29. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
In the eighth century John of Damascus composed a hymn in which he gave expression to the joy the Israelites experienced after crossing the Red Sea.
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought his Israel
Into joy from sadness;
Loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke
Jacob's sons and daughters;
Led them with unmoistened foot
Through the Red Sea waters.
—translated by John Mason Neale
Israel expressed joy and gladness in the so-called Song of Moses (Exod. 15:1-18), and no wonder—faith had triumphed. The Israelites looked back upon the waters of the Red Sea and saw that the Lord had fought for them and had given them the victory (Exod. 14:14).
But what of Israel's faith in crossing the Red Sea? Instead of acting in faith they cowered in fear. No faith is evident in their complaint against Moses: "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Exod. 14:11-12). And the fact that the Israelites, except Joshua and Caleb, died in the desert because of their lack of faith in God makes the phrase by faith rather general.
The writer of Hebrews has already spoken about the lack of faith of the Israelites. Candidly he asks, "Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?" (3:16). But because of the faith of those who genuinely believed in the promise that God would save the nation Israel from the imminent attack of the Egyptian military forces, God led his people safely to the other side of the Red Sea. From the Exodus account we learn that Moses' faith was undaunted （顽强的、不惧怕的、无畏的）. By faith he knew that the Lord would deliver the Israelites and the Egyptians would meet defeat (14:13-14).
The contrast with respect to faith and unbelief is not between the faithful minority and the complaining, terrified Israelites. Rather, the contrast is between the nation Israel that expressed faith in God and thus was victorious and the unbelieving king and army of Egypt who perished in the waters of the Red Sea. The Israelites listened to Moses' instructions; they saw the Red Sea divided and the path through the sea as dry land; they noticed that the pillar of cloud had shifted from being in front of them to being behind them; and in the light of that cloud they reached the other shore. The Egyptians tried to do exactly the same thing. But it was not the same. The Egyptian army spent the night in darkness; they followed the Israelites into the sea; they experienced difficulties in driving their chariots; and they suddenly saw the waters of the Red Sea rising. All of them drowned; "not one of them survived" (Exod. 14:28). They had entered the Red Sea without faith in Israel's God. When they realized that the Lord was fighting for the Israelites, it was too late.
The Israelites were victorious because they had listened to the instructions God had given to Moses. They had acted in faith. But this act of faith is indeed the only one recorded. The writer of Hebrews chooses this act in view of Moses' trust in God. The next act relates to the fall of Jericho's walls, but that happened forty years later when the next generation had taken the places of their parents. This generation differed from the one that left Egypt. Whereas the people leaving Egypt failed to trust the Lord, the new generation faithfully executed divine instructions.
Baker New Testament Commentary - Baker New Testament Commentary – Exposition of Thessalonians, the Pastorals, and Hebrews.
Ver. 29.—By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry [land:] which the Egyptians assaying, [making a trial of,] were drowned, [or swallowed up.]
A greater instance with respect unto the work of divine Providence, of the power of faith on the one hand, and of unbelief with obdurate presumption on the other, there is not on record in the whole Book of God.
Here we have the end and issue of the long controversy that was between those two people, the Egyptians and the Israelites;—a certain type and evidence of what will be the last end of the contest between the world and the church. Their long conflict shall end in the utter destruction of the one, and the complete salvation of the other.
Διέβησαν. 1. The persons whose faith is here commended are included in that word, they passed; that is, the whole congregation of the Israelites, under the conduct of Moses, Exod. 14. And the whole is denominated from the better part; for many of them were not believers in state, unto the sanctification of their persons. For “with many of them,” as the apostle speaks, “God was not well pleased,” though they were “all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea,” 1 Cor. 10:2, 5. But in a professing society, God is pleased to impute the faith and obedience of some unto the whole; as, on the other hand, judgments do oftentimes befall （降临到某人头上）the whole for the provocations of some, as it frequently happened unto that people in the wilderness. It is therefore the duty of every man in church society to endeavour, on the one hand, the good of the whole in his own personal faith and obedience; as also, on the other, to keep them in what lies in him from sin, that he fall not with them under the displeasure of God.[1]
[1] Owen, J. (1854). An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews. (W. H. Goold, Ed.) (Vol. 24, pp. 169–174). Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter.
