דבר אל בוי ישראל וישובו, "speak to the children of Israel so that they will turn backwards, etc." Anyone who reads this verse cannot help wondering why G'd would give an order designed to trick Pharaoh into pursuit of the Israelites, when He has many other means at His disposal to bring about the same result?

In view of our awareness that G'd wants to try and put Israel in a favourable light so as to justify the favours He does for His people, it is even harder to understand how G'd devised a scheme which resulted in the Israelites expressing their dismay at the developments which followed in the most sarcastic manner when they accused Moses of leading them into the desert to die as if there were not enough burial grounds in Egypt (14,11). Actually, the arguments the Israelites used against Moses were not new ones as the Torah itself testifies. However, G'd displayed extreme wisdom here by luring Pharaoh into the kind of sin (pursuit of the Israelites) which would give Him an opportunity to demonstrate to Israel that He would exact true vengeance on Pharaoh. G'd did not want to spell out more detail than to say that the Israelites' action in turning backwards would encourage Pharaoh to pursue them, as a result of which G'd would deal with him severely. Having thus informed the Israelites of what to expect they should have been able to face these developments with calm. Unfortunately, even though the Israelites had been warned what to expect, G'd did not succeed completely as we observe from the reactions of various groups of Israelites in the verses following. Having read of the Israelites' reaction after G'd had given them advance notice of Pharaoh's pursuit you may imagine how much more violent their reaction would have been had this development taken them entirely by surprise.

ואמר פרעה…. נבוכים הם בארץ, "and Pharaoh will say 'they are entangled in the land, etc.'" This would be Pharaoh's reaction when his spies brought him up-to-date on Israel's travels.

ויגד למלך…כי ברח העם, ויהפך לבב פרעה, "when the king was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh had a change of heart, etc." Why does the Torah speak about the Israelites "fleeing" instead of their "going?" If the words ויהפך לבב פרעה mean that Pharaoh now developed remorse about what he had done this would be very peculiar seeing that he had never "done" what he did voluntarily! He had dismissed the Israelites only as the result of having suffered extremely serious plagues, so much so that Egypt was in danger of total collapse. How could the Torah then ascribe Pharaoh's dismissal of the Israelites to something "he had done?" One can only change one's mind if one's mind had operated with balanced judgment, not if one acted under duress! Furthermore, what does the expression "what is this we have done" mean in this context? The people had no more acted voluntarily than had their king!

Perhaps we have to fall back on the Zohar's premise that every time the Torah speaks about העם what is meant is the new multitude of converts commonly known as ערב רב. Accordingly, the report Pharaoh received about "the people" having fled referred to the new converts whom Pharaoh sent along with the Israelites in order for them to bring about the Israelites' return to Egypt. These people had now decided to throw in their lot with the Israelites permanently. Inasmuch as they had been Egyptian subjects, their defection could properly be described as the flight of Pharaoh's people.

ויהפך לבב פרעה, Pharaoh had a change of heart, etc. This means that Pharaoh was sorry now that he had sent these new converts along with the Israelites. He did not regret letting the Israelites go. When the Egyptians exclaimed: "what did we do?" this refers to the Egyptians' surprise at their own stupidity in having sent these converts along with the Israelites. They explained their stupidity as being the result of allowing the Israelites to depart as free men. (According to Yalkut Shimoni 208 Pharaoh had even executed a deed granting the Israelites the status as free men.) The words shilachnu me-ovdenu then are a reference to this document granting the Israelites their freedom. Even though it was conceivable that the Israelites would decide to return, they would do so as free and equal citizens, not as slaves. The Egyptian people's upset was very real for in the absence of the Israelites to perform slave labour all the work the Israelites had performed up to this point would now become something they had to do for themselves as well as for the government. The people who joined Pharaoh in the pursuit were concerned mostly with bringing back the new converts described as העם. G'd did not need to influence Pharaoh to make a decision concerning this pursuit at all. However, G'd influenced Pharaoh to also pursue the Israelites themselves by allowing him to think that the latter had become entangled in the land.

