Глава 14

1–26. Pharaoh's persecution of the Israelites and the death of the Egyptians. 27–31. Crossing the Red Sea. Ex.14:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Ex.14:2. tell the children of Israel to turn and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and between the sea, before Baal-zephon; Set up camp opposite it by the sea. Continuing the route in the previous eastern direction would be tantamount to entering into an impossible struggle with the garrisons of the border fortresses. It was impossible for an entire people to pass by them unnoticed, since even one person, the above-mentioned Sineh, slipped through a number of fortifications only at night. In view of this, in Etham the Israelites change the direction of their path, at the command of God they “convert.” Since the Hebrew verb “shuv” used in this case denotes movement from the western side to the opposite - eastern and vice versa (Joshua 19:12, 27, 29, 34), it is obvious that instead of the previous eastern direction, the Jews are now choosing the western, or more precisely, the southwestern. From the description of their further journey it is clear that after crossing the Red Sea they are on its eastern side, therefore, before the transition they were on the western side. Turning from Etham to the southwest, they went along the western side of the Red Sea and encamped before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and between the sea, before Baal-zephon. Pi-Hahiroth lay to the south, Migdol on the west side, the sea on the east, and Baal-Zephon to the east, in front of the Jews who stopped, on the eastern side of the sea. This is a more accurate determination of the location of their third camp. Exodus 14:3. And Pharaoh will say [to his people] about the children of Israel: they are lost in this land, the desert has shut them in. The change in the original direction of the path by the Jews - movement along the western shore of the Red Sea - seems to Pharaoh to be the result of ignorance of the path: “they got lost”; Moreover, they found themselves in a hopeless situation: “the desert locked them in.” And this, indeed, was the situation of the Jews at that time from a human point of view. A retreat to the north could cut off the Egyptian army, the path to the west and south was blocked by the Jebel Ataka mountain range, and the sea was raging to the east. Ex.14:4. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will show My glory on Pharaoh and on all his army; and [all] the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. And they did so. Exodus 14:5. And it was told to the king of Egypt that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants turned against this people, and they said, “What is this that we have done?” Why did they let the Israelites go so that they would not work for us? The movement of the Jews from Rameses to Succoth, from there to Etham, and from there along the western side of the Red Sea required at least three days' march. And since it did not end with the offering of a sacrifice to God, it lasted longer than the duration of the journey to the desert by Moses and Aaron (Ex. 5:3). In view of this, the Egyptians quite correctly determined the purpose of the exodus; “the people fled”, depending on which there was regret about the loss of free slaves. Exodus 14:6. [Pharaoh] harnessed his chariot and took his people with him; This feeling, under the influence of the Pharaoh’s conviction that the situation of the Jews was hopeless (Ex. 14:3), turns into a quick determination to return them. A pursuit ensues. It consisted of “six hundred selected, actually military chariots” (Exodus 14:7), every Egyptian chariot, that is, chariots that were somewhat suitable for warriors, and, finally, “tristates.” Three people were assigned to each chariot, two for battle, the third for driving horses. Exodus 14:7. and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and the captains over them all. Exodus 14:8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt [and his servants], and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel walked under a high hand. Exodus 14:9. And the Egyptians chased after them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and the horsemen, and all his army, and overtook them camped by the sea, near Pi-Hahiroth in front of Baal-zephon. Exodus 14:10. Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel looked back, and behold, the Egyptians were coming after them: and the children of Israel were greatly afraid, and cried to the Lord, Exodus 14:11. and they said to Moses, “Are there no graves in Egypt, because you have brought us to die in the wilderness?” What did you do to us when you brought us out of Egypt? Exodus 14:12. Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt, saying: leave us, let us work for the Egyptians? For it is better for us to be slaves to the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Exodus 14:13. But Moses said to the people: Do not be afraid, stand still - and you will see the salvation of the Lord, which He will do for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see now, you will see no more forever; Exodus 14:14. The Lord will fight for you, and you rest assured. Exodus 14:15. And the Lord said to Moses: Why do you cry to Me? tell the children of Israel to go, Ex.14:16. But lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel will pass through the middle of the sea on dry land. Exodus 14:17. But I will harden the hearts of [Pharaoh and all] the Egyptians, and they will follow them; And I will show My glory on Pharaoh and on all his army, on his chariots and on his horsemen; Exodus 14:18. and [all] the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I show my glory on Pharaoh, on his chariots, and on his horsemen. Exodus 14:19. And the Angel of God, who walked before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them; Ex.14:20. and he entered into the midst between the camp of Egypt and the camp of the [sons of] Israel, and was a cloud and darkness to some, and lighted the night to others, and the one did not draw near to the other all the night. The first moment of the promised divine help, the miracle, consisted in the separation of the Jews from the Egyptians who were overtaking them. It was accomplished due to the fact that the pillar of cloud, which until that time had walked ahead of the Jews, now stood in the middle between them and the Egyptians. In his new position, he performed both of his actions: facing the dark side towards the Egyptians and the light side towards the Jews, he hid the Jewish camp from the former, and illuminated the path for the latter. A similar idea is expressed by the Hebrew text and the Russian text that agrees with it. Aquila and Targum Onkelos adhere to the same understanding. In contrast, the text of LXX, in agreement with the testimony of Nav. 24:7, speaks of one action - the spread of darkness. When the pillar was between the camps, “there was darkness and darkness, and night came” 10. Exodus 14:21. