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. The first began at six o'clock, and lasted till nine, the second was from thence to twelve, the third from thence to three in the morning, and the last from three to six, which is here called the morning watch; so that this was some time between three and six o'clock in the morning:
the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of
fire and of the cloud;
the Angel of the Lord, and who was Jehovah himself, who was in it, he looked to the army of the Egyptians; not to know whereabout they were, he being the omniscient God; nor in a friendly manner, but as an enemy, with indignation and wrath. The Targum of Jonathan is,
``he looked through the pillar of fire, to cast upon them coals of fire, and through the pillar of cloud, to cast upon them hailstones.''The Jerusalem Targum is,
``pitch, fire, and hailstones;''and Josephus F17 speaks of storms and tempests, of thunder and lightning, and of thunderbolts out of the clouds; and Artapanus F18 of fire or lightning flashing out against them, by which many perished. Perhaps the psalmist may have reference to this in ( Psalms 106:10-15 )
and troubled the host of the Egyptians;
the thunder and lightning no doubt frightened the horses, so that they broke their ranks, and horsemen and chariots might run foul on one another, and the hailstones scatter and destroy many; however, the whole must be terrible and distressing to them, especially it being in the night season.
FOOTNOTES:
F17 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 2.)
F18 Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 436.)
