John Calvin Commentary Exodus 14:11

"And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt?" — Exodus 14:11 (ASV)

Because there were no graves. This¹⁵⁵ is the more proper sense, for the double negative is used for a single one. It is a bitter and biting taunt; for, not content with preferring the graves of Egypt to the death they feared, they scoffingly inquire how he could have thought of bringing them into the wilderness, as if the land of Egypt was not large enough to bury them in.

But God had openly and clearly proved Himself to be the leader of their departure; and, again, it was shamefully insensitive of them to forget that not long ago they were like dead men and had been miraculously brought out of the grave.

Their madness is wilder still when they daringly recall the impious blasphemies that should have been a matter of shame and detestation to them. For how sad was their ingratitude in rejecting the offered favor of deliverance and in shutting the door against God’s advances, so that they might rot in their misery!

True, God had pardoned this great depravity; but it was their part to mourn unceasingly and to be, as it were, overwhelmed with shame, so that their crime might be blotted out before God’s judgment-seat. But now, as if God and Moses were accountable to them, they boastfully and petulantly reproach them for not believing them when they would have prudently prevented the evil.

From this we are taught how far human passions will carry them, when fear has extinguished their hopes, and they do not wait patiently for God’s aid.

¹⁵⁵ This sentence is omitted in the French.