Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. At daybreak — the same time when Israel in Egypt was saved and Egypt's firstborn were found dead — the sea returns. The timing connects the sea crossing to the Passover night: the dawn that ended the darkness of the first Passover now ends the darkness of the pillar's protection and closes the sea over Egypt's army. The fleeing toward the sea is the ultimate military irony: the army that entered the sea in pursuit of Israel is now fleeing back toward the same sea because the ground beneath them is disappearing. The Lord swept them — the same word used for the east wind that swept the locusts into the sea in Exodus 10:19. God's meteorological and military vocabulary is consistent: He sweeps what He judges into the sea.

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