHM], which means, to put to flight, to route; to put into a commotion; to make a noise, to move noisily, to confuse, to discomfit. Strong’s #2000 BDB #243.

God, in some way, caused the army of Egypt to become confused or discomfitted. I believe that the reference to the morning watch suggests that they do not have any light yet; and they might be moving according to the sounds of the Hebrew people. Maybe God has provided some light for them. Whatever God has provided for them, it is mixed with confusion. It is possible that, based upon what they see, the Egyptians are confused; and yet they move ahead. V. 25a will give us one way in which God troubled the Egyptian army.

God had to first get all of the Israelites across the sea first. After they were completely across, then God would allow the army of Egypt to proceed across that same part of the sea.

Earlier, we talked about the size of the opening in the sea of reeds. It has to be large enough to accommodate the entire Egyptian army (that which remains of it).

Exodus 14:24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled [or, confused] the army of the Egyptians.

The Angel of God troubled the army of the Egyptians in a variety of ways, all of which were designed to slow its progress. Some of this is explained in v. 25.

Exodus 14:25a And He took off their chariot wheels,..

The verb used here is the 3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect of çûwr (סוּר) [pronounced soor], which is a fairly common verb, and it means, to turn aside, to depart, to go away; to depart from way, to avoid; to remove; to be removed; to come to an end; to deviate. Strong's #5493 (and #5494) BDB #693. The 3^rd person masculine singular subject would refer back to God. This is literally applied to [the] wheel of his chariot (everything is in the singular). This is a metonym of number, where the singular is put in for the plural. It speaks of God making the movement of a chariot problematic; and this was apparently done to all or many of Pharaoh’s chariots (if those in the front are stopped, then the ones behind cannot advance).

Although many, many translations have that the wheels have fallen off, I don’t believe that is the case here. I believe that they get turned aside, or caught up in the river bed. Whereas, the people of Israel were able to cross with all of their possession, the concentrated weight of a chariot (its weight and the weight of 3 men, all bearing down against the sea floor) would cause the chariot to get stuck, for the wheels to get turned, for chariots to slow or even come to a stop.

When I was younger, I was trying to drive to school taking a shortcut across a dirt road. Well, it had rained the night before and, there was enough mud on this dirt road to get my vehicle stuck. I figured I would somehow solve the problem by taking my mother’s station wagon to there to somehow unstuck it. Of course, the station wagon got stuck in the mud as well. My point here is, chariot drivers are looking ahead a half mile and they see some other chariots in front of them start to slow down or get stuck; but they just keep going—I guess figuring to go around them. They are not thinking the situation through.

To insert an opinion here, the hatred and anger felt by the Egyptians was so strong that, they could hardly wait to attack and butcher the people of Israel. This completely clouded their judgment (which is what mental attitude sins do to both believers and unbelievers).

Exodus 14:25b ...so that they drove them with difficulty;...

For some reason, we go to all masculine singular nouns here, but each man tried to move his chariot forward, but they were not moving as they should.

This word which I have translated with difficulty is found only here in the entire Bible, and it is translated variously as caused the chariot wheels to swerve, to make their chariot wheels glide out, or He clogged their chariot wheels so that they drove with difficulty. This is one of the words that we may never be able to settle upon a precise meaning; however, it is clear that God did something to the chariot wheels which slowed the Egyptians down so that they did not catch up to the Israelites and so that their entire army was in the midst of the sea.

The fact that there is a verb included here: to drive; this suggests that the chariots moved somewhat, but no longer at a normal pace.

We do not know exactly how this took place. Did God allow for the re-saturation of the seabed? Did He simply cause mechanical problems to slow the chariots, so that they moved as slowly as the marching army of Pharaoh?

Many of the Egyptians began to rethink their choices at this point.

Exodus 14:25c ...and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel,...

The people begin to think and consider against whom they are trying to fight, and they start saying, “We should just make a run for it. We should not be going after Israel after what has happened.”

God had given them the night to think about things. Now that they were finding themselves in the midst of the sea bed, but unable to advance, they begin to consider their situation more carefully.

The verse literally reads, and Egypt said, "I must flee." Often a nation is personified and all the pertaining verbs are in the singular.

This was a voice of reason, and there could have been many Egyptians saying this (again, a metonym putting in the singular for the plural). It is even possible that many Egyptians, believing themselves to be faced with imminent death, reconsidered their relationship to the God of Israel. I suspect that many of them believed right then and there, prior to their deaths. For some people, having death right there is the only thing which brings them to God.

Exodus 14:25d ...for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

The people of Egypt rightfully come to the conclusion that God is fighting for the people of Israel (or, however many said this). He has continued to do so. This is why they find themselves stuck in the sea bed, with waters stacked up on both sides of them.

This statement sounds to be like a statement of faith; an acknowledgment of the Person and power of God; and I believe this to be sufficient for salvation. These Egyptians may have had but 30 minutes to live, but I believe that, when faced with certain death, many of them believed.

You may be thinking, “These are slave owners; their whole society was based upon owning over 2 million people to do their bidding. How can they be saved?” Everyone is saved the same way, despite their actions in life. We are all saved by believing in God’s revelation of Himself, which I refer to as the Revealed God. To the Egyptians, this is the God of the judgments, the God of Israel Who is protecting them. In the Church Age and the age of the Hypostatic Union, the revelation of God is Jesus; so from the Lord’s public ministry forward, people have been saved by believing in Jesus.

Regarding the morality of owning slaves, let’s go on a tangent here: every society approves of things which are wicked and evil. People who are born into those societies simply go along with what society in general approves. Some forms of slavery are clearly wrong (the Bible even outlaws some forms of slavery to Israel); but people who grow up in a society where half the people are slaves just accept this. It is what is. I write this in 2022. People growing up today often accept abortion is legitimate healthcare, homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle, and gender fluidity as being okay. There are people today who believe that elementary school children ought to be taught about homosexuality and gender fluidity. According to the laws of divine establishment, all of these things are wrong and evil; but when these things permeate society, much of society is going to simply accept them.

Application: As believers in Jesus Christ, it is not our job to change society. As a believer, it is not your goal to end things which are clearly wrong, such as giving hormone blockers to children. It is okay to fight such a thing, to vote for politicians who have your values; but this should not be the center of your Christian life. Your hopes and dreams cannot be wrapped up in which candidate is elected and which one is defeated. As R. B. Thieme, Jr. put it, “Two things are here in this world when you are born and they will be here after you die: evil and Bible doctrine. Both of these things can potentially change you; but you cannot change them.” For the believer who is positive toward the Word of God, there will be somewhere where that person can learn it (in most cases, at a local church where a pastor-teacher is teaching the Word).

Application: As a believer, you are to advance spiritually; and, when you recognize your spiritual gift, then you live your life using that gift. The focus of your life is not to cure every social evil you come across (this does not mean that you cannot advocate for and against certain issues; it simply means this is not to be the focus of your life). Along the same lines, let’s say that you grew to spiritual maturity and you used your spiritual gift liberally. But let’s also say that, there were causes that you believed in and advocated. Let’s also say that, at the end of your life, none of your causes caught any traction. Does this make you a success or failure in life? Any believer who reaches spiritual maturity and functions using his spiritual gift, that is a great success. Whether there were things you advocated for as social causes—it makes no difference whether you were successful here or not.

Application: The believer has to be careful about tilting against windmills. Even if there of societal issues which are good and doctrinal that you advocate for—it truly does not matter if any of these things come to pass or not. That is not why we are here.

Illustration: Let’s say that you have the opportunity to be involved in a great lawsuit which will really take down some evil people. If this consumes your life, you are wasting your life, no matter how evil those people are. The #1 priority for the believer is Bible doctrine. Whatever in your life keeps you from that is problematic.

This is what we have been studying:

Exodus 14:22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (ESV)

That night, the Egyptian army and the Israelite people were encamped quite close to one another and between them was the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. The pillar of fire provided light for the Israel side; and the pillar of cloud submerged the Egyptian army in a great fog.

