Chapter 14

God tells the Israelites to turn back and to camp between Migdol and the sea - militarily a bad idea - so that he could get glory over Pharoah and all his host.  This phrase "turn back" may indicate that we shouldn't expect the exodus to follow a straight line, or indeed to have much human logic to it at all.  Any argument based on these would have to deal with "turn back".  God sends them to a place - on purpose - where they have no chance of escape.  He sends them here to build their faith, to show them His power, and to show the world that Egypt in all its glory is a trifling matter for the Lord of Israel.  There ought to be a FB verse here somewhere...

Perhaps this verse would do:

2 "Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. [Exo 14:2 ESV]

Here God sends Israel into a place from which they have no power to escape.  They are entirely in God's hands - only He can save them.

2023 - This verse:

6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, [Exo 14:6 ESV].  Pharoah went with them to recapture Israel.  It is that way in the movie, but I thought I had decided there was no Biblical documentation of that.  Here it is.  What we really do not know is whether Pharoah was killed in the Red Sea or he returned to Egypt in disgrace, like the movie showed it.  There is also this in vs 9:

9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. [Exo 14:9 ESV].  This certainly looks like the entire military establishment of Egypt.  Chariots, horsemen, and army.  Chariots, cavalry, infantry.  They all went.  Confirmed in vs 10 where the army was "marching after them".  Chariots and horsemen do not march.

God hardens Pharoah's heart one last time.  He orders all his chariots and his armies and his officers to pursue Israel to bring them back.  They catch up with Israel at the camp where God placed them.  Pharoah was supposed to catch up to them there. 

When the people see them coming they are afraid.  Then Moses gives the best short speech - in my opinion - in the whole Bible:

13 And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." [Exo 14:13-14 ESV]

Another really good FB post here.

I like ending it with "you shall see again no more forever", as in the NKJV, but this version is good too.

"...you have only to be silent."  Just shut up and watch.  I sooo need to learn this principal.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. [Exo 14:21 ESV]

So it did not happen as in the Hollywood movie.  It took a strong wind the whole night to divide the water, and then dry up the sea floor so they could walk through.

As the Egyptians follow Israel into the water, the Lord sends them into a panic.  He also "clogs" their chariot wheels, so that the chariots are sluggish and slow.  Essentially, even with chariots they are unable to catch up with the fleeing Israelites.  The Egyptians recognize that something supernatural is going on.  That too is part of the panic.  At the end of vs 25, it says:

25 ...And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians." [Exo 14:25 ESV]

This could mean that the Egyptians were turning around and preparing to flee themselves and get back to the shore they had just left.  Imagine the mass confusion and increasing panic, with walls of water on both sides...some trying to continue the pursuit, others trying to retreat.  As the waters closed over them, they are already in a very high state of fear and anxiety.  And that turned out to be justified. 

Here is one that I am surprised I haven't noticed before:

27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. [Exo 14:27-28 ESV]

Doesn't this verse seem to say that the Israelites actually crossed this dry ground in the dark, as the pillar of fire guarded the rear and kept Pharoah out?  And then at some point, the fire let the Egyptians pursue, but God slowed them down so that by the time the Israelites exited the sea, the entire chariot corp of Pharoah was out in the water.  And then - in the dark - the water came back upon them.  By morning, the sea was as it had been the day before.  MSB does not comment on this aspect of things.  MSB is the NASB.  Many translations say that the sea crashed back onto the Egyptians at daybreak, as they tried in vain to escape from the valley between the waters.

2023 - I think, this year, that Israel started into the water after the wind had blown all night.  I think it took them 24 hours to all get across.  The next morning, in the morning watch, the Egyptians were allowed to pursue, and they got bogged down out in the middle.  So it took Israel all night to get through the sea, because there were so many, and probably because the passage was not all that wide.  It stretched them out.  But when the Egyptians went in, they all "fit" into the passage at the same time.  The WHOLE ARMY of Egypt fit into this canyon through the water.  And as the day started - the NEXT day - the sea crashed back to normal, killing the Egyptians and washing them up on the shore.  Pharoah's fate is not here mentioned.  Closest we get is vs 28 where it says "not one of them remained".

30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. [Exo 14:30 ESV]  The soldiers and likely the horses too washed up on the seashore, and were doubtless seen and reported by many.

Given the total devastation of Egypt by the plagues, followed by the loss of her chariots - I am not at all clear that the foot soldiers were killed in the water - Egypt should have gone through a long rebuilding period.  You would even think they might have been conquered by some other nation during the period immediately following the exodus.  History should confirm this.  I need to look for it.