Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 15:14
The people shall hear, [and] be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
14. The peoples heard, they trembled;
Pangs took hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
Pangs ] Properly, as of a woman in travail. Cf. Psa 48:6, Jer 6:24; Jer 50:43.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 16. The poet pictures the neighbouring nations as seized with alarm, when they hear that Israel is advancing on its way to Canaan. The description is idealized: Edom, for instance, according to Num 20:18-21, was in no fear of Israel whatever.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Exo 15:14-16
The people shall hear, and be afraid.
The world afraid of Gods people
What shall make these mighty men melt away? Seeing two or three millions of unwarlike folks marching towards them–an unarmed rabble, without military discipline, and without the appliances of war? Is it before such that the mighty men of Moab are to fall back, that the chivalrous sons of Edom are to be put to flight; that all the inhabitants of Palestine are to melt away? Nothing of the kind. Those Israelites were not going to terrify all these nations with any display of their own power or prowess. It was the story of the Exodus, the story of a divided sea, the story of a certain mysterious pillar of fire, the story of the wonderful overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea; it was this that was to fill them with despair. Many of us are at the outset terribly afraid of these hostile forces; is it not a comfort to know that on account of redemption they are actually afraid of us? In a very memorable period in our island story, when Admiral Howard and Drake had defeated the Spanish Armada after the first great battle, they continued to pursue them for a fortnight without having a single shot or a single charge of powder left in their ships. They had nothing left but air to fill their guns with. Yet thus without any ammunition our fleet went sailing on and sailing on, while the terrified strangers fled before them, until they were driven right into the Northern Sea. Then the Admiral thought they could not do much harm there, and so he left them and came back to get powder and shot for his own ships. Our fleet, with empty guns, chased their enemies because that enemy was afraid of them. They had had one terrible defeat, and that was enough. And even so may we deal with the forces of this world. Count upon your enemies being afraid of you. If instead of being afraid of them you will only carry the war into the enemys camp, and seek to win them for Christ, instead of allowing them to draw you away from Him, you will find that redemption has already stripped them of their courage and paralyzed their power to do you any injury. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
And the people shall hear, and be afraid,…. What follows from hence to the end of the song is plainly prophetic, a prediction of future events; and this clause respects the case of all the nations of the earth, who should hear the report of the plagues, brought upon the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and of their being brought out of Egypt, and of their being led through the Red sea as on dry land, and of the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it, which report would strike a panic in all that heard it, throughout the whole world; as well as of what the Lord would after this do for them in the wilderness, see De 2:25
sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestina; which was adjoining to the land of Canaan, and through which in the common way their road lay to it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14. The people shall hear. Again in this place I have not scrupled to change the tenses; for it is plain that Moses is speaking of things future; although I do not deny, that by verbs of the past tense he confirms the certainty of the matter; which is a common figure with the Prophets. This boast depends on the mention of God’s “strength;” for it was impossible for the Israelites to make their way through so many adverse nations into the land of Canaan, unless God had, as it were, put forth His hand from heaven and fought for them. Lest, then, their numerous difficulties should dishearten them, Moses declares that, although many powerful enemies should endeavor to oppose them, terror shall possess them all from heaven, so that, in their confusion and astonishment, they shall have no power of resistance.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) The people.Heb., The peoples: i.e., all the various tribes and nations of the desert and of Palestinethe Amalekites, Edomites, Philistines, Moabites, Amorites, &c.
Shall hear, and be afraid.On the fear which was actually felt, see Num. 22:3; Jos. 2:11; Jos. 5:1; Jos. 9:3-15, &c.
The inhabitants of Palestina are the Philistines, from whom the Holy Land derived the name which it still retains in most of the languages of modern Europe. The Hebrew word is Phlsheth, of which the nearest English equivalent would be Philistia.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14-17. Fifth strain . The Egyptians were conquered, but other foes yet lay between the Israelites and the promised inheritance . The Canaanites filled the land, and Philistia barred one gate of entrance, while Moab and Edom held the other . It is a noteworthy mark of the genuineness of this prophecy that Canaan and Phllistia, Edom and Moab, are all spoken of in the same terms; yet, while the Canaanites were exterminated, Israel passed by Edom, (Num 20:18, etc . ,) while Moab and Philistia were rival nations through all the centuries of the Hebrew commonwealth and monarchy . A poet would naturally have written thus at the time of the exodus, when he had simply the general revelation that Israel would triumph over all these enemies; but after the conquest of Canaan some distinction would naturally have been made between nations which were exterminated and those which never lost their independence .