Pharaoh was also motivated by another consideration which I have already discussed in 10,7, namely that his whole obstinacy was based on the miscalculation that G'd was not all-powerful and that is why He resorted to deceptive tactics. Pharaoh and his servants had reasoned that if G'd were all powerful He would do things outright instead of achieving His aims by devious means. On the day G'd killed the firstborn the Egyptians finally admitted to themselves that G'd could indeed do whatever He wanted including destruction of the universe itself if He so desired. In view of this, the Egyptians concluded that the request of G'd transmitted through Moses to let the Israelites travel three days into the desert could be taken at face value and was not a scheme to leave and then not to return. They discounted Pharaoh's repeated concern that the fact that the Israelites were not prepared to leave anyone or anything behind was proof of their intent not to return, and they credited this to the Israelites' declared intent to celebrate a holiday, something that is best done in the midst of one's family and possessions. It was considerations such as these that prompted the Egyptians to "lend" the Israelites their valuables. They did not suspect G'd of having influenced their decision to lend these valuables to the Israelites as they reasoned that if G'd had wanted to He could have forced them to hand over all of their possessions to the departing Jews. Their reasoning was reinforced by the knowledge that the Israelites had become thoroughly familiar with all their valuables during the plague of darkness without exploiting their opportunity to steal these goods at a time when they could have done without fear of being discovered.

When the informer told Pharaoh that "the people" had fled, he meant that the Jews had decided not to return at the end of three days as had been the commonly held belief at the time of their departure. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were now convinced that the Israelites under Moses' leadership had made this decision on their own, as their G'd would never have become a party to deception. Such considerations then all contributed to Pharaoh, his servants, and his people undergoing a change of heart in their attitude towards the Israelites. They never regretted having let them go at that time, as they had only let them go for a holiday. They regretted their stupidity in giving the people a letter releasing them from bondage. This had been an unpardonable stupidity because even their G'd had never demanded this. They reasoned that what they should have done in the first place was to send a military escort with the Israelites to assure their return at the end of the three days.

Another way of looking at what happened is this: When the news reached Pharaoh that the Israelites had "fled," Pharaoh reconsidered his premise that the Israelite G'd was all-knowing and all-powerful. This G'd apparently had been forced to use deception because He was not omnipotent. This is why He kept His intention that the Israelites should depart permanently a secret up until now.

The Torah advisedly speaks of the לבב, "a dual heart" of Pharaoh undergoing a change. Pharaoh's considerations were due to conflicting feelings (i.e. "two hearts"). Originally, He had thought that G'd was unable to orchestrate the Israelites' exodus otherwise He would not have had to almost beg him to let the Israelites go. As a result, he, Pharaoh had refused to let them go. Next, Pharaoh had convinced himself that G'd's love for the Jewish people might only be temporary. In the meantime Pharaoh had come to realise that his estimate of G'd liking the Jewish people only temporarily had also been wrong and as a result of both these considerations of telling him to let the Israelites go, he had done so in the firm belief that there was nothing he could do to stop this process. Now, in retrospect, he realised that he had been wrong after all, that G'd had lacked the power to orchestrate the Exodus without help from Pharaoh himself. This is why he decided to mount the pursuit.

ואת עמו לקח עמו. "and he took his people with him. The Egyptian people had never been involved in the negotiations with Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh had to convince the Egyptians that what he was about to do had a chance to succeed as the people were greatly afraid The words לקח עמו in this context mean that "he convinced them."

ויחזק ה׳ את לב פרעה, G'd hardened the heart of Pharaoh, etc. The Torah means that G'd needed to harden the heart of Pharaoh otherwise he would not have had the courage to face a nation which had recently left Egypt with their heads held high. The various considerations we described above were part of this process the Torah describes as "G'd hardened the heart of Pharaoh."

ופרעה הקריב….והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, when Pharaoh drew close the Israelites raised their eyes and saw that Egypt was marching after them, etc. Why was this whole line necessary? Would the words: "they caught up with them while they were encamped by the sea" not have sufficed to describe what took place? Why did the verse commence by telling us about what Pharaoh did and conclude by telling us what Egypt was doing? The Torah should have continued that "Pharaoh was marching after them;" Why is the word נסע "was marching" in the singular when many Egyptians are being described as marching?

In order to understand this whole verse we must first understand the Israelites' comments to Moses: "did you take us out of Egypt because there are not enough burial places in Egypt? What did you do to us, etc.?" Looking at these words one gains the impression that the Israelites were surprised that the Egyptians pursued them. How could this be seeing that G'd had told them beforehand that their whole maneuver was designed to fool Pharaoh and cause him to pursue them? Why did they suddenly become afraid? Possibly they did not realise that Pharaoh had so much military capability left after all that happened. Even so, in view of the assurances the Israelites had from G'd that He would deal harshly with Pharaoh why did they display this mortal fear?

We must fall back on what our sages have taught as described in Shemot Rabbah 21,5 that when the Israelites noticed Pharaoh pursuing them they naturally turned their eyes heavenwards expecting G'd to manifest Himself and to smite the Egyptians. Imagine the Israelites' surprise when what they saw was the guardian angel of Egypt whose name is Mitzrayim flying through the air. It was then that they became afraid as they realised that this angel had now come out in order to help his protegees, the Egyptians. It is an accepted theory that the fortunes of these guardian angels are bound up with their charges. When the protegees of such guardian angels suffer a defeat so does the guardian angel himself. [In fact according to the Kabbalists when G'd wants to destroy a people, He first destroys their guardian angel. After that, even if the people appear still to be going strong, their fate has already been sealed. Ed.] We are told in Yuma 69 that Alexander the Great was in the habit of observing the guardian angel of Macedonia at work whenever he went into battle. It is customary for a minister to take up position on the right side of the king and not in front of the people. Normally, a king who travels into battle with his troops takes up his position behind the infantry. In this instance the Israelites had the impression that the guardian angel of Egypt was still going strong, far from being the first one to be defeated by G'd. The Torah also describes Pharaoh הקריב, as coming close, i.e. travelling ahead of his troops not behind them. The reason the Israelites were able to see the guardian angel of Egypt at all was because the guardian angel was positioned next to the king who travelled ahead of his troops. This unusual spectacle frightened the Israelites. They believed that celestial forces were now arraigned against them. In view of all this, the fact that G'd had told them that the Egyptians would pursue them and He would deal harshly with Pharaoh was no longer enough for the people to keep their cool.

There were two reasons why G'd had not interfered with the guardian angel at that time. 1) G'd was looking for a legal excuse to kill that guardian angel. The Zohar, section two, page 52 interprets 14,30 "Israel saw Mitzrayim dead on the beaches of the sea," as a reference to the guardian angel of Egypt. The second reason G'd allowed the guardian angel of Egypt to adopt such a visibly threatening posture was for Israel's benefit. G'd wanted Israel to do תשובה, to repent. They needed to acquire the merit of repentance in order to justify that G'd should perform the great miracle of splitting the Sea of Reeds on their behalf. This was something G'd had not promised them previously. Shemot Rabbah 21,5 also points out that the unusual form (causative) ופרעה הקריב "and Pharaoh caused himself to come close," instead of the usual ופרעה קרב, "and Pharaoh approached," is a clear indication of G'd's purpose being to cause the Israelites to do תשובה. In the event, G'd's expectations were fulfilled as the Torah reports that "the children of Israel cried out to G'd" (14,10).

התיצבו וראו "stand still and see!" Perhaps Moses suggested to the Israelites to stand still in prayer now just as they had stood and prayed in verse 10. We find the expression "standing still" also in connection with Hanna's prayer in Samuel I 1,26.

אשר יעשה לכם היום, "which He will work for you to-day." G'd emphasised the word "to-day" because He did not want the people to worry that Pharaoh's punishment would be as long delayed as it had been in Egypt when it took 12 months from the time they first heard the news that Moses would be the redeemer.

אשר ראיתם את מצרים, "the way you have seen Egypt, etc." G'd explained that the reason He had allowed the Egyptians to assume such a threatening posture was only because they would never again assume a threatening posture such as this. The Egyptians would soon collapse in spite of their fear-inspiring guardian angel.

ה׳ ילחם לכם, "G'd will fight on your behalf, etc." Inasmuch as the reason the Israelites had been frightened had been that they saw themselves confronting celestial forces, G'd tells them that the most powerful celestial force, He Himself, will fight on their behalf. When G'd is involved personally, even a thousand celestial forces equal to the guardian angel of Egypt are nothing to be afraid of.

By emphasising the attribute השם i.e. the attribute of Mercy, the Torah suggests that even the attribute of Mercy concurred with the retribution G'd was about to exact from the Egyptians. The Torah writes ילחם לכם, "He will fight on your behalf," because from Israel's point of view this would be a manifestation of the attribute of Mercy. Moreover, the word ילחם implies much more than mere assistance. G'd was going to conduct the entire war single-handedly, hence ואתם תחרישו "you have to keep silent."

