Chapter 14
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
the Lord spake
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
that they
Pi-hahiroth
Pi-hachiroth, "the mouth of Chiroth," as it is rendered by the LXX. Dr. Shaw is of opinion, that Chiroth denotes the valley which extends from the wilderness of Etham to the Red Sea. "This valley," he observes, "ends at the sea in a small bay made by the eastern extremities of the mountains (of Gewoubee and Attackah, between which the valley lies) which I have been describing, and is called Tiah-Beni-Israel, i.e., the road of the Israelites, by a tradition that is still kept up by the Arabs, of their having passed through it; so it is also called Baideah, from the new and unheard of miracle that was wrought near it, by dividing the Red sea, and destroying therein Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."
Migdol
The word Migdol signifies a tower, and hence some have supposed that it was a fortress which served to defend the bay. But the LXX. render it [MagdÛlos] Magdolus, which is mentioned by Herodotus, HecatÊus, and others, and is expressly said by Stephanus (de Urb.) to be [polis Aigyptou] "a city of Egypt." This Bochart conjectures to have been the same as Migdol. See the Parallel Passages.
Jeremiah 44:1 46:14 Ezekiel 29:10
Heb
Baal-zephon. This may have been the name of a town or city in which Baal was worshipped; and probably called zephon, from being situated on the north point of the Red sea, near the present Suez.
For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
Pharaoh
7:3,4 Deuteronomy 31:21 Psalms 139:2,4 Ezekiel 38:10,11,17 Acts 4:28
They are entangled
Judges 16:2 1 Samuel 23:7,23 Psalms 3:2 71:11 Jeremiah 20:10,11
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
harden
8,17 4:21-31 7:3,13,14 Romans 11:8
I will be
18 9:16 15:10,11,14-16 18:11 Nehemiah 9:10 Isaiah 2:11,12 Ezekiel 20:9 Ezekiel 28:22 39:13 Daniel 4:30-37 Romans 9:17,22,23 Revelation 19:1-6
that the Egyptians
And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
and the heart
Why have we
Jeremiah 34:10-17 Luke 11:24-26 2 Peter 2:20-22
And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
23 15:4 Joshua 17:16-18 Judges 4:3,15 Psalms 20:7 68:17 Isaiah 37:24
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
the Lord
with an high hand
6:1 13:9,16,18 Numbers 33:3 Deuteronomy 26:8 32:27 Psalms 86:13 Acts 13:17
But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
the Egyptians
encamping
Verse 10
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
sore afraid
Psalms 53:5 Isaiah 7:2 8:12,13 51:12,13 Matthew 8:26 14:30,31 1 John 4:18
cried out
Joshua 24:7 2 Chronicles 18:31 Nehemiah 9:9 Psalms 34:17 106:44 107:6,13,19,28 Isaiah 26:16 Jeremiah 22:23 Matthew 8:25
And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Because
15:23,24 16:2,3 17:2,3 Numbers 11:1 14:1-4 16:41 Psalms 106:7,8
wherefore
5:22 Genesis 43:6 Numbers 11:15
Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Is not this
Let us alone
Hosea 4:17 Mark 1:24 5:7,17,18
For it had
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Fear ye not
Numbers 14:9 Deuteronomy 20:3 2 Kings 6:16 2 Chronicles 20:15,17 Psalms 27:1,2 46:1-3 Isaiah 26:3 30:15 35:4 41:10-14 Matthew 28:5
see the
30 15:1-27 Genesis 49:18 1 Chronicles 11:14 Psalms 3:8 Isaiah 43:11 Jeremiah 3:23 Lamentations 3:26 Hosea 13:4,9 Habakkuk 3:8,13
for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day
or, for whereas ye have seen the Egyptians to-day, etc. ye shall see.
