Fear ye not, stand still. — There are times when all our strength must be “in quietness and confidence” (Isaiah 30:15). So long as we have means of resistance put in our power, with a reasonable prospect of success, it is our duty to use them — to exert ourselves to the uttermost, to make all possible efforts. God, for the most part, “helps those who help themselves.” But there are occasions when we can do nothing — when all must be left to Him. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 20:17.) Under these circumstances, our duty and our true wisdom is to wait patiently, quietly, courageously. Moses, probably, did not yet know how God would effect Israel’s deliverance, but he was confident that, in one way or another, it would be effected.
The Egyptians whom ye have seen... — Heb., As ye have seen the Egyptians to-day, ye shall see them no more for ever: i.e., never again shall ye see them in the pride of power, haughty, menacing, terrible. When next you behold them they will be stiff and lifeless — pale corpses strewing the Red Sea shore (see Exodus 14:30). The reference is to the present time only, not to the future relations of the two peoples.