Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:23-25

23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,

25 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.

Eventually the Egyptians were able to get around the fiery, cloudy pillar and gave chase to the Israelites. Verse 24 makes it clear that the pillar did not vanish, but perhaps by the light of rising sun, during “the morning watch,” they were able to see well enough to navigate around it and follow their quarry into the sea.

Meanwhile, God watched all of the Egyptians’ doings from within the pillar. He watched as they stubbornly continued in their efforts to molest His people, and so He took away their chief advantage: their chariots. It says that He “took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily.” This might mean that the wheels became sloughed down in the wet sand or mud that had been saturated by the Red Sea. No matter how hard they drove their horses, the dragging sludge was apparently too great, even to the point of breaking the wheels under the stress.

Now, at last, a panic fell upon the Egyptians. They were on foot, deprived of their speed, and caught between two great walls of water. Perhaps the Israelites had still been finishing their journey through the channel, and they had judged that they would be able to catch them before they were all out, thus God would not be able to close the channel without destroying His own people. But then, by getting partway through before losing their chariot wheels, they may have suddenly found themselves not able to reach one side or the other before the Israelites would fully vacate the chasm and God could close the channel with no friendly casualties.

They had stepped willfully into the trap, practically daring the Lord to destroy them, and finally they could see with their own eyes the manner of their destruction. They attempted to flee, acknowledging that God, Himself, was at war with them. It was, however, too late.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:1-4

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

Thus far, God had been leading Israel by day and by night, moving them as quickly through the land as He could. Now, though, He instructed them to stop their progress and make camp, and He deliberately instructed them to do it with their backs to the sea, thus cutting off any escape route.

God even said that this was so Pharaoh would see a moment of supposed weakness where the Israelites would be “entangled in the land.” This would tempt Pharaoh to come out with his armies and destroy them. Pharaoh would think that the Israelites had walked themselves into a trap of their own making. And indeed it was a trap, but a trap for catching Egyptians!

Thus, it was Pharaoh’s hubris that was to be his downfall. He could, of course, have left well-enough alone, but God already knew that he would not. The trap was effective because it was targeted towards Pharaoh’s character flaw: his pride and unwillingness to accept when he had lost. Due to this flaw he had already unnecessarily subjected his people to unnecessary suffering through the plagues, and now he would do so again.

Of course, verse 4 does say that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart, but I’ve already written many times that I believe this rendering is inaccurate, given the other times where it instead says that it was Pharaoh who hardened his own heart. And while this may not be the most significant of evidences, after reading today’s verses it occurs to me that another reason for believing that Pharaoh was culpable for his actions is that to assume otherwise would disrupt his character arc. Pharaoh is a type and example to us all of hubris and pride and self-defeat, but his cautionary tale would lose all its weight if he wasn’t a free agent in choosing that path of self-destruction. From a narrative perspective, it is essential that Pharaoh chose of his own free will to do evil so that the moral of his story may resonate in our hearts.