וישבו, “so that they shall turn back;” G-d said that He did not want the Egyptians to be able to say that Moses and Aaron had deceived him when they said that all they had requested was to travel three days into the desert (Exodus 8,23).

לפני פי החירות, “facing a place called: Pee Hachirot, the entrance to Hachirot;” according to Rashi, this place was identical to the fortification of Pittom, one of the first two cities to have been built by the Israelite slaves. The reason why the Torah refers to it by a different name here was that it was the first town the Israelites encountered as free men. (חרות, freedom) The Egyptians had no cause to complain about the newly gained freedom of the Israelites as pointed out by Pessikta zutrata, (compare Torah schleymah, item 9 on this verse) where it is stated that it was the accepted practice of the Egyptians that if he succeeded in getting as far way as Pittom, he would have gained his legal freedom. An alternate exegesis: the words לפני פי החירות, mean that the reason why the Torah mentions that location is to mislead Pharaoh into thinking that the Israelites had gotten lost, as a result of which they had second thoughts about leaving Egypt, and the proof is that they encamped at that location, one familiar to them as they had built the fortifications in that town, it being known to them as Pittom.

נכחו, “it was opposite;” a place called פי החירות, “perhaps best translated as “gateway to freedom.”תחנו על הים, (Moses instructing the people in the name of G-d) “you will encamp alongside the shores of the sea so that when Pharaoh comes he will see your flag.”

ורדף אחריהם, “he will pursue them;” when Pharaoh would engage them in battle they would attempt to flee, and he would pursue them. He would become guilty in the eyes of G-d for not allowing them to return to Egypt [as they had promised they would. Ed.] As a result of this they could not be blamed for not bringing back the valuables that they had “borrowed.” At any rate, the houses and fields that they had left behind amounted to more in value than the chattels they had taken with them.

וידעו, “they will know, etc.” this refers to the Egyptians who had remained in Egypt.

ויגד למלך מצרים, meanwhile the King of Egypt had received information, etc.” according to Rashi, he had received this information from the spies that he had sent along with the Israelites when they were leaving Ramses. They reported that after three days had passed the Israelites had not made any move indicating that they would return. According to Rashi, on the first day the Israelites had marched only a distance of a single day from Ramses to Sukkot. On the next day they had marched from Sukkot to Eytam, and on the third day they had turned around, so that by that time they were only a day’s march away from the Egyptian border. All this is based on the words: “they turned around and they encamped.” According to Rashi, then, they had presented offerings to G-d while facing Egypt all day long on the third day. The spies reported that on the following day that they had not made any move in the direction of Egypt. This they interpreted as proof that they intended to flee. According to this, the Israelites remained stationary until Pharaoh caught up with them. This is based on the Torah writing that Pharaoh caught up with them while they were along the sea. (verse 9) According to this, the Egyptians engaged in pursuing them on the fifth and sixth day, even though the people had not moved further away at all. We would have to explain this by assuming that an army which travels with chariots, etc., as described, moves more slowly than an ordinary army or cavalry. Otherwise, it makes no sense that they did not face their adversary until the sixth or seventh day.

ויהפוך לבב פרעה, “Pharaoh experienced a change of heart;” the expression implies that he was sorry about what he had done. We have an example of this expression being used in that context in Lamentations 1,20: נהפך לבי בקרבי, “my heart is in anguish.”

ויאסור את רכבו, “he harnessed his chariot;” according to Rashi, he did this personally, not ordering his servants to do so. This is interpreted as part of the psychology of people who are extremely angry. They give vent to their anger by involving themselves personally.

ביד רמה, “fully confident;” they thought that they had nothing to fear as they had left Egypt with permission.

והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, “and here the Egyptians are pursuing them!” The Torah uses the singular mode for describing all these Egyptian soldiers and their officers. We have found examples of this in Numbers 13,23: ויבא עד חברון, “he came as far as Chevron,” when actually the Torah speaks of 12 spies. Or, another example: Joshua 8,12: האורב קם מהרה ממקומו, “The people lying in ambush arose quickly from their place.” The word: ממקומו, in the singular mode, means: “from its place.” Even though there were actually 5000 Israelite soldiers that formed the ambush.

