Discovery BoxExodus 14:7
Context14:7 He took six hundred select 1 chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, 2 and officers 3 on all of them.
Exodus 14:17
Context14:17 And as for me, I am going to harden 4 the hearts of the Egyptians so that 5 they will come after them, that I may be honored 6 because 7 of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen.
Exodus 14:28
Context14:28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea 8 – not so much as one of them survived! 9
[14:7] 1 tn The passive participle of the verb “to choose” means that these were “choice” or superb chariots.
[14:7] 2 tn Heb “every chariot of Egypt.” After the mention of the best chariots, the meaning of this description is “all the other chariots.”
[14:7] 3 tn The word שָׁלִשִׁם (shalishim) means “officers” or some special kind of military personnel. At one time it was taken to mean a “three man chariot,” but the pictures of Egyptian chariots only show two in a chariot. It may mean officers near the king, “men of the third rank” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 394). So the chariots and the crew represented the elite. See the old view by A. E. Cowley that linked it to a Hittite word (“A Hittite Word in Hebrew,” JTS 21 [1920]: 326), and the more recent work by P. C. Craigie connecting it to Egyptian “commander” (“An Egyptian Expression in the Song of the Sea: Exodus XV.4,” VT 20 [1970]: 85).
[14:17] 4 tn הִנְנִי (hinni) before the participle gives it the force of a futur instans participle, meaning “I am about to harden” or “I am going to harden” their heart.
[14:17] 5 tn The form again is the imperfect tense with vav (ו) to express the purpose or the result of the hardening. The repetition of the verb translated “come” is interesting: Moses is to divide the sea in order that the people may cross, but God will harden the Egyptians’ hearts in order that they may follow.
[14:17] 6 tn For the comments on this verb see the discussion in v. 4. God would get glory by defeating Egypt.
[14:17] 7 tn Or “I will get glory over.”
[14:28] 8 tn Heb “that was coming after them into the sea.” The referent of “them” (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
