YHWH Battles the Egyptians with a Fiery Cloud

When the Egyptians pursue Israel into the wilderness, Moses tells the Israelites to “stand by and witness the deliverance which YHWH will work for you today” (Exodus 14:13). YHWH brings panic upon the enemy, as he does in the battle of Gibeon and the war against Sisera. This is J’s story of Israel’s escape, hidden in the biblical accounts of the escape by the sea.

Dr.

David Ben-Gad HaCohen

Dr.

David Ben-Gad HaCohen

Categories:

Beshalach

Passover

YHWH Battles the Egyptians with a Fiery Cloud

After the Israelites leave Egypt, the travel east to the border of the wilderness.

^{שמות יג:כ} וַיִּסְעוּ מִסֻּכֹּת וַיַּחֲנוּ בְאֵתָם בִּקְצֵה הַמִּדְבָּר....

^{Exod 13:20} They set out from Sukkot, and encamped at Etham, at the edge of the wilderness…

YHWH then leads the Israelites with a cloud by day and fire by night (vv. 21–22). Then YHWH tells Moses that the Israelites should turn back, to fool Pharaoh:

^יד:א וַיְדַבֵּר יְ־הֹוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר. ^יד:ב דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיָשֻׁבוּ וְיַחֲנוּ לִפְנֵי פִּי הַחִירֹת בֵּין מִגְדֹּל וּבֵין הַיָּם לִפְנֵי בַּעַל צְפֹן נִכְחוֹ תַחֲנוּ עַל הַיָּם. ^יד:ג וְאָמַר פַּרְעֹה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְבֻכִים הֵם בָּאָרֶץ סָגַר עֲלֵיהֶם הַמִּדְבָּר.

^14:1 YHWH said to Moses: ^14:2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol (“Fortress”) and the sea, before Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. ^14:3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are astray in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.’”

This zigzagging is a ruse, YHWH explains, to cause Pharaoh to chase them and try to recapture them as slaves, so that YHWH can destroy the Egyptian army utterly. Indeed, the Egyptians pursue them (vv. 5–8), and they find the Israelites encamped by the sea:

^{שמות יד:ט} וַיִּרְדְּפוּ מִצְרַיִם אַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיַּשִּׂיגוּ אוֹתָם חֹנִים עַל הַיָּם כָּל סוּס רֶכֶב פַּרְעֹה וּפָרָשָׁיו וְחֵילוֹ עַל פִּי הַחִירֹת לִפְנֵי בַּעַל צְפֹן.

^{Exod 14:9} The Egyptians gave chase to them, and all the chariot horses of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his warriors overtook them encamped by the sea, near Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

This sets up the story of the splitting of the sea: The Israelites are encamped, Pharaoh and his army appear, and there is no way to go but through the sea, the miraculous ending YHWH has planned to destroy the Egyptians.

But Israel Is Back on the Move

In the next verse, however, the Egyptians seem to be overtaking the Israelites again, and the Israelites don’t seem to be encamped, but are travelling with the Egyptian army hot on their trail:

^{שמות יד:י} וּפַרְעֹה הִקְרִיב וַיִּשְׂאוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת עֵינֵיהֶם וְהִנֵּה מִצְרַיִם נֹסֵעַ אַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּירְאוּ מְאֹד וַיִּצְעֲקוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל יְ־הוָה.

^{Exod 14:10} Pharaoh approached and the Israelites caught sight of the Egyptians moving behind them and they were greatly frightened. The Israelites cried out to YHWH.

More significantly, the Israelite complaint to Moses shows that they are not near the sea, but in the wilderness:

^{שמות יד:יא} וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל מֹשֶׁה הַמִבְּלִי אֵין קְבָרִים בְּמִצְרַיִם לְקַחְתָּנוּ לָמוּת בַּמִּדְבָּר מַה זֹּאת עָשִׂיתָ לָּנוּ לְהוֹצִיאָנוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם. ^יד:יב הֲלֹא זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְנוּ אֵלֶיךָ בְמִצְרַיִם לֵאמֹר חֲדַל מִמֶּנּוּ וְנַעַבְדָה אֶת מִצְרָיִם כִּי טוֹב לָנוּ עֲבֹד אֶת מִצְרַיִם מִמֻּתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר.

