Exodus 15:14

The people shall hear. The Hebrew word translated “people” is in the plural and includes the tribes, or nations, of Philistia, Edom, and Moab, and the other inhabitants of Canaan (v. 15). Moses speaks now in the role of a prophet (see Deut. 18:15), as he looks forward to the effects of their own miraculous deliverance from the armies of Egypt. The peoples of Palestine would not only hear of this event but be terrified by gloomy forebodings of what lay in store for them, and thus not have the courage to offer effective opposition to Israel.

Palestina. This is the Greek form of a Hebrew word more accurately translated “Philistia.” It does not designate the whole country now known by the name of Palestine, but only a strip of territory extending along the southwestern coast of Canaan, from south of Gaza to Joppa. Some 50 mi. in extent, this strip of coastland was occupied by the Philistine confederacy, which became such a thorn in the side of Israel in later times.