We find a comment in the introduction to Eychah Rabbati 30 according to which four different righteous people when in difficulties each asked something different from G'd. The one who represented the highest level of righteousness refrained from asking at all. The model for this approach quoted is King Chizkiyah who said (when facing the onslaught of Sancheriv): "I neither possess the strength to kill, nor to pursue, nor even to recite hymns of praise; hence I will sleep on my bed and You G'd will do what needs to be done." G'd did indeed kill the army of Sancheriv without any involvement of King Chizkiyah or his forces (Kings II chapter 19). When Moses told the people that all they had to contribute was their silence, he implied that their present state of righteousness was of the same calibre as that of King Chizkiyah. According to the interpretation we offered that the word התיצבו means to stand still in prayer, we have to understand the words: "but you shall remain silent," as addressed to the attribute of Justice. The Israelites were to offer prayers in order to silence the attribute of Justice which might otherwise appeal to G'd claiming that they were not worthy of the miracle about to be performed on their behalf.

מה תצעק אלי, "why are you crying out to Me, etc.?" The word "to Me" is difficult. Who else was Moses supposed to cry out to if not to G'd? We find both in Jonah 2,3 and in Psalms 118,5 that in times of distress one is supposed to cry out to G'd as did both Jonah and David successfully. If G'd meant that Moses indulged in too much prayer that would seem an unjustified criticism as long as Moses' prayer had not yet been answered. Besides, we see from G'd's instructions in verse 16 that Moses was to raise his staff that G'd did answer his prayer. If so, why did G'd ask Moses: "why do you cry out to Me? What is G'd's answer "speak to the children of Israel so that they will move on" supposed to mean? Where were they supposed to move to? The Egyptians were behind them and the sea was in front! If G'd meant that they should move after they would observe the sea split, G'd should first have told Moses to raise his staff and afterwards have given the command that the Israelites were to move into the bed of the sea!

We have to refer to Shemot Rabbah 21,7 where Samael is described as opposing the impending miracle claiming that until very recently the Israelites had worshiped idols with the same fervor as the Egyptians. In other words, the Israelites were subject to the attribute of Justice. G'd (i.e. the attribute of Mercy) told Moses that the Israelites (or he) were addressing themselves to the wrong attribute in their prayers for help. We have a tradition based on Deut. 32,18 צור ילדך תשי, "you have weakened the Rock which begot you," that G'd's respective attributes are "strengthened" or "weakened" in accordance with the deeds we perform or do not perform here on earth. While it was true that the attribute of Mercy was anxious to perform a life-saving miracle on behalf of the Israelites, they had not yet qualified for such a miracle by their deeds. G'd advised Moses "speak to the children of Israel to perform an act of faith such as entering the sea so that I can activate My attribute of Mercy and perform the miracle that I have in mind." Following such a demonstration of faith Moses was to raise his staff to enable G'd to perform the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. When G'd said to Moses: "why do you cry out to Me?," He meant: "the matter is altogether not in My hands." If and when Moses had spoken to the children of Israel and they had demonstrated the necessary mesasure of faith, only then: "raise your staff, etc., and divide the sea!" This is precisely what happened after Nachshon ben Aminadav of the tribe of Yehudah walked into the sea up to his neck before the sea had split. Sotah 69 reports concerning him that the waters of the sea were about to drown him. In view of the foregoing none of the verses present a problem, neither as to content nor as to their sequence. The principal reason the Israelites had been handed over to the attribute of Justice was that they had said they were better off serving Egypt than dying in the desert. This is why G'd (the attribute of Mercy) had declared that their appeal to Him at that stage was useless.

ואני הנני מחזק את לב מצרים, "And I, behold I will harden the heart of Egypt, etc." G'd's attribute of Mercy informed the Israelites from a sense of compassion that they should not be worried when they saw that the sea did not close after they had crossed, but remained open for the Egyptian cavalry to descend into in hot pursuit. He explained that this was only the preamble of G'd dealing with the entire Egyptian army and wiping them out.

