נבוכים הם, the sea in front of them caused them to become confused, this is why they retraced their steps not knowing where to turn, seeing סגר עליהם המדבר, the desert is closed to them as a route due to the dangerous reptiles, etc., that abound there, and they also have to worry about the wild beasts behind them so that they decided for the moment to encamp along the shores of the sea near Eytam, at the edge of the desert so that they find themselves between Migdal and the sea, in a state of confusion. The word נבוכים, is to describe a state of hopeless confusion, lack of options. The expression is found in Job 38,16 as well as 28,11, once in connection with the sea, נבכי-ים, meaning “the recesses of the sea,” the other time in connection with “damming up deep rivers.” At any rate. it describes people faced by insurmountable obstacles to their continued progress.

כי ברח העם; seeing they had turned back.

מעבדנו, the letter ח has a chataf kametz vowel underneath it, so that the word means “from serving us.” We find a similar construction Deuteronomy 7,8 where the words ומשמרו את-השבועה, mean: “and due to His observing His oath.” Also Exodus 16,3 באלנו לחם לשובע, “when we ate as much bread as we wanted,” or Numbers 26,10 באכל האש, “when the fire consumed,” are similar constructions of verbs as a form of the present tense.

רכב בחור. armoured vehicles of the best category.

ושלשים, high ranking officers. We know this from the description of who was drowned in Moses’ song of thanks ומבחר שלישיו טובעו בים סוף, “and the pick of his officers are drowned in the Sea of Reeds.” (Exodus 15,4)

יצאים ביד רמה, they had not started to worry at all until they saw Pharaoh and his army pursuing them. At that point, וייראו מאד, they became very much afraid.

המבלי אין קברים, another example of repeating the same thought in different words by adding the words:

למות במדבר, “to die in the desert.”

ובקעהו, the letter ע with the vowel tzeyreh converts the intransitive mode, as does the tzeyreh in the word שמענו in Genesis 23,6; on the other hand, in the construction זכרני, zochreyni, based on the root זכר, the first letter of the root has the full vowel kametz. (Psalms 106,4)

ויסע מלאך האלוקים, the one that was guiding the pillar of cloud and the column of fire respectively in front of the marching columns of Israelites, changed positions and moved behind the columns of marching Israelites instead.

ויסע עמוד הענן מפניהם ויעמוד מאחריהם, this was the result of the angel repositioning himself. The purpose of the angel’s move now was to create a barrier between the Israelites and the Egyptians approaching from behind. The angel created a barrier of darkness, impenetrable to artificial means of lighting up the area in front of the Egyptians. (as described in Joshua 24,7). As a result, the Egyptians did not draw nearer to the Israelites during the entire night.

ויהי הענן והחושך, the cloud spread darkness for the Egyptians, whereas,

ויאר את הלילה, at the same time it lit up the night for the Israelites.

ולא קרב זה אל זה כל הלילה, and the Egyptians were unable to come any closer to the Israelites during the entire night.

ברוח קדים, G’d used natural means, i.e. an east wind which always brings dryness and on occasions dries out ponds and rivers.

בעמוד אש, at the column of fire as well as at the pillar of cloud accompanied by the sounds of hail and thunder as described in Samuel I 7,10.

ויהם, as the could not identify the precise nature and source of all these sounds.

ויסר את אופן מרכבותיו, when the Egyptians saw that they were in a state of confusion, they tried to turn around the wheels of their chariots in order to flee; they found themselves unable to do this but all they could do with their utmost efforts was to turn around their chariots with difficulty seeing that those trying to turn around conflicted with those behind them still pressing forward. The reason they did all this was because they had come to the realisation אנוסה מפני ישראל כי ה' נלחם להם , that it was time to flee seeing that G’d Himself was fighting against them on behalf of the Israelites.

נטה את ידך, as soon as the last Israelite had completed crossing to the far shore of the Sea of Reeds.

ומצרים נסים לקראתו, when they were turning around the wheels of their chariots in order to escape, the waves of the Sea hit them before they had completed their turnaround completely so that at that point it appeared as if they were fleeing in the direction of the onrushing sea. ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך הים, all this while the Israelites had already completed crossing the sea while its bed was completely dry.

ובני ישראל הלכו, all this while the Israelites had already completed crossing the sea while its bed was completely dry.

וירא ישראל, the ones on the far shore of the Sea of Reeds, את מצרים, dying and drowning על שפת הים, while they themselves were safely on the beaches of the sea. As soon as the last Israelite had climbed out of the bed of the sea, they saw that the sea had turned back to engulf the pursuing Egyptians and that these were drowned in it. This is in line with the plain meaning of the verse, something I already explained in connection with Genesis 3:8 on the expression וישמע את קול ה', that the perception by the Israelites of Egyptians dying was more of an aural kind than a visual kind. [the fact that on occasion the ear can be as powerful and reliable an instrument of perception as the eye, has been proved in Exodus 20,14 where רואים את הקולות means that the noise was as convincing as if a visual image had been seen. Ed.]

'ויאמינו בה, they believed that they would also not die from starvation in the desert.