^{Exod 14:11} And they said to Moses, “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? ^14:12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’?”

Israel’s complaint here is phrased in a way quite similar to the wilderness murmuring complaints about lack of food (Exod 16:3, Num 11:5) and water (Exod 17:3).^[1] A variation on this complaint also appears in the story of the scouts, when the people panic, fearing they will be slaughtered by the Canaanites. The placement of the complaint here is especially problematic, since earlier we were told they got to the edge of the wilderness and then turned back (Exod 14:2–3, 9).

When Does God Destroy the Egyptians?

Moses responds that the Israelites should sit tight and watch, as YHWH will destroy the pursuing Egyptians this very day:

^{שמות יד:יג} וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל הָעָם אַל תִּירָאוּ הִתְיַצְבוּ וּרְאוּ אֶת יְשׁוּעַת יְ־הוָה אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה לָכֶם הַיּוֹם כִּי אֲשֶׁר רְאִיתֶם אֶת מִצְרַיִם הַיּוֹם לֹא תֹסִיפוּ לִרְאֹתָם עוֹד עַד עוֹלָם. ^יד:יד יְ־הוָה יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם וְאַתֶּם תַּחֲרִישׁוּן.

^{Exod 14:13} But Moses said to the people, “Have no fear! Stand by, and witness the deliverance which YHWH will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. ^14:14 YHWH will battle for you; you hold your peace!”

After being told that the Israelites will never see the Egyptians again, however, the story continues with an overnight march and the Egyptians being drowned in the morning of the next day (vv. 20, 24, 27). Moreover, following this announcement, we would expect a scene to unfold in which the Israelites do nothing as YHWH comes and battles the Egyptians, destroying them, but instead, in the next verse, YHWH rebukes Moses:

^{שמות יד:טו} וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה מַה תִּצְעַק אֵלָי דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִסָּעוּ.

^{Exod 14:15} Then YHWH said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to keep moving.”

YHWH’s rebuke and instruction to travel seems unaware of Moses’ response to Israel in the previous verse to “stand by” (הִתְיַצְבוּ) as YHWH battles the Egyptians on their behalf.

Does YHWH Fight?

The story continues with Moses splitting the sea and the Israelites proceeding through it, pursued by the Egyptians. A wind blows all night and an angel and a cloud keep the Egyptians away from the Israelites. Then, YHWH appears on the scene:

^{שמות יד:כד} וַיְהִי בְּאַשְׁמֹרֶת הַבֹּקֶר וַיַּשְׁקֵף יְ־הוָה אֶל מַחֲנֵה מִצְרַיִם בְּעַמּוּד אֵשׁ וְעָנָן וַיָּהָם אֵת מַחֲנֵה מִצְרָיִם.

^{Exod 14:24} At the morning watch, YHWH looked down upon the Egyptian army from a pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian army into panic.

This is what Moses had promised the Israelites: YHWH will come and fight on their behalf. A good example of YHWH actively fighting, which has verbal connections to the story here, is the battle of Gibeon, when Joshua defeats the army of five Canaanite city-states:

^{יהושע י:י} וַיְהֻמֵּם יְ־הוָה לִפְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּכֵּם מַכָּה גְדוֹלָה בְּגִבְעוֹן וַיִּרְדְּפֵם דֶּרֶךְ מַעֲלֵה בֵית חוֹרֹן וַיַּכֵּם עַד עֲזֵקָה וְעַד מַקֵּדָה. ^י:יא וַיְהִי בְּנֻסָם מִפְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵם בְּמוֹרַד בֵּית חוֹרֹן וַי־הוָה הִשְׁלִיךְ עֲלֵיהֶם אֲבָנִים גְּדֹלוֹת מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם עַד עֲזֵקָה וַיָּמֻתוּ רַבִּים אֲשֶׁר מֵתוּ בְּאַבְנֵי הַבָּרָד מֵאֲשֶׁר הָרְגוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בֶּחָרֶב.

