Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 14:28

"And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them." — Exodus 14:28 (ASV)

The chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host ... — This translation is misleading. The Hebrew text reads as follows: “The chariots and the horsemen (who were) all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea.” It is implied that his footmen did not enter the sea.

There remained not so much as one of them. — The armour of an Egyptian warrior would make it impossible for him to escape by swimming from such a catastrophe. All who were caught by the tide would certainly be drowned. The question whether the Pharaoh was drowned or not cannot be determined by the expression used here, nor by any parallel one in the Psalms (Psalms 78:53; Psalms 106:11); it depends on more general considerations.

1. Is it likely that if the Pharaoh had been killed there would have been no explicit mention of it? Would the point have remained one open to question?
2. If the Pharaoh had been killed, would the Egyptian annals have retained no trace of it? Would there not have been some account of a great king cut off in the flower of his age, after a reign of two, or at the most three, years? (Exodus 4:19, and others.) But Menephthah, to whom all the indications point, reigned at least eight years. The latter part of his reign was inglorious, and he left the empire a prey to pretenders; but he was not suddenly cut off after reigning a year or two.
3. Was an Egyptian king sure to lead an attack and place himself in the position of most peril? This has been asserted, and it is true that most Egyptian kings, according to the records which they have left of themselves, acted this way. But it happens that Menephthah records of himself that on one great occasion, at any rate, he kept himself out of danger. His country was invaded by a vast army of Libyans and others from the northwest in the fifth year of his reign; the assailants menaced his chief cities, and the peril was great. Menephthah collected all his forces to meet the danger but declined to lead them out in person, pretending that one of the Egyptian gods, Phthah, had forbidden him to quit Memphis (Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. ii., p. 119). It is thus quite probable that he would remain with the reserve of footmen when the chariots and horsemen entered the bed of the sea.