Even if our mouths were filled with song like the sea, our tongues with exultation like the roaring of the waves, our lips with praise like the expanse of the firmament, our eyes radiant like the sun and the moon, our hands outspread like the eagles of the sky or the deer feet as light as the deer, we could not sufficiently thank You….: This passage in the Haggadah revolves around the question of divine providence, hashgahah pratit. Each expression is associated with a Talmudic statement and is understood as explaining that there is no end to the praise we owe God for His providence over all existence and over each individual as well. Those who composed the liturgy were actually commenting on the following discussion in the Talmud. This discussion begins from the assumption that Job's suffering was punishment because he denied God's providence in the universe and over his life. “For he breaks me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause.” Rabbah said: Job blasphemed (denied divine providence) God by mentioning a storm, and with a storm he was answered. He blasphemed with a storm, as it is written, “For he breaks me as with a whirlwind.” Job said to God: Perhaps a whirlwind has passed before me, and caused thee to confuse Iyob [Job] and Oyeb [enemy]. He was answered through a tempest, as it is written, “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said…Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me.” I have created many hairs in man, and for every hair I have created a separate groove, so that two should not suck from the same groove, for if two were to suck from the same groove they would impair the sight of a man. I do not confuse one groove with another; and shall I then confuse Iyob with Oyeb? Who has created a channel for the water flood? Many drops have I created in the clouds, and for every drop a separate path, so that two drops should not issue from the same path, since if two drops issued from the same path they would wash away the soil, and it would not produce fruit. I do not confuse one drop with another, and shall I confuse Iyob and Oyeb?' …. Or a way for the lightning of the thunder. Many thunderclaps have I created in the clouds, and for each clap a separate path, so that two claps should not travel by the same path, since if two claps traveled by the same path they would devastate the world. I do not confuse one thunderclap with another, and shall I confuse Iyob with Oyeb? Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth, or can you mark when the hinds do calve? This wild goat is heartless towards her young. When she crouches for delivery, she goes up to the top of a mountain so that the young shall fall down and be killed, and I prepare an eagle to catch it in his wings and set it before her, and if he were one second too soon or too late it would be killed. I do not confuse one moment with another, and shall I confuse Iyob with Oyeb? Do you know when the hinds give birth? This hind has a narrow womb. When she crouches for delivery, I prepare a serpent which bites her at the opening of the womb, and she is delivered of her offspring; and were it one second too soon or too late, she would die. I do not confuse one moment with another; shall I confuse Iyob with Oyeb? Job speaks without knowledge, and his words are without wisdom. Raba said: This teaches that a man is not held responsible for what he says when in distress. Commenting on this passage, Rabbi Rabinowitz begins with the following statement from above: Or a way for the lightning of the thunder. Many thunderclaps have I created in the clouds, and for each clap a separate path, so that two claps should not travel by the same path, since if two claps traveled by the same path they would devastate the world. I do not confuse one thunderclap with another, and shall I confuse Iyob with Oyeb? The Maharsha explains that Job denied divine providence when he said: “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the faces of the Judge; if it be not He, then who?” In this verse, Job is saying that the wicked to whom the world was given over is Satan and the Judge (God) has allowed a separation to develop with his creations so that they suffer from His absence. Satan is one of the spirits, ruhot, who have been allowed to storm and devastate the world (For he breaks me with a whirlwind). These storms separate the one who watches from the one who is watched. It is because of this that Job (Iyyov) becomes an enemy (Oyyev). Because a whirlwind causes Job to deny God's providence, God now answers him with a whirlwind. In other words, it is through the natural world that God provides proof to Job of His providence. I have created many types of thunder in the universe, about which we say. “Blessed is the one whose power and greatness fills the universe.” If two of these claps of thunder were to happen simultaneously from one place, the world would be destroyed by them….. This is the meaning of the Marharsha's explanation. According to the Talmud, there is an angel by the name of Ridiyah who is appointed over the rain and water that enters the world. It is his job to tell the rains to fall and to control the waters that rise up from beneath the earth. If this angel was to allow the thunder to call forth the water from below and from above at the same time, the world would be flooded as it was in the time of Noah. But God watches over the thunder, preventing this from happening. Therefore we praise God; even if our mouths were filled with song like the sea we could not sufficiently thank God for His providence because He continues to control the water which fills our world. Our tongues, with exultation like the roaring of the waves: This statement is related to the following story about Rabbah Bar Bar Channah in the Talmud: Rabbah said: Seafarers told me: The wave that sinks a ship appears with a white fringe of fire at its crest, and when stricken with clubs on which is engraved. 'I am that I am, Yah, the Lord of Hosts, Amen, Amen, Selah', it subsides.” Rabbah said: Seafarers told me: There is a distance of three hundred parasangs between one wave and the other, and the height of the wave is [also] three hundred parasangs. 'Once,' [they related], 'we were on a voyage, and the wave lifted us up so high that we saw the resting place of the smallest star, and there was a flash as if one shot forty arrows of iron; and if it had lifted us up still higher, we would have been burned by its heat. And one wave called to the other: "My friend, have you left anything in the world that you did not wash away? I will go and destroy it." The other replied: "Go and see the power of the Master [by whose command] I must not pass the sand'[of the shore even as much as] the breadth of a thread"; as it is written: Fear not Me? Says the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence? Who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea, a everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass?" The Maharsha explains this passage in the following way: We see elsewhere in the Bible that stormy seas are often used as a metaphor for the wicked, as in Isaiah, 17:12, “Ah, the uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters,” and Isaiah, 52:20, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt.” The misfortunes that befall the world then are caused by the waves, evil doers. The deeds of the righteous are like the sands of the sea shore which, we see above, God decreed can keep back the greatest of waves. The ship which is engraved with the name of God symbolizes people who are subject to the forces of evil in the world. When we trust the Torah we are safe from these terrible waves because the Torah is also engraved with the name of God. When the waves (evil doers) realize that they cannot overcome the sands of the sea, they begin to praise God and say, "Go and see the power of the master [by whose command] I must not pass the sand'[of the shore even as much as] the breadth of a thread." The sea shores then is a metaphor for the power of divine providence. Just as the shore protects the land through the providence of God so to the righteous are protected and protect the world from destruction. Therefore, the seas praise God just as we do: Our tongues with exultation like the roaring of the waves.