וייראו מאד, “They were very scared.” Why would 600000 male, able bodied, Israelites, be so scared of 600 Egyptian chariots? We had been told that they were all armed! Their fear was based on their slave mentality. Every slave is afraid of his master. These Israelites had not yet proven to themselves that they could fend for themselves.

להוציאנו, “To take us out;” we have to understand this word as if the letter א, had the vowel tzeyreh under it. This would be the correct transitive form of this word at this place. (Compare Ibn Ezra) There are several examples of this in the Bible, also in the reverse use of the respective vowels. (Vocalization was provided by the teachers of the Torah. Moses did not write the Torah down with vowels. Ed.]

ואתם תחרישון, “you only have to keep silent!” Do not keep on complaining to me accusing me as being “guilty” of taking you out of slavery.

?מה תצעק אלי, Why do you cry out to Me?” According to the plain meaning of the text Moses was quite sure that the Israelites would be helped and saved. Had G-d not told him: “I will deal very severely with Pharaoh? (verse 4) The question was addressed to the Israelites through Moses. The Torah is full of examples when G-d speaks to Moses, as representative of the whole Jewish nation. He is taking issue with the fact that the Israelites were complaining instead of displaying a little bit of faith by wading into the sea. G-d tells Moses to command them to get moving. He had already told them that He would fight on their behalf. (verse 14) They should therefore have been certain that G-d would not let the Egyptians defeat them.

ואתה, הרם את מטך, “as far as you are concerned “raise your staff, etc,” Moses was not to lift his staff in order to orchestrate a miracle, but on the contrary, he was to raise his staff so that the people could see that the miracle was possible not only by means of striking the sea with his staff. G-d told Moses that all he had to do was make a threatening gesture and the waters would already split. Our author quotes examples of similar constructions, citing Daniel 8,11 הורם התמיד, “the daily communal offering was removed;” or Isaiah 57,14: הרימו מכשול מדרך עמי, “remove obstacles from the path of My people.” Verse 21 tells us that as soon as Mosesextended his staff G-d was making the sea respond to the east wind etc.

ויסע מלאך האלוקים, “G-d’s angel travelled, etc.” the Torah speaks of the angel that moves the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. (Compare comment on 13,21) Previously the Torah had simply spoken of Hashem walking ahead of the Israelites, without mentioning the word “angel.” Seeing that an angel is always a messenger of G-d, the Torah had simply referred to him as “G-d.”A different interpretation: whereas initially the Torah had not given us specifics about what medium G-d employed, it now gives us more detail. [Possibly, seeing we have been told that one angel normally is charged with only one task at a time, here the same angel performed what could be interpreted as more than one task. Ed.] At any rate, as a result of the angel’s activity there was absolute darkness between the camp of the Israelites and that of the Egyptian pursuers. This will be spelled out clearly in the verses following.

ויבא בין מחנה, “he positioned himself between the camp, etc.” the Torah refers to the cloud that was controlled by the angel taking up position between the two camps. We encounter something similar in Joshua 24,7: וישם מאפל ביניכם ובין במצרים ויבא עליהם את הים, “He placed darkness between you and the Egyptians and He brought the sea upon them.” (Joshua’s parting speech to the people before they dispersed to their respective portions of the Holy Land.)

ויאר את הלילה, “it lit up the night.” Rashi understands the word ויאר as being derived from אור, light, in the transitive mode of the verb. If you were to ask how it is that Rashi’s commentary on Psalms 139,11: ולילה אור בעדני, “night will provide me with cover” understands the word אור as meaning darkness, the correct interpretation of these verses therefore must be that the word חשך, darkness, refers to the Egyptian side of the pillar of cloud, whereas the reference to light refers to the Israelites’ side of that pillar of cloud. The Targum’s translation confirms this interpretation. ויאר את הלילה, the pillar of fire that had been travelling ahead of the marching Israelites did not change its function, for if it had positioned itself behind the Israelites it would have provided light for the Egyptians. However, the pillar of cloud which had up until then disappeared at dusk every day, instead took up a position behind the Israelites. This prevented the Egyptians from coming closer to the Israelites. A different interpretation: the meaning of the words: ולא קרב זה אל זה, “the one did not come closer to the other one,” does not refer to the camps of the Israelites and the Egyptians, but to the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. (during the night) Once morning dawned, they merged with one another, however, as we will explain shortly.

