Exodus 14:3

 Exodus 14:3

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

a. ASV: And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

b. YLT: And Pharaoh hath said of the sons of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut upon them; [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, They are entangled in the land; the wilderness has shut them in. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. NLT: Then Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are confused. They are trapped in the wilderness!’ [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

e. Stone Edition THE CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: Pharaoh will say of the Children of Israel, ‘They are imprisoned in the land, the Wilderness has locked them in.’ [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH Copyright 1998, 2000 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ldt.]

f. Torah, Judaism and Jewish information on the web: www.chabad.org; Online English Translation of the Tanakh (Jewish Bible): And Pharaoh will say about the children of Israel, They are trapped in the land. The desert has closed in upon them.  [English Translation, Ⓒ Copyright The Judaica Press All rights reserved.]

1. “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel…”

a. [For] Pharaoh [Strong: 6547 Par`oh par-o' of Egyptian derivation; Paroh, a general title of Egyptian kings:--Pharaoh.]

b. [will] say [Strong: 559 'amar aw-mar' a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

c. [of the]   children [Strong: 1121 ben bane from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

d. [of] Israel [Strong: 3478 Yisra'el yis-raw-ale' from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.]

2. “...They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.”

a. They [Strong: 1992 hem haym or (prolonged) hemmah {haym'-maw}; masculine plural from 1981; they (only used when emphatic):--it, like, X (how, so) many (soever, more as) they (be), (the) same, X so, X such, their, them, these, they, those, which, who, whom, withal, ye.]

b. [are] entangled [Strong: 943 buwk book a primitive root; to involve (literally or figuratively):--be entangled, (perplexed).]

c. [in the] land [Strong: 776 'erets eh'-rets from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.]

d. [the] wilderness [Strong: 4057 midbar mid-bawr' from 1696 in the sense of driving; a pasture (i.e. open field, whither cattle are driven); by implication, a desert; also speech (including its organs):--desert, south, speech, wilderness.]

e. [hath]... them [Strong: 5921 `al al properly, the same as 5920 used as a preposition (in the singular or plural often with prefix, or as conjunction with a particle following); above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications (as follow):--above, according to(-ly), after, (as) against, among, and, X as, at, because of, beside (the rest of), between, beyond the time, X both and, by (reason of), X had the charge of, concerning for, in (that), (forth, out) of, (from) (off), (up-)on, over, than, through(-out), to, touching, X with.]

f. shut…in  [Strong: 5462 cagar saw-gar' a primitive root; to shut up; figuratively, to surrender:--close up, deliver (up), give over (up), inclose, X pure, repair, shut (in, self, out, up, up together), stop, X straitly.

1). Baal [Strong: 1168 Ba`al bah'-al the same as 1167; Baal, a Phoenician deity:--Baal, (plural) Baalim.]

2). Zephon [Strong: 6828 tsaphown tsaw-fone' or tsaphon {tsaw-fone'}; from 6845; properly, hidden, i.e. dark; used only of the north as a quarter (gloomy and unknown):--north(-ern, side, -ward, wind).]

3). —In Rabbinical Literature: The idol at Baalzephon was the only one that remained unharmed when God sent the tenth plague upon Egypt, which not only brought death to men and animals, but also destroyed the idols. When Pharaoh overtook Israel at the sea, near Baal-zephon (Ex. xiv. 9), he said, "This idol is indeed mighty, and the God of Israel is powerless over him." But God intentionally spared Baal-zephon in order to strengthen the infatuation of the wicked Pharaoh (Mek., Beshallaḥ, 2; Bo, 13).

