The horse and rider
I'm reading Exodus with my eldest daughter Matilda (aged 7). By the time we got to Exodus 14, she was very anxious about the fate of the Egyptian horses who had pursued Moses and the people of Israel to, and then into the Red Sea, while Moses and co. passed through on dry land.
Exodus 14 allows you to fudge the question. The waters of the Red Sea “returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen” (says verse 28). However, Matilda and I hypothesized that even though the horsemen and chariots were thoroughly drownded, it was just faintly possible that the poor horsies had managed to swim to safety.
By chapter 15, no such ducking and weaving was possible for this most quick-thinking of fathers. Matilda was upset to read, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse [“Uh-oh”—Dad] and his rider he has thrown into the sea” (Exodus 15:1).
We decided after a bit of discussion that it was Pharaoh's fault. If he hadn't disobeyed God and pursued the Israelites, the horses would have been just fine. One thing that we both couldn't help noticing, however, was that this was extremely similar to another drowning scenario not too far back in the Bible?the flood, as recorded in Genesis 6-9. It wasn't just horses but every manner of beastie suffered and died in that deluge. And again, it wasn't the fault of the creatures. The blame lies fairly and squarely with mankind.
The Bible shows repeatedly that the whole of creation suffers because of the disobedience and fall of man, the one that God placed as Lord over creation. It's there in Genesis, it's echoed in various ways in Exodus and then it pops up throughout the rest of Scripture.
I'm now bracing myself for the question of whether or not we will meet Pharaoh's horsies in heaven. There's another CHN in this for sure, if I can think of an answer fairly soon.