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The Lord shall fight for you - Ye shall have no part in the honor of the day; God alone shall bring you off, and defeat your foes. Ye shall hold your peace - Your unbelieving fears and clamours shall be confounded, and ye shall see that by might none shall be able to prevail against the Lord, and that the feeblest shall take the prey when the power of Jehovah is exerted.

GOD INSTRUCTS THE ISRAELITES AS TO THEIR JOURNEY. (Exo. 14:1-31) Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp--The Israelites had now completed their three days' journey, and at Etham the decisive step would have to be taken whether they would celebrate their intended feast and return, or march onwards by the head of the Red Sea into the desert, with a view to a final departure. They were already on the borders of the desert, and a short march would have placed them beyond the reach of pursuit, as the chariots of Egypt could have made little progress over dry and yielding sand. But at Etham, instead of pursuing their journey eastward with the sea on their right, they were suddenly commanded to diverge to the south, keeping the gulf on their left; a route which not only detained them lingering on the confines of Egypt, but, in adopting it, they actually turned their backs on the land of which they had set out to obtain the possession. A movement so unexpected, and of which the ultimate design was carefully concealed, could not but excite the astonishment of all, even of Moses himself, although, from his implicit faith in the wisdom and power of his heavenly Guide, he obeyed. The object was to entice Pharaoh to pursue, in order that the moral effect, which the judgments on Egypt had produced in releasing God's people from bondage, might be still further extended over the nations by the awful events transacted at the Red Sea. Pi-hahiroth--the mouth of the defile, or pass--a description well suited to that of Bedea, which extended from the Nile and opens on the shore of the Red Sea. Migdol--a fortress or citadel. Baal-zephon--some marked site on the opposite or eastern coast.

The Lord shall fight for you,.... By commanding the wind of the heavens, and the waves of the sea, and employing them against their enemies, and on their behalf; they being unarmed, and so not in a condition to fight for themselves, as well as they had no heart or spirit for it: and ye shall hold your peace; be still, and quiet, and easy in your minds, and forbear saying or doing anything; "be silent"; and neither express the fear and distress of their minds, by any mournful sounds, nor their joy of faith by shouts and huzzas; as they could not draw a sword, they were not so much as to blow a trumpet, and break a pitcher, and cry the sword of the Lord, and of Israel as they after did on another occasion, at least their posterity.

"Jehovah will fight for you (לכם, dat comm.), but you will be silent," i.e., keep quiet, and not complain any more (cf. Gen 34:5).

The departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt (which was indeed the birth of the Jewish church) is made yet more memorable by further works of wonder, which were wrought immediately upon it. Witness the records of this chapter, the contents whereof, together with a key to it, we have, Heb 11:29. "They passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned;" and this they did by faith, which intimates that there was something typical and spiritual in it. Here is, I. The extreme distress and danger that Israel was in at the Red Sea. 1. Notice was given of it to Moses before (Exo 14:1-4). 2. The cause of it was Pharaoh's violent pursuit of them (Exo 14:5-9). 3. Israel was in a great consternation upon it (Exo 14:10-12). 4. Moses endeavours to encourage them (Exo 14:13, Exo 14:14). II. The wonderful deliverance that God wrought for them out of this distress. 1. Moses is instructed concerning it (Exo 14:15-18). 2. Lines that could not be forced are set between the camp of Israel and Pharaoh's camp (Exo 14:19, Exo 14:20). 3. By the divine power the Red Sea is divided (Exo 14:31), and is made, (1.) A lane to the Israelites, who marched safely through it (Exo 14:22, Exo 14:29). But, (2.) To the Egyptians it was made, [1.] An ambush into which they were drawn (Exo 14:23-25). And, [2.] A grave in which they were all buried (Exo 14:26-28). III. The impressions this made upon the Israelites (Exo 14:30, Exo 14:31).