^{Josh 10:10} YHWH threw them into a panic before Israel: He [Joshua] inflicted a crushing defeat on them at Gibeon, pursued them in the direction of the Beth-horon ascent, and harried them all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. ^10:11 While they were fleeing before Israel down the descent from Beth-horon, YHWH hurled huge stones on them from the sky, all the way to Azekah, and they perished; more perished from the hailstones than were killed by the Israelite weapons.

Indeed, in this story, after YHWH stops the sun so that Joshua’s army could complete the conquest, the scene concludes with the explicit notice כִּי יְ־הוָה נִלְחָם לְיִשְׂרָאֵל “for YHWH fought for Israel” (Josh 10:14).^[2]

Another example of YHWH fighting on Israel’s behalf is in the story of Barak and Deborah’s war against Sisera and his army:

^{שופטים ד:טו} וַיָּהָם יְ־הוָה אֶת סִיסְרָא וְאֶת כָּל הָרֶכֶב וְאֶת כָּל הַמַּחֲנֶה לְפִי חֶרֶב לִפְנֵי בָרָק וַיֵּרֶד סִיסְרָא מֵעַל הַמֶּרְכָּבָה וַיָּנָס בְּרַגְלָיו. ^ד:טז וּבָרָק רָדַף אַחֲרֵי הָרֶכֶב וְאַחֲרֵי הַמַּחֲנֶה עַד חֲרֹשֶׁת הַגּוֹיִם וַיִּפֹּל כָּל מַחֲנֵה סִיסְרָא לְפִי חֶרֶב לֹא נִשְׁאַר עַד אֶחָד.

^{Judg 4:15} YHWH threw Sisera and all his chariots and army into a panic by the sword before the onslaught of Barak. Sisera leaped from his chariot and fled on foot. ^4:16 Barak pursued the chariots and the soldiers as far as Harosheth-hagoyim. All of Sisera’s soldiers fell by the sword; not a man was left.^[3]

Similarly, in Psalm 18 (which appears with slight variation in 2 Samuel 22), after the Psalmist’s calls for help, YHWH comes down in a fiery cloud to battle the attackers. Again we see the language of throwing the enemy into a panic and the imagery of an attack from the sky:

^{תהלים יח:ט} עָלָה עָשָׁן בְּאַפּוֹ וְאֵשׁ מִפִּיו תֹּאכֵל גֶּחָלִים בָּעֲרוּ מִמֶּנּוּ. ^יח:י וַיֵּט שָׁמַיִם וַיֵּרַד וַעֲרָפֶל תַּחַת רַגְלָיו... ^יח:יב יָשֶׁת חֹשֶׁךְ סִתְרוֹ סְבִיבוֹתָיו סֻכָּתוֹ חֶשְׁכַת מַיִם עָבֵי שְׁחָקִים. ^יח:יג מִנֹּגַהּ נֶגְדּוֹ עָבָיו עָבְרוּ בָּרָד וְגַחֲלֵי אֵשׁ. ^יח:יד וַיַּרְעֵם בַּשָּׁמַיִם יְ־הוָה וְעֶלְיוֹן יִתֵּן קֹלוֹ בָּרָד וְגַחֲלֵי אֵשׁ. ^יח:טו וַיִּשְׁלַח חִצָּיו וַיְפִיצֵם וּבְרָקִים רָב וַיְהֻמֵּם.

