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that they go forward." Yet thisforward movement was to be made only after Moses
had stretched the rod of God over the sea,and the Angel of the Lord gone behind the
host, casting the light of the pillar upon Israel's path,while, with the darkness of the
cloud, he kept Egypt apart from them. Then blew the "strong eastwind all that night,"
as never it had swept across those water before. They divided, and formed oneach
side a wall, between which Israel passed dry-shod.
When the host of Egypt reached the seashore, night had probably fallen, and the
Israelites were faradvanced on the dry bed of the sea. Their position would be seen by
the fire from the cloud whichthrew its light upon the advancing multitude. To follow
where they had dared to go, seemed dictatedby military honor, and victory within easy
reach. Yet, read in the light of what was to follow, itsounds like Divine irony that "the
Egyptians pursued and went in after them in the midst of the sea."And so the long
night passed. The gray morning light was breaking on the other side of the
waters,when a fiercer sun than that about to rise on the horizon east its glare upon the
Egyptians. "Jehovahlooked unto" them "through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and
troubled the host of the Egyptians."It was the fire of His Divine Presence, bursting
suddenly through the pillar of the cloud, which threwthem into confusion and panic.
The wheels of their chariots became clogged, the sand beneath themseemed to soften
under the fiery glow, and they drave heavily. With that light from the fiery cloud,the
conviction flashed upon them that it was Jehovah who fought for Israel and against
them. Theyessayed immediate flight. But already Moses had, at God's command, once
more stretched his handover the sea. In that morning watch, the wind veered round;
the waters returned, and Pharaoh, withthe flower of his host, sank, buried beneath the
waves. Thus, in the language of Scripture,
"Jehovah shook off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea." (Exodus 14:27)
Incidental confirmations of this grand event are not wanting. Throughout the Old
Testament, it isconstantly appealed to, and forms, so to speak, the foundation on
which God rests His claim uponHis people. Local tradition also has preserved its
memory. Nor has anything yet been urged to shakeour faith in the narrative. Although
the exact spot of the passage through the Red Sea is matter ofdiscussion, yet all are
agreed that it must have taken place near Suez, and that the conditions aresuch as to
make it quite possible for the host of Israel to have safely crossed during that
night.Moreover, it is a curious fact, illustrating the history of Pharaoh's overthrow,
that, according toEgyptian documents, seventeen years elapsed after the death of
Thothmes II (whom we regard asthe Pharaoh of this narrative) before any Egyptian
expedition was undertaken into the Peninsula ofSinai, and twenty-two years before
any attempt was made to recover the power over Syria whichEgypt seems to have lost.
And thus, also, it was that Israel could safely pursue their march throughthe
wilderness, which had hitherto been subject to the Egyptians.
(^)