The theme of this last stanza is introduced with wonderful boldness and vigour, hurling out the words without article or connective.
Palestina Palestuth, Philistia; the meaning of the word Palestine or Palestina throughout the Bible. This was the dwelling-place of the Philistines, the long, fertile plain, about fifteen miles wide, which skirts the Mediterranean from the coast to the foot-hills of the mountains of Judah, and now, as probably then, an enormous wheat field. The name was afterwards extended to the whole of Canaan. Note Act 8:40.
Edom Idumea, Mount Seir, and the adjacent desert; the mountainous and desert country east of the Arabah, stretching from the head of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea to the Jordan valley; separated by the brook Zered from Moab, which skirts the eastern shore of the Dead Sea .
Till thy people pass through Through the desert to the Land of Promise . The strain closes with a beautiful parallelism and climax .
Thou shalt plant them in the mountain Israel, like a fruitful tree, is to be planted in God’s mountain-land, God’s dwelling-place, God’s sanctuary, country, home, altar. ( Murphy.) How calm the close! How delightful to repose under the vine and fig tree, to rest in the peaceful home, to cling to the sacred altar, after this tempest of emotions! And then from the whole congregation bursts forth the grand chorus,
Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever And the hearts of the vast host are all lifted heavenward and left before the Throne.
The saints on “the sea of glass” will sing the “song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” Rev 15:3. The birth-song of ransomed Israel is, in its deeper meanings, the birth-song of the spiritual Israel of all ages of the great redemption from the darkness and death of sin. The profound and far-reaching spiritual significance of these Old Testament events will be fully felt when “God’s mystery is finished;”
when type and antitype, prophecy and history, law and gospel, will blend in one blaze of light. Christ is in all the Old Covenant as Moses is in all the New; the “Song of Moses” is the “Song of the Lamb.” “The word is nigh” us, though it comes to us across so many centuries, for it is a word from Jehovah, and not to Israel alone, but to mankind to me and thee.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 15:14-16. The people shall hear, &c. The sublimity of this passage would appear much more striking if it were rendered, agreeably to the Hebrew, The people hear, they tremble: sorrow takes hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Straight ( * az) the dukes of Edom are amazed: the mighty men of Moab, trembling takes hold upon them: all the inhabitants of Canaan melt away. Terror falls upon them: and fear, from the greatness of thine arm. They shall be dumb as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, &c. Every reader of taste must discern the sublimity and energy which is given to this passage, by reading the verbs throughout in the present tense. See this prophetical passage verified, Jos 2:10; Jos 5:1; Jos 9:9.
*See Noldius on this particle, 4.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
See this fulfilled, Deu 2:4 ; Num 22:3 ; Jos 2:9-10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 15:14 The people shall hear, [and] be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.
Ver. 14. So, now shall take hold. ] So it did. 1Sa 4:8
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
people = peoples: no Art. (compare Gen 49:16, first occurance.) shall hear. Compare Jos 2:9-1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
hear: Num 14:14, Num 22:5, Deu 2:4, Deu 2:5, Jos 2:9, Jos 2:10, Jos 9:24, Psa 48:6
of Palestina: Isa 14:29, Isa 14:31
Reciprocal: Exo 3:16 – visited Exo 10:1 – that I Exo 14:4 – I will be Exo 23:27 – my fear Deu 2:25 – General Jos 5:1 – heard Jos 9:9 – we have Jos 10:2 – they feared Jdg 7:14 – into his hand 1Sa 4:7 – were afraid 1Sa 6:6 – the Egyptians 1Sa 17:46 – all the earth 1Ki 8:42 – For they shall 1Ch 14:17 – the fear of him 2Ch 17:10 – the fear 2Ch 20:29 – they had heard Psa 65:8 – afraid Isa 19:1 – the heart Isa 23:5 – at the Isa 33:13 – Hear Isa 41:5 – the ends Isa 64:2 – that the nations Jer 33:9 – fear Eze 27:28 – shake Eze 30:4 – pain Eze 32:10 – and they Mic 7:17 – they shall be Hab 3:7 – saw the Rom 9:17 – that Rev 15:4 – Who