Commentaria in Exodum
Chapter 14
Pharao with his people pursues the Hebrews; they fear, Moses strengthens them. Secondly, the angel in the pillar of cloud places himself between the Hebrews and the Egyptians, verse 19. Thirdly, verse 21, Moses with his rod divides the sea, the Hebrews pass over. Fourthly, verse 28, the Egyptians pursuing are destroyed, both by the angel and by the returning waters.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to the children of Israel: Let them turn and encamp before Phihahiroth, which is between Magdalum and the sea over against Beelsephon: you shall encamp before it upon the sea. 3. And Pharao will say of the children of Israel: They are straitened in the land, the desert hath shut them in. 4. And I shall harden his heart, and he will pursue you: and I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in all his army: and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. 5. And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled: and the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us? 6. So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him. 7. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and the captains of the whole army. 8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel: but they were gone out in a mighty hand. 9. And when the Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side: all Pharao’s horse and chariots, and the whole army were in Phihahiroth before Beelsephon. 10. And when Pharao came near, the children of Israel lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord. 11. And said to Moses: Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness: why wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt? 12. Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying: Depart from us, that we may serve the Egyptians? for it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness. 13. And Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand, and see the great wonders of the Lord, which he will do this day: for the Egyptians, whom you see now, you shall see no more for ever. 14. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. 15. And the Lord said to Moses: Why criest thou to me? Speak to the children of Israel to go forward. 16. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground. 17. And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you: and I will be glorified in Pharao, and in all his host, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen. 18. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen. 19. And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removing, went behind them: and together with him the pillar of the cloud, leaving the forepart, stood behind, 20. Between the Egyptians’ camp and the camp of Israel: and it was a dark cloud, and enlightened the night, so that they could not come near one another all the night. 21. And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and made the sea dry: and the water was divided. 22. And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up: for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left. 23. And the Egyptians pursuing, went in after them, and all Pharao’s horses, his chariots and horsemen, through the midst of the sea. 24. And now the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host: 25. And overturned the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said one to another: Let us flee from Israel: for the Lord fighteth for them against us. 26. And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen. 27. And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. 28. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them: neither did there so much as one of them remain. 29. But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left: 30. And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians. 31. And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant.
2. LET THEM ENCAMP BEFORE PHIHAHIROTH, WHICH IS BETWEEN MAGDALUM AND THE SEA, OVER AGAINST BEELSEPHON.—This is the fourth station, or halting-place, of the Hebrews, in which they were hemmed in on the left by the sea, behind by the army of the Egyptians pursuing them, and before and on the right by precipitous mountains. Whence Pharao thought to catch them there like mice in a trap.
For “before Phihahiroth” the Septuagint render “opposite the encampment (epaulis),” which Origen interprets, opposite the winding ascent. Not well do others render, opposite the suburbs or villas, as if the Septuagint had taken in Phihahiroth the letter cheth for ain, and derived the name from ir, that is, city; but the word Phihahiroth in Hebrew is the same as mouth of holes: for pe signifies mouth, chur a hole, so that Phihahiroth is the same as the entrance into a cave enclosed by rocks, and narrow; for mouth hints at the narrowness of the entrance.
So “Magdalum” in Hebrew sounds tower; perhaps it was a fortress set on a mountain. “Beelsephon” in Hebrew is the same as house of the watch-tower: all of which indicate that these places were precipitous and inaccessible. See the chorography of these places in the tables of Adrichomius.
R. Solomon and the Hebrews fable that Beelsephon was a brazen dog which by its barking betrayed the fleeing Hebrews, such as Abulensis testifies there was in Spain at Numantia; for those who strive toward heaven a steep way must be trodden. So Origen.
UPON THE SEA,—at the sea, toward the sea, by the sea.
3. AND PHARAO WILL SAY,—when, learning from scouts that the Hebrews are fleeing, and repenting of having let them go, he shall think of pursuing them to bring them back.
OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,—concerning the children of Israel. So Virgil:
Asking many things of Priam, many of Hector.
THEY ARE STRAITENED.—In Hebrew nebuchim, that is, they are perplexed, or confounded; because, namely, placed in a strait, and shut in on every side by rocks, sea and armed men, they will find no way out; and so I shall destroy them either by famine or by the sword, or rather reduce them to surrender and their former servitude.
4. AND I SHALL HARDEN HIS HEART, AND HE WILL PURSUE YOU.—It is sufficiently plain from the previous deliberation, verses 3 and 5, that Pharao freely hardened himself and made himself obstinate to pursue the Hebrews; yet God also is said to have hardened him, as I said chap. 7, verse 3, because without God’s permission and sure providence Pharao would never have hardened himself; for God, to whom all orders of things are subject, had so disposed Pharao by the order and course of things that, these objects having presented themselves, He foreknew he would freely and of his own accord harden himself. For whatever in any way flows from God’s providence is said in Hebrew phrase to be done by God; and Scripture uses this phrase at times to commend in God the highest and widest providence of all things (to which even all the wills of the impious are subject, and by which they are ruled and directed whithersoever He pleases).