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea with a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters parted. Following the separation of the Jews from the Egyptians by divine power, the sign of which was the outstretching of the hand of Moses with the rod, the division of the sea waters takes place. According to the Hebrew text, it is produced by the eastern wind, and according to the Greek, by the southern wind. This disagreement is explained as follows. According to travelers, on the Isthmus of Suez the wind blows in a northeast and southeast direction. And since in the Hebrew language there are names only for four directions, it is natural that the same wind - the southeast - could be called both south and east. Further, the action produced by the wind is denoted in the original text by the verb “baka”, which means “to rip,” “to split,” “to split.” The water mass, therefore, is not simply dispersed by the wind, but is split, divided by it into two parts, a direct indication of which is contained in the words of Exodus 14:22: “the waters were a wall to them on the right side and on the left” (Ps. 73:13, 77:13, 135:13, Neh. 9:11, Is. 63:12, 1 Cor. 10:1) 11. Exodus 14:22. And the children of Israel went up into the midst of the sea on dry ground: and the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left. Ex.14:23. The Egyptians pursued, and all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen followed them into the middle of the sea. Ex.14:24. And in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the camp of the Egyptians from a pillar of fire and cloud and threw the camp of the Egyptians into confusion; With the onset of morning, during the “morning watch,” the final, third moment of the miracle came, marked by the words: “The Lord looked upon the camp of the Egyptians from the pillar of cloud and fire.” The division of day and night into guards, accepted by the Babylonians and Assyrians, also existed among the Jews (1 Sam. 11:11, Lamentations 2:19); The morning watch, according to our calculation, is from 2 to 6 am. The divine action that confused the Egyptians and is indicated by the word “looked up” is conveyed in the Hebrew text by the verb vayashkev from “shakav” - literally: “stooped down to look.” Judging by Ps. 143:3 and Am. 9:4, this expression indicates the movement of the will of God addressed to the enemies of Israel. But the external effect of the “view”—the confusion of the Egyptians—gives the right to think that the reason for it—the “view”—was reflected in something visible. And indeed, Ps. 76:17–19, understands it in the sense of a cruel, thunderous storm that broke out over the Egyptians. “The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and trembled. Water poured from the clouds, the clouds made a sound, and Your arrows dispersed” (Ps. 77:17-18, 17:28). Likewise, according to Josephus, the Lord struck the Egyptians with thunder strikes and flashing lightning. Exodus 14:25. and he took away the wheels of their chariots, so that they could hardly draw them. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the Israelites, because the Lord will fight for them against the Egyptians. The confusion of the Egyptians was further intensified by “God taking away the axles of the chariots,” according to the Greek reading, by “tying together the axles of the chariots,” so that the latter could hardly move. The Greek translation, like the Samaritan one, perhaps indicates that the heavy Egyptian chariots began to get stuck in the seabed, softened by rainwater and the many Jews who had passed through. Now, as often happened with the enemies of the Jewish people (Judges 7:21, 1 Sam. 14:20, etc.), fear arises with confusion - “let us flee from the Israelites”, and with fear new confusion - disorderly flight. Exodus 14:26. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, and let the waters turn on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen. Exodus 14:27. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and by morning the water returned to its place; and the Egyptians ran towards [the water]. Thus the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Although the text does not mention that the walls of water closed under the influence of the wind, this undoubtedly follows both from the fact that to produce this phenomenon the previous action is performed - Moses stretches out his hand with a rod to the sea, and from Exodus 15:10 (cf. Exodus 14:8). Note Art. 25: “let us flee from the Israelites” gives every reason to think that from the eastern shore of the Red Sea, to which the Jews crossed, the Egyptians headed to the western. Accordingly, the wind blowing “toward” them, under the influence of which the water walls closed, could only be western. Exodus 14:28. And the water returned and covered the chariots and horsemen of all the army of Pharaoh, who went into the sea after them; not a single one of them remained. Exodus 14:29. And the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea: the waters [were] to them a wall on the right hand and [a wall] on the left. Exodus 14:30. And the Lord delivered Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and the children of Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Ex.14:31. And the Israelites saw the great hand that the Lord showed over the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and Moses His servant. The former unbelief (Ex. 14:11–12) is replaced under the influence of a miracle by faith in the Lord and trust in Moses (Ps. 105:12). Thus, the Red Sea became for the Jewish people a font of faith in the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of the Lord (1 Cor. 10:2). Accordingly, the passage through it prefigures the New Testament sacrament of baptism. “The sea,” says blessed Theodoret, “has become like a font, the cloud has become like the grace of the Spirit; Moses to the priest; rod - to the cross; Israel who passed through the sea was baptized, and the Egyptians who pursued him represented the image of demons, while Pharaoh himself served as an image of the devil.” If we take into account that the Egyptians were to the west of the Jews, then it is quite possible that the same cloud located between them, from the side of the Egyptians, obscured the sun and produced a feeling of night, from the side of the Jews, it reflected the sun and further enhanced the solar illumination (Editor's note). The main direction of the Red (Red) Sea is from southeast to northwest. Consequently, only a wind from the prevailing south side could have divided the waters in half, since the presence of such a strong eastern wind could certainly have prevented the Jews from crossing the Red Sea. Thus, the indication in the Greek text about the south wind “riping apart” the sea, in the presence of information about the absence of indications of intermediate directions, is precisely confirmed by geographical and historical data (Editor’s note). You might be interested in: