The Mekhilta offers a second interpretation of the phrase "and Pharaoh pressed ahead," this time focusing on the terrifying speed of the Egyptian pursuit. Pharaoh did not merely chase the Israelites — he pressed himself forward with a velocity that defied normal military logistics.
The distances tell the story. The Israelites had been traveling for three days since leaving Egypt. Pharaoh's emissaries — the scouts and advance forces sent ahead to locate the fleeing slaves — covered that same three-day distance in just a day and a half. They moved at twice the speed of the Israelites, collapsing a three-day head start into nothing.
But Pharaoh himself outpaced even his own advance forces. The distance his emissaries covered in a day and a half, Pharaoh covered in a single day. His fury drove him faster than his own military, faster than the scouts he had sent ahead, faster than any reasonable expectation. The Torah's simple phrase — "and Pharaoh pressed ahead" — thus describes a pursuit of almost supernatural intensity.
The picture the Mekhilta paints is one of escalating speed. Israel walked for three days. The Egyptian scouts halved that to a day and a half. Pharaoh halved it again to one day. Each level of Egyptian pursuit compressed the distance further, until the gap between predator and prey collapsed entirely.
This detail also underscores why Israel had no time to prepare defenses or find alternative routes. The speed of the pursuit was so extreme that by the time the Israelites realized the Egyptians were coming, Pharaoh was already upon them — and the sea was at their backs.