The Egyptians were probably pointed in the direction of the Israelites and the Israelites were pointed in the direction of the body of water. They had this body of water before them, the Egyptian army behind them, and many Israelites probably felt a bit unnerved by this situation.

Then the Israelites noticed something taking place in the water. It appeared to be blown aside. It appeared to be stacked up to the left and right. The seabed which was made dry was perhaps 2–4 miles wide, and possibly a mile long (from shore to shore). (I am simply suggesting these numbers, believing them to be large enough for all Israel to cross over in the morning watch, and large enough to entrap the entire Egyptian army.)

The Israelites began to cross over. This process probably took several hours—perhaps as much as six hours for them all to cross over.

Exodus 14:23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. (ESV)

The restraint of darkness and fog appears to have been lifted. The Egyptians can see the Israelites either in the midst of the dry seabed or nearly to the other side of the sea. The Egyptians go after them.

Exodus 14:24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled [or, confused] the army of the Egyptians. (NKJV)

What appears to be the case is, the army of Egypt has advanced on Israel, but they are now all in the midst of the waters, and their chariot wheels are no longer moving as they ought. They seem to be stuck right there, with a wall of water on both sides of them.

Exodus 14:25 And He took off [or, turned aside, caused to deviate] their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” (NKJV)

God caused them to have problems with their chariots, which would have slowed their army down considerably.

Logically, the chariots at the very front have stalled out, and this stops the movement forward of everything behind them.

Some of the Egyptians recognized that God was fighting for the sons of Israel. That is that point at which some of them should have decided, “Hey, I am on the wrong side of this.”

Some of the Egyptian army was in locked down negative volition. They hated the Hebrew people and they wanted to harm them. No matter what God did to them, they moved forward.

However, there are clearly some of them who recognize that God is on the side of the Hebrews, and they appear to have backed off.

The ESV puts these two verses together.

Exodus 14:24–25 And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians." (ESV)

This is taking place in the third watch (or at the end of the third watch). Whether they are seeing by daylight or by the pillar of cloud/fire, we are not certain. But the Egyptians were able to see the Israelites, so they took off in hot pursuit.

However, once in the open range of the seabed, the Egyptians find themselves being bogged down. Their chariots were moving, but with great difficulty. Or, they were simply stopped right in the midst of the sea.

Suddenly there is a voice (or voices) of reason among the Egyptians. They recognize that the God of Israel is fighting for Israel. They see retreat as their only good option.

Exodus 14:26a Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea,...”

Again, God uses Moses in a very theatric way. He could not speak loud enough for everyone to hear what is going on; but they could see Moses and they knew that when he used his hands or his staff, that God was working through him. This has been done 10 times before; and even if these Egyptian soldiers did not see this previously, I have no doubt that they heard about what Moses did. He would raise up his staff in some way, and then God would strike Egypt. And now, Moses was raising up his staff in front of them!

Exodus 14:26b ...that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.”

This verse is the one which tells us that Pharaoh and his army are right smack dab in the middle of the sea; and their wheels appear to have gotten screwed up at this point. Then the waters returned ane coming down upon Pharaoh and his army and on their equipment. Massive waves on both sides of them suddenly raced towards them.

God wanted Moses to be very demonstrative. This is because he had an audience of 2,000,000, so they had to see him doing something to effect the miracles which occurred. These were not magician acts and God was not grooming Moses to be some kind of an act. What Moses did had to be seen by millions to reinforce the little faith that they had. They had to see that all the miracles that were done were done specifically through the hand of Moses. God was working through him and all of Israel needed to see that.

What has apparently happened is, all of Israel has crossed over and they are now on the other side of this body of water. All of the Egyptian troops, including Pharaoh, have been lured onto the sea floor. And Moses has lifted up his staff.

Exodus 14:26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.”

God appears to be speaking to Moses in real time—while he is there guiding his people across the sea, in full view of the oncoming Egyptian army. Then God tells Moses what to do.

Again, what God does through Moses is very theatrical. He stretches out his hand over the seas.

Exodus 14:27a And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea;...

The primary purpose of Moses stretching his hand over the sea is, to show all observers exactly what is taking place. There are four sets of observers: angels (elect and fallen), the Hebrew people and the Egyptian soldiers. Watching Moses and then seeing what happens after is how they connect God’s plan to the events which they observe. Moses is clearly associated with God and the plagues and God’s power; therefore, when he does something—like stretching his hand out over the waters—everyone looks to see what is going to happen (looking in the direction of Moses’ hand). By this—by observing Moses—there are no random events which just seem to happen. Nothing is random; and Israel is always benefitted by what God does. These are directed events; and they are great events, suggesting that they are done by Israel’s God on behalf of Israel.

What appears to be the case is, Moses raises up his hand with the staff in it, early in the morning when it is just becoming light.

Exodus 14:27b ...and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth,...

After Moses stretches his hand out over the seas, the seas return to their normal flow—but, at this time, the army of Egypt is in the midst of sea with chariots which will not easily move.

The Egyptians have been lured into the water with the promise of being able to do mayhem to the Hebrew people. And now, they will meet their Maker. Massive waves from each side converge where the Egyptian army stands.

Exodus 14:27c ...while the Egyptians were fleeing into it.

Normally, an army would flee to get away from their enemy (or whatever thing is troubling them), but here, Egypt’s army is attempting to flee, but where can they go? The sea is coming down all around them, and their chariots are not moving.

Exodus 14:27d So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

Egypt is treated here as some sort of pest which Y^ehowah simply shakes off. Shook is the Piel imperfect of nâʿar (נָעַר) [pronounced naw-ĢAHR] and it means to tumble about, to shake up, to shake off. The Piel is the intensive stem and this was a most intensive shaking.

The Egyptians had realized that the Hebrews were escaping through the Red Sea during the evening. When they got their bearings, they charged into the Sea after them. They had some light to work by; the light of the pillar of fire. Then, while it was still night, God caused them to become disoriented until the entire army found itself in the midst of the sea. Just as morning broke, so that the Hebrews could see, Moses raised his arm over the seas. This was like a tidal wave; and nothing like it has ever happened before. The water rushed in from the north and the south and met in the middle where the Egyptians stood. The water from both sides had tremendous power and throwing them together had an incredibly destructive force.

The Egyptians were killed almost instantly, every single one of them.

God Drowns the Egyptian Army (a graphic); from Redeeming God; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

Many who have seen Cecil B. Demille’s Ten Commandments have a natural appreciation for what took place here. Many of these scenes are etched in our minds. For that reason, we do not fully appreciate just how magnificent God’s choreography of this great event was. It was meant to be theatrical; it was meant to be big. It was designed for the sons of Jacob on one side of the water to see what God had done; and it was designed for Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, who are in the midst of the sea floor, to see and recognize clearly the power of Israel’s God (we do not know if Pharaoh or anyone remains on the opposite side). And finally, this was designed for the angels of heaven (the elect angels) and for the fallen angels to view such a major event. It was clear that this was a major event. Nothing like this had ever happened before; nothing in human history was quite this spectacular, since the restoration of the heavens and the earth.

When Satan fell, he took a third of the angels with him. Satan and these fallen angels have been judged, but the sentence has not yet been carried out. They are seeing and learning about God’s perfect character by seeing human history play out. Both fallen and elect angels are all around viewing God’s actions and our own place in this grand drama we call human history.

The amazing spectacle of Exodus 14 was unparalleled since the deluge of the entire earth. Now, think back on how all of this started: God came to Abraham and told him, “I am going to give you the land of Canaan, so you need to go there.” This started small. There are few people as unremarkable as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, insofar as the world is concerned. They were reasonably wealthy and successful, but they owned little land. These men did not control empires; let alone, a city. Abraham led no army and he conquered no land. That we know anything at all about Abraham is remarkable, because he stands out head and shoulders over all kings and military leaders of his era. This was such a small beginning. But, as we read in Zech. 4:10a: For who despises the day of small things?

Angels have viewed the history of mankind over a very long period of time (in fact, they observed the prehistory of man, while the earth was encased in ice). God, just as He had pointed out Job to Satan, asking, “Have you observed My servant Job?” So God spoke to the angels and said, “See this man, Abraham? I want you to watch him.” Contemporary with Abraham is this great warrior-king Chedorlaomer. There is this great kingdom being established in Egypt. There are great wars between various sets of alliances. There is even this wise king, Hammurabi, struggling with concerns of law and morality. Man in general is discovering how to domesticate animals and to coordinate the growing of crops. There are also these great cities being developed along the fertile crescent and everywhere, it seems like these great city-states are being formed. Men in this era are beginning to work with metals and are harnessing their power.

Nevertheless, God points to this fairly ordinary man, Abraham, and says, “Watch this man; watch this shepherd. He will hear My voice and He will listen to Me.” There is human greatness on every side of Abraham, but God says, “Watch this man. I am going to tell him to leave Ur of the Chaldees, where he was brought up, and to go to Canaan. He will listen to Me.”

Abraham would not have registered on anyone’s scale of important people. No one would have looked at him and said, “This man will change human history;” but God knew that he would, because God was with him. And we have followed Abraham’s line, through Isaac and Jacob; through Joseph and Judah and Levi. In the book of Exodus, we have finally come to the man Moses—and even he seemed to small potatoes, once he left the palace in Egypt and became a nomad in Midian, marrying into the family of a priest, becoming the family shepherd.

If there was a contemporary historian writing in the era of Abraham, and he wrote an article, the 25 most influential people in and around the golden crescent, he would not have included Abraham’s name. In fact, had it been the 1000 most influential people, Abraham’s name would not be on that list. From human viewpoint, Abraham was no one special. But, in hindsight, looking back from this era, the most important man of that era was Abraham. No one else comes close.

This great human drama keeps building, beginning so subtly at first, but becoming somewhat interesting when the people of Jacob go from being respected and popular and desired in Egypt; to becoming reviled and made into slaves (no doubt, at the urging of Satanic forces).

Illustration: Today, we see how Satan is how able to exert his evil influence in the United States, much as he did in Egypt. One of the most bizarre insertions of evil has occurred in the private company Disney and in the public schools in the United States. There are things taking place in the United States that, a couple of decades ago, would have seemed like science fiction. We have witnessed a large reduction in people who believe in God in the United States and a reduction of those who believe in Jesus in the United States. Suddenly we find, the most reliable G-rated company in the world—Disney—now seems to be promoting homosexuality and gender confusion (it has been doing this for awhile). One of the arguments taking place right now in the public schools is, should children 8 and younger be exposed to homosexuality and gender change It was not too long ago when such teaching would not have been thought proper for high school, let alone lower grades. But all it takes is enough change in percentages—such as faith in Jesus being on the decline—and things which were unimaginable 10 years ago suddenly become the newest thing. Although Disney began as the vision of one man as a divine establishment organization dedicated to children and the preservation of childhood, it lacked the one essential thing—a clear, unequivocal relationship to God and to His Son. Without that, Disney was left wide open to corrupting voices. This is the power of Satanic influence.

Illustration: The United States army, in WWII, was closely allied to God. When MacArthur went into Japan to rule over it, he called for missionaries and Bibles. Even though there was a natural opposition to this at the highest levels of government, he received both. Our relationship as a nation to Japan is based upon this foundation. More recently, we have spent 20 years in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Our presidents, beginning with George W. Bush, have taken a hands-off approach when it comes to religion. Many soldiers wanted to share their faith in Jesus with the people on the ground, and this got shut down from the very highest levels. When God is a part of our world influence, we have alliances which last 70 years (or more), as in the case of Japan. When God is not a part of our plans, as in Afghanistan, we cannot even peacefully withdraw our own troops.

Application: God must be a part of our lives and our decisions; otherwise, we are wasting our time here on earth.

Back to the action:

Exodus 14:27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

Now, there is this great event, a spectacular event, something only God would be able to do (no angel could do this; Satan could not do this).

God Drowns the Egyptian Army (a second graphic); from Redeeming God; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:28a Then the waters returned...

God held back the waters so that the sons of Israel could pass through the sea. But now, the sons of Israel have come out on the other side and the army of Pharaoh was right smack dab in the middle of the sea—some of their chariots being stopped or slowed—and suddenly, the waters closed in on them.

Exodus 14:28b ...and covered the chariots, the horsemen,...

The waters drowned all of the people and horses in Pharaoh’s army. They covered over the chariots and the horsemen.

Exodus 14:28c ...and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them.

I believe that the text is very specific here—they are not just speaking of Pharaoh’s army, but of those who came after Israel in pursuit—these are the ones being spoken of.

There is an implication here—and it could be argued from both sides—that perhaps there were others in Pharaoh’s army who did not pursue the sons of Israel. Recall that there was the night to think about what happened and then some expressed some misgivings about challenging the God of Israel. We do not know whether or not there were some who held back—who did not chase after Israel. That is only speculation.

The army of Pharaoh had to understand what they were there to do—they had come to slaughter the Hebrew people out of revenge. This was not an attack on an invading army; this was not a movement to bring their slaves back; this was to be a bloody slaughter. All of the men who agreed to do that were now in the midst of the waters.

Exodus 14:28d Not so much as one of them remained.

This would have included Pharaoh. Recall that he also rode out with his army (v. 6)

Of those who followed after Israel, and therefore found themselves in the midst of the sea—not a single one of them survived.

It is possible that some of the men did not follow Pharaoh into the sea; we have no evidence that any of them did that. However, all those who followed after Israel were obliterated. This must have been the most incredible thing that the exodus generation had ever witnessed; however, even witnessing this miracle will not carry them too far into the desert-wilderness. In fact, there will come a time when Israel turns so much against God, and God will talk to Moses about killing off every last son of Jacob.

What we are studying is also mentioned in the New Testament take on Moses. This incident is first of all used as an illustration for baptism in 1Cor. 10:1–2 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Note that the Israelites, the fathers of the Corinthians, were baptized into Moses. Now, the Corinthians are principally Greeks—they are not Semitic—and the Israelites passed through the Sea of Reeds dry. It was the Egyptians who were immersed. Fathers refers to spiritual fathers; the sons of Israel had believed in Jesus Christ (as the Revealed God), prior to the Corinthians, and preserved God's Word, making them the spiritual fathers to the believers in Corinth.

Baptism has this connotation: we are put into Christ when we believe in Him and we thereby share His righteousness and His perfection positionally (this is known as positional truth; we have an eternal position in Christ). Here, in our narrative, the Hebrews were identified with Moses—they were placed into Moses—and shared his relationship with God and his protection by God positionally. God protected Moses and He protected the Israelites because they had been baptized into Moses (or, placed into Moses; or, identified with Moses).

Exodus 14:28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.

Apparently, whatever portion of Pharaoh’s army—possibly all of it—was in the midst of the sea of Reeds, they were drowned. All of those who had completely committed to pursuing Moses and the people—those who were there to slaughter as many sons of Jacob as they could—they were covered over by the sea. Moses and the people had walked across dry shod; but once Pharaoh’s army was there, God allowed the waters to come back. Pharaoh’s army was fully immersed by the sea.

The waters came in too fast and they were too powerful for the Egyptian army to do anything. They were trapped and the water moved too rapidly and strongly for them to escape. Pharaoh’s entire army was destroyed.

Exodus 14:29a But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea,...

On the one hand, the army of Pharaoh was drowned by the sea; on the other hand, the sons of Israel simply walked through the midst of the sea on dry ground. This is the difference between being set apart to God and acting in opposition to God. Their feet occupied the exact same place, but God caused the Egyptian army to be slowed down before He brought the waters down upon them.

At this point in the narrative, the Hebrew people are standing on the opposite shore; and the Egyptian army has been drown in the sea.

Exodus 14:29b ...and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

There was a wall of water both to the left and to the right of the Israelites. Those same walls of water came crashing in on Pharaoh’s army.

2,000,000 people witnessed this. When Moses recorded this information, certainly some of it was distributed throughout Israel and had these people not actually witnessed this, the idea of the Holy Scriptures would have been laughable to them because they would know what the truth was and what fabrication was. All of them experienced this, the young and the old; they all saw the wall of water on both sides of them as they walked over the dry land. They did not dispute the record of Moses, as they all experienced it.

