Exode 14:25

25 Il ôta les roues de leurs chars et en rendit la marche difficile. Les Egyptiens dirent alors: Fuyons devant Israël, car l'Eternel combat pour lui contre les Egyptiens.

Exode 14:25 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 14:25

And took off their chariot wheels
The Targum of Jonathan renders it "cut" or "sawed them off"; perhaps they might be broken off by the hailstones. Milton ^F19 seems to have a notion of Pharaoh's chariot wheels being broken, when he says, "and craze" (i.e. break) "their chariot wheels"; or, as Jarchi suggests, he burnt them, through the force of the fire or lightning:

that they drave them heavily;
the wheels being off, the chariots must be dragged along by the horses by mere force, which must be heavy work; or, "and made them to go, or led them heavily", or "with heaviness" {t}; and so to be ascribed to the Lord, who looked at the Egyptians, took off the wheels of their chariots, and stopped them in the fury of their career, that they could not pursue with the swiftness they had:

so that the Egyptians said, let us flee from the face of Israel;
for by this battery and flashes of fire on them, they concluded that Israel, who they thought were fleeing before them, had turned and were facing them, and the Lord at the head of them; and therefore it was high time for them to flee, as follows:

for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians;
for they rightly took the thunder and lightning, the fire and hailstones, to be the artillery of heaven turned against them, and in favour of the Israelites. Jarchi interprets it, the Lord fights for them in Egypt, even in Egypt itself; but so he had done many a time before, of which they were not insensible.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Paradise Lost, B. 12. ver. 210.
F20 (tdbkb Mghnyw) "et deduxit eos graviter", Vatablus; "et duxit eos cum gravitate", Drusius; so Ainsworth.

Exode 14:25 In-Context

23 Les Egyptiens les poursuivirent; et tous les chevaux de Pharaon, ses chars et ses cavaliers, entrèrent après eux au milieu de la mer.

24 A la veille du matin, l'Eternel, de la colonne de feu et de nuée, regarda le camp des Egyptiens, et mit en désordre le camp des Egyptiens.

25 Il ôta les roues de leurs chars et en rendit la marche difficile. Les Egyptiens dirent alors: Fuyons devant Israël, car l'Eternel combat pour lui contre les Egyptiens.

26 L'Eternel dit à Moïse: Etends ta main sur la mer; et les eaux reviendront sur les Egyptiens, sur leurs chars et sur leurs cavaliers.

27 Moïse étendit sa main sur la mer. Et vers le matin, la mer reprit son impétuosité, et les Egyptiens s'enfuirent à son approche; mais l'Eternel précipita les Egyptiens au milieu de la mer.