Êxodo 14:15-18

(15-18) Wherefore criest thou unto me? — Like the people (Êxodo 14:10), Moses had cried to Jehovah, though he tells us of his cry only thus indirectly. God made answer that it was not a time to cry, but to act: “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward,” &c. The Israelites were to strike their tents at once, and prepare for a forward movement. Moses was to descend to the edge of the sea, with his rod in his hand, and to stretch it out over the sea, and then await the consequences, which would be a “division” of the waters — the sea-bed would for a certain space become dry, and Israel would be able to cross to the other side (Êxodo 14:16); the Egyptians would follow, and then destruction would come upon them, and God would “get himself honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host” (Êxodo 14:17). The exact mode of the destruction was not announced.