Exodus 15:10

Exo 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

Ver. 10. Thou didst blow, &c.] Here it was that the arm of the Lord put on strength to cut Rahab, and wound the dragon. {Isa 51:9}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 15:10. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them — What an idea does this give us of the power of God! He only blows, and he at once overwhelms a numberless multitude of forces! This is the true sublime. It is like, Let there be light, and there was light. Can any thing be greater? The sea covered them — How many ideas are included in these four words! Any other writer than one divinely inspired would have set his fancy to work, and have given us a long detail; would have exhausted the subject, or empoverished it, and tired the reader by a train of insipid and useless descriptions, and an empty pomp of words. But here God blows, the sea obeys, and the Egyptians are swallowed up! Was ever description so full, so lively, so strong, as this? There is no interval between God’s blowing and the dreadful miracle of vengeance on his enemies, and mercy to his people!

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(10) Thou didst blow with thy wind.—A new fact, additional to the narrative in Exodus 14, but in complete harmony with it. As a strong east (southeast) wind had driven the waters of the Bitter Lakes to the north-westward, so (it would seem) their return was aided and hastened by a wind from the opposite direction, which caused the sea to “cover” the Egyptians.

They sank as lead.—Compare Exo_15:5. To an eye-witness, it would seem, the sudden submersion and disappearance of each warrior, as the waters closed around him, was peculiarly impressive. Each seemed to be swallowed up at once, without a struggle. This would be a natural result of the heavy armour worn by the picked warriors.

In the mighty waters.—With these words the second stanza, or strophe, closes. Miriam and her maidens, it is probable, again interposed with the magnificent refrain, “Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath glorified himself gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. God did but blow with His wind, and all their hopes were in a moment shattered; they sank and perished in the returning waters.

sank] The word occurs nowhere else in this sense: to judge from its derivatives, the root will have meant to whir, whiz, clang, &c.: so perhaps the idea is whizzed down, or (cf. Southey’s poem, The Inchcape Rock, l. 37, of a bell sinking) sank with a gurgling sound. The usual Heb. word for ‘sink’ is the one in v. 4b.

in the mighty waters] The adj. cognate with the ptcp. rendered glorious in vv. 6, 11. Neh_9:11 uses the more ordinary word ‘azzim (‘strong’).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou didst blow with thy wind,.... A strong east wind, Exo 14:22 which is the Lord Christ's, who has it in his treasury, holds it in his fists, sends it out as he pleases, and it fulfils his word and will:

the sea covered them; which stood up in an heap as a wall to let Israel pass through, and fell down with all its waves and billows with great force upon the Egyptians, and covered and drowned them:

they sunk as lead in the mighty waters; which is a very heavy metal, and, being cast into the water, sinks to the bottom at once, as did the Egyptians in the Red sea, and as Babylon the great will, and never rise more, Rev 18:21.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Wind. Septuagint, "spirit," which St. Ambrose and St. Augustine understand as the Holy Ghost. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Heb. Magnificent or honourable waters, made so by being the instrument of thy glorious work.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thou didst blow with thy wind. Here we have another fact not mentioned in the direct narrative, but entirely harmonising with it. The immediate cause of the return of the waters, as of their retirement, was a wind. This wind must have come from a new quarter, or its effects would not have been to bring the water back. We may reasonasbly suppose a wind to have arisen contrary to the former one, blowing from the northwest or the north, which would have driven the water of the Bitter LaMes southward, and thus produced the effect spoken of. The effect may, or may not, have been increased by the flow of the tide in the Red Sea They sank as lead. See the comment on verse 5.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

נשפת — an expression for “blowing”. Similar is (Isaiah 40:24) “He bloweth (נשף) upon them”.

צללו means THEY SANK, they went deep, — an expression of the same root as (Psalms 69:3) מצולה “the depths”.

כעופרת LIKE LEAD: old French plomb.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

NASHAPHTA’ WITH THY WIND. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that nashaphta is derived from the root nesheph (twilight), (twilight): the nesheph after sundown, and the nesheph before sunrise” (Ibn Ezra)! Here the nesheph before sunrise is referred to. for it was at twilight that He brought the wind which caused the water to return and drown the pursuers. Rashi explained it “as an expression for ‘blowing,’ similar in usage to the verse, When ‘nashaph’ (He bloweth) upon them, they wither.” Rashi has explained it well.My opinion, furthermore, is that the purport of nashaphta, [written with the letter phei], is like [that written] with a beth: Thou ‘nashavta’ (didst blow) with Thy wind. The usage of the word is similar to: Because the breath of the Eternal ‘nashva’ (bloweth) upon it;, Verse 7. ‘yasheiv’ (He bloweth) His wind, and the waters flow. These two letters — [the phei or pei and the beth] — are of similar usage, just as in the verses: ‘al gapei’ (Upon) the highest places of the city, which is like al gabei; ‘im b’gapo’ (if by himself), which is like im b’gabo. Similarly: And substance ‘yivzor’ (he shall scatter) among them; ‘bizar’ (He hath scattered) the peoples. These are expressions of pizur (scattering), [with the letter beth serving here as phei] and the kuph. In proper names, these letters also interchange, e.g., Shovach, and Shophach. And our Rabbis say in the Mishnah: “[If produce is proclaimed] hevkeir (ownerless) for the benefit of the poor [only], it is deemed hevkeir (ownerless).” for a phei, and therefore he quotes only the beginning of the Mishnah. [The word hevkeir] is like hephkeir (ownerless). From the expression, The grains ‘avshu’ (shrivel) comes the word ipush (musty). The term ben p’kua, [an animal taken alive out of the slaughtered mother’s womb], is used in place of ben b’kua, because the mother was “ripped open” and there was found in it a living offspring of nine months.In my opinion also, ‘hichpishani’ in ashes is like ‘hichbishani’ (He presses me) [or “He made me cower”] in ashes, the usage of the word being similar to: And replenish the earth, ‘v’chivshuha’ (and subdue it); ‘yichbosh’ (He will subdue) our iniquities. In the language of the Rabbis we also find: “a measure which is k’phushah,” meaning k’vushah, [a measure into which the contents have been “compressed”, and which therefore contains more than its normal measure].The purport of the verse is thus: “with Your strong and mighty wind, the waters of the sea were piled up, and when You blew the wind with which You control the sea, the sea covered them.” This is the intent of the verse, And the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared, for He caused the wind to blow on it as He does at His strength when He ruleth the proud swelling of the sea.

TZALALU’ AS LEAD. They went down into “the depths” (m’tzoloth) of the sea as lead. Now Moses mentioned this in the Song twice: They went down into the sea like a stone, and as lead, [mentioned in the verse here], in order to emphasize that this too came upon them from the hand of G-d. There were many persons among the Egyptians who knew how to swim, and they were near dry land, and surely all those who rode on the horses could be expected to be saved since horses are accustomed to swimming in water. Similarly, those that handle the shield can save themselves in water, and here not one of them escaped! This is the meaning of the verse, And the Eternal overthrew (‘vay’na’er’) the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. He lifted them with His rough blast, and He lowered them into the sea. The usage of the word is similar to that in the verses: And the wicked ‘v’yina’aru’ (shall be shaken) out of it; And the strong shall be ‘lin’oreth’ (as tow), ‘n’oreth’ being that which is separated and falls off from the flax when it is being prepared [for spinning].

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.