^{Ps 18:9} Smoke went up from His nostrils, from His mouth came devouring fire; live coals blazed forth from Him. ^18:10 He bent the sky and came down, thick cloud beneath His feet…. ^18:12 He made darkness His screen; dark thunderheads, dense clouds of the sky were His pavilion round about Him. ^18:13 Out of the brilliance before Him, hail and fiery coals pierced His clouds. ^18:14 Then YHWH thundered from heaven, the Most High gave forth His voice—hail and fiery coals. ^18:15 He let fly His shafts and scattered them; lightning and threw them into a panic.

Jewish tradition, which reads the Song of the Sea on the seventh day of Pesach, has Psalm 18 as the psalm of the day (in the Vilna Gaon tradition), and the Samuel version of this psalm as the day’s haftara. This underscores the strong literary connection the psalm has to the account in Exodus 14.

We expect YHWH to act similarly here, throwing the enemy army into a panic so they flee, only to be destroyed. Moreover, Moses promises that the Israelites will not even have to give chase, as they do in Joshua and Judges, but, like in Psalm 18. YHWH will defeat the enemy without Israel’s involvement.

And yet, this is not what happens. Instead, YHWH has the Israelites march, and then fools the Egyptians into following them into the sea where YHWH drowns them. This does not align with the expected storyline based on Moses’ promise of YHWH battling Egyptians in the wilderness while the Israelites watch. It seems, therefore, that we have another story here, one that has nothing to do with drowning.

The Fleeing Egyptians

After YHWH appears in the fiery cloud, the story continues:

^{שמות יד:כה} וַיָּסַר [תה"ש, נ"ש: ויאסר] אֵת אֹפַן מַרְכְּבֹתָיו וַיְנַהֲגֵהוּ בִּכְבֵדֻת וַיֹּאמֶר מִצְרַיִם אָנוּסָה מִפְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי יְ־הוָה נִלְחָם לָהֶם בְּמִצְרָיִם.

^Exod ^14:25 He (removed) [LXX, SP: locked]^[4]the wheels of their chariots so that they moved forward with difficulty. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for YHWH is fighting for them against Egypt.”

The reaction of the Egyptians, and their announcement that they will flee, is in line with what we would expect from Moses’ announcement and the parallels in Joshua and Judges. Indeed, they echo what Moses said about YHWH fighting for Israel against Egypt.^[5]

The Two Sea Stories Plus the Story of YHWH’s Battle

Scholars have long noted that the account of the Israelites’ escape at the sea as told in Exodus 13–14 is repetitive and runs on two different timelines. Advocates of the Documentary Hypothesis have long argued that two escape-by-the-sea stories have been combined.^[6]

The Priestly story tells of Moses splitting the sea, while the non-priestly story speaks of wind blowing back the sea and then returning in a wave.^[7] As this latter story uses the name Elohim repeatedly (though not exclusively), and refers to the sea as Yam Suph rather than just an unnamed sea, it derives from the E source. Documentary scholars have long wondered if J had a story about Egypt chasing the Israelites and YHWH saving them.^[8]

In his 1894 The Triple Tradition of the Exodus,^[9] Benjamin Bacon (1860–1932) of Yale University argued that (p. 69): “There is no reasonable doubt that the story of the crossing of the Red Sea… was the folktale of Israel par excellence, related from time immemorial at every Passover feast.” Therefore, he argued, all three sources must have had such a story. Bacon was unable to reconstruct three stories, however, and his third story (E in his estimation) remains only in fragments.^[10]

Bacon’s assumption, that all three sources, E, J, and P, must be set at the sea and be about the Egyptians drowning, left him unable to see that the third story is set in the wilderness and has nothing to do with Egyptians drowning. Instead, as I outlined above, the third story—J in my view—is as follows:

The Israelites leave Egypt and are in the wilderness when Pharaoh arrives with his army. The Israelites complain to Moses, and he responds that they should just sit tight and watch as YHWH fights for them. YHWH appears in a fiery cloud and causes the Egyptians to panic. The Egyptians announce that that they must flee since YHWH has come to fight against them.

The overall story line is clear, but how does it end?

