Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/570

 themselves up, so that it was possible to go between them like walls); the flowing ones stood like a heap” (נד cumulus; it occurs in Jos 3:13, Jos 3:16, and Psa 33:7; Psa 78:13, where it is borrowed from this passage. מזלים: the running, flowing ones; a poetic epithet applied to waves, rivers, or brooks, Psa 78:16, Psa 78:44; Isa 44:3). “The waves congealed in the heart of the sea:” a poetical description of the piling up of the waves like solid masses.

Verse 9
“The enemy said: I pursue, overtake, divide spoil, my soul becomes full of them; I draw my sword, my hand will root them out.” By these short clauses following one another without any copula, the confidence of the Egyptian as he pursued them breathing vengeance is very strikingly depicted. נפשׁ: the soul as the seat of desire, i.e., of fury, which sought to take vengeance on the enemy, “to cool itself on them.” הורישׁ: to drive from their possession, to exterminate (cf. Num 14:12).

Verse 10
“Thou didst blow with Thy breath: the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters.” One breath of God was sufficient to sink the proud foe in the waves of the sea. The waters are called אדּרים, because of the mighty proof of the Creator's glory which is furnished by the waves as they rush majestically along.

verses 11-18
Exo 15:11-18Third strophe. On the ground of this glorious act of God, the song rises in the third strophe into firm assurance, that in His incomparable exaltation above all gods Jehovah will finish the word of salvation, already begun, fill all the enemies of Israel with terror at the greatness of His arm, bring His people to His holy dwelling-place, and plant them on the mountain of His inheritance. What the Lord had done thus far, the singer regarded as a pledge of the future.

verses 11-12
“Who is like unto Thee among the gods, O Jehovah (אלים: not strong ones, but gods, Elohim, Psa 86:8, because none of the many so-called gods could perform such deeds), who is like unto Thee, glorified in holiness?” God had glorified Himself in holiness through the redemption of His people and the destruction of His foes; so that Asaph could sing, “Thy way, O God, is in holiness” (Psa 78:13). קדשׁ, holiness, is the sublime and incomparable majesty of God, exalted above all the imperfections and blemishes of the finite creature (vid., Exo 19:6). “Fearful for praises, doing wonders.” The bold expression תהלּת נורא