Hashem said to Moshe, “Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the Bnei Yisrael and they shall travel forth!” (14:15)
Commenting on this verse, The Mechilta cites the words of R’ Yehoshua: “Said the Holy One, Blessed is He, to Moshe, ‘There is nothing for the [Children of] Israel to do except to travel forth.’”
The Meshech Chochmah explains the intent of this statement as follows. Up until this point, the Jewish people had been faithfully following Moshe through the wilderness, like a flock follows its shepherd. However, the miracle that was about to be performed – the splitting of the Red Sea – would be in the merit of the faith of the Jewish People. To this end, Moshe was told to instruct the people to travel forward – while he himself stayed behind! For the people to follow his instruction, moving towards the sea by themselves, would be a supreme display of faith in whose merit the waters would part.
In this vein the Meshech Chochmah explains verse 19 which says, “The angel of God who had been going in front of the camp of Israel moved and went behind them.” We find that the prophets are referred to as angels.
In this instance, too, the angel was Moshe himself, who moved behind the camp and told them to travel forward by themselves. Further confirmation of this idea comes from the Midrash’s account of how, when the people hesitated to actually enter the sea, Nachshon ben Aminadav jumped in.
This likewise indicates that Moshe was not travelling first on that occasion; rather, it was left to the people to travel forward, and for one of their number to make the decision to enter the sea, and in that merit, the waters parted.