Running Into a Fiery Cloud

The ending of the J story is incomplete: we do not have the line in which YHWH strikes or destroys the enemy on Israel’s account. This is not an unusual problem, since in cases in which the combined stories contain phrases that are contradictory, the compiler often had to choose one and cut the other.^[11] In this case, given that the Egyptians drowned in both P and E, the compiler cut the phrase in which YHWH strikes the Egyptians directly. Nevertheless, from various literary clues, it may be possible to reconstruct most of the ending, and even to speculate on how the Egyptians were killed.

The key observation is that the phrase in verse 27, וּמִצְרַיִם נָסִים לִקְרָאתוֹ “Egypt was fleeing towards it” must be part of the J text, since, in verse 25, the Egyptians declare they shall flee (נ.ו.ס), and in this phrase, they are fleeing (same root).^[12]

Here is my suggested reconstruction of the ending, starting with the previous verse for context:

^יד:כד // וַיַּשְׁקֵף יְ־הוָה אֶל מַחֲנֵה מִצְרַיִם בְּעַמּוּד אֵשׁ וְעָנָן וַיָּהָם אֵת מַחֲנֵה מִצְרָיִם ^יד:כה // וַיֹּאמֶר מִצְרַיִם אָנוּסָה מִפְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי יְ־הוָה נִלְחָם לָהֶם בְּמִצְרָיִם // <^יד:יט וַיִּסַּע עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן מִפְּנֵיהֶם וַיַּעֲמֹד מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם>^[13] // ^יד:כז וּמִצְרַיִם נָסִים לִקְרָאתוֹ // ^יד:כח // {ותבער בם אש י־הוה}^[14] לֹא נִשְׁאַר בָּהֶם עַד אֶחָד.^[15] // ^יד:ל וַיּוֹשַׁע יְ־הוָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּד מִצְרָיִם^[16] // ^יד:לא וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְ־הוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם^[17] וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת יְ־הוָה.^[18]

^{Exod 14:24} // YHWH looked down upon the Egyptian army from a pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. ^14:25 // And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for YHWH is fighting for them against Egypt.” // <^14:19 And the pillar of cloud lifted from before them and stood behind them> ^14:27 and the Egyptians were fleeing towards it // ^14:28 {And YHWH’s fire burnt them up} not one of them remained. // ^14:30 Thus YHWH delivered Israel that day from the Egyptians. // ^14:31 And Israel saw the strong arm which YHWH had wielded against the Egyptians, and the people feared YHWH.

The cloud is the key to this story. The Egyptians try to run away from YHWH in his fiery cloud, but the cloud intercepts them, and the Egyptians are burnt up, with no survivors. Thus, as Moses promised, YWHH fought for them and saved them from the Egyptians. The Israelites recognize that YHWH’s mighty hand struck Egypt, and while at the beginning of the story they were afraid of the Egyptians, and Moses warns them not to be afraid, at the end they fear YHWH, as they should.

TheTorah.com is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
We rely on the support of readers like you. Please support us.

Published

April 7, 2022

Last Updated

November 26, 2024

Previous in the Series

Next in the Series

Before you continue...

TheTorah.com needs your support. A generous friend has offered to match end-of-year donations. Every contribution makes a difference.

Please Donate

Footnotes

View Footnotes

Published

April 7, 2022

Last Updated

November 26, 2024

[1] Some scholars claim that this is an artificial supplement, written in the style of the murmuring stories, and really has nothing to do with Pharaoh chasing them, but was put in as a backstory for God’s later complaint that Moses is crying out to him. See Christoph Levin, Der Jahwist, FRLANT 157 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992) 76, 346; Jan Christian Gertz, “The Miracle at the Sea: Remarks on the Recent Discussion about Origin and Composition of the Exodus Narrative,” in The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation, ed. Thomas B. Dozeman, Craig A. Evans, Joel N. Lohr, VTsupp 164 (Leiden: Brill, 2014) 91–120 [p. 114]. This is problematic, since a later scribe surely could have integrated this better. For a discussion of how this murmuring complaint fits in context with the other such complaints in Exodus, see Rainer Albertz, “Wilderness Material in Exodus (Exodus 15–18),” in The Book of Exodus, 151–168.

