Exodus 15:14

The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) The people.—Heb., The peoples: i.e., all the various tribes and nations of the desert and of Palestine—the Amalekites, Edomites, Philistines, Moabites, Amorites, &c.

Shall hear, and be afraid.—On the fear which was actually felt, see Numbers 22:3; Joshua 2:11; Joshua 5:1; Joshua 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 Phĕlâsheth, of which the nearest English equivalent would be “Philistia.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:1-21 This song is the most ancient we know of. It is a holy song, to the honour of God, to exalt his name, and celebrate his praise, and his only, not in the least to magnify any man. Holiness to the Lord is in every part of it. It may be considered as typical, and prophetical of the final destruction of the enemies of the church. Happy the people whose God is the Lord. They have work to do, temptations to grapple with, and afflictions to bear, and are weak in themselves; but his grace is their strength. They are often in sorrow, but in him they have comfort; he is their song. Sin, and death, and hell threaten them, but he is, and will be their salvation. The Lord is a God of almighty power, and woe to those that strive with their Maker! He is a God of matchless perfection; he is glorious in holiness; his holiness is his glory. His holiness appears in the hatred of sin, and his wrath against obstinate sinners. It appears in the deliverance of Israel, and his faithfulness to his own promise. He is fearful in praises; that which is matter of praise to the servants of God, is very dreadful to his enemies. He is doing wonders, things out of the common course of nature; wondrous to those in whose favour they are wrought, who are so unworthy, that they had no reason to expect them. There were wonders of power and wonders of grace; in both, God was to be humbly adored.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The inhabitants of Palestina - i. e. the country of the Philistines. They were the first who would expect an invasion, and the first whose district would have been invaded but for the faintheartedness of the Israelites.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 15

Ex 15:1-27. Song of Moses.

1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel—The scene of this thanksgiving song is supposed to have been at the landing place on the eastern shore of the Red Sea, at Ayoun Musa, "the fountains of Moses." They are situated somewhat farther northward along the shore than the opposite point from which the Israelites set out. But the line of the people would be extended during the passage, and one extremity of it would reach as far north as these fountains, which would supply them with water on landing. The time when it was sung is supposed to have been the morning after the passage. This song is, by some hundred years, the oldest poem in the world. There is a sublimity and beauty in the language that is unexampled. But its unrivalled superiority arises not solely from the splendor of the diction. Its poetical excellencies have often drawn forth the admiration of the best judges, while the character of the event commemorated, and its being prompted by divine inspiration, contribute to give it an interest and sublimity peculiar to itself.

I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously—Considering the state of servitude in which they had been born and bred, and the rude features of character which their subsequent history often displays, it cannot be supposed that the children of Israel generally were qualified to commit to memory or to appreciate the beauties of this inimitable song. But they might perfectly understand its pervading strain of sentiment; and, with the view of suitably improving the occasion, it was thought necessary that all, old and young, should join their united voices in the rehearsal of its words. As every individual had cause, so every individual gave utterance to his feelings of gratitude.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 Deuteronomy 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.

Geneva Study Bible

The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14.The peoples heard, they trembled;

Pangs took hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.

Pangs] Properly, as of a woman in travail. Cf. Psalm 48:6, Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 50:43.

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 Numbers 20:18-21, was in no fear of Israel whatever.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - 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 Psalm 60:8; Psalm 87:4; Psalm 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. Exodus 15:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"People hear, they are afraid; trembling seizes the inhabitants of Philistia."