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17 ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all 18 his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

19

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. 20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near 21 the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, 22 and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

23

And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and 24 his horsemen. And it came to pass, that, in the morning

dead, and accomplish redemption for mankind. (The moon is not in the history: it is in the "theory”—lunatic.) The mention of the wind, as also of the water, shows that natural means are employed. The rod shows by whom (under 19, 20). Host: perhaps does not include the common (foot) soldiery: they, hindmost in pursuit, may (vers. 18, 23, 26) have escaped the destruction. The Heb. word here, same as for " army in ver. 9, is a general expression for (military) "force" (a different word for " army as in ver. 24).

19, 20. Before the camp-THE ANGEL!-(See initial note here on angelophany, and cp. under xxiii. 20-where observe, the angel is the Lord-and other notes referred to there.) Which went: ordinarily proceeded. To them to these. These words, in italics, are not in the Heb. text. It is not literally translatable so as to make a clear sense. An ancient version would give the reading, "There arose cloud and darkness, and the night passed." Our Vers. gives a meaning which fits the Heb. 21. The rod, with circumstances converging, shows "the finger of God" (under 15-18). The suggestion, that the water on each side was literally rigid (like ice), is not made by the prose here, nor called for by the poetry in Nah. iii. 8; xv. 18 represents the wall as raised on the farther side, the flattened surface being on the nearer (right hand). The suggestion of an upheaval of the sea-bottom is a clumsy imagination of earthly cloud (not Mosaic, I Co. x. 5). 23-25. Through the dark cloud, and into the deepening night, they rushed blindly forward-on what? (Job xv. 26). Watch. (See initial note on this section.) The Lord

watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of 25 the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

26

And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the 28 Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned,

and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained 29 not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on 30 their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead

looked (cp. the Gorgon shield, which turned those who saw it into stonexv. 3). Took off: perhaps better, clogged. In the sea-bottom, the chariot wheels, made for firm sward, may have sunk, so as to have perhaps been wrenched off, after having (horses wild with terror) made regulated movement impossible, causing the chariots to stick fast, till overwhelmed and hurled in dire confusion. The dismay !—of men perceiving "the finger of God." 26-28. Stretch forth-and the sea. And. Where is the 66 consecution" here? A sailor (Peter) saw, Mk. iv. 39. To his strength (a change of wind is suggested by xv. 10): "a stronger than he" thus had kept him bound. When the morning appeared: they saw the miracle, but too late : the returning course of nature was timed supernaturally for their destruction. That came into the sea after them (under 18, 19). This, leaving room in front for the cavalry, and with the Israelites beyond, in that sea-way, may have included only a small part of the Egyptian common soldiery. this whole history suffering is confined to what will suffice for manifestation of judgment. Not so much as one; that is, of those who dared to disobey that frowning Pillar, by going into the sea. Pharaoh personally is not said to have perished. A king of Egypt was usually in the front of battle. There is one recorded case of a Pharaoh who in battle said "go" instead of "come," Re. xxii. 17. This perhaps was an unrecorded case of that unworthiness.

In

29-31. A wall (under 21, 22). Saw-sea-shore (cp. "his Scots lords at his feet," in the ballad of Sir Patrick Spens). There was an Israelitish tradition, that the corpses were flung by the sea upon the east (Sinai) shore, where the spoils of the dead were to Israel a welcome supply of arms. The history speaks only of a more precious spoil. They saw the-work which

31 upon the sea-shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.

66

Jehovah did (as Nicodemus will see long after, Jn. iii. 2). Believed: that 'seeing is believing" (Jn. ii. 11, 23), even for a Thomas the doubter. Feared. A salutary effect of Miracle (see Introd., note on Miracle: so that one of its New Testament names is "terrific thing," répas-těras-in our Version, "wonder"). "The beginning of Philosophy is wonder." The Philosophy (1 Co. ii. 6) into which men were initiated by that baptism (1 Co. x. I-5) began with "the fear of THE LORD:" the first and the last (Re. i. 8).

Exercise 30.

1. Finality. In chap. xiv., point out indication of a definitive close here of God's dealings with Egypt, and of a decisive new beginning of Israel's

career.

2. That Egypt might know. Looking at the action in chap. xiv. as a lecture, say (1) What were the main heads of discourse? (2) What was the doctrine? (3) What was the warning stroke of the bell, and what the dismissal stroke?

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3. "It was not the anvil that was broken, but the hammer." (1) How may it be known beforehand which is anvil and which is hammer? (2) How might Pharaoh have known a dozen of times? (3) How might the Jews have known that they were destroying themselves when they killed the Prince of Life? Could they have seen it on their hands? How? NOTE on "theories" of the Passage of the Red Sea (see Introd., note on that Passage). It was at one time said that every Frenchman had a theory" of Waterloo under his hat. The theories were intended, not to explain the fact, but to explain it away; and so they were bad. "Theory" means vision. It is what enables us to see the fact in its true nature, to comprehend it. And as to proposed "theories of that Passage, we have to consider, do they explain the fact, or, do they explain it away? The fact which has to be explained is, that in that night there was "a nation born at once"-witness, every Jew and Jewess we now pass upon the street, a living monumental evidence (see Introd.) of the exodus. The only "theory" that is thus a theory is the "eagles' wings" theory. That fact is fully accounted for by the narrative on Ex. xiv., and by this narrative alone. And the "theory" in this narrative is (as given by God Himself in xix. 4), that the Passage was, with instrumentality of wind and water, by the manifested power of Jehovah, Israel's God. Every other attempted "theory" is lame, blind, like Epicurus lecturing about origination of the world in a "fortuitous concourse of atoms," or Topsy philosophizing, "Spec's I growed." It is a key that does not open the door, but breaks in the lock (Jn. x. 1-6). This concludes the First Part of the History:—that is, The Deliverance.

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