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24 And it came to pass, that in the morning-watch g the LORD look ed unto the host of the Egyptians

See Ps. 77. 17, &c.

towards the Red Sea, of a valley or opening in the mountains, which is here called Badea, and also Wady Tyh, or 'the Valley of Wandering,' and which, under the various names of Wady Ramlia, Derb Towarek, Wady Jendeli, &c. extends from the Nile to the Red Sea, and through which a canal of communication seems to have formerly ran. Was this the Hiroth, or pass, before or `in the mouth of which the Israelites encamped, and from which they afterwards made their famous passage? Many good authorities are of this opinion; and it deserves to be mentioned that D'Anville and Major Rennel concur in fixing the town of Clysma at this spot. Certainly no body of men could be more effectually shut in than in this bay of Badea. There are many indications that an arm of the sea, now filled up, stretched a considerable way into the opening at this place, and must have prevented all further progress to the south; and if such progress had not been thus prevented, it would be so by the mountains of Ghobede, which bound the bay and valley on the south, and which, with their continuations, stand out so close to the sea as to preclude the continuation of the march along the shore. There was therefore no retreat but through the sea, or back to Egypt through the valley; and, on the hypothesis that there was then, as at present, a practicable road through this valley between the Red Sea and the Nile, we hazard a conjecture, that it was Pharaoh's intention to drive them back before him through this valley. As names and traditions, on one side of the sea, point the egress of the Hebrews at Ain Mousa-as, on the other side, the same authorities place the ingress at Badea-and as it is necessary to assume that the opening

through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,

was most extensive, we might hazard a conjecture that the whole opening extended from about Ain Mousa to op posite Badea. We must again repeat, however, that not the least stress is to be laid on the unsupported traditions of the natives.

Ain Mousa is only one

out of many places which they indicate as the point of passage. Perhaps the place which both Arabian and Egyptian traditions most strongly indicate is the large bay called Birket Faroun (Pharaoh's Pool), about the 29th parallel of latitude. The waters of this bay are in continual commotion, which the natives think to be occasioned by the unquiet spirits of the drowned. But the passage cannot reasonably be fixed here or any where else below Wady Gharendel at the lowest: for not only does the gulf from thence downward become too wide to have been crossed by such a body as the host of Israel in one night, but the shore, which till thereabout is low and sandy, then becomes rocky and mountainous, while that on the Egyptian side is still more impracticable-affording a convenient place neither for the ingress nor egress of such a multitude. Upon the whole, we should think the claims of Ain Mousa far preferable to those of Suez, and those of Badea at least equal to those of Ain Mousa.' Pict. Bible.

1

24. In the morning watch. The Jews divided the whole night from sun-setting till sun-rising, into three watches, consisting each of four hours. The morn ing watch began at two in the morning and ended about six. Looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud. Heb.

be-ammud; in or by the pillar; i. e. by means of it. The original word for 'looked,' as applied to God, denotes

25 And took off their chariotwheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD h fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

h ver. 14.

26 And the LORD said unto Moses, iStretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horse

men.

i ver. 16.

world; the earth trembled and shook. With this agrees the description of Josephus; 'Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunder and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted upon them; nor was there any thing which God sends upon men as indications of his wrath, which did not happen at this time.' The complicated horrors of the scene can neither be described nor imagined. It was evident beyond all dispute that the Lord God Almighty fought against them, and the lighting down of his arm who could withstand? Officers and soldiers, Pharaoh and his commanders, were alike terror-stricken, and one universal thrill of panic and dismay pervaded the host of the Egyptians. 'Let us flee,' was the cry that resounded in every direction, through the broken and trembling ranks, but, alas, it was now too late. All attempts at flight were vain. The day of forbearance was passed.

