The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 351

Those arc surP, to drive heavily, who drive in the face of God's Inhibition, and under hie ban. 3. God bi-ought the sea back upon them (ver. 26). Swiftly, fatally at the stretching forth of Moses' rod, the s011. returned in its strength, and utte;ly over- :1-helmcd them. And such, in its main outline, is the reception which Jehovah must gi,·e to 1111 his enemies. His wrath already rests upon them. His fiery look will one day scare them. Even now they are troubled and impeded by it, and by the resistance which he opposes t-0 their plans. Finally, he will overwhelm them in the ~ea of his wrath. He "ill visit them "ith "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (1 Thess. i. 9). Hence- IlI. THEIR COMPLETE DESTRUCTION (vers. 27, 28). They perished suddenly, miser- ably, and all together. Type of the overthrow of God's enemies in the end (2 Thess. ii. 8; Rev. ni. H\, 17; xix. 17-21; xx. 9). The blow was a crushing one to Egypt. It filled up the measure of her punishment for the evil she had done to Israel. After the death of the first-born, there could remain nothing to Pharaoh and his servants, in the event of their still hardening themselves, but "a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation" (Heb. x. 27). Does some one say, what a waste of human life-how unlike a God of mercy l Rather, surely, how striking a testimony to the reality of retribution-how sure a token of the righteous doom which in the end will infallibly overtake every obdurate transgressor! God will not permit sinners always to defy him. His wrath and power are resistless. The "ungodly and sinner" must expect to feel the weight of them (1 Pet. 17, 18). IV. RESULT (vers. 30, 31). 1. Israel was saved. 2. The Egyptian dead were found strewn upon the shore. This-(1) A memorial of God's vengeance. (2) An awful satire on so-called human greatness. (3) A pledge of security to Israel. 3. The people were filled with gratitude and fear. They " believed the Lord." The wonder is that after so marvellous a deliverance they could ever again doubt him.-J. 0