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The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Verse 1. Beelsephon, means “the lord of the watch-tower.” Some think an idol was thus denominated, whose office it was to prevent people from quitting the country. How vain were his efforts against God’s people!
“Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal Zephon. You shall encamp opposite it by the sea.
Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’
Verse 3. In. Between craggy mountains and the Red Sea. Bible.
I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will follow after them; and I will get honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” They did so.
Verse 4. And he will. Protestants falsely translate, “that he may,” and so forth contrary to the Hebrew and other versions. Worthington.
The king of Egypt was told that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
He prepared his chariot, and took his army with him;
Verse 6. People, fit for war, who could be got ready on such short warning. Ezechiel (ap. Eus.) makes the number amount to a million.
and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, with captains over all of them.
Verse 7. Captains. Septuagint “Tristatas.” Three men rode on every chariot, which was armed with scythes, to cut down all that came within contact, the chief warrior, with his armour bearer and charioteer. Saint Gregory Nys. Bible.—Or these three captains may very probably be the three chief officers of state, ( Calmet.) or the generals of cavalry, and of infantry, and the chief treasurer, or receiver of taxes, principes equitum peditumque erant, & tributorum. Saint Jerome
The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went out with a high hand.
Verse 8. Hand. Without any dread. Numbers 15:30. Calmet.—All the army of Egypt could do nothing against them. Yet presently, at their approach, the Hebrews were suffered to fall into dismay, that they might learn not to confide in their multitudes, and might pray with greater earnestness for protection, verse 10.
or, defiantly.
The Egyptians pursued them. All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his army overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal Zephon.
When Pharaoh came near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were very afraid. The children of Israel cried out to the LORD.
They said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way, to bring us out of Egypt?
Isn’t this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Verse 12. Wilderness. This is the language of dastardly souls. They had begun to be almost in love with their chains. Every difficulty gives them occasion to repine at the gracious purposes of God, and the exertions of his servant Moses. But God bears patiently with the defects of a carnal and long-oppressed nation. Bible. verse 13.—The wiser sort pray to God, while others thus upbraid Moses.
Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today; for you will never again see the Egyptians whom you have seen today.
Verse 13. Ever. They saw their floating carcasses the following morning. Hebrew “you shall not see the Egyptians any more as you see them at present.” They were not in the same condition.
The LORD will fight for you, and you shall be still.”
Verse 14. Peace. You will not have to draw a sword. The Syriac subjoins, “Therefore Moses cried unto the Lord,” which connects this with the following verse. Calmet.
The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward.
Verse 15. Criest.—“A vehement desire is a cry, which reaches the ears of the Lord.” Saint Bernard
Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. Then the children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground.
Behold, I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them. I will get myself honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies, over his chariots, and over his horsemen.
Verse 17. To pursue. God did not restrain the perverse will of the Egyptians; but suffered them to be guided by their blind passions, and to rush presumptuously into the bed of the sea. If the retiring of its waters had been owing to any natural cause, this wise nation could not be ignorant but that, at the stated time, the ebbing would cease, and consequently that they would be overtaken by the waters. But the waters stood up like walls on both sides, and they were so infatuated as to suppose that the miracle would be continued for their protection. Bible.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD when I have gotten myself honor over Pharaoh, over his chariots, and over his horsemen.”
The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them.
It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was the cloud and the darkness, yet it gave light by night. One didn’t come near the other all night.
Verse 20. A dark cloud, and enlightening the night. It was a dark cloud to the Egyptians; but enlightened the night to the Israelites, by giving them a great light.
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Verse 21. Wind. This served to dry up the sandy channel of the Red Sea, which was mixed with mud and weeds. It blew from the east, Kodim, or from Arabia.—Divided, some say into 12 parts or divisions, Psalms 135:13. But the words of the psalmist may be verified by the sea opening a spacious passage, such as was requisite for so many millions to travel through, ( Bible.) for example a distance of perhaps 18 miles, in so short a space of time. Silara Adrichomius thinks the breadth of the division would not be less than nine miles.
The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the middle of the sea: all of Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
In the morning watch, the LORD looked out on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and confused the Egyptian army.
Verse 24. Watch. About four o’clock. The Hebrews divided the night into three equal parts, ( Calmet.) or four, consisting each of three hours, ( Menochius.) which varied in length as the night was longer. Bible.—Slew many by his thunderbolts, as Artapanus relates, and the Scripture elsewhere insinuates. Calmet. 15:6, 12. Psalms 76:16, 18. Josep. ii. 7.
He took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians!”
Verse 25. Lord. thus they reluctantly confess his might, and are forced to glory Him in their destruction. Their change is only the effect of fear and temporal danger, verse 18. Bible.
The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.”
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it. The LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.
The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Israel saw the great work which the LORD did to the Egyptians, and the people feared the LORD; and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
Verse 31. Sea-shore. The Hebrews would thus again be enriched by their spoils. Calmet.—Servant. Those who believe God, submit to the directions of his ambassadors. S. Jerom in Philemon 5. In this merited catastrophe of the Egyptians, which fixed the last seal to the mission of Moses, the fathers contemplate how God’s servants are rescued by baptism, and by the merits of Jesus Christ, from Satan and from all sin. 1 Corinthians 10:1, 4. Orig. hom. 5. Bible.