אז ישיר, he agreed to sing this song.

כי גאה גאה, He alone is entitled to feel this sense of superiority seeing He is the source of all goodness in the universe. This is in contrast to Pharaoh who boasts about having created the Nile as the source of Egypt’s affluence, (Ezekiel 29.3) a totally spurious claim.

סוס ורוכבו רמה בים, a reference to Pharaoh and his horse. Compare Psalms 136,15 ונער פרעה וחילו בים, “He tossed Pharaoh and his armed might into the Sea.”

עזי וזמרת י-ה, It is G’d’s glory that He flung Pharaoh’s might into the Sea. By doing this He demonstrated that He is the King of kings, and that it is appropriate that those who have been saved by Him praise Him in poem and song. They should demonstrate their joy at having been elevated to being servants of the true master, the King of the universe.

ויהי לי לישועה, my salvation consisted in the fact that He flung the enemy into the Sea. (compare Isaiah 66,14 “The power of the Lord will be revealed on behalf of His servants; but He shall rage against His foes.”)

זה א-לי, He is the eternal original Being as far as I am concerned. He invented or called into existence all perishable phenomena. Any and all phenomena which will endure have been enabled to do so only by His will.

ואנוהו, I will erect a suitable residence for Him in our midst. Within that residence I shall pray to Him exclusively and I will serve Him as is befitting to the One Who bestows both goodness and punishes the derelict. (compare Isaiah 44,17. ויתפלל אליו ויאמר הצילני נא כי א-לי אתה, “He prayed to Him, saying: ‘save me for You are my G’d.’”) Both prayer and service (sacrifices, etc.) have as their purpose to find favour in the eyes of the Lord.

אלוקי אבי, a reference to the “G’d of Yaakov” who had spoken of א-ל אלוקי ישראל, in Genesis 33,20. Yaakov had meant that G’d is great in His awesomeness, His supervision of the individual fates of His creatures. He had named G’d thus to indicate that G’d combines within Himself both the attribute of love and the attribute of Justice.

וארוממנהו, I elevate Him by my prostrating myself and humbling myself before Him, as well as by making it known that the purpose of everyone of my endeavours in this life to carry out His will to the best of my ability, consistent with the intellectual faculties granted to me. I acknowledge that His will is always superior and ultimately of the most benefit to His creatures. This is why in the final analysis He is beