THAT THEY TURN - i. e. away from the wilderness, and go southwards, to the west of the Bitter Lakes, which completely separated them from the desert. PI-HAHIROTH - The place is generally identified with Ajrud, a fortress with a very large well of good water, situated at the foot of an elevation com... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE ENTANGLED ... - The original intention of Moses was to go toward Palestine by the wilderness: when that purpose was changed by God’s direction and they moved southwards, Pharaoh, on receiving information, was of course aware that they were completely shut in, since the waters of the Red Sea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE FLED - This was a natural inference from the change of direction, which indicated a determination to escape from Egypt. Up to the time when that information reached Pharaoh both he and his people understood that the Israelites would return after keeping a festival in the district adjoinin... [ Continue Reading ]
SIX HUNDRED CHOSEN CHARIOTS - The Egyptian army comprised large numbers of chariots, each drawn by two horses, with two men, one bearing the shield and driving, the other fully armed. The horses were thoroughbred, renowned for strength and spirit. Chariots are first represented on the monuments of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HIS HORSEMEN - See Exodus 14:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
NO GRAVES IN EGYPT - This bitter taunt was probably suggested by the vast extent of cemeteries in Egypt, which might not improperly be called the land of tombs.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US ALONE - This is a gross exaggeration, yet not without a semblance of truth: for although the Israelites welcomed the message of Moses at first, they gave way completely at the first serious trial. See the reference in the margin. The whole passage foreshadows the conduct of the people in the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE EGYPTIANS WHOM ... - The true sense is, ye shall never see the Egyptians in the same way, under the same circumstances.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE CRIEST THOU UNTO ME? - Moses does not speak of his intercession, and we only know of it from this answer to his prayer.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANGEL OF GOD - Compare the margin reference, and see Exodus 3:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
A STRONG EAST WIND - The agency by which the object effected was natural (compare Exodus 15:8 note): and the conditions of the narrative are satisfied by the hypothesis, that the passage took place near Suez. THE WATERS WERE DIVIDED - i. e. there was a complete separation between the water of the g... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE A WALL UNTO THEM - Compare Nahum 3:8. The waters served the purpose of an intrenchment and wall; the people could not be attacked on either flank during the transit; to the north was the water covering the whole district; to the south was the Red Sea.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE MORNING WATCH - At sunrise, a little before 6 a.m.in April. TROUBLED - By a sudden panic.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE WATERS MAY COME - A sudden cessation of the wind, possibly coinciding with a spring tide (it was full moon) would immediately convert the low flat sand-banks first into a quicksand, and then into a mass of waters, in a time far less than would suffice for the escape of a single chariot, or... [ Continue Reading ]
OVERTHREW THE EGYPTIANS - Better as in the margin, The Lord shook them off, hurled them from their chariots into the sea.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT SO MUCH AS ONE OF THEM - Escape would be impossible Exodus 14:26. Pharaoh’s destruction, independent of the distinct statement of the Psalmist, Psalms 136:15, was in fact inevitable. The station of the king was in the vanguard: on every monument the Pharaoh is represented as the leader of the ar... [ Continue Reading ]