This generation of Israelites will see more signs than any other generation until the time of Jesus. However, what will become clear is, all of them believed in the Revealed God, but almost none of them advanced in the spiritual life. God gives every man the opportunity to believe in Him; and then offers every believer the opportunity to grow spiritually. Of the adult Israelites at this time, only a handful will grow spiritually, despite the great signs which they all saw.

The Egyptian army has been drowned en masse in the waters, but the sons of Israel walked right through the waters’ midst, only hours before.

Exodus 14:29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Although these waters destroyed the Egyptian army, when the sons of Israel walked across, the water was like a wall on both sides of them. So those near to one side or the other could see the water piled up, like so much grain.

Exodus 14:30a So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians,...

Recall that is was not but 12 or so hours ago that the Israelites were complaining that Moses had brought them out to this place to be killed by Egypt’s army. “Were there not enough graves in Egypt?” they had demanded to know.

At the beginning of v. 30, we have the Hiphil imperfect of the verb yêsha‛ (יֵשַע) [pronounced YAY-shahģ] and it means deliver, save, rescue. Y^ehowah, as we have found is the Tetragrammaton YHWH (יהוה), stopped being pronounced at some point, so we have lost the proper pronunciation of that Name. I believe that my educated guess of Y^ehowah is more accurate than the word Yahweh.

The proper name Joshua is the combination of these two words, an abbreviation of YHWH plus yêsha‛; so Joshua means YHWH saves. The Greek equivalent of Joshua is Jesus. "...And you will call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21b).

Exodus 14:30a So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians,...

This helps explain Moses being very theatrical. The sons of Israel saw all of this go down with their own eyes. They associated Moses with their God; and it was clear that the events which unfolded were legitimately from the hand of God.

Generally speaking, whenever Moses raised up his arms or his staff, the end result was going to be a miracle from God. Since this took place before the entire population of Israel, these would be big miracles—miracles designed to be witnessed by two million people.

Exodus 14:30b ...and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

All along the shore, the bodies of the dead Egyptian soldiers washed up. The men who threatened Israel could threaten them no more.

Things without life are thrown about by the waves of the sea. These Egyptians, at one time, had volition and they could choose for or against Israel; for or against Israel’s God. However, they chose so many times against the God of Israel that now, at this point, they had no more choices to make. Their bodies are just cast along the sea shore by the waves.

There were tens of thousands of dead bodies floating in this unsettled sea and they would have begun to wash up on shore like so much sea weed. This is the only way that the Hebrews would have been freed of Pharaoh's control.

These soldiers had sought to kill the people of Israel. They would have slaughtered them, men, women and children. Israel was able to see how God delivered them.

Israel Observes the Destroyed Egyptian Army (a graphic); from God’s Hot Spot; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:30 So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

The Israelites were preserved. The Egyptian army had pursued them to kill them, and it is the Egyptian army which was killed.

A king had amazing authority; but, the king had to stand by his own authority. It was very unusual for a king to say one thing one day, and then contradict himself the next day. That really was not kingly. However, this is what Pharaoh had done. He gave Moses and the Israelites the permission to leave and to worship their God. But, rather than to allow them to peacefully leave, he then sent his soldiers to kill them. In light of all that had happened, his soldiers should have refused, but they did not.

Israel Observes the Destroyed Egyptian Army (a second graphic); from God’s Hot Spot; accessed January 5, 2022.

Exodus 14:31a Thus Israel saw the great work [lit., hand] which the Lord had done in Egypt;...

The hand often represents the power and the strength of someone. The hand represents what a person does; in this case, Israel could see the hand of God in what had been done. The people of Israel began to appreciate all that Y^ehowah had done on their behalf. They saw all of this with their own eyes; culminating here at the destruction of Pharaoh’s army.

All of this happened quite quickly. But time and again, Israel saw the hand of God acting on their behalf.

Exodus 14:31b ...so the people feared the Lord,...

Wisely, the people feared Y^ehowah their God. This is usually a stage of spiritual maturity in the Old Testament. It indicates that the people thought about their God and they respected Him.

As we will find out later, their fear/respect for the Lord will only be temporary. The Hebrew people were simply unable to maintain this fear/respect for any period of time.

Exodus 14:31c ...and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

This is one of the verses which suggests to us that every Israelite believed in the Revealed God; and therefore, they were all saved. They are a very imperfect bunch of people, but they are at least a saved bunch of people.

The Hebrews will forever look back upon this day and God's deliverance (2Kings 17:7 2Chron. 6:4, 5). When the Hebrews fell into apostasy, Y^ehowah would call this day to mind and caused them to recall His so great salvation (Jeremiah 11:3 Hosea 12:13).

Throughout Exodus and the rest of the Pentateuch, we will see Moses and the people on a honeymoon. However, as soon as they faced pressures or disappointments, the people will turn on Moses like a mad dog. Then things will go well and they will behave and it will be a honeymoon again. Then pressures followed by rebellion. Moses showed a great deal of stability throughout this ordeal; the people lacked God's Word in the souls and therefore they lacked the stability to grasp what was going on around them. They would not take the information which they were learning about God, and believe it and apply it.

Exodus 14:31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

Notice those key words: the people of Israel feared Y^ehowah and they believed in Y^ehowah. Just as we are exhorted to do as unbelievers throughout the New Testament. God put the Israelites into a hopeless situation where there was no human solution. Then Moses told them to "Stand still and watch the salvation of Y^ehowah." They were put into a position where no one could save them from the Egyptians. Only God could deliver them. In this observation of God's work, they believed in Y^ehowah and trusted in His power as their only solution, just as we trust in Jesus Christ as our only means of salvation. We are in a hopeless, helpless situation in our sins that no one can save us—that is, cleanse us before God—but Christ Jesus . The Hebrews could do nothing but watch their deliverance and we can do nothing but accept the salvation (= deliverance) which God has provided for us.

At this sight of the destruction of the Egyptian army, the people of Israel believed the Lord; so, any who doubted before or had the least amount of uncertainty, they now believed.

Exodus 14:31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

This verse is why most commentators understand that all the Hebrew people, at this point in time, are saved.

Throughout the book of Exodus (and even Genesis), it is apparent that God is very theatrical as well as appropriate with His miracles. When Moses was by himself, it was a simple burning bush that would not burn up. God did not lift up a mountain and then send a hundred bolts of lightning to strike on all sides of Moses. That was unnecessary.

However, with the sons of Israel, God’s miracles had to be seen by a large group. What God was going to do needed to be visible to everyone. It had to be more than God doing something marvelous that 20 people saw, and then they told everyone else about it. These great miracles were seen by all Israel. They all walked across the sea of Reeds; they all (or nearly all) of them could see the wall of water (we do not know how wide the Israelites were when crossing the sea, but they did have to get 2 million people across). Once they reached the other side, they would be safe and dry, and they could see the army of Pharaoh coming upon them, right where they had been in the sea, and suddenly, the walls of water burst open, and came upon the army of Pharaoh.

It says here that they believed the Lord. Let me suggest that some people became believers at this point; and others, who had already believed in the Revealed God, had their faith renewed or strengthened by what they saw. They all had a healthy fear/respect for God after seeing Him destroy their enemies. However, as we will see, miracles would provide a temporary measure of faith for the people of God; but it was not lasting.

The are many examples of parallels between Moses and Jesus. Moses is a type of Jesus; he is a shadow image of Jesus. There are a great many parallels between these two men which are recorded. It is worth mentioning that, although Moses wrote about himself and the things which would eventually show him to be a shadow representation of Jesus; how those parallels came to be in the life of Jesus is revealed in all of the gospels and in several epistles. This in itself is quite remarkable, because it is unlikely that any person in the 1^st century had a complete (or nearly complete) collection of the inspired writings. I believe that John had access to the other 3 gospels, and that they inspired him to write down the events of the Lord’s life as he remembered it; so John presents Jesus in a much different light than do the other 3 gospel writers. But who among the 4 gospel writers would have had a complete set of Old Testament books?

