---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Exodus 14"
description: "CHAPTER 14   :-. GOD INSTRUCTS
THE ISRAELITES AS TO
THEIR JOURNEY. 2. Speak unto the children of
Israel, that they turn and encamp—The Israelites had now"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/exodus/14"
---

CHAPTER 14

. GOD INSTRUCTS
THE ISRAELITES AS TO
THEIR JOURNEY.

**2. Speak unto the children of
Israel, that they turn and encamp**—The Israelites had now
completed their three days' journey, and at Etham the decisive step
would have to be taken whether they would celebrate their intended
feast and return, or march onwards by the head of the Red Sea into
the desert, with a view to a final departure. They were already on
the borders of the desert, and a short march would have placed them
beyond the reach of pursuit, as the chariots of Egypt could have made
little progress over dry and yielding sand. But at Etham, instead of
pursuing their journey eastward with the sea on their right, they
were suddenly commanded to diverge to the south, keeping the gulf on
their left; a route which not only detained them lingering on the
confines of Egypt, but, in adopting it, they actually turned their
backs on the land of which they had set out to obtain the possession.
A movement so unexpected, and of which the ultimate design was
carefully concealed, could not but excite the astonishment of all,
even of Moses himself, although, from his implicit faith in the
wisdom and power of his heavenly Guide, he obeyed. The object was to
entice Pharaoh to pursue, in order that the moral effect, which the
judgments on Egypt had produced in releasing God's people from
bondage, might be still further extended over the nations by the
awful events transacted at the Red Sea.
**Pi-hahiroth**—the mouth
of the defile, or pass—a description well suited to that of Bedea,
which extended from the Nile and opens on the shore of the Red Sea.
**Migdol**—a fortress or
citadel.
**Baal-zephon**—some marked
site on the opposite or eastern coast.

**3. the wilderness hath shut them
in**—Pharaoh, who would eagerly watch their movements, was now
satisfied that they were meditating flight, and he naturally thought
from the error into which they appeared to have fallen by entering
that defile, he could intercept them. He believed them now entirely
in his power, the mountain chain being on one side, the sea on the
other, so that, if he pursued them in the rear, escape seemed
impossible.

**5. the heart of Pharaoh and of his
servants was turned against the people,** &c.—Alas, how soon
the obduracy of this reprobate king reappears! He had been convinced,
but not converted—overawed, but not sanctified by the appalling
judgments of heaven. He bitterly repented of what he now thought a
hasty concession. Pride and revenge, the honor of his kingdom, and
the interests of his subjects, all prompted him to recall his
permission to reclaim those runaway slaves and force them to their
wonted labor. Strange that he should yet allow such considerations to
obliterate or outweigh all his painful experience of the danger of
oppressing that people. But those whom the Lord has doomed to
destruction are first infatuated by sin.

**6, 7. he made ready his chariot**—His
preparations for an immediate and hot pursuit are here described: A
difference is made between "the chosen chariots" and "the
chariots of Egypt." The first evidently composed the king's
guard, amounting to six hundred, and they are called "chosen,"
literally, "third men"; three men being allotted to each
chariot, the charioteer and two warriors. As to "the chariots of
Egypt," the common cars contained only two persons, one for
driving and the other for fighting; sometimes only one person was in
the chariot, the driver lashed the reins round his body and fought;
infantry being totally unsuitable for a rapid pursuit, and the
Egyptians having had no cavalry, the word "riders" is in
the grammatical connection applied to war chariots employed, and
these were of light construction, open behind, and hung on small
wheels.

**10. when Pharaoh drew nigh, the
children of Israel lifted up their eyes**—The great consternation
of the Israelites is somewhat astonishing, considering their vast
superiority in numbers, but their deep dismay and absolute despair at
the sight of this armed host receives a satisfactory explanation from
the fact that the civilized state of Egyptian society required the
absence of all arms, except when they were on service. If the
Israelites were entirely unarmed at their departure, they could not
think of making any resistance [WILKINSON
and HENGSTENBERG].

**13, 14. Moses said, . . . Fear ye
not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord**—Never,
perhaps, was the fortitude of a man so severely tried as that of the
Hebrew leader in this crisis, exposed as he was to various and
inevitable dangers, the most formidable of which was the vengeance of
a seditious and desperate multitude; but his meek, unruffled,
magnanimous composure presents one of the sublimest examples of moral
courage to be found in history. And whence did his courage arise? He
saw the miraculous cloud still accompanying them, and his confidence
arose solely from the hope of a divine interposition, although,
perhaps, he might have looked for the expected deliverance in every
quarter, rather than in the direction of the sea.

**15-18. the Lord said unto Moses,
Wherefore criest thou unto me?** &c.—When in answer to his
prayers, he received the divine command to go forward, he no longer
doubted by what kind of miracle the salvation of his mighty charge
was to be effected.

