Tafsiran Keluaran 14:25: Rashi, Chizkuni, Sforno & Rashbam

‎ויסר את אפן מרכבותיו AND HE REMOVED THEIR CHARIOT WHEELS — Through the power of the fire of the pillar of fire the wheels were burnt and the chariots were thus dragged along and those who were sitting in them were thrown about and their limbs were all put out of joint (cf. Mekhilta).

ויסר, “the Egyptian tried to remove;”את אופן מרכבותיו, “the wheel of his chariots;” the root יסרis used here as in Judges 4,18 when the fleeing general Sisera of the Canaanites tried to find refuge in the tent of Yael. Here the Egyptians tried to reverse the wheels of their chariots but could not manage to do this. וינהגהו בכבדות, “He forced them to move with difficulty;” the principal difficulty of turning around chariot was the chariot following which was in the way so that most forward chariot could not even turn around. Eventually, every chariot driver became a hindrance to his colleagues. ויאמר מצרים אנוסה, Egypt’s commander now decided to flee on foot and to abandon the chariots. מפני בני ישראל, “from the Children of Israel;” even this did not help them as we know from verse 26 where G-d ordered Moses to extend his hand over the sea, so that the frozen waters of the sea would revert to their normal state and drown the Egyptians in the process.

ויסר את אופן, by means of the column of fire.

וינהגהו בכבדות signifies: And He treated them with a treatment that was hard and harsh to them. In the measure that they (the Egyptians) had meted out to the Israelites was it meted out to them, for (9:34) “He hardened his heart, he and his servants”, and therefore here: “He treated them (the Egyptians) in a hard manner” (cf. Mekhilta).

נלחם להם במצרים FIGHTETH FOR THEM במצריים — means against the Egyptians. Another explanation of במצרים is: in the land of Egypt, for just as these were smitten at the Sea so, too, were smitten those who remained in Egypt (cf. Mekhilta).