Exodus 14:24

And it came to pass, that in the morning watch,.... The Romans divided the night into four watches, so the Hebrews; though some say into three only.

And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. The Egyptians pursued.

The night was anciently divided, not by hours, as now it is, but by watches, which sometimes were accounted four, and sometimes but three; howsoever the last of them was called the morning watch. Then when they hoped for most advantage in the pursuit, they met with their greatest disaster. The Lord; called the Angel of God, . By which promiscuous use of these titles it sufficiently appears that this was no ordinary angel, but the Son of God. The Lord looked with an eye of indignation and vengeance, , and troubled them with most terrible and prodigious winds, and rains, and lightnings, and both claps and bolts of thunder, as may be gathered from ,19; and, as some ancient historians relate, with terrors also in their minds, &c.

Exodus 14:24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,Ver. 24. In the morning watch.] God "watcheth upon the evil to bring it" upon his enemies then when he may do them a greatest mischief. He picketh his times for vengeance: "Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself." The Lord looked unto the host.] He set his eyes upon them; as Paul did upon Elymus the sorcerer; with highest offence, and utmost indignation. After which lightning follows that terrible thunderclap, wherewith he troubled them and took off their wheels. See Psalms 77:18-19; Psalms 18:15.

(24) In the morning watch.—Between 2 a.m. and 6.

Verse 24. The morning watch] A watch was the fourth part of the time from sun-setting to sun-rising; so called from soldiers keeping guard by night, who being changed four times during the night, the periods came to be called watches. - Dodd. As here and in 1 Samuel 11:11 is mentioned the morning watch; so in Lamentations 2:19, the beginning of the watches; and in Jude 7:19, the middle watch is spoken of; in Lu 12:38, the second and third watch; and in Matthew 14:25, the fourth watch of the night; which in Mr 13:35 are named evening, midnight, cock-crowing, and day-dawning. - Ainsworth. As the Israelites went out of Egypt at the vernal equinox, the morning watch, or, according to the Hebrew, באשמרת הבקר beashmoreth habboker, the watch of day-break, would answer to our four o'clock in the morning. - Calmet. The Lord looked unto] This probably means that the cloud suddenly assumed a fiery appearance where it had been dark before; or they were appalled by violent thunders and lightning, which we are assured by the psalmist did actually take place, together with great inundations of rain, c.: The clouds POURED OUT WATER the skies sent out a SOUND: thine ARROWS also went abroad. The VOICE of thy THUNDER was in the heaven; the LIGHTNINGS LIGHTENED the world; the earth TREMBLED and SHOOK. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters. Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron; Psalms 77:17-20. Such tempests as these would necessarily terrify the Egyptian horses, and produce general confusion. By their dashing hither and thither the wheels must be destroyed, and the chariots broken; and foot and horse must be mingled together in one universal ruin; see Exodus 14:25. During the time that this state of horror and confusion was at its summit the Israelites had safely passed over; and then Moses, at the command of God, (Exodus 14:26), having stretched out his rod over the waters, the sea returned to its strength; (Exodus 14:27); i.e., the waters by their natural gravity resumed their level, and the whole Egyptian host were completely overwhelmed, Exodus 14:28. But as to the Israelites, the waters had been a wall unto them on the right hand and on the left, Exodus 14:29. This the waters could not have been, unless they had been supernaturally supported; as their own gravity would necessarily have occasioned them to have kept their level, or, if raised beyond it, to have regained it if left to their natural law, to which they are ever subject, unless in cases of miraculous interference. Thus the enemies of the Lord perished; and that people who decreed that the male children of the Hebrews should be drowned, were themselves destroyed in the pit which they had destined for others. God's ways are all equal; and he renders to every man according to his works.

24, 25. Premonitory warnings of the disaster about to fall upon the Egyptians.

In the morning watch - At sunrise, a little before 6 a.m.in April. Troubled - By a sudden panic.

24. In the morning watch — In New Testament times, the Jews divided the night into four watches, but in the Old Testament history mention is made of three only: the first, or “beginning of the