ויאמרו אל משה המבלי אין קברים, "They said to Moses: 'are there not enough burial places in Egypt, etc.?'" Nachmanides explains that it is clear that after the Israelites had pleaded for help to God, they would not immediately hereafter insult Him by the aforementioned cynical question, and by adding: "what did You do to us by taking us out of Egypt?⁠" We therefore must understand the verses here as reflecting the manner in which different groups of Israelites reacted to the imminent threat of annihilation which they faced. One group of Israelites resorted to prayer, another resorted to ridiculing the chance of a miracle being performed for them. Seeing that they did not believe in miraculous salvation they made peace with their impending death, but not before accusing Moses of instead of having been their redeemer having become their angel of death. It is this division among the people at that point in time to which the psalmist refers in Psalms 106,7 וימרו על ים בים סוף, "they rebelled at the sea, at the Sea of Reeds.⁠" This is also why once the people are described as העם, "the people,⁠" and once they are described as בני ישראל. The latter were the elite, few in number, who turned to God for help, the former were the masses whose attitudes were still not much different from what they had been while they were slaves and cynicism was the only weapon at their command. The people who were desperately afraid were therefore the "העם,⁠" whom Moses told in verse 13 to stop acting so scared. This עם were the ones who are described after the event in verse 31 as "being in awe of Hashem, seeing that previously they had only made sarcastic remarks. The elite, i.e. the בני ישראל, did not need this education.

In the Mechilta the sages explain that as a first step the people had prayed to God that Pharaoh should have a change of heart and should desist from pursuing them. When they noted that their prayer had not helped, they became heretical in their attitude, making above-mentioned sarcastic comments to Moses, blaming him for their present predicament.

לקחתנו למות במדבר, "have you taken us to die in the desert?⁠" Remarkably, they did not accuse Moses of letting them become victims of a losing battle against the Egyptians, but of dying a meaningless death. This pattern repeated itself in verse 12, i.e. ממותנו במדבר. They recalled that they had always been afraid of dying in the desert even if they would not come under attack by hostile armies.

Nachmanides explains that the people made it plain that even if there were no danger of war, etc. they were dead set against going into the desert. They were simply afraid that in the desert they would perish from the results of thirst and hunger. It is perfectly possible that they had already voiced their misgivings as soon as Moses did not lead them the route which was well traveled and which would have taken them via the land of the Philistines. They may even have told Moses that the route via the land of the Philistines presented unacceptable, risks, as did the route which led straight to the sea of Reeds, and that any route requiring them to travel trough the desert was perhaps the greatest risk of all. [they were understandably of the opinion that having neutralized their former masters, it was their turn to be the rulers in Egypt. Ed.] They may have preferred death followed by burial, to death in the desert where no trace of their bodies and graves would ever remain.