The translation which I used below is called The Scriptures 2009.

Regarding the Scriptures 2009:

Copyright© 1993-2016 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.

"Scripture taken from The Scriptures, Copyright by Institute for Scripture Research. Used by permission" (as per their instructions in the preface of their Bible).

The translation used throughout this review is known as the Scriptures 2009. Here is a table so that you will understand some of the unique features of this translation:

Crossing the Red Sea (I have kept the e-sword titles and subtitles)

The Egyptian Army Pursues Israel (once again)

It is God who speaks to Moses and tells him exactly what is taking place in Egypt.

Exodus 14:1–2  And יהוה [= JHWH, Jehovah] spoke to Moshe [= Moses], saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’ěl [Israel], that they turn and camp before Pi Hairoth, between Midol and the sea, opposite Ba‛al Tsephon – camp before it by the sea. 

God speaks to Moses in vv. 1–4, telling him what is going on (God is able to see the big picture, and Moses is not).

Although it is hard to understand by these first two verses, God has guided Israel into what appears to be a dead end. If Pharaoh struck them now, the Hebrew people would be in the worst possible position to defend themselves. They would have nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide. Furthermore, they are not soldiers—they have no training and they have no weapons. Even though the Egyptian army is numerically much smaller, they have the weapons, the chariots, the training and the killer instinct.

Exodus 14:3  “For Pharaoh shall say of the children of Yisra’ěl, ‘They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has closed them in.’ 

It sounds as if Pharaoh is right there with a pair of binoculars watching them. What this indicates is, there are eyes on Israel even at this time. These are Egyptians at lookout stations all along the outskirts of Egypt. They are able to communicate what they see to Pharaoh.

Exodus 14:4  “And I shall strengthen the heart of Pharaoh, and he shall pursue them. But I am to be esteemed through Pharaoh and over all his army, and the Mitsrites [= Egyptians] shall know that I am יהוה.” And they did so. 

God is still speaking, so He is promising to strengthen Pharaoh’s heart (I chose this translation because it accurately translates the word châzaq (חָזַק) [pronounced khaw-ZAHK] (translated here, strengthen). Although Pharaoh had been beaten down by the judgments of God, God has given him strength enough to continue to resist Him.

With v. 5, the narrative shifts from God speaking to Moses to 3^rd person omniscient.

Exodus 14:5  And it was reported to the sovereign of Mitsrayim that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people. And they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Yisra’ěl go from serving us?” 

The people that Pharaoh and his servants turns against are the people of Israel.

Because Pharaoh now has a feeling of additional strength, he begins to question his decision to let Israel go (this decision was made by the entire country). His negative volition toward the Hebrew people and toward their God has always been there; but he has not had the inner strength to access it for awhile.

You will note inconsistent argument being made here. “We should have never let the sons of Israel leave.” Yet, despite these words, the Egyptian army is not going out to regather the Hebrew people and bring them back. Egypt is going out to destroy the Hebrews. Having enough inner strength to act on the content of one’s soul does not make a person more rational.

Exodus 14:6  So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him. 

Pharaoh gathered together an army to go and destroy Israel. Leading the army would be a regiment of chariots. Pharaoh himself would be a part of the chariot force.

Exodus 14:7  And he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Mitsrayim with officers over all of them. 

Pharaoh puts together 600 chariots; they would make the first strike against his enemies. It appears that there will be an additional number of chariots behind them.

Exodus 14:8  And יהוה strengthened the heart of Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and he pursued the children of Yisra’ěl, but the children of Yisra’ěl went out defiantly. 

God is not inserting hatred or anger into Pharaoh’s heart. God is giving Pharaoh the strength to express his anger and hatred towards Israel.

Pharaoh’s resistence to God is strong. He has clearly not learned his lesson, even to this time.

Exodus 14:9  And the Mitsrites pursued them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hairoth, before Ba‛al Tsephon. 

Pharaoh knew exactly where to go. He knew the geography and topography of where the Israelites were. The people of Israel were being watched. Pharaoh had the big picture of where the children of Israel were and how they were moving.

Recall that God has the sons of Israel double-back, so they are in an untenable position. They are trapped with Pharaoh’s chariots behind them and the sea is in front of them. We do not know what other natural terrain is to be found here. I suspect that there is a mountain range, which helps to hem them in as well. Pharaoh’s lookouts were probably watching the people of Israel from an extension of those mountains.

Exodus 14:10  And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Yisra’ěl lifted their eyes and saw the Mitsrites coming up after them. And they were greatly afraid, so the children of Yisra’ěl cried out to יהוה. 

There will be a period of time during which the Egyptians and the Israelites can see one another. The purpose is to allow Israel the full knowledge of the situation in which they were in.

Having recognized their situation, they first call out to God in this time of trouble.

However, they have Moses right there to blame. And they will do that next.

Exodus 14:11  And they said to Mosheh, “Did you take us away to die in the wilderness because there are no burial-sites in Mitsrayim? What is this you have done to us, to bring us up out of Mitsrayim? 

This is actually a very clever saying, and I suspect that it was repeated many times among the Israelites, because of its cleverness. Then they said it to Moses (not unlike a clever meme which might be posted and re-posted).

The firstborn of the Egyptians had all just died. There would have been a massive number of burials taking place in Egypt at this time. “There are no more graves in Egypt, so you have brought us out here to die?” It is actually a meaningless statement, albeit clever.

Exodus 14:12  “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Mitsrayim, saying, ‘Leave us alone and let us serve the Mitsrites?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Mitsrites than to die in the wilderness.” 

The Israelites are guilty of having a very selective memory at this point. They are resorting to, “I told you so.” At the first, when Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, Pharaoh responded by increasing the workload on the Israelites to an impossible standard. They could not meet this standard and their leaders were beaten because they could not meet this standard. Israel then told Moses, “We wish that you never came here.”

However, this new standard or work only lasted for a few days. Given the widespread destruction of Egypt which followed (the plagues or judgments), normal life throughout all Egypt was completely interrupted. Although the Hebrew people faced an impossible workload, they were only subjected to this additional injustice for a few days to perhaps a week at the most.

I said selective memory, so what are the Israelites leaving out? At one point, prior to Moses and Aaron showing up, their burden of slavery was so great, that they cried out to the heavens (it is not clear if they were calling to God or not). When Moses and Aaron first arrived and God did a few miracles through them, they were accepted by the elders as having come from God. Because the leaders were initially behind Moses and Aaron; the people were also behind them.

At this point in our narrative, the people have come to Moses and they complain directly to him.

Exodus 14:13  And Mosheh said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the deliverance of יהוה, which He does for you today. For the Mitsrites whom you see today, you are never, never to see again. 

What is most fascinating is, Moses does not hear the complaint and then run to God with it (remember, the Egyptian army is moving towards them right now). His answer is based upon his understanding of God.

So, Moses let them have their say, pretty much ignored what they said, and then told them how it was going to be.

Moses, based upon his understanding of the plan of God, tells his people to not be afraid, to not do anything, just to observe the deliverance of God.

Bear in mind that, up to this point, God has not told Moses what He is going to do. He did not say, “The Egyptians are going to come at you in their chariots, and then this is what I will do next.” Nevertheless, without being first assured by God of what is going to happen, Moses tries to relieve the anxiety of the people. So Moses gets it. He does not require God to tell him each step of the way, or to reassure him.

Exodus 14:14  “יהוה does fight for you, and you keep silent.” 

Moses essentially tells the people, “Shut up and watch. God will fight for you.”

Ideally speaking, the people are to see what God is going to do, and they should place this into their memories, so that, the next time they are in a jam, they understand that their God will deal with it. In fact, God has dealt with every problem that they would ever have in eternity past. God knew their every problem of the Exodus generation in eternity past and, at that time, made provision for them.

Between vv. 14 & 15, Moses apparently cries out to God. God will speak to Moses in vv. 15–18:

Exodus 14:15  And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the children of Yisra’ěl, and let them go forward. 

