What Does Exodus 14:24 Mean?

And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic. "The morning watch" (Hebrew: ashmoret haboker, the predawn watch: approximately 2-6 AM) is the last watch of the night, the period before dawn when Israel has been crossing and Egypt has been pursuing through the sea. The timing "in the morning watch" is the narrative's precision about when YHWH intervenes in Egypt's pursuit: not immediately when Egypt enters the sea but at the predawn watch, giving the entire night for Israel's crossing before the sea closes.

"Looked down on the Egyptian forces" (Hebrew: vayashkef, gazed/looked down) is the anthropomorphic description of divine attention: YHWH from the pillar of fire and cloud directs his gaze at Egypt's army in the sea bed. The gaze is not passive observation but active intervention: the looking-down from the fire-cloud is the prelude to the panicking. The fire-and-cloud pillar that had been blocking the Egyptian advance (between the armies, verse 19-20) is now the source of direct divine action against Egypt from above.

"Threw the Egyptian forces into a panic" (Hebrew: vayahom, threw into confusion/tumult) is the same verb used for YHWH's action in holy war contexts (Deuteronomy 7:23; Joshua 10:10; Judges 4:15; 1 Samuel 7:10). The panic (mehuma) is the supernatural confusion YHWH sends on enemies in divine-combat contexts: the forces of the enemy become unable to function as an organized military unit. Egypt's vaunted chariot corps, the finest military technology of the ancient world, is reduced to panicked confusion by the divine gaze from the fire-cloud pillar.