not a simple and bare act of ocular inspection, but also a positive putting forth of some demonstration of wrath or mercy corresponding with the occasion. Thus Ps. 102. 19, 20, 'For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to death;' i. e. his looking down consisted in his interposition in behalf of the afflicted. Deut. 26. 15, 'Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people;' i. e. look down by blessing. So here the Lord's 'looking' is explained by what follows, viz. his 'troubling' them. We suppose the fact to have been that the side of the pillar of cloud toward the Egyptians was suddenly and for a few moments illuminated with a blaze of light, which coming as it were in a refulgent flash upon the dense darkness which had preceded, so frightened the horses of the pursuers that they rushed The measure of their iniquity confusedly together, dashing the wheels was full. The tyrant and his people of one chariot furiously against those had hardened themselves in rebellion of another, upsetting, breaking, and against God till his patience was extearing them from their axles, while the hausted, and the day of vengeance was horses themselves, floundering in pools, come. They are first frightened into or sinking in quicksands, were thrown despair, and then plunged into destrucinto inextricable confusion, and thus tion.- T The Egyptians said, &c. became an easy prey to the returning Heb. ¬¬¬ va-yomer Mitz. waves. In the mean time, as is evident | raim, Egypt, or the Egyptian, said, Let from the words of the Psalmist, Ps. 77. us flee; indicating that they were as 17, 18, the elements were wrought into unanimous in making this declaration, a fearful commotion, which redoubled as if they had been but one man. But the horrors of the scene; 'The clouds they were like persons oppressed with poured out water, the skies sent out a the nightmare in their sleep, who would sound; thine arrows also went abroad. fain fly from the impending danger that The voice of thy thunder was in the presses upon them, but cannot. heavens; thy lightnings lightened the invisible power fixes them to the spot. VOL. I 16

An

27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea kreturned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD loverthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after

Josh. 4. 18. 1 ch. 15. 1, 7 m Hab. 3. 8, 13. n Ps. 106. 11.

them: there remained not so much as one of them.

29 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 their left.

30 Thus the LORD P saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians: and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore.

over. 22. Ps. 77. 20. & 78. 52, 53. P Ps. 106. 8, 10. q Ps. 58. 10. & 59. 10.

examples of its use. Nehem. 5. 13,
'Also I shook my lap and said, So God
shake out every man from his house
that performeth not this promise, even
thus be he shaken out.' Job, 28. 13
"That it might take hold of the ends of
the earth that the wicked might be
shaken out of it.' The same original
word occurs, Ps. 136. 15, in allusion to
this same event, though translated as
here 'overthrow.' So absolutely and
utterly was the power of this guilty
nation now broken and destroyed, that
although the camp of Israel was pitched
within a little distance of Egypt, during
the space of forty years, yet no pursuit
was attempted against them, no future
effort made to subdue and enslave them.
30. Israel saw the Egyptians dead
upon the sea-shore.

27. And Moses stretched forth his hand, &c. The rod of Moses is again stretched over the sea, and it returns to its strength. Those very waters which had guarded the passage of Israel, again obey the suspended law of gravitation, and rushing down upon the heads of the Egyptians with overwhelming force engulph them all beyond the power or possibility of escape. Prostrated by the fury of the resistless flood, wave after wave passing over them, they pierce the air with the shrieks of hopeless anguish, and in all their multitudes are buried beneath the deep, which roared in closing upon them like a ravenous beast over his prey. 'The sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters.' The same element is the defence of the one, and the destroyer of the other. Not an Israelite perished, yiru eth Mitzrayim mëth, not an Egyptian survived. What an saw Egypt, or the Egyptians, a corpse; awful retribution upon the incorrigible the whole nation spoken of as one indi. king and people who had hardened them-vidual. This was ordered at once for selves against God, bidding defiance to his demands, his threatenings, his judginents! Here he lies with all his host, men, horses, and chariots, merged in one common watery grave, as a perpetual monument of the folly of rebellious man, and the just wrath of offended heaven! The Lord overthrew the Egyptians. Heb. yenaër, shook off. That is, cast away, rid himself of. The force of the original may be better understood from the following

יראו את .Heb

the greater disgrace of the Egyptians, and the greater triumph of the Israel. ites. However superstitiously nice and curious that people were in embalming and preserving the bodies of their great men, and whatever horror was inspired by their religion at the idea of lying unburied till their bodies were con sumed, still that dreaded doom was here allotted them, and the utmost con. tempt thus poured upon the nobles of Egypt. In short, it was little else than

31 And Israel saw that great work | LORD, and believed the LORD, and which the LORD did upon the Egyp- his servant Moses. tians: and the people feared the

dragging out the dead body of the slain Egyptian dragon from the waters and proclaiming over it, 'I will leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.' Ezek. 32. 4. It is perhaps in allusion to this that we read, Rev. 19. 17, 18, 'And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.' Such a result would also heighten the expression of the divine favor towards Israel, and more deeply affect their hearts with their great deliverance. They probably stripped the bodies of the slain, and thus possessed themselves of a mass of treasure which they were afterwards able to apply to the furnishing of the tabernacle. Nothing can be more striking than the manner in which these incidents are figuratively set forth by the Psalmist, Ps. 74. 13, 14, "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.'

