1. No sooner had Israel gone than Pharaoh was sorry. The public works stood still for lack of labour. Vast territories were suddenly unoccupied. The labour of this enslaved people was missed on every side, in city and field; there was a sudden loss of revenue and service which he could ill dispense with. And his pride forbade that he should quietly acquiesce in their unhindered exodus. Besides, in their mad haste to be rid of this people, the Egyptians had laden them with jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; so much so that it is distinctly said, “they spoiled the Egyptians.” It is suggested by the contributions afterwards made to the building of the tabernacle that Israel was carrying off a large amount of treasure and valuables. “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?”
So Pharaoh pursued with his horses and chariots, and, making a forced march, overtook the fugitives at their encampment by the Red Sea. As the afternoon closed in, of perhaps the fifth day of the Exodus, the outposts of the fugitive host beheld the dreaded forms of the Egyptian warriors coming over the ridges of the desert hills; and as the night fell they were aware that the whole Egyptian host was encamped in the near vicinity, only waiting for the morning light to swoop down on them, involving them either in a general massacre, or in what was perhaps more dreadful, a return to slavery.
The one man who seemed unmoved amid the panic of the people was their heroic leader, whose faith was the organ of their deliverance. And therefore it is that in all after-allusions to this great event his hand is always referred to as the instrument through which the might of Jehovah wrought. “Thou leddest,” says the Psalmist, “thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psa_77:20). “He caused,” says Isaiah, “his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses” (Isa_63:12, R.V.). The people, therefore, had good reason to remember the ancient days of Moses; for they were made famous by Moses' mighty faith. By his faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land.
2. Several records of the overthrow of the hosts of Pharaoh are preserved in the Book of Exodus.
(1) The earliest of these is the so-called Song of Moses, a poem uttered by the deliverer when the Red Sea was passed, “and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore.” The refrain of the triumphant ode was sung by Miriam, “the prophetess, the sister of Aaron,” who went forth, timbrel in hand, at the head of the Hebrew women and cried, “Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea” (Exo_15:21). The song celebrates Jehovah as a warrior, who has cast Pharaoh's hosts into the sea. “The deeps cover them,” “they went down into the depths like a stone.” At the blast of Jehovah's nostrils, “the waters were piled up,” “the floods stood upright as an heap,” “the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.” When the enemy said, “I will overtake,” Jehovah “blew with his wind, and the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.” The imagery of the poem is bold, its similes vivid and daring; it recalls Deborah's description of the overthrow of the Canaanites, when “the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” Were this the only record of the occurrence, a possible inference would be that a great battle between Israel and the Egyptians was fought, and that by Jehovah's aid His people triumphed, their enemies being driven into the sea and overwhelmed by the waters in a violent storm.
(2) The most ancient prose version of the occurrence says that, when Pharaoh and his army drew near, Jehovah rebuked Moses saying, “Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it.” In the night the pillar of cloud moved to the rear of Israel, giving darkness to the Egyptians and light to the people, so that “the one came not near the other all the night.” A strong east wind caused the sea to go back all that night, the waters were divided, and the sea was made dry land. In the morning “Jehovah looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud and discomfited the host of the Egyptians.” In their discomfiture they cried, “Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them.” For Jehovah had “bound their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily.” Then “the sea returned in his strength, and Jehovah shook off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea” (Exo_14:10 b-12, 15-20, 24-25, 27, 30-31 J).
(3) The latest account, found in the Priestly Narrative, appears to be the work of a writer who knew Egypt well and had a definite idea as to the locality of every event connected with the Exodus. In this it is said that the Israelites had been commanded to turn back from Etham, and to encamp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. This placed them apparently at the mercy of Pharaoh, who triumphantly exclaimed, “They are entangled in the land: the wilderness hath shut them in.” Pharaoh found the people encamped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth and Baal-zephon. Moses had to bear the bitter reproaches of the terrified fugitives. “Because,” asked they, “there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” The deliverer, however, exhorted the people: “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” Moses then stretched out his hand over the sea, and the waters were divided, and appeared as a wall to the Israelites upon their right hand, and upon their left, so that they went over on dry land. The Egyptians pursued after them, and when they were in the midst of the sea, Moses again stretched forth his hand and the waters overwhelmed them (Exo_14:1-4; Exo_14:8-10; Exo_14:13-14; Exo_14:21-23; Exo_14:26; Exo_14:28-29).1 [Note: F. J. Foakes-Jackson, The Biblical History of theHebrews, 55.]
Ruskin declares that the prayer with which George Chapman, the translator of Homer, ends his life's work, and which is to be found on the last page of his Batrachomyomachia, is “the perfectest and deepest expression of natural religion given us in literature.” One petition in the prayer runs “that Thou wouldst be always on our right hand and on our left, in the motion of our own Wills.” On this Ruskin observes, “The command to the children of Israel ‘that they go forward' is to their own wills. They obeying, the sea retreats, but not before they dare to advance into it. Then, the waters are a wall unto them, on their right hand and their left.”2 [Note: Ruskin, The Bible of Amiens, iv. § 21 (Works, xxxiii. 137).]
