Good Strategy
Egypt often dominated the battlefield because it had a great military advantage; war chariots.
Each chariot carried two men. One drove the horses and the other man shot volleys of arrows toward the enemy. Being charged by horse-drawn chariots terrified foot soldiers because the charioteers often trampled infantry and chased down fleeing survivors.
The Exodus Starts
When Moses led the Israelite nation out of Egypt, they felt triumphant. But soon Pharaoh changed his mind. Because he’d lost all his slave labor. Furious, he came up with a plan to drag the Jewish slaves back into captivity.
Trained soldiers in chariots against unarmed ex-slaves on foot? It would be a slaughter.
6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. (Exodus 14:6-8 ESV)
It wasn’t going to be a fair fight. But Pharaoh didn’t know that.
A Foolish Ruler
Everyone is familiar with the rest of the story. The pillar of cloud moved between the Egyptian army and the Israelites. The pillar facing the Israelites burned with supernatural fire, while Pharaoh’s soldiers faced darkness and shadow. Then God parted the Red Sea. and the Jews walked across the seabed on dry ground.
Sometime early in the morning hours, the Lord opened up the way for Pharaoh and his Egyptian chariots to drive into the newly created sea passage in pursuit.
24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,
25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
(Exodua 14:24-25 ESV)
Other Bible translations say the Egyptian’s chariot wheels became jammed, fell off or became difficult to drive, but the result was the same.
With walls of water towering above them, the Egyptian army couldn’t flee.
My Spiritual Point
Pharaoh had borrowed civilian chariots in Egypt in order to mount his entire fighting force. It was a brilliant strategy. Until the Lord clogged the chariot’s wheels.
Within minutes, Pharaoh’s army was locked in a terrible traffic jam at the bottom of the sea. When the water returned, it drowned the entire Egyptian army.
The chariots which should have assured the ruler of Egypt an easy victory over Israel doomed him and his entire army.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV)
Resources:
The Lethal Egyptian War Chariot (3 minute video)