**19. the angel of God**—that is,
the pillar of cloud [see on ]. The slow and silent movement of that majestic column
through the air, and occupying a position behind them must have
excited the astonishment of the Israelites (). It was an effectual barrier between them and their
pursuers, not only protecting them, but concealing their movements.
Thus, the same cloud produced light (a symbol of favor) to the people
of God, and darkness (a symbol of wrath) to their enemies (compare
[2 Corinthians 2:16](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/2/16)).

**21. Moses stretched out his hand,**
c.—The waving of the rod was of great importance on this occasion
to give public attestation in the presence of the assembled
Israelites, both to the character of Moses and the divine mission
with which he was charged.
**the Lord caused . . . a
strong east wind all that night**—Suppose a mere ebb tide caused
by the wind, raising the water to a great height on *one side,*
still as there was not only "dry land," but, according to
the tenor of the sacred narrative, a wall on the right hand and on
the left [[Exodus 14:22](../../../kjv/exodus/14/22)], it would
be impossible on the hypothesis of such a natural cause to rear the
wall on the *other.* The idea of divine interposition,
therefore, is imperative and, assuming the passage to have been made
at Mount Attakah, or at the mouth of Wady Tawarik, an *east*
wind would cut the sea in that line. The *Hebrew* word *kedem,*
however, rendered in our translation, "east," means, in its
primary signification, *previous;* so that this verse might,
perhaps, be rendered, "the Lord caused the sea to go back by a
strong *previous* wind all that night"; a rendering which
would remove the difficulty of supposing the host of Israel marched
over on the sand, in the teeth of a rushing column of wind, strong
enough to heap up the waters as a wall on each side of a dry path,
and give the intelligible narrative of divine interference.

**22. the children of Israel went into
the midst of the sea,** c.—It is highly probable that Moses,
along with Aaron, first planted his footsteps on the untrodden sand,
encouraging the people to follow him without fear of the treacherous
walls and when we take into account the multitudes that followed him,
the immense number who through infancy and old age were incapable of
hastening their movements, together with all the appurtenances of the
camp, the strong and steadfast character of the leaders' faith was
strikingly manifested ([Joshua 2:10](../../../kjv/joshua/2/10);
[Joshua 4:23](../../../kjv/joshua/4/23); [Psalms 66:6](../../../kjv/psalms/66/6);
[Psalms 74:13](../../../kjv/psalms/74/13); [Psalms 106:9](../../../kjv/psalms/106/9);
[Psalms 136:13](../../../kjv/psalms/136/13); [Isaiah 63:11-13](../../../kjv/isaiah/63/11-13);
[1 Corinthians 10:1](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/10/1); [Hebrews 11:29](../../../kjv/hebrews/11/29)).

**23. the Egyptians pursued, and went
in after them to the midst of the sea**—From the darkness caused
by the intercepting cloud, it is probable that they were not aware on
what ground they were driving: they heard the sound of the fugitives
before them, and they pushed on with the fury of the avengers of
blood, without dreaming that they were on the bared bed of the sea.

**24, 25. Lord looked . . . through .
. . the cloud, and troubled them**—We suppose the fact to have
been that the side of the pillar of cloud towards the Egyptians was
suddenly, and for a few moments, illuminated with a blaze of light,
which, coming as it were in a refulgent flash upon the dense darkness
which had preceded, so frightened the horses of the pursuers that
they rushed confusedly together and became unmanageable. "Let us
flee," was the cry that resounded through the broken and
trembling ranks, but it was too late; all attempts at flight were
vain [BUSH].

**27. Moses stretched forth his hand
over the sea,** &c.—What circumstances could more clearly
demonstrate the miraculous character of this transaction than that at
the waving of Moses' rod, the dividing waters left the channel dry,
and on his making the same motion on the opposite side, they
returned, commingling with instantaneous fury? Is such the character
of any ebb tide?

**28. there remained not so much as
one of them**—It is surprising that, with such a declaration,
some intelligent writers can maintain there is no evidence of the
destruction of Pharaoh himself ().

**30. Israel saw the Egyptians dead
upon the sea-shore,** c.—The tide threw them up and left
multitudes of corpses on the beach a result that brought greater
infamy on the Egyptians, but that tended, on the other hand, to
enhance the triumph of the Israelites, and doubtless enriched them
with arms, which they had not before. The locality of this famous
passage has not yet been, and probably never will be, satisfactorily
fixed. Some place it in the immediate neighborhood of Suez; where,
they say, the part of the sea is most likely to be affected by "a
strong east wind" [[Exodus 14:21](../../../kjv/exodus/14/21)];
where the road from the defile of Migdol (now Muktala) leads directly
to this point; and where the sea, not above two miles broad, could be
crossed in a short time. The vast majority, however, who have
examined the spot, reject this opinion, and fix the passage, as does
local tradition, about ten or twelve miles further down the shore at
Wady Tawarik. "The time of the miracle was the whole night, at
the season of the year, too, when the night would be about its
average length. The sea at that point extends from six and a half to
eight miles in breadth. There was thus ample time for the passage of
the Israelites from any part of the valley, especially considering
their excitement and animation by the gracious and wonderful
interposition of Providence in their behalf" [WILSON].

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