[2] In context, this comes immediately after the stoppoing of the sun and is tied to that miracle. For an argument that the phrase should really be attached to the hail story, see Zev I. Farber, “Snippets of a Lost Joshua Cycle,” in “Now It Happened in Those Days” Studies in Biblical, Assyrian, and Other Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Mordechai Cogan on His 75th Birthday, ed. Amitai Baruchi-Unna, Tova Forti, Shmuel Aḥituv, Israel Ephʿal, and Jeffrey H. Tigay (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2017), 1.43–60 [50–51]; Zev I. Farber and Jacob L. Wright, “The Savior of Gibeon Reconstructing the Prehistory of the Joshua Account,” in Book-Seams in the Hexateuch I: The Literary Transitions between the Books of Genesis/Exodus and Joshua/Judges, ed. Christoph Berner and Harald Samuel (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018), 295–310 [303–304].

[3] See also Gideon’s battle against the Midianites (Judg 7:22–23), in which YHWH causes the enemy to turn on each other, and then they flee (וַיָּנָס) with the Israelites in pursuit (וַיִּרְדְּפוּ), and Samuel’s battle with the Philistines (1 Sam 7:10–11), in which YHWH throws the enemy into a panic (וַיְהֻמֵּם) and the Israelites pursue (וַיִּרְדְּפוּ). These two are less connected in terms of vocabulary, but they are thematically and even literarily linked.

[4] The Greek is συνέδησεν. This seems to me to be the better reading, since removing the chariots wheels will make it fall apart, not move forward slowly. Moreover, it forms a nice wordplay off the opening of the story, in which the King of Egypt וַיֶּאְסֹר אֶת רִכְבּוֹ “made ready his chariot” (Exod 14:6).

[5] The first part of the verse seems to be part of a different storyline. Making the Egyptians stuck and unable to move quickly seems designed to make sure that they were far behind the Israelites in the pursuit and could not escape the oncoming rush of water when the wind ceased blowing. Moreover, it seems to interrupt between the Egyptians seeing YHWH in the fiery cloud and their panic reaction. One could suggest, as William H.C. Propp does in his commentary (Exodus 1–18, Anchor Bible [New York: Doubleday, 1999], 500), that the goal of this verse was to make the Egyptians flee on foot, which is closely parallel to Sisera getting off his chariot and running on foot. Nevertheless, in that story, the army remains on their chariots, and the point of Sisera getting off is to allow for the scene when Yael kills him in a tent. Also, see Jacob L. Wright, “Yael and the Subversion of Male Leaders in Judges,” TheTorah (2018), who argues that the half verse about Sisera running away, and the entire Yael episode, is a later redaction, and in the earlier story, Barak simply chased down Sisera’s army and killed them all (including him). In any event, in our story, the notice about locking the wheels fits better with the drowning story than the YHWH-fighting story.

[6] I present here the common documentary, two-source solution as described in Joel Baden, The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis (Anchor Bible Yale Reference Library; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), case study four; Jean Louis Ska, Introduction to the Reading of the Pentateuch, trans. Sr. Pascale Dominique (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2006 [orig. Italian, 1998]), 68-75.