ויבקעו המים, “the waters split vertically right down to the bed of the sea.” In Moses’ song of thanksgiving, one half of a verse speaks of the waters “freezing solid,” קפאו 15,8) ,תהומות) whereas the other half describes this as occurring בלב ים, “in the heart of the sea,” which appears to contradict the interpretation that the waters split vertically right to the bottom of the sea. We must understand that the sea at that point was flowing over its banks. (the sea in question was tonguelike, like a very wide river, say the Amazon river near its delta.) If the sea had not split all the way down to the bottom the Israelites would have literally have had to descend to that bottom on one bank and to climb out of it afterwards again. Therefore the process described occurred in three stages, so that near each bank (shore) the waters froze horizontally to facilitate the Israelites’ descending and subsequent ascending on the opposite side. The waters formed vertical walls for the Israelites from either side. The simile of לב ים, “heart of the sea,” used by Moses illustrated this as the human heart in a certain manner divides the torso from the head and shoulders above and the lower part including the legs below. As a result of this division, the Israelites could cross without having to descend or to ascend at all. The waters after freezing and becoming dry, were level with the two shores. This is illustrated by the author of a liturgical poem recited in most synagogues in the morning prayer of the last day of Passover, (in the repetition of the amidah on the quote: וברוח אפיך נערמו מים, commencing with the words: פנו כאן וכאן שליש רום מימות, “while one side of the highest waters reared themselves on each side the remainder became bound up to form a path for their footsteps.”Verses 19,20,21, each have 72 letters, each word starting a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the first and third verse has the first letter of each word in the normal sequence, whereas the second verse has as the first word the last letter of the alphabet proceeding in the reverse order. Rashi has explained in his commentary on the Talmud in tractate Sukkot, folio 45, on אנ׳י וה׳ו, how by reading the three verses when they are written one on top of the other in the order in which they appear in the Torah vertically when reading from the top down we get the 72 names of G-d (in a three lettered version each.) Moses employed these versions of the names of G-d as a means to split the sea. Seeing that at the beginning of this process Moses was mentioned in the Torah as initiating it, when we recite the hoshaanot on the seventh day of Sukkot when according to tradition the world’s water supply is determined in the heavenly regions. The second acronym is taken from the 37th word in the arrangement we discussed. We may learn from this mystical approach that the Torah credited both G-d and Moses with having had a share in this miracle. [Moses’ staff, and G-d’s East wind. Ed.]

ויבאו בני ישראל בתוך הים, “the Children of Israel went into the midst of the sea;” the Israelites did not cross the sea by using it as a convenient crossing on their way to the land of Canaan, as it is well known that there is no sea separating Egypt from the land of Canaan. The only reason they had to enter the sea at all, was to give G-d a chance to lure the Egyptians to their death through pursuing the Israelites. This is why they turned back from the desert of Eytam to the sea.

בתוך הים, “into the midst of the sea;” even if they set half a foot inside the water this is already called: בתוך הים. We know this from Numbers 11,4 when the Torah in describing the riffraff amongst the Israelites, of whom surely there were only very few, as והאספסוף בתוך העם, “the riffraff in the midst of the people.” Surely they had been at the fringe of the people!

ויבאו אחריהם, “they followed after them;” They might not have done so knowingly, but seeing that everything in front of them was darkness, they did not realise that they had done so until they were into what had been sea moments before.