r ch. 4. 31. & 19. 9. Ps. 106. 12. John. 2. 11. & 11. 45.

of David, Ps. 109. 27, 'That they may know that this is thy hand, that thou, Lord, hast done it.' Conviction of this truth was now wrought in the depths of their souls. 'Deep answered unto deep.' The language is very emphatic, that they now began in earnest to 'fear the Lord and believe the Lord,' in view of the wonders of his mercy and his might, and to yield themselves more unreservedly to the guidance of his servant Moses. They were now profoundly ashamed of their former distrusts and murmurings, and doubtless were ready to conclude, from their present feelings, that they should never relapse into a complaining spirit or a disobedient conduct again. Infidelity and rebellion are, for a time at least, banished from their hearts, and while they believe his word, they sing his praise ;' although their subsequent demeanor showed that they were still capable of forgetting and slighting their heavenly benefactor.

CHAPTER XV.

The preceding chapter having given us an account of the total overthrow and destruction of the Egyptians, we' are informed in the present of the manner in which the signal victory was celebrated. The circumstances which called forth this grateful song of praise here recorded, were indeed unparalleled. We behold an immense congregation just rescued in a marvellous manner from the power of their enemies, standing upon the shores of a sea which was then rolling its waves in their usual course, waves which had so lately been that great hand; or as the Chal. ex-made to stand as crystal walls on either pressively renders it, "The power of the great hand.' The import is plainly that of an amazing display of the divine omnipotence. It was scarcely necessary to pray for them in the language

31. Israel saw that great work. Heb. eth ha-yad haggedolah,

side of a dry passage, and which had again rushed together in their might, overwhelming all the chariots, and horses, and footmen of Pharaoh. There they stand, seeing the shores of the sea

TH

CHAPTER XV.

bsing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

b ver. 21.

in the original is in the future, perhaps the suggestion may not be wholly groundless, that it is hereby implied that this song was to serve as a model for the triumphant songs of the church in subsequent ages, somewhat as the Lord's prayer is designed as a model for the prayers of his disciples in every period of the world. Accordingly, we find it said of those, Rev. 15. 2, 3, who had obtained a victorious deliverance from the thraldom of the beast, that they sung the song of Moses and the Lamb, in evident allusion to the sublime pean here recorded. The present is the most ancient song extant in any language, as those ascribed to Linus, Musaeus, and Orpheus, have a date of three hundred years subsequent to this. Its poetical merits are of the very first order, as we might infer from the undoubted fact, that it was prompted by divine inspiration, to be sung on the spot, and probably on the very morning of the event which it celebrates. It is alike remarkable for its grandeur and simplicity, its touching pathos and its true sublime. It was probably sung in alternate strophes or strains, as was usual in all the sacred symphonies of the ancients. I will sing, &c. In

HEN sang a Moses and the children of Israel this song_unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will a Judg. 5. 1. 2 Sam. 22. 1. Ps. 106. 12. strewed with the dead bodies of men and horses, with the broken pieces of chariots and weapons of war scattered in all directions, and all the other wrecks of that awful catastrophe. There they stand, safe and unhurt, not a feeble woman, not an infant child, not a hoof of cattle, not an article of property, lost-all monuments of the mighty power and distinguishing favor of their covenant God! Well may they lift up their voices and sing. Well may they bring the timbrel and harp to aid their voices in celebrating the praises of their great deliverer.-It may be remarked, by the way, that here, as in many other instances, the Old Testament narrative has afforded the ground for one of the most striking features of the symbolical scenery of the Apocalypse, ch. 15. 2, 3, 'And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true thy ways, thou King of saints.' The phrase 'on the sea of glass' is, un-timating that although the song was to doubtedly, more correctly rendered 'by the sea of glass,' i. e. on the shores, while the mingling of the fire is perhaps in allusion to the pillar of fire which accompanied the march of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and whose terrific flashings mingled with the returning and roaring billows that overwhelmed the Egyptian hosts.

1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song, &c. Heb.

be sung by the whole company, yet each one was to appropriate the burden of it to himself individually. The triumph of Israel over the Egyptians did not resemble the usual triumphs of nation over nation, where the individual is overlooked and lost in the mass. Every thing here is peculiar and personal. Every Israelite for himself reflects with joy on his own chains now for ever broken. He seems to exult

az yashir, lit. then will sing. As the verb over his own tyrant-master now sub

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