[7] In the Priestly story, the Israelites turn back from the edge of the wilderness and encamp by the sea. When the Egyptians appear, YHWH commands Moses to stretch out his hand across the sea. Moses does so and the sea splits. The Israelites cross through the sea, with walls of water on each side, and the Egyptians follow. When the Israelites get to the other side, Moses stretches out his arm over the sea again, the water goes back to normal, and the Egyptians are drowned in the middle of the sea. In this story, the shift in how the water is standing, from normal, to split, back to normal is instantaneous; when Moses stretches out his arm, the water responds. In the non-Priestly story, the Israelites are travelling near Yam Suph, the Sea of Rushes, when the Egyptians arrive. The Israelites cry out to God, and God tells them to keep moving. An angel of God moves to the back of the camp, to separate the Egyptians from the Israelites. All through the night, a wind blows the sea back from the shore, and the Egyptians, unbeknownst to them, find themselves on the part of the coast that was once under water. Towards morning, the wind stops blowing, and the water rushes back to the shore in a tidal wave and drowns the Egyptian army. For a basic source division and explanation along these lines, see TABS Editors, “What Really Happened at the Sea?” TheTorah (2015). For a different approach, using the supplementary hypothesis, see Tzemah Yoreh, “Israel's Departure from Egypt: A Liberation or an Escape?” TheTorah (2016).

[8] Some scholars associate the drowning by tidal wave with J, but the question would then just be whether E had such a story. The difficulty is isolating three stories here.

[9] Benjamin Wisner Bacon, The Triple Tradition of the Exodus: A Study of the Structure of the Later Pentateuchal Books, Reproducing the Sources of the Narrative, and Further Illustrating the Presence of Bibles Within the Bible (Hartford, CT: The Student Publishing Company, 1894), 66–80. The book deals with the whole exodus account, from the enslavement to the wilderness wandering. The section about the escape by the sea is part 3. Notably, this was Bacon’s second and last book on the Hebrew Bible—his first was The Genesis of Genesis (1891); he was primarily a New Testament scholar, at least after this.

[10] Richard Elliott Friedman (The Bible with Sources Revealed [Harper San Francisco, 2003], 142–146) also attempts to reconstruct three sources, all of which deal with escape by the sea, and there too, E is so choppy that it is virtually impossible to get a sense of any storyline.

[11] Two examples may help clarify the point. Scholars have long noted that the originally Elohistic story of the binding of Isaac (Gen 22) has been revised by a Yahwistic editor (whether this was the compiler or some earlier editor is not relevant here). Moreover, many have argued that in the original E story, Abraham actually sacrifices his son. Indeed, the entire E core is easily identified, including the scene in which Abraham goes home by himself. The one thing missing is the actual killing of the boy, something like וישחט את בנו “and he slaughtered his son,” which was likely once the ending of verse 10. This needed to be cut, since otherwise, the contradiction is too stark. See discussion in Tzemah Yoreh, “The Sacrifice of Isaac in Context: Recovering a Lost Ending of the Akedah,” TheTorah (2014). Similarly, the Torah contains two different burial traditions for Jacob (Gen 50). In J, he is buried in Goren HaAtad, but in P, he is buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. Both stories are spliced together in the Torah and remain almost intact, including the large funeral in Goren HaAtad. Nevertheless, a phrase to the effect that they buried Jacob at Goren HaAtad is missing: something like ויקברו אותו שם “and they buried him there,” was likely once part of verse 10. Again, this had to be cut because it too starkly contradicts the other story. See David Ben-Gad HaCohen, “Mourning for Jacob at Goren HaAtad,” TheTorah (2014). In all of these cases, we are likely speaking of only half a verse or so of material.

[12] In its current context, the phrase implies that the Egyptians are confused and thus running towards the tidal wave.

^{שמות יד:כז} ...וַיָּשָׁב הַיָּם לִפְנוֹת בֹּקֶר לְאֵיתָנוֹ וּמִצְרַיִם נָסִים לִקְרָאתוֹ וַיְנַעֵר יְ־הוָה אֶת מִצְרַיִם בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם.

^{Exod 14:27} …and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state, and the Egyptians were fleeing towards it and YHWH hurled the Egyptians into the sea.