4). The study of the history and background of Baal Zephon is utterly fascinating. The worship of Baal was known throughout the Fertile Crescent, the Levant, and down into Egypt. Upon this mountain, Baal Zephon, it was believed that Zephon reigned in power and was lord over the sea. Here, Pharaoh may have sensed that the idol Zephon was going to display his power over the Israelites. God tells us some of Pharaoh's reasoning: 'Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them' (v. 3, 4a). Indeed he did, and I believe that Pharaoh considered that Zephon would finally rout the Israelites and that Yahweh would be shown to be inferior in power. (Did Pharaoh still think that he and his Egyptian gods had power to subdue the God of Israel unaided by a still more powerful deity?) And it is no surprise that the Lord stopped Israel and turned them around to meet and defeat not only Pharaoh and his army, but also to display his power over Zephon and defeat him at the mountain of his glory and power. Not only this, but Yahweh would lead His people directly through the sea...the sea which the Egyptians believed were under the control of Zephon! And further, that instead of the Israelites being destroyed, showing Zephon's lordship of the sea, it would be the Egyptians who would discover who was both Lord of the mountain, but also Lord over the sea! There were many ways that God could have chosen to eliminate the Egyptian army; it was no accident that He chose to bring this conflict into the sharpest spiritual focus and to a climax of incredible proportions. Scott  Lanser https://biblearchaeology.org/research/devotionals/3794-confronting-baalzephon-the-spiritual-message-of-the-meeting-of-israel-and-the-armies-of-egypt

5). BAAL-ZEPHON: By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Frants Buhl, Marcus Jastrow, Louis Ginzberg. An Egyptian locality in the neighborhood of the Red Sea. In spite of all attempted combinations (Dillmann-Ryssell on Ex. xiv. 2) its situation is still unknown. An Egyptian god, B'irati Dapuna—that is, Ba'alat Ẓaphon—is mentioned by the Egyptians themselves (W. Max Müller, "Asien und Europa," p. 315). The name calls to mind the Phenician, which designates both a god and a place. It particularly signifies a city on Mount Lebanon, which, in the opinion of H. Winckler, occurs also in the Old Testament; for he interprets Jer. xv. 12, ("Alttestamentliche Untersuchungen," p. 179), as "iron of Baalzephon." However, it is not certain whether the Egyptian city and the Egyptian god Ba'alat Ẓaphon are directly connected with the Phenician name of a god. In Rabbinical Literature: The idol at Baalzephon was the only one that remained unharmed when God sent the tenth plague upon Egypt, which not only brought death to men and animals, but also destroyed the idols. When Pharaoh overtook Israel at the sea, near Baal-zephon (Ex. xiv. 9), he said, "This idol is indeed mighty, and the God of Israel is powerless over him." But God intentionally spared Baal-zephon in order to strengthen the infatuation of the wicked Pharaoh (Mek., Beshallaḥ, 2; Bo, 13).

a). Exodus 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

6). Dutch Sheets: Lord of the Sea: Baal-zephon was one of the Egyptian gods. It was believed that Zephon reigned in power and was lord over the sea. And he was the only Egyptian god Yahweh had not yet judged and exposed during the ten plagues and Israel's deliverance. Scott Lancer, in an article for Associates for Biblical Research (Confronting Baal-Zephon: The Spiritual Message of the Meeting of Israel and the Armies of Egypt), says: "...[L]et us remember that our God had been triumphing over not only the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but also the supposed power of their gods. The plagues were a drumbeat of victory as the gods of Egypt were, one by one, displayed to be impotent and powerless. And even more importantly, Yahweh wanted the Egyptians to know that He is the Lord." Pharaoh, no doubt, believed that this god, however, was more powerful than Yahweh. He supposed that Baal-zephon had led them into a trap and was now going to cause them to be destroyed in front of the place named for him. Yahweh had other plans. His plan was to demonstrate that HE was the Lord of the sea. His authority, released through the extension of the rod He had given Moses, controlled the sea – not Zephon. Yahweh would lead His people THROUGH, not around, the sea that the Egyptians believed was under the control of Zephon. And instead of the Israelites being destroyed, it would be Pharaoh and the Egyptian army – in front of their supposed god!