Exodus 14:13 - Exposition

And Moses said … fear ye not . Moses knew that the pursuit of Israel by the host of the Egyptians was a part of the counsel of God, and was to tend in some way or other to the promotion of God's honour and glory ( Exodus 14:4 ). He had sufficient faith to believe in a deliverance the nature of which it is not likely that he could anyway conjecture. Whether hail would fall from heaven and destroy them ( Joshua 10:11 ); or the earth gape and swallow them up ( Numbers 16:32 ); or the angel of death smite them all in the night ( 2 Kings 19:35 ); or any other strange form of destruction come upon them, he did not know; but he concluded from what had been revealed to him, that God was about to vindicate his own honour without the aid of man. Hence his words— Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord —which assigned to the Israelites a mere passive attitude of expectation. For the Egyptians , etc. The order of the words in the original favours the marginal rendering, which is to be adopted with one slight change. Translate—"For, as ye have seen the Egyptians to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever," i.e; ye shall see them no more alive, vigorous and menacing, but still and lifeless upon the Red Sea shore ( Exodus 14:30 ). There is no reference to any other Egyptians than those with Pharaoh in the camp, nor to any later relations between Egypt and the chosen people.