But this storyline is a chimerical creation of the compiler. The natural way to escape Egypt on route to the Land of Canaan is to go east and cross the frontier line, which was made of a manmade canal connecting a row of natural lakes between the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Suez. In E, that would mean they were travelling either north or south of one of the lakes. If the Egyptians turn back in panic in this story, they would not run towards the water (on the north or south) but west, back to Egypt. This holds for the Priestly story of the split sea as well. In short, even panicked, there is little reason for the Egyptians to run towards the water in either story. This geographic problem fits with the linguistic observation made above, and shows that this phrase does not fit with the other parts of this verse, but comes from the J story. My suggestion is that if they are fleeing from the cloud, then the “it” in this phrase is the cloud, which they are accidentally fleeing towards since YHWH, with his cloud, moves from in front of them to behind them (see next note). The previous and following clauses, in contrast, are both part of the E drowning story: when the wind dies down the next morning, the tidal wave wipes out the Egyptians. In E, the Egyptians aren’t fleeing, but plodding along slowly, since their chariot wheels are locked.

[13] In the Pentateuch as we have it now, this line comes earlier in the story:

^{שמות יד:יט} וַיִּסַּע מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים הַהֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵי מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֵּלֶךְ מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם וַיִּסַּע עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן מִפְּנֵיהֶם וַיַּעֲמֹד מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם. ^יד:כ וַיָּבֹא בֵּין מַחֲנֵה מִצְרַיִם וּבֵין מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיְהִי הֶעָנָן וְהַחֹשֶׁךְ [תה"ש: ויהי חשך וערפל/ואפלה (καὶ ἐγένετο σκότος καὶ γνόφος)] וַיָּאֶר אֶת הַלָּיְלָה [תה"ש: ותאר הלילה (καὶ διῆλθεν ἡ νύξ)] וְלֹא קָרַב זֶה אֶל זֶה כָּל הַלָּיְלָה.

^{Exod 14:19} The angel of God, who had been going ahead of the Israelite army, now moved and followed behind them; and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of them and took up a place behind them, ^14:20 and it came between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel. There was the cloud with the darkness [LXX: “there was thick darkness”], and it lit up the night (or: “cast a spell over the night” [NJPS]) [LXX: “and the night elapsed”], so that the one could not come near the other all through the night.

The cloud is a doublet for the angel, and is likely from another source (see Friedman, Bible with Sources Revealed, 143). The angel is clearly part of the E text, and it is necessary to keep the armies apart from each other. The cloud, however, is from the J text, but I suggest its original placement was later in the story, after YHWH appears in the pillar of cloud before the Egyptians to do battle with them. (For another example of a text cut from its place and spliced elsewhere, see David Ben-Gad Cohen, “Why Deuteronomy Has an Account of Aaron's Death in the Wrong Place,” TheTorah [2015].) When they run away, YHWH and his cloud move behind them to cut them off at the pass (see previous note). The compiler moved this phrase to its current spot to avoid the implication that the Egyptians die by running into YHWH’s cloud, and put it back-to-back with the angel moving behind the Israelite camp due to the similarity in wording

[14] This reconstruction is very speculative; the original words are missing and there is no way to recreate them precisely. My suggestion here connects to the theme of the fiery cloud (and makes use of the biblical idiom found in Numbers 11:1, though other ways to express this remain equally viable). Another option would be the simple, ויך י־הוה את מחנה מצרים “YHWH struck the Egyptian army,” just ויך אתם י־הוה “and YHWH struck them,” or variations on such language.

[15] This is almost the exact language used at the end of the Sisera story. Given the intertextual connections between the Sisera account and that of YHWH’s fighting Egypt in the wilderness in J, this is likely part of the J account here.

[16] This is likely part of the J story because YHWH saving (י.ש.ע) them “on that day” plays off Moses’ promise that YHWH will save them “this day.”

[17] This is likely part of the J story because YHWH’s strong hand was במצרים “against Egypt,” the same term the Egyptians use, that YHWH is fighting במצרים “against Egypt.”

[18] This connects to the theme of the J story: instead of being afraid (י.ר.א) of the Egyptians, Israel now fears (same root) YHWH.