5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: 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?

6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:

7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.

Pharaoh received word that the Israelites had fled beyond the three-days-distance allotted for their sacrifices. It was clear that they were on the run, never intending to return, though as I have mentioned before, it must have been obvious to Pharaoh that this was always their intention.

Of course, even an expected insult is still an insult, and verse 5 tells us that not only did Pharaoh’s heart turn against the Israelites, but also the hearts of his people. Before, Pharaoh’s counselors had beseeched him to give in to the Israelites’ commands, and he had refused. But now all of Egypt was united in wanting revenge upon God’s chosen people. They had lost their crops, their economy, their firstborn, and they had been spoiled under false pretenses. What also might have been a factor in the Egyptian civilians’ wrath was that the battlefield would now be out in the wilderness, not in their heartland. This time the people wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire between God and their king, so perhaps that emboldened them to support a further provocation.

Thus, Pharaoh gathered his army for battle, and he, himself, rode with them. Verse 7 mentions that “he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt.” That “and” suggests that 600 was not the total number of chariots, probably it was only the number of his personal guard, with many other chariots making up the rest of his cavalry. Also, it is to be assumed that he had many foot soldiers to further support the cavalry. Several ancient historians (Josephus, Patricides, Ezekiel) all describe a different number for this army, but averaging all of their estimates suggests that the force might have very well stood in the hundreds of thousands of men.

As mentioned earlier, the Israelite camp is estimated to have been about two million souls, but most of that was women and children, and even the men presumably did not have proper weapons to fight with, nor any advanced tools of war such as horses and chariots. Thus, Pharaoh was leaving with a force of sufficient strength that he really could kill the entire Israelite nation if he wanted. Perhaps he meant to bring a residue back to be his slaves again, or possibly he really meant to slaughter them all!