Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 14:31

"And Israel saw the great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared Jehovah: and they believed in Jehovah, and in his servant Moses." — Exodus 14:31 (ASV)

Israel saw that great work. —The destruction of Pharaoh’s chariot force and cavalry in the Red Sea secured Israel's retreat and saved them from any further harassment by the Egyptians. The spirit of the nation was effectively broken for the time; and it was not until after several reigns, and an interval of anarchy, that there was a revival. The king himself probably despaired of accomplishing anything against an enemy that was supernaturally protected; and the army, having lost the flower of the chariot force, on which it mainly depended for success, desired no further contest.

The Israelites, as will be seen further on, in their rapid march to Sinai avoided the Egyptian settlements. Having once reached the Sinaitic region, they were beyond the dominion of Egypt and for forty years quite out of the path of Egyptian conquest. The episode in the life of the nation begun by the descent of Jacob into Egypt now terminated, and a fresh beginning was made. In the open air of the desert, cut off from all other races, admitted to close communion with Jehovah, the people entered upon that new and higher existence which culminated in the teaching of the prophets, in the noble struggles of Ezra and Nehemiah, and in the memorable stand on behalf of religious truth and national independence which was made by the Maccabees.