Some read, "Thou hast trodden thy horses in the sea;" but it is a solecism, that is quite evident. Others, "Thou hast trodden in the sea by thy horses." But what need is there of seeking such strained explanations, since the verb drk, darek, means to go or to march? The Prophet's meaning is by no means doubtful--that God would make a way for himself in the sea, and on his own horses. How? even when great waters were gathered into a mass. The Prophet again refers to the history of the passage through the Red Sea; for it was a work of God, as it has been said, worthy of being remembered above all other works: it is therefore no wonder that the Prophet dwells so much in setting forth this great miracle. Thou then didst make a way for thy horses --where? in the sea; which was contrary to nature. And then he adds, The heap of waters: for the waters had been gathered together, and a firm and thick mass appeared, which was not according to nature; for we know that water is a fluid, and that hardly a drop of water can stand without flowing. [1] How then was it that he stopped the course of Jordan, and that the Red Sea was divided? These were evidences of God's incomprehensible power, and rightly ought these to have added courage to the faithful, knowing, as they ought to have done, that nothing could have opposed their salvation, which God was not able easily to remove, whenever it pleased him. It follows--

Footnotes

1 - The word is [chmr], which many have rendered acervus--heap; but there is no clear instance in which it has such a meaning. It is without a preposition, and the Septuagint render it by a participle, tarassontas, which agrees with "horses." It is singular in Hebrew, and, if a participle, it agrees with the nominative case to the preceding verb, [drkt], "thou didst guide" or direct. The two lines might then be rendered thus,-- Thou didst guide through the sea thy horses, Disturbing mighty waters. Both Marckius and Henderson think that the passage through the Red Sea is not what is meant; but the subjugation of the Canaanites, conveyed in a language derived from that event.--Ed.

Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses - God Himself is pictured as leading them on the way, Himself at the head of their multitude, having, as Asaph said of old "His path in the sea." So Isaiah Isaiah 63:13. "who leddest them in the depths;" and Zechariah Zac 10:11. "And he shall pass through the sea." God was literally there; for Acts 17:28. "in Him we live and move and have our being." He who "is wholly everywhere but the whole of Him nowhere" manifested His Presence there. Such anthropomorphisms have a truth, which people's favorite abstractions have not.
Through the heap - o of great waters as of old Exodus 15:8; Psalm 78:13. "the waters stood us a heap, and He made the waters to stand a a heap." The very hindrances to deliverance are in God's hands a way for His ends. The waves of the Red Sea rose in heaps, yet this was but a readier way for the salvation of His people and the destruction of their enemies. Dion.: "God prepareth ever a way for His elect in this present evil world, and leadeth them along the narrow way which leadeth unto life."

Thou didst walk through the sea - There was no occasion to hurry across; all was safe, for God had divided the waters: and his terrible cloud had removed from before, and stood behind them, so that it was between them and the Egyptians. See Exodus 14:19, Exodus 14:20.

Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses,.... And as thou didst of old, so do again; as Jehovah walked through the Red sea in a pillar of cloud and fire, which were his horses and chariots, and destroyed the Egyptians; so may he walk through another sea by his instruments, and destroy the enemies of his church and people; See Gill on Habakkuk 3:8. The "sea" here signifies the world, compared to it for the multitude of its people; the noise, fluctuation, and uncertainty of all things in it; and particularly the Roman empire, the sea out of which the antichristian beast arose, Revelation 13:1. The "horses" are the angels or Christian princes, with whom the Lord will walk in majesty, and in the greatness of his strength, pouring out the vials of his wrath on the antichristian states:
through the heap of many waters; or "the clay", or "mud of many waters" (w); that lies at the bottom of them; which being walked through and trampled on by horses, is raised up, and "troubles" them, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it: these "many waters" are those on which the whore of Rome is said to sit; and which are interpreted of people, multitudes, nations, and tongues, Revelation 17:1 and the "mud" of them is expressive of their pollution and corruption, with her false doctrines, idolatry, superstition, and immoralities; and of their disturbed state and condition, through the judgments of God upon them, signified by his horses walking through them; trampling upon them in fury; treating them with the utmost contempt; treading them like mire and clay, and bringing upon them utter ruin and destruction.
(w) "in luto aquarum multarum", Tigurine version; "calcasti lutum aquarum multarum", Cocceius, Van Till; "lutum, aquae multae", Burkius.

Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses-- (Habakkuk 3:8). No obstacle could prevent Thy progress when leading Thy people in safety to their inheritance, whether the Red Sea, Jordan, or the figurative waves of foes raging against Israel (Psalm 65:7; Psalm 77:19).

Didst walk - Thou heldest on thy way, from thy entering in on the east of the land, to the west thereof.