Exodus 15:14 - Exposition

The people shall hear .—Rather, "the peoples"— i.e; the tribes, or nations, of these parts—Philistines, Amalekites, Edomites, Moabites, etc.—will hear of the wonders done in Egypt, especially of the crowning wonder of all—Israel's passage through the Red Sea and Egypt's destruction in it—and will in consequence tremble with fear when the Israelites approach them, and offer them no effectual opposition. Palestine . This is a Greek form. The Hebrew is Phelasheth, which would perhaps be best translated "Philistia." (Compare Psalms 60:8 ; Psalms 87:4 ; Psalms 108:9 .) The Philistine country was a strip of territory extending along the coast of the Mediterranean from a little below Gaze on the south, nearly to Mount Carmel on the north. It is curious that the philistines are not mentioned under that name on any of the early Egyptian monuments. They may perhaps be the Purusaia of the time of Rameses III ; whom some however identify with the Pelasgi.