Exodus 14:7

7 And he took six hundred select chariots and all the chariots of Egypt and officers over all of them.

Exodus 14:7 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 14:7

And he took six hundred chosen chariots
The chief and best he had, war chariots, chariots of iron; perhaps such as had iron scythes to them, to cut down men as they drove along; these were taken partly for quickness of dispatch, that they might be able the sooner to overtake the Israelites, who had got several days' marches before them; and partly for their strength and the annoyance of their enemies with them:

and all the chariots of Egypt:
as many as could in so short a time be got together: for the words are not to be taken in the utmost latitude, but to signify a great number, and all that could be conveniently come at: the Greek version is, "all the horse", the cavalry, which better distinguishes them from the former:

and captains over everyone of them:
over everyone of the chariots, so that they must each of them have many in them, to have captains over them: and perhaps the infantry, or foot soldiers, for, quickness of expedition, were put into them; for, besides these, there were horsemen: Josephus ^F16 makes the whole number of his army to be 50,000 horse, and 200,000 foot, and the same number is given by a Jewish chronologer ^F17: but Patricides, an Arabic writer, says ^F18 it consisted of 600,000, and Ezekiel ^F19, the tragic poet, has made it amount to a million of horse and foot: should it be asked where horses could be had to draw the chariots, and horses for the horsemen after mentioned, when all were destroyed by the hail, ( Exodus 9:25 ) it may be replied, that only those in the field were killed, not such as were in stables, where chariot horses and horses for war may be supposed to be: besides, as the Targum of Jonathan intimates, these might belong to these servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord, and took their cattle home, ( Exodus 9:20 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 3.
F17 Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 77. 4.
F18 Apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 464.
F19 Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. c. 27. p. 436.)

Exodus 14:7 In-Context

5 And it was told to the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh was changed and [that of] his servants toward the people, and they said, "What [is] this we have done, that we have released Israel from serving us!"

6 And he harnessed his chariot and took with him his people.

7 And he took six hundred select chariots and all the chariots of Egypt and officers over all of them.

8 And Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and he chased after the {Israelites}. (Now the {Israelites} [were] going out {boldly}.)

9 And [the] Egyptians chased after them, and they overtook them encamped at the sea--all the horses of the chariots of Pharaoh and his charioteers and his army--at Pi-hahiroth before Baal Zephon.