Our lips with praise like the expanse of the firmament: Returning to the earlier Talmudic passage we read the following: Who has created a channel for the water flood? Many drops have I created in the clouds, and for every drop a separate path, so that two drops should not issue from the same path, since if two drops issued from the same path they would wash away the soil, and it would not produce fruit. I do not confuse one drop with another, and shall I confuse Iyob and Oyeb? "This passage is an illustration of the Biblical passage: “The heavens declare the glory of the God, and the firmament His handiwork.” What is the handiwork of the firmament? It is the rain and dew. The very fact that the world is not washed away by the rains is proof of God's providence. Therefore our lips praise God because of the expanse of the firmament.

Our eyes radiant like the sun and the moon: Here we find an answer to the following statement between Job and God: 'I have created many hairs in man, and for every hair I have created a separate groove, so that two should not suck from the same groove, for if two were to suck from the same groove they would impair the sight of a man. I do not confuse one groove with another; and shall I then confuse Iyob with Oyeb? It is through the vision and radiance of our eyes that we come to see God's providence in the world. God not only sees all things but allows us to see His presence in all things. As we find in the Bible, “Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him; for it is not as man sees: for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Human beings can see with their eyes that God is constantly watching out for us and providing us with all the things that we need.

Our hands outspread like the eagles of the sky or the deer feet as light as the deer: The passage continues with reference to the Talmud discussion above: Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth, or can you mark when the hinds do calve? This wild goat is heartless towards her young. When she crouches for delivery, she goes up to the top of a mountain so that the young shall fall down and be killed, and I prepare an eagle to catch it in his wings and set it before her, and if he were one second too soon or too late it would be killed. I do not confuse one moment with another, and shall I confuse Iyob with Oyeb? Can you mark when the hinds do calve? This hind has a narrow womb. When she crouches for delivery, I prepare a scorpion which bites her at the opening of the womb, and she is delivered of her offspring; and were it one second too soon or too late, she would die. I do not confuse one moment with another, and shall I confuse Iyob with Oyeb? Even though the birth passage of the goats is very narrow, God watches over it and helps it in its delivery. It provides a scorpion that bites the goat at just the right moment causing the birth canal to open. This cannot happen a minute too soon or too late, proving that God‟s providence is present at every second. There is no second when God is not present! How could we not praise God for being present in this manner!