ויסע מלאך האלוקים, The angel of the Lord travelled, etc. This verse is in perfect agreement with what we explained on 13,21 that the Israelites enjoyed the presence of three distinct clouds which accompanied them and served their specific needs. 1) The cloud which travelled ahead of them to serve as a moving pathfinder indicating the direction the Israelites were to take. 2) The cloud which protected them from the heat of the sun. 3) the pillar of fire which lit up the way for them at night. In our verse G'd informs us of what He did on that particular night (of the 21st of Nissan). The angel of the Lord referred to in our verse as "travelling" was the cloud which normally travelled ahead of the Israelites showing them the way and which is described in Deut. 1,33 as travelling in front of the Israelites. In this instance this cloud moved behind them. The Torah also informs us that the cloud whose daytime function it was to protect the Israelites from the sun's heat also now took up its position behind the camp of the Israelites. In other words the two clouds normally in front of the Israelites moved behind them. The reason the second cloud was needed in that position was in order to darken the atmosphere in front of the Egyptians so that they could not know exactly where the Israelites were encamped.; this is why the Torah says: "the cloud remained (in its position) and (the other cloud) lit up the night. Seeing that the camp of the Israelites was brightly illuminated by the pillar of fire, the other cloud had to blot out that light from in front of the Egyptians. [The term "angel of the Lord" is used to tell us that the angel assumed the form of a cloud, etc. Ed.]

ויבא בין מחנה מצרים, and it came between the camp of Egypt, etc. It is possible that this cloud filled the entire space between the two camps and filled it with darkness. The Torah only had to write this verse to acquaint us with this detail seeing that the cloud which separated the two camps has already been mentioned in verse 19.

ויט משה את ידו, Moses inclined his hand, etc. Although the Torah reports that G'd made a strong east wind blow all night which dried out the sea, this referred only to the deep waters. G'd did not want the Israelites to have to descend to the very depths and to have to get tired by walking too far. This is why He first "froze" the deep parts of the sea by means of the east wind. If not for this consideration, G'd would have dispensed with the east wind altogether.

It is of interest to know whether Moses inclined his hand as a signal for the sea to split at the beginning of the night or at the end of the night. From the wording of the verse we may almost prove that it was close to morning. This is difficult, however, because if it was so how could one discern that the splitting of the sea was brought about by Moses' action? We therefore have to understand the verse thus: "Moses inclined his hand after G'd had already made an east wind blow during the whole night which dried out the (deeper) parts of the sea;" as soon as Moses inclined his hand the waters split. This would then be in line with my commentary on verse 15 that all this occurred after Nachshon had waded into the sea in response to G'd's challenge to demonstrate an act of faith. Moses had held off with inclining his hand until after Nachshon was in the sea. The Israelites then followed when the sea split. This also conforms to the way Shemot Rabbah 21 describes what happened. Another way of explaining the sequence of events is this: when the Torah writes "He turned the sea into dry land," all the waters of the sea crystallised in such a way that the Israelites did not need to descend into the bed of the sea, whereas the east wind had dried out all the waters of the sea. I consider the first explanation as more likely to be correct.

כל הלילה, all night long. The wind blew all night and the sea split at the end of the night causing the Israelites to begin marching through it.

בתוך הים ביבשה, in the midst of the sea on dry land. The words "in the midst of the sea" mean in the inner part of (what had formerly been) the sea; the word ביבשה means that the sea bed was not muddy but completely dry.

והמים להם חומה, and the waters formed a wall for them, etc. This means that parts of the waters had not been blown aside by the wind. The words: "on their right and on their left" mean that those waters did not form an actual wall but merely that they surrounded the Israelites on either side.

וירדפו מצרים, Egypt pursued, etc. Even though the Torah says: "the cloud remained in place" (verse 20), what is mentioned here occurred in daylight already at a time when the cloud was not as impenetrable so that the Egyptians could begin to discern where the Israelites were positioned. This enabled them to start their pursuit.

ויהי באשמרת הבקר, It happened during the morning watch, etc. We need to know why G'd chose to perform this act of retribution in the morning and not during the night which is traditionally the time for the attribute of Justice to be active. I have seen in Yalkut Shimoni item 235 that this is exactly what the angel Gabriel argued before G'd. G'd answered him that he should wait until the hour during which the patriarch Abraham started out on the way to offer his son Isaac as an offering to G'd (we read in Genesis 22,3 that this occurred early in the morning). In other words, although the morning is not the time to exact vengeance G'd reversed His usual procedure for the sake of Abraham's descendants just as Abraham at the time had reversed his natural feelings of love and mercy towards his son in favour of obedience to G'd's request. Israel benefited in that G'd performed the miracle personally, to match the fact that Abraham had personally saddled his donkey at the time though he had hundreds of servants at his disposal to perform that task for him. The Torah writes: "G'd looked down on the camp of Egypt; this means that He Himself went into action. The fact that the Egyptians drowned in daylight enabled the Israelites to witness the death of their enemies.

