Exodus 14:9

After the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh had urged Israel to leave (Exodus 12:29–33). Before the chase began, God told Moses what would happen next: he would harden Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh would follow after Israel, and the LORD would be honoured over Pharaoh and all his host (Exodus 14:1–4). Verse 5 is where that word begins to come true.

“It was told the king of Egypt that the people fled.” The verb bârach means to flee, to move in haste to escape danger. Pharaoh’s permission had been forced out of him by the plagues, and he may have expected the people back after a short time away. The report that they had fled told him they were gone for good.

“The heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people.” The heart, lêbâb, is the whole inner person, mind, will and feelings together. The verb hâphak means to turn or overturn, and Scripture often uses it of God overthrowing cities. Here it describes a complete reversal. The grudging permission Pharaoh had given becomes open hostility, and the whole court turns with him, his servants as well as the king.

Verse 8 answers it plainly: “And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt”. The verb châzaq means to make strong, strengthen, make firm or harden. Verse 5 tells us that Pharaoh and his servants turned, and verse 8 tells us that the LORD hardened him, and Scripture holds both together. Pharaoh chose freely out of his own pride, and his choice was the very thing God had foretold and was using for his purpose.

The whole account of the plagues has prepared for this. Before the plagues began, God said that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21, Exodus 7:3). As they came, we read that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened (Exodus 7:13), that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15), and that the LORD hardened it (Exodus 9:12). God told Pharaoh why: “And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth” (Exodus 9:16). Paul quotes that word to Pharaoh and draws from it that God “hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth” (Romans 9:17–18).

What God did with Pharaoh he does with every ruler. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1). The LORD brings the plans of the nations to nothing, and his own counsel stands for ever (Psalm 33:10–11).

“And he made ready his chariot”. The verb ʼâçar means to tie, bind or harness, so the chariot was hitched to its horses and ready for war. Pharaoh went out at the head of the pursuit himself, and he “took his people with him”. The verb lâqach is the common word to take, used in many ways, and “his people” here means his army.

The word for chariot, rekeb, comes from a root meaning to ride, and it means a chariot or a whole force of chariots. It also names the upper millstone, the top stone used to grind grain. Chariots were the most feared weapon of the age, fast and mobile, carrying archers and spearmen into battle, and Egypt was famous for its chariot corps.

Verse 7 gives the size of the force, and the word for chariot comes back in it. First come “six hundred chosen chariots”. The verb bâchar means to try and so to select, and these were picked units, the best Pharaoh had. Then come “all the chariots of Egypt”, and finally “captains over every one of them”. The word for captains, shâlîysh, is defined as “a triple”. It has been taken to mean the third man in a chariot or an officer of high rank, and either way the verse shows an army that was organised and well led.

Verse 8 ends with Israel: “the children of Israel went out with an high hand.” “Children” is bên, son, so these are the sons of Israel, the whole nation descended from Jacob and God’s covenant people. The phrase “an high hand” joins rûwm, to be high or to raise, with yâd, the hand, a picture of power and authority. Israel left openly and boldly, a people brought out by God in full view.

The two halves of verse 8 stand side by side, the LORD hardening Pharaoh and Israel marching out. Egypt’s report in verse 5 said that the people fled, and God’s word says they went out with an high hand. Their confidence rested on the LORD, who “brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand” (Deuteronomy 26:8), and Israel’s high hand reflects his mighty hand. That confidence would soon be tested, for when the Egyptians came near, the people were terrified and cried out (Exodus 14:10–12).

“But the Egyptians pursued after them”. The verb radaph means to run after, pursue or chase, usually with hostile intent. The verse names the whole force: “all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army.” The word for army, chayil, means strength, ability, wealth or army, and here it is the whole host that came behind the chariots and horsemen.

They “overtook them encamping by the sea”. The verb nasag means to reach or catch up with, so the chase is over. The verb chanah means to pitch a tent or encamp, and Israel is at rest in its camp when the army arrives, with the sea, yam, before them. From where Israel stood, there was an army behind and water ahead.

The place is named exactly: “beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.” Where they stood is still debated. Pihahiroth may mean “mouth of the canals”, which suggests a narrow inlet, and Baalzephon means “lord of the north”, perhaps a shrine to a local god. The sea is the Red Sea, also called the Sea of Reeds.

The God who brought Israel out of “the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2) has done a greater work in his Son. All of us were born slaves to sin and death, and Paul says that God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son”, in whom we have redemption (Colossians 1:13–14). Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), the true Passover.

Pharaoh’s chase to drag his slaves back ended in his own destruction and in Israel’s freedom. The cross follows the same pattern. The powers of evil set out to destroy Christ, and his death became our salvation and their defeat. Through death he destroyed the one who had the power of death and set free those who were held in bondage by the fear of it (Hebrews 2:14–15). “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). Paul even sees Israel’s passage through the sea as a picture of baptism, saying that they “were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1–2).

Jesus came “to preach deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18), and he is the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6). The freedom he gives is secure. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36), and of his sheep he says, “neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). So Paul writes, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

These verses show the LORD ruling over the strongest power of the age. Pharaoh’s regret, his pride and his whole chariot force all serve the purpose God announced before any of it happened. The same God leads his people into places that look like a dead end, and there he fights for them, so that their rescue is plainly his work and his name is honoured. Israel walked out with an high hand because his own hand was mighty on their behalf, and in Christ his people walk free on the same footing.