Exodus 14:5 When word reached the king of Egypt that the Israelites had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. “What have we done, letting all those Israelite slaves get away?” they asked. 6 So Pharaoh harnessed his chariot and called up his troops. 7 He took with him 600 of Egypt’s best chariots, along with the rest of the chariots of Egypt, each with its commander. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, so he chased after the people of Israel, who had left with fists raised in defiance…
17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will charge in after the Israelites. My great glory will be displayed through Pharaoh and his troops, his chariots, and his charioteers. 18 When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the Lord!”
Westminster Confession of Faith 3.1. God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
Pharaoh must have thought he went nuts letting all of the Israelite slaves go, so he pursued them with chariots… a lot of chariots! In this passage, it says that God hardened the king’s heart and the heart of the Egyptians… showing God’s sovereignty in the matter. He has been behind Pharaoh’s responses as alternately God hardens his heart and Pharaoh hardens his own. Psalm 135:6 teaches that God’s providence extends to all parts of creation: “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”
The entire army of Egypt that chased the Israelites are drowned at the miracle of the Red (Reed) Sea. The LORD is supreme in the struggle for the Israelites and glory!
The song of deliverance is reputedly the oldest part of Exodus and may have been oral history before being written down.
Exodus 15: 2 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
This is my God, and I will praise him—
my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
3 The Lord is a warrior;
Yahweh is his name!