God now gives specific directions to Moses of where to lead the people. Apparently, the children of Israel are poised to walk toward the Sea of Reeds. There does not appear to be anything else in front of them.

Exodus 14:16  “And you, lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and let the children of Yisra’ěl go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. 

The same rod which Moses would lift up and a judgment would come down upon the Egyptians; he is to lift up this rod over the waters in front of them.

Exodus 14:17  “And I, see I am strengthening the hearts of the Mitsrites, and they shall follow them. And I am to be esteemed [or, glorified, honored] through Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. 

God tells Moses, “I have given strength to the hearts of the Egyptians.”

They shall follow them means that these Egyptians will follow Israel, wherever Israel goes.

The Egyptians feel anger and hatred towards God and God’s people; and God will give them the strength to act upon the hatred in their souls.

By the actions and events that follow, God will be glorified.

Exodus 14:18  “And the Mitsrites shall know that I am יהוה, when I am esteemed through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” 

“The Egyptians will know that I am Y^ehowah,” God says to Moses.

The Angel of God Protects the Israelite Encampment

Exodus 14:19–20  And the Messenger of Elohim, who went before the camp of Yisra’ěl, moved and went behind them. And the column of cloud went from before them and stood behind them, and came between the camp of the Mitsrites and the camp of Yisra’ěl. And it was the cloud and the darkness, and it gave light by night, and the one did not come near the other all the night. 

The Messenger (Angel) of Elohim is Jesus Christ, the 2^nd Member of the Trinity. He is the God Who is revealed; He is the God Who has direct contact with man.

The Angel of Elohim manifests Himself as a cloud, and He fills this particular region with an almost impenetrable cloud cover. The Egyptians are unable to break through and find the Israelites. This does not disturb the Egyptians, as they know that the Israelites are trapped between them and the waterfront. A late-night fog near a waterway does not strike them as being unusual. A comfortable rest prior to a day of slaughter would have been well-received by the Egyptian army.

On the other side, the Israelites have light during that same evening. They cannot see the Egyptians, but they can see Moses and they can see the sea of reeds before them.

So, even though the Egyptian army was relatively near to Israel, God made it impossible for them to interact. Neither encampment could see the other.

The Israeli People Cross the Red Sea on Dry Land

Exodus 14:21  And Mosheh stretched out his hand over the sea. And יהוה caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 

God had told Moses what to do next. For all of the judgments by God against Egypt, Moses would employ his hand or arm and/or staff; and God would work through Moses. Essentially, Moses would point to the place where God would do His work.

Exodus 14:22  And the children of Yisra’ěl went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left. 

It is fascinating to me how God works. God did not make the water disappear for a period of time, but He used the wind to push it back and hold it in place. God uses seemingly natural events to work great acts of power.

I have roughly guessed that it was 1 or 2 miles across this waterway; and that God stacked up the waters perhaps 3 or 4 miles apart. We need a region large enough that all Israel can cross over it in a few hours; and it needs to be large enough so that the entire Egyptian army can fit into that same region all at the same time.

Israel’s Escape from Egypt (a graphic); from Joshua Cottrell; accessed May 25, 2022.

The Egyptian Army Follows Israel and Is Drowned

Exodus 14:23  And the Mitsrites pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. 

Pharaoh and his army continue after the Israelites in hot pursuit. After a night of heavy fog, the Egyptians can apparently see them, and the Israelites have crossed over the sea in the open region caused by God. Their elite chariot brigade went first, followed by Egyptian soldiers on horses and other chariots.

Exodus 14:24  And it came to be, in the morning watch, that יהוה looked down upon the army of the Mitsrites through the column of fire and cloud, and He brought the army of the Mitsrites into confusion. 

God caused some confusion to the Egyptian army, so they are in the midst of a sea (with the waters pushed back) and suddenly confused, troubled or discomfitted.

Exodus 14:25  And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty. And the Mitsrites said, “Let us flee from the face of Yisra’ěl, for יהוה fights for them against the Mitsrites.” 

When the chariots began to malfunction, the Egyptians became disconcerted. Some of them realized that they were fighting the God of Israel once again.

Under normal circumstances, the chariots would move at a great speed. Catching up to the Israelites would have been a very easy thing for Egypt to do. But they were as if in a dream, where you want to move faster, but are unable to.

Exodus 14:26  Then יהוה said to Mosheh, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, and let the waters come back upon the Mitsrites, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” 

God again uses Moses to reveal what is going to be done. Moses cannot make the waters come back over the Egyptian army—all he can do is stretch out his hand over the sea. God will bring the waters down upon the Egyptians. Moses, by lifting up his arm simply indicates that God is about to act.

Exodus 14:27–28  And Mosheh stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its usual flow, at the break of day, with the Mitsrites fleeing into it. Thus יהוה overthrew the Mitsrites in the midst of the sea, and the waters returned and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, and not even one was left of them. 

The Egyptian army is in the midst of the sea. And, until Moses stretched out his hand, it was an open valley. But now, the waters return and drown the Egyptians. Every Egyptian in the army in the midst of this waterway is drowned.

Exodus 14:29  And the children of Yisra’ěl walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left. 

The sons of Israel crossed over this waterway walking upon dry ground. On both sides of them, the waters had been stacked up.

The Deliverance of Israel by God Is Recognized

Exodus 14:30  Thus יהוה saved Yisra’ěl that day out of the hand of the Mitsrites, and Yisra’ěl saw the Mitsrites dead on the seashore. 

God saved Israel and He destroyed the Egyptians. The entire Egyptian army, which had hoped to destroy Israel, were drowned before the Israelites. Their dead bodies began to wash up onto the shore.

Exodus 14:31  And Yisra’ěl saw the great work which יהוה had done in Mitsrayim, and the people feared יהוה, and believed יהוה and His servant Mosheh. 

There was a faith of all Israelites directed toward God; and they believed God’s servant, Moses, as well. We will see that this will last only as long as they are not facing any problems.

We will learn an important lesson from this: miracles will not provide a sustaining faith. The faith exercised by a believer towards God has to come from his soul, and, therefore, from the resources in his soul. A verse of Scripture may provide you with more comfort or strength than seeing miracles as great as we have studied. God, through His Word, gives power to our souls.

The Song of Moses

An introduction to Exodus 15: Exodus 15 mainly covers two events. (1) The Israelites will sing a song to Y^ehowah after crossing the sea of reeds; and (2) Israel will encounter the bitter waters of the wilderness of Shur. Sometimes Miriam’s contribution at the end of the first section is seen as its own section, but she and the women appear to being singing counterpoint to Moses and the men (assuming that Moses begins by leading an all male choir).

The song’s author is not specifically named; however, it is very likely the work of Moses, who was a genius in several areas. Why wasn't it some aspiring young musician? Easy—the lyrics are recorded in God's Word and there is no reason to think that this represents anything other than divine viewpoint. Considering that at this time only Moses seemed to have a clue in the realm of things spiritual, he would have been the most likely person to write a song with this much spiritual content. Had this been Joshua or Phinehas, I would think that their names would have been mentioned here. Not many believers in the time of Moses advanced spiritually, despite all of the great signs which they witnessed.

The Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1–21) (a graphic); from Navel Cutbacks; accessed May 25, 2022.

The Parting of the Sea (Exodus 15:1–21) (a graphic); from Squarespace; accessed May 25, 2022.

Later in this chapter, Moses’ sister, Miriam, who has the gift of prophecy, appears to have simply led a chorus of women to sing counterpoint to Moses’ song. Although some have suggested that she wrote a second song, she is merely singing Moses’ words back to him. However, the fact that she is named in this chapter suggests that she possibly may have contributed to this song in some way.

The second big event in this chapter is the provision by God of fresh water in the midst of the desert for the Israelites.

There are times when believers in the Bible show initiative and it falls into God's plan. It is something that God did not have to specifically come down and say "Do A, B and C." They were guided by the doctrine in their soul. Two examples readily come to mind: this song of Moses and David’s plan to build a permanent Temple to God. Nowhere was Moses told he should stop what he is doing and compose a song of praise to God. This sons simply proceeded from his soul as a honest emotional reaction to what God had done. Similarly, Solomon built this temple for God, based upon his father David’s plans. David came up with this idea out of nowhere, but we know the building of the Temple to be within God's will because it is found in later prophecies (that is, prophets would speak about what would happen to the Temple and in the Temple in the future).