30 15:4,5,10,19,21 Nehemiah 9:9
The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
the Lord
25 15:3 Deuteronomy 1:30 3:22 20:4 Joshua 10:10,14,42 23:3,10 Judges 5:20 2 Chronicles 20:17,29 Nehemiah 4:20 Isaiah 31:4,5
hold
And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
17:4 Joshua 7:10 Ezra 10:4,5 Nehemiah 9:9
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
lift
the sea
This sea was what is called in Scripture yam suph, "the sea of weeds;" so called, according to Mr. Bruce, from the vast quantity of coral which grows in it. In the LXX. it is called [thalassa erythra] and by the Latins Rubrum mare, and we from them the Red Sea; so called it is supposed, from Edom (red) or Esau, whose territories extend to its coasts. It separates Arabia from Egypt and Ethiopia, and is computed to be 150 leagues in length from Suez to the straits of Babelmandel. The upper part is divided into two gulfs, that to the East called the Elanitic, from the city Elana at the northern extremity, and that to the west, the Heroopolitic, from the city of Heroopolis. The former is called by the Arabians Bahr el Akaba, the sea of Akaba; and the latter Bahr el Kolzum, the sea of destruction, or ClysmÊ; which was that which the Israelites passed.
and the
And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
I, behold
Genesis 6:17 9:9 Leviticus 26:28 Deuteronomy 32:39 Isaiah 48:15 51:12 Jeremiah 23:39 Ezekiel 5:8 6:3 34:11,20 Hosea 5:14
I will
and I will
See on ver
Verse 18
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
the angel
24 13:21 23:20,21 32:34 Numbers 20:16 Isaiah 63:9
and the pillar
And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
Psalms 18:11 Proverbs 4:18,19 Isaiah 8:14 2 Corinthians 2:15,16
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
stretched
the Lord
15:8 Joshua 3:13-16 4:23 Nehemiah 9:11 Job 26:12 Psalms 66:6 74:13 Psalms 78:13 106:7-10 114:3-5 136:13 Isaiah 51:10,15 63:12
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
the children
29 15:19 Numbers 33:8 Psalms 66:6 78:13 Isaiah 63:13 1 Corinthians 10:1 Hebrews 11:29
and the waters
This verse demonstrates that this event was wholly miraculous, and cannot be ascribed, as some have supposed, to an extraordinary ebb, which happened just then to be produced by a strong east wind: for this would not have caused the waters, contrary to every law of fluids, to stand as a wall on the right hand and the left.
a wall
15:8 Habakkuk 3:8-10 Zechariah 2:5
And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
17 15:9,19 1 Kings 22:20 Ecclesiastes 9:3 Isaiah 14:24-27
And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
that in the
looked unto
Job 40:12 Psalms 18:13,14 77:16-19 104:32
through
and troubled
25 Job 22:13 23:15,16 34:20,29 Psalms 48:5
And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
took off
Judges 4:15 Psalms 46:9 76:6 Jeremiah 51:21
that they drave them heavily
or, and made them to go heavily. Let us flee.
Job 11:20 20:24 27:22 Psalms 68:12 Amos 1:14 5:19 9:1
for the Lord
14 Deuteronomy 3:22 1 Samuel 4:7,8
And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
Stretch out
the waters
1:22 Judges 1:6,7 Matthew 7:2 James 2:13 Revelation 16:6
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
and the sea
Lord
overthrew
Heb. shook off.
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
the waters
15:10 Deuteronomy 11:4 Nehemiah 9:11 Psalms 78:53 Habakkuk 3:8-10,13 Hebrews 11:29
remained
13 2 Chronicles 20:24 Psalms 106:9-11 136:15
But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
walked
22 Job 38:8-11 Psalms 66:6,7 77:19,20 78:52,53 Isaiah 43:2 Isaiah 51:10,13 63:12,13
a wall
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
the Lord
13 1 Samuel 14:23 2 Chronicles 32:22 Psalms 106:8,10 Isaiah 63:9 Jude 1:5
saw
Psalms 58:10 59:10 91:8 92:9-11
And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.
work
Heb. hand. feared.
believed
4:31 19:9 2 Chronicles 20:20 Psalms 106:12,13 Luke 8:13 John 2:11,23-25 John 8:30-32 11:45 Acts 8:13