נטה את ידך..וישובו המים, "Incline your hand so that the waters may come back, etc." Why was it necessary for Moses to incline his hand in order to make the waters come back? Surely, the division of the waters was only for the time it took for the Israelites to cross? G'd had not revised the laws of nature permanently! In fact Shemot Rabbah 22 states that when the last of the Israelites ascended from the sea, the last of the Egyptians entered the sea, implying that the sea would come back by itself.

Perhaps the sea reasoned that the area where the Jews had crossed was meant to remain a crossing and that just as the Israelites could cross so could the Egyptians. Actually, G'd had decreed that the waters should not close immediately behind the Israelites in order to lure the Egyptians into pursuit. This is something the sea was not aware of. The sea did not concern itself with this, having kept its original promise to G'd at the creation to split when the time came. When Moses inclined his hand this was a signal to the sea that it had completed its task.

We have a rule in Masechet Yom Tov 5 that if a collegium of judges has made a ruling of even a temporary nature, this decree remains in force until a collegium of at least an equal number of judges declares the original ruling as void. This is also what happened here.

Another reason why it was necessary for Moses to incline his hand was simply that though the waters of the sea would indeed come back on their own, this would occur at such a slow speed that the Egyptians would be able to escape. Indeed, we have an opinion that some of the Egyptians who were close to shore were able to save themselves. As a result of Moses inclining his hand the waters returned with a rush as indicated by the word לאיתנו. Alternatively, seeing Moses had been the agent who struck the sea it was only fitting that it should be he who restored the sea to its original position. We find support for this view in Isaiah 63,12.

Still another reason why G'd asked Moses to incline his hand prior to the waters returning was to give the sea a signal not to allow a single rider or chariot of the Egyptians to escape. Not even those who were close to the shore should be given a chance to save themselves. We know that the waters complied as the Torah writes that "the waters covered them and that not a single Egyptian survived."

לאיתנו, to its original position. Shemot Rabbah 21,6 understands this expression as לתנאי הראשון, to its original condition or contract which was made between the waters and G'd at the time G'd said in Genesis 1,9 that the waters should gather to one place. Why does the Midrash describe this as the "first condition," when the first condition of the waters was its state of being divided, not possessing molecular adhesion. The directive that the waters should congregate i.e. adhere to each other was the "second condition!" Perhaps what is meant by our verse is that after the waters had returned to their original state they realised that Moses had not destroyed their cohesion but that he had now allowed them to again resume their previous cohesion. It is possible that although the waters knew about the agreement made at the time with G'd, they had not imagined that when the time came to honour this agreement that the result would be so radical i.e. that they would literally form walls of stone (frozen water). When things went back to normal the waters realised that what had transpired was only part of the original agreement, and that G'd had not added new conditions. We must try and understand this agreement in depth, seeing that according to the Midrash the waters first refused to part at Moses' request, claiming that inasmuch as they had been created before man they did not have to take orders from a human being. G'd had to incline His right hand together with the right hand of Moses (Isaiah 63,12 "who made His glorious arm march at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them, etc."). Another problem with the verse is that we know that selected individuals did experience that the waters were split on their behalf; an example is the sainted Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair (Chulin 7). If G'd's contract with the waters at the time had been restricted to the sea splitting for the Jews at the time of the Exodus, by what power did Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair accomplish such a miracle?

We must perceive the condition or contract implied in the word איתנו, as an overriding condition applying to the work of creation as a whole, namely that all creatures, be they inert or alive submit to the requirements of the Torah and the people who are its carriers. In fact the authority of the Torah scholars in this respect equals that of the Creator Himself. This is the reason that individuals such a Joshua could order the moon and the sun to suspend their motion in the sky, etc. The statement we just made is the mystical dimension of Isaiah 43,1: "Jacob your creator, Israel who has formed you;" In commenting on this verse in Vayikra Rabbah 36,4 our sages claim that G'd asked the universe a rhetorical question: "who has created you, who has fashioned you if not Israel, and all this by means of the power contained in Torah." I have dealt with this also in my commentary on the word בראשית at the beginning of the Torah.