Along this same line, in the Church Age, God does not come to any of us and audibly say, “You will be an evangelist!” Or, “You will witness to those in your periphery.” Nor do we hear a still, small voice within us telling us things that we should be doing. We take the doctrine which God provides for anyone willing to hear His Word; and apply it to our lives at any given time.

Around 1995, I began to study and write commentary of the Scriptures, focusing primarily in the Old Testament. At some point, I decided to begin posting these commentaries, which led to the creation of www.kukis.org At no point in time did I hear an audible voice of God saying, “This is what you need to do, Kukis.” It was all a natural progression. It was all about applying Bible doctrine to my life at that point in my life. This accounts for the function of any spiritual gift in the Church Age. Jesus obviously commanded His disciples and told them what to do, but, as their lives continued, they received less and less direct revelation, less and less direct guidance. Nevertheless, the disciples—according to traditions—continued to have dynamic ministries until their deaths.

I think that John (the Apostle) is a marvelous example of this. Because of his ministry—particularly his testimony for Jesus Christ—he was banned to the Island of Patmos for the rest of his life. This was to prevent him from spreading the gospel and the teachings of Jesus. So here is John—a man of action very much like Peter—and he is confined to an island where he is unable to evangelize and teach. What do he do? He does the most logical thing in the world: he writes his gospel; he writes down what he remembers about Jesus. John would have been unable to do this under any other set of circumstances. He was in his 80's or 90's and he had not written his gospel yet. Because of the sort of man that he was; and because of his very active ministry, John went almost his entire life without writing down what he remembers from the public ministry of Jesus. Being confined to an island gave John the opportunity to slow down, consider what he remembers, and then to write it all down. What did he write on? How was it preserved? We don’t know, but God saw to those details. God did not have to tell John, “Okay, next on the list of things for you to do is write a biography of Jesus.” (I say this because, had God actually come to John and told him to do this, logically, John would have included that experience at the beginning of his gospel.)

The next generation picked up the Word from there and moved forward, as did the next generation after that. In any case, after the canon of Scripture had been closed out, there was no longer a need for God to provide new information. In other words, God did not appear to anyone and tell them what to do going forward. Each person took the doctrine in their souls, their place in life, and applied that doctrine.

By the way, we actually know the names of some of John’s disciples, and we have their writings; and we also know the names of their disciples and we have their writings. So we have the forward march of Christianity. Jesus clearly spoke to John later in life, but that was because he was going to write the book of Revelation. Communication with God goes hand-in-hand with inspired writings. John’s disciples and their disciples did not have direct interaction with God; nor did they write any Scriptures.

There were certain things done by certain believers which showed initiative, but poor judgement. When the Apostles were to wait for the Holy Spirit, they, still knowing next to nothing, decided to elect another Apostle. Their reasoning was (1)  there were twelve Apostles originally, (2) there were twelve tribes of Israel, and (3) they were bored and needed something religious to do. They even made this election sound holy as we sometimes do. They gave God two choices of men to replace Judas and God chose neither one of them. So, not every original action on the part of a believer or group of believers is automatically God’s will.

Back to the Mosaic narrative:

God has delivered the Hebrew people and Moses celebrates this great deliverance of God with a song. We do not know exactly when Moses recorded all of these events; but we do know when he spoke/sang this song, which was right after God had delivered all of the sons of Israel. So, all of the events that Moses had seen were fresh in his mind—he had witnessed these things within hours; perhaps within minutes of writing and then sharing this song.

If you know any songwriters, sometimes some of their best tunes are put together in 10–30 minutes. It just suddenly flows from them. I believe that this is what happened with Moses. He was inspired by all that had happened, and he wrote this song, which he apparently taught to the congregation of 2 million (this would have been done in an orderly fashion). I suspect that it was sung many times upon their exit from that place where they had crossed over.

Exodus 15 (a Bible Journaling graphic); from Julie Williams on Pinterest; accessed May 25, 2022.

Exodus 15:1a Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying:

I tend to take a very naturalistic approach to the events of the Bible. There is no reason to think that Moses suddenly began singing a song just off the top of his head. Somehow, in some way, despite all that was going on, Moses composed this song. Perhaps it only took him 20 or 30 minutes, but he had it ready for Israel to sing as they continued on. This is clearly a song composed after God’s deliverance written in order to celebrate His deliverance.

Most of this chapter will be a song sung by Moses and the sons of Israel. The writing of this song logically had to occur within hours of the destruction of the Egyptian army. Now, how it was distributed is unknown to us, but Israel learned and sung the song with Moses—and it appears that all of this took place soon after the crossing of the sea and the devastation of the Egyptian army.

All Israel is standing on the far side of the Sea of Reeds, and they are watching the Egyptian army being destroyed by the waters which have come back upon them. Moses also watches this and a song begins to form in his head, which song will be written in short order and then sang by the Israelites.

Something which is missed here is, what this song implies. Even though it is possible to write a song in a very short amount of time, it still requires concentration and song writers tend to write down the song that they are developing. What this suggests is, Moses was writing at this time. We don't know how much or how often, but if he wrote this song then he certainly had written portions of his life and portions of the exodus down so far. Or, at the very least, his writing at this point caused him to record Exodus (and some believe that he compiled Genesis).

All of these events have just occurred, so Moses had to have written this song immediately after. The point that I am making is, these historical events appear to be recorded by Moses almost immediately after they occur. Moses is not looking back on these times decades later, and writing. In this particular case, Moses likely had written the song within an hour of the Egyptian army being destroyed (bear in mind, the most fearsome thing to Israel, at this point in time, would have been the Egyptian army).

Later on, in the book of Exodus, we are going to read a set of chapters which will seem to be very repetitive. God will give Moses directions, for instance, to build the Tabernacle; and then we will have a chapter where Moses oversees the building of the Tabernacle. This would suggest that Moses wrote down those instructions when God gave them to him, or hours or days later. And then when Moses and the people of Israel followed God’s instructions, that would also be recorded by Moses. If this information was written down years later, there would not have been two chapters which describe nearly the same thing.

The point that I am making is, the book of Exodus which we are studying was written very close in time to the events which took place. Maybe hours later; maybe days later; but not months or years later.

While we are on the general topic of songwriting, there is something else I should point out. When a celebrity of some sort is saved, often they are paraded about by Christian groups and asked to give their testimony and tell everyone all that has happened to them and how they feel. Sometimes, a celebrity with talent is called upon to use his talent for God, and some of them write or perform “Christian” songs. Just about the worst thing that you can do with a new believer is to parade him or her about like some trophy and to let them tell everyone about how they feel. It is just as bad for such a celebrity who is a new Christian to start writing Christian songs. All believers have a past; all believers can look back to their former life and, as a new Christian, they might take from that past as their inspiration for writing. I recall when Arlo Guthrie was saved (you probably don’t know who he is) and he wrote some songs which sounded sort of Christian. Now, the songs sounded nice; and I still enjoy hearing them today. However, the lyrics are not really Biblical. He sings about making a heaven out of this earth, which is not something that mankind is ever going to do. We are not going to give in to hyper-environmentalism, join hands with the greenies, and suddenly end up living in the midst of a heavenly earth. That will never happen. Now, do I like fresh air and clean water? Sure, I do. Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with choosing to work with the environment and to make your environment pleasant to you. Establishing national parks throughout the United States was a wonderful thing. But, Guthrie’s Christian songs were devoid of any spiritual understanding, which is exactly what you would expect of a brand new believer.

Moses’ song, on the other hand was on point and appropriate. He was a man with great spiritual understanding.

Moses here did not commission some newly saved believer in Y^ehowah Elohim to write a song for everyone to perform. Most of the believers whom were led by Moses could not have punched their way out of a spiritual paper bag. Moses is likely the author of this song because it is doctrinally correct and it has real spiritual meaning.

