Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered
together,
the floods stood upright as a heap,
and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
He describes the deliverance they were now triumphing in, because the song was intended, not only to express and excite their thankfulness for the present, but to preserve and perpetuate the remembrance of this work of wonder to after-ages. Two things were to be taken notice of:--
The destruction of the enemy; the waters were divided, Ex 15:8. The floods stood upright as a heap. Pharaoh and all his hosts were buried in the waters. The horse and his rider could not escape (Ex 15:1), the chariots, and the chosen captains (Ex 15:4); they themselves went into the sea, and they were overwhelmed, Ex 15:19. The depths, the sea, covered them, and the proud waters went over the proud sinners; they sank like a stone, like lead (Ex 15:5,10), under the weight of their own guilt and God's wrath. Their sin had made them hard like a stone, and now they justly sink like a stone. Nay, the earth itself swallowed them (Ex 15:12); their dead bodies sank into the sands upon which they were thrown up, which sucked them in. Those whom the Creator fights against the whole creation is at war with. All this was the Lord's doing, and his only. It was an act of his power: Thy right hand, O Lord, not ours, has dashed in pieces the enemy, Ex 15:6. It was with the blast of thy nostrils (Ex 15:8), and thy wind (Ex 15:10), and the stretching out of thy right hand, Ex 15:12. It was an instance of his transcendent power--in the greatness of thy excellency; and it was the execution of his justice: Thou sentest forth thy wrath, Ex 15:7. This destruction of the Egyptians was made the more remarkable by their pride and insolence, and their strange assurance of success: The enemy said, I will pursue, Ex 15:9. Here is,
First, Great confidence. When they pursue, they do not question but they shall overtake; and, when they overtake,