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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 14:1 - 14:9
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Pharaoh Pursues Israel
v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
v. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon; before it ye shall encamp by the sea. Instead of proceeding on their journey into the desert, the children of Israel were to turn back, toward the west, and pitch their tents over against Hahiroth and Baalzephon, on the west side of an arm of the Red Sea.
v. 3. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, their turning back from Etham might seem like an act of bewilderment, of uncertainty, causing them to march back and forth without definite object; the wilderness hath shut them in; there was no road toward Canaan on the west side of the Gulf of Suez, and so the children of Israel would be held fast in the desert.
v. 4. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. This was the final hardening which the Lord wanted to inflict upon Pharaoh, and it would result in bringing honor and glory to the Lord as the one true, just, and mighty God. And they, the children of Israel, did so; they encamped at a place where they were apparently shut in as in a prison, a fact which caused Pharaoh to plan their capture and return to their former slavery in Egypt.
v. 5. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, the report of all the events that transpired was brought to him; 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? What foolishness possessed us that we let these excellent workmen go? The apparent aimlessness of the journeying may have caused Pharaoh to believe that the Lord had withdrawn His hand from the people, and that he would have no difficulty in recapturing them.
v. 6. And he made ready his chariot, he had his servants hitch the horses to his own chariot, and took his people, his army, with him, all the soldiers that were available upon short notice.
v. 7. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, the pick of his supply, the flower of his army, and all the chariots of Egypt, whatever other wagons were available, and captains over everyone of them, all the necessary officers.
v. 8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, he was blinded in his foolishness by the apparent helplessness of his former slaves. And the children of Israel went out with an high hand. It was not a case of secret flight with them, but of a bold departure in the sight of all the Egyptians.
v. 9. 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 detailed enumeration of Pharaoh's host serves to emphasize the greatness of his destruction. It is thus that obdurate sinners deliberately close their eyes against the manifest works of God and force God, as it were, to execute justice and judgment upon them.