Had He not caused our foes to sink in it, it would have been sufficient: This is an example of midah kineged midah²⁴⁹, punishment, measure for measure. The Egyptians embittered our life with mud, so they sank in the mud as they crossed the sea.²⁵⁰ In the Song at the Sea we say: “The depths (tehomot) covered them.”²⁵¹ (The word, tehomot, is plural to teach us that) the upper and lower depths came together causing the water to battle and bring all types of punishments upon the Egyptians. There was a mud barrier between the two depths – the Egyptians were trapped in it. That is what the statement means, “Our foes to sink, b’tokho, in it. They sank into the mud between the depths.

footnotes: ²⁴⁹ This is a concept that one finds in rabbinic literature: it is a way of saying what goes around, comes around. There is a balance of justice in the world. One must be in equal amounts to for the wrongs one commits. ²⁵⁰ Yalkut Shimoni, Exodus 246 ²⁵¹ Exodus 15:5