Exodus 14:5

Why have we done this? Pharaoh had apparently intended his permission to be limited to a three-day journey into the eastern Egyptian desert. When it became apparent that the Israelites were pressing rapidly through the desert toward the Red Sea, Pharaoh set out in pursuit (PP 283). A short respite from suffering had given him time to recover from the horrors of the tenth plague, and he now regretted his rash act. When no further calamity followed the death of the first-born, the Egyptians may have thought the power of the Hebrew God broken, and of themselves as once more lords over their land and masters of the situation. The loss of a large body of laborers would upset the economy of the country and bring hardship upon those who remained.