באשמורת הבקר, “during the morning watch;” Rashi claims that seeing that the night is divided in accordance with the songs of the angels in heaven, these watches are called אשמורת. This word means “waiting for;” the angels have to be on time so as not to miss the turn allocated to them. We find the root שמר used in this context when Yaakov, hearing Joseph’s last dream is reported to have taken it seriously and he was waiting how that dream would play out. (Compare Genesis 37,11: ואביו שמר את הדבר, “his father kept track of the matter.”)

באשמורת הבקר, in our domain: “close to morning.” It was an hour when people already look forward towards morning.

בעמוד אש וענן, “through a pillar of fire and cloud;” the time when the pillar of fire made way for the pillar of cloud. At this brief moment the two phenomena appeared as if mixed up with one another in front of the camp of the Egyptians. The Egyptians had not been used to see a pillar of fire, they had only faced darkness up to that moment. As soon as they saw the pillar of fire they took fright and wanted to reverse direction in order to flee. The Israelites meanwhile had no need to stop, so that from that moment on they put more and more distance between themselves and their pursuers. Seeing that the frozen waters on both of their sides were security, they could proceed undisturbed.

ויסר, “the Egyptian tried to remove;”את אופן מרכבותיו, “the wheel of his chariots;” the root יסרis used here as in Judges 4,18 when the fleeing general Sisera of the Canaanites tried to find refuge in the tent of Yael. Here the Egyptians tried to reverse the wheels of their chariots but could not manage to do this. וינהגהו בכבדות, “He forced them to move with difficulty;” the principal difficulty of turning around chariot was the chariot following which was in the way so that most forward chariot could not even turn around. Eventually, every chariot driver became a hindrance to his colleagues. ויאמר מצרים אנוסה, Egypt’s commander now decided to flee on foot and to abandon the chariots. מפני בני ישראל, “from the Children of Israel;” even this did not help them as we know from verse 26 where G-d ordered Moses to extend his hand over the sea, so that the frozen waters of the sea would revert to their normal state and drown the Egyptians in the process.

לפנות בקר לאיתנו, “when the morning had approached to becoming noon;” (B‘chor shor)

נסים לקראתו, “fleeing toward it;” at the beginning the waters of the sea had frozen; when the Egyptians saw that the solidity of the water offered them a chance for escape they tried to use it as a route of escape seeing that climbing to the shore was too strenuous. When the waters started to melt, they realised that they had been fleeing in the direction of where the waves came from.

לא נשאר מהם עד אחד, “not a single one of them remained alive.” This is what David recorded in Psalms 106,11: אחד מהם לא נותר, “not a single one of them remained.”

ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה, “meanwhile the Children of Israel had walked on dry land.” This verse is inseparably linked to the previous one, as it contrasts the experiences of the Israelites and those of the Egyptians at one and the same time. If we had to explain this scientifically, we would say that two winds each blowing in opposite directions had been at work during that period. The wind described in Moses’ song in 15,8, served the interests of the Israelites, whereas the words: נשפת ברוחך, “You blew with Your wind,” served to lure the Egyptians to their destruction.

ויושע ה' ביום ההוא, “on that day the Lord delivered;” this verse testifies to G-d’s having kept His promise of “'התיצבו וראו את ישועת ה, “stand firm and watch the deliverance orchestrated by Hashem!” This day was one of complete deliverance, as from that day on the Israelites did not see any more Egyptians in their lives [that generation. Ed.]) את מצרים מת, the Torah refers to all of them in the singular mode. We find other examples of this construction in the Holy Scriptures, the most recent one being in verse 10 of our chapter: והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, “and here Egypt was travelling behind them.”

על שפת הים, “on the beach of the sea;” it is usual for the sea to disgorge its corpses on the beach; we know this from: Isaiah 57.20: ויגרשו מימיו רפש וטיט, “its waters tossed up mire and mud.”Some commentators understand this verse as being a condensation, the full text should have been: “the Israelites saw that on the beach of the sea Egyptians were dead from having drowned.”

ובמשה עבדו, “and in His servant Moses.” The Israelites now were full of respect for the quality of Moses’ prophetic powers.