14:9 all the horses. The fact that Egyptians still had many horses in spite of the fact that all of “the cattle of Egypt died” in the plague (Exodus 9:6) seems at first to be a contradiction. However, the account refers merely to “thy cattle which is in the field” (Exodus 9:3); no doubt “the horses and chariots of Pharaoh” were kept in the palatial stables. It is also possible that the term “cattle” did not include the horses. In any case, there is no necessary contradiction.

14:13 stand still. There are times when believers have done, to the best of their understanding, all they know how to obey the will of God, and the challenge confronting them still seems impossible to meet. Rather than becoming fearful and depressed, however, they should simply “stand still” to let God work. Compare Ruth 3:18; Isaiah 30:7.

14:29 waters were a wall. Liberal theologians, always seeking naturalistic explanations for Biblical miracles, have attempted to identify this Red Sea crossing as a shallow fording of what they call the “Reed Sea,” located at the northern end of the Red Sea. The description is clearly of a mighty miracle, however, not merely a wind driving the shallow waters seaward. Rather, the wind opened a dry path through deep waters, supernaturally restrained as a wall on both sides and deep enough to drown all the hosts of Pharaoh when the waters collapsed. The crossing was, of course, over a narrow northern arm of the Red Sea, enabling the Israelites to cross into the wilderness of Shur (Exodus 15:22), but it was nevertheless a great miracle, requiring God to create some unknown form of energy, which could hold the deep waters stationary as walls against the force of gravity which was straining mightily to bring them down.