At the time of the Exodus the Israelites had not yet received the Torah therefore the decree that Torah scholars could dictate to the forces of nature did not apply as yet. This is why the sea's consent was needed for it to split at the behest of Moses, and the sea was able to argue that Moses had no authority seeing he (man) had been created only on the sixth day of creation and was therefore junior to it which had been created on the third day. The sea simply hinted that Moses could not claim to order it around by reason of his mastery of the Torah. If he had truly possessed mastery of Torah which had been created prior to the universe, he himself could have claimed to be senior to the sea. G'd therefore had to resort to a stratagem by extending His own right hand alongside that of Moses' right hand. This was a sophisticated way of telling the sea that Moses did indeed possess mastery of the Torah and therefore was entitled to order the sea about. The significance of the right hand in this respect is anchored in the Torah itself in Deut. 33,2: "from His right hand He flashed lightning at them." As soon as the sea noticed G'd's right hand, it split without further ado. Henceforth every צדיק who lived after the Israelites had received the Torah at Mount Sinai could present "a copy" of the agreement G'd had made with His creation to submit to instructions issued by those who represented mastery of Torah. Such people possessed not only the power to effect changes in the laws of nature, but they could inflict penalties on nature if it chose to disobey them.

ומצרים נסים לקראתו, while the Egyptians were fleeing towards it. Although the Egyptians were fleeing from the onrushing waters, they found that the sea was coming towards its original place. As a result they found themselves fleeing towards the waters regardless of which direction they were headed for. We find something similar in Bamidbar Rabbah 18 and Sanhedrin 110 describing the descent of Korach and his supporters into the bowels of the earth. The "mouth" of the earth is described as following the direction where any one of Korach or his companions happened to be standing.

וינער ה׳ את מצרים בתוך הים, G'd hurled Egypt into the sea. This statement is necessary seeing there are expert swimmers who are often able to stay above the waves even during a storm. The Torah says that G'd hurled such expert swimmers into the sea so that they too had no chance to survive. According to Shemot Rabbah 21 the reference to מצרים as distinct from מצריים, the Egyptians, means that G'd hurled the guardian angel of Egypt into the sea by pouring strong rain upon him.

לכל חיל פרעה, Pharaoh's entire army, etc. This refers to the fact that the chariots and their riders who were unable to speed up slowed down the infantry which was marching behind the cavalry. The waters simply covered them wherever they were so that not a single one of them escaped.

ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך הים, but the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground. The reason the Torah states this fact a second time is merely to tell us that the Egyptians were aware of this fact and also of the fact that the sea had formed a wall for the Israelites, whereas they themselves went down deeper into the earth. This was fulfilment of the prophecy in verse 18 that the Egyptians would become aware of the true nature of G'd. It is worth reading Ibn Ezra's commentary on verse 27 where he lambasts the commentators who tried to explain away the miracle. He debunks the theory that Moses was well informed about the times of low tide and high tide respectively, whereas Pharaoh was ignorant of this and this is why he drowned with his army. The fact that the Israelites marched on dry land as described and did not merely wade through mud which had recently been covered by the sea, plus the fact that the Egyptians observed the waters forming a wall on either side of the Israelites made it clear that all of this had nothing at all to do with high tides and low tides.

ביום ההוא, on that day, etc. The Torah simply means that the salvation only occurred on that day, not previously; even though the Exodus had occurred, the Israelites had not yet acquired much confidence in themselves vis-a-vis the Egyptians.

וירא ישראל את מצרים מת, Israel observed Egypt dead, etc. Why did the Torah have to tell us that the Egyptians were dead? How could they be alive after they had drowned? The Mechilta explains this verse by saying that the Israelites observed the death of the Egyptians. Accordingly, the Egyptians did not finally die until they were washed up on the beaches. G'd arranged this in such a way that either party should clearly observe what was happening to their adversaries. The Egyptians' last emotion before they died should be one of shame vis-a-vis the Israelites. We have to read the words מת על שפת הים as belonging together.

וייראו העם את ה׳… ואת משה עבדו The people feared the Lord …and they believed in His servant Moses. This was not fear of punishment but awe of the Majesty of G'd. The fear of punishment they had possessed already prior to the Exodus. According to what we explained on 12,43 that the Israelites did not accept the commandment of the King (G'd), they did not even fear to be punished by G'd otherwise they would not have remained uncircumcised until that time. At any rate the fear described in this verse is that they stood in awe at G'd's Majesty. When the Torah describes the Israelites as "believing," this was the reward for their fear of G'd's Majesty.