Exodus 15:1b “I will sing to the Lord,

We have no idea how quickly Moses wrote this song. Did he speak it right here on the spot? Had he thought about it and put together some lyrics previously (in anticipation)? Did he simply think about what had just happened, what he saw, and put it all together into a song? No matter how this was composed, it appears to have been done quickly.

Some songwriters will tell you that, some of their greatest songs just came to them and in 5 or 15 or 30 minutes, they have all or most of the song written. So, the idea that Moses sees all that he sees here and then writes a song to commemorate it right there on the spot is not an unusual thing to happen.

Moses’ song is directed towards the Lord; and the idea is for his people to also focus upon God (rather than upon themselves or upon Moses). For example, Moses is not writing a song about how good he looked when he raised up his arm over the sea. This song will glorify God, not Moses (and not the people of Israel).

Exodus 15:1c For He has triumphed gloriously!

Literally, this reads, for rising up, He rose up. It is a doubling of the verb gâʾâh (גָּאָה) [pronounced gaw-AW], which means, to rise up; to grow up; to be lifted up, be raised up, be exalted [in victory]; to triumph. Strong’s #1342 BDB #144. We could read this as, in rising up, He triumphed; in victory, He is exalted; He triumphs having been raised up.

By these acts, God has glorified Himself. All Israel was to understand Who and What God is. That is key to their future and their relationship with God (as it is with us). Who else could have opened up the sea to allow the people of Israel to walk across the sea bed to safety?

What has happened is God’s victory; all of the credit can be heaped upon Him.

Does God do this so that He can be admired and worshiped? Was that His ultimate goal? God does not think as we think. We like doing something great, and having people say nice things to us or to look up to us with some level of admiration. We just love that affirmation. God is not like that.

Maybe an analogy will help you to understand the worship of God. A child learns early on the voice and the visage of his parents and he learns early on that, if he needs anything, he can go to either of his parents. Does the father do this so that his son will grow up thinking that he is the greatest man in the world and worship him? Of course not! The father acts as he does because he loves his son (the same could be said of the mother). The love of a parent for his or her son (or daughter) is great. Parents are not looking to be glorified by their children, but for their children to know that they can come to them with anything. Parents want the child to know that he (or she) can trust them. Ideally speaking, the two people in the world a child can look to for guidance and help are his parents.

The parents do not do this for the admiration of their children. Parents act as they do because they love their children and they want the best for their children.

God makes Himself known to Israel in the same way. When they have a need, He wants them to come to Him. God wants Israel to understand that they, as a people, belong to Him; and that He will act towards them in love (to be completely accurate, our point of contact with God is His perfect justice; however, I use the term love in an anthropomorphic way in order to exploit this analogy).

To carry this analogy further, when you show disrespect towards your mother—the person who loves you more than anyone else on earth—then you are subject to discipline by your father to set your mind right (parents who do not discipline their children do not have their best interests at heart).

Similarly, when Israel disrespects God or God’s representatives (Moses and Aaron); then they cruisin’ for a bruisin’, as my father used to say.

So far, this is what we have:

Exodus 15:1a-c Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously!

The ones singing are Moses and the sons of Israel. This song is directed to the Lord. They recognize, by these lyrics, that God has triumphed over the army of Egypt. All of the credit is given to God; no one in Israel, including Moses, can claim to have helped God in this triumph. Remember, all that Moses did was to lift up his hand or lift up his staff, and when he did that, God would act. Moses by lifting up his hand was not assisting God in any way. He simply showed Israel where to look to see the works of God.

Exodus 15:1d The horse and its rider

The horse and rider refer to the individuals in the army of Pharaoh; and God triumphed over all of them. Pharaoh had a great cavalry. The men were experts at war and at riding; and were able to do both. But God could overcome the greatest army (something that we have seen many times in the Bible).

Exodus 15:1e He has thrown into the sea!

What just happened was, the army of Pharaoh drowned in the sea along with their horses and all of their equipment.

The likely scenario here is that the sons of Israel just stood and watched dumbfounded as the sea was cut loose on them, drowning Pharaoh and his army. Watching the power of a tidal wave (which is essentially what they were seeing) was an awesome event. Furthermore, they were completely safe (although they were so overwhelmed that they probably gave that very little thought).

Moses probably watched for a moment and then wrote this song. The Egyptians rode into the midst of the sea by their own volition, and their God drowned them all.

It is only fair to point out that this is one area where some archeologists and the Bible do not always agree. As of today, we do not know of any Egyptian monuments which feature the calvary. It is obvious that they were all wiped out during this period of time, however and it sounds as though Egypt was so devastated that it may have taken a century to begin to come back to the power that it once was. We have a later passage in 2Chron. 12:3 where Shishak, king of Egypt has 1200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. Unless there were 50 men on each chariot, that means that a large portion of these were calvary. This is 500 years later, however.

On the other hand, Freeman refers us to another book, Ancient Egyptians, written by Wilinson, Vol. I, pp. 288 & 292, where we have Egyptian Hieroglyphics which hold the command of the calvary to be an exalted position, often a post held by the king's sons. Also, there are ancient secular authors who mention Egyptian's calvary.

Here, all of Pharaoh’s army was vanquished; they were drowned in the midst of the sea (insofar as we know; if any men held back, we do not know of it).

Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!

Very soon after seeing Pharaoh’s army destroyed, Israel learned a song—probably written by Moses—and they sang it with great enthusiasm. At this moment, they feel great enthusiasm and emotion, having believed, 12 hours before, that Moses took them to that place to die.

God has just drowned all the Egyptian army in the Sea of Reeds, and Moses has written a song about it. All Israel sings this song. That is what most of Exodus 15 is.

Exodus 15:2a The Lord is my strength and song,...

Moses understands that God is his strength; and God is his happiness (his song).

Moses recognizes that God provides him with his strength and power; and that he is able to sing and celebrate God because of all that God has done.

When it says Yah (an abbreviation for Y^ehowah) is his song, it means God is the reason for his song; this song representing inner happiness and joy.

As we study the remainder of Exodus, it is clear that the Hebrew people were not easy people to work with; and, no doubt, Moses needed God’s strength to continue with them.

Exodus 15:2a (a graphic); from Tumblr; accessed May 25, 2022.

Exodus 15:2b ...And He has become my salvation;...

God is Moses’ salvation; just as He is our salvation. We are not saved because we follow the teachings of Jesus or because we try to live out His words in our lives; we are saved because we stand upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. We believe in Him and God has promised us that we will be saved (and that He would keep us saved).

I first heard these verses sung by the Liberated Wailing Wall in the early 1970's. This is a live version.

Moses recognizes that his strength is found in God; that even his song, which is representative of his rejoicing, is found in God. God is both our deliverer (that is, our help in times of need through the trials and troubles of our lives) and He is our salvation, our eternal hope. Moses identifies Y^ehowah as his God and the God of his father. In his song, Moses is lifting up God.

Moses (and the people) recognize that the Revealed God is their God. He is the Creator God.

For the basic text in this study of Exodus, I have depended upon the NKJV. However, there is a more literal translation of v. 2b which you may find to be interesting.

Exodus 15:2b more literally reads: ...He [the Lord] also has become to me Y^eshûwʿâh [= salvation].

The word at the end of this phrase is y^eshûwʿâh (יְשוּעָה) [pronounced y^eshoo-ĢAW], and it means, salvation, deliverance. Strong’s #3444 BDB #447.

This is a fascinating word that we have here, which is a letter for letter Hebrew equivalent to Jesus (in the Greek). This can be worked out letter-for-letter to be the Hebrew spelling of Jesus. Or, to put this in a different way, Jesus (in the Greek) is the transliteration of y^eshûwʿâh (יְשוּעָה) [pronounced y^eshoo-ĢAW], even though that may not be obvious to you.

At various times, people have made the claim, “The name of Jesus does not even occur in the Old Testament.” Ah, but it does! Jesus is found nearly 80 times in the Old Testament!

Exodus 15:2b ...He [the Lord] also has become to me Y^eshûwʿâh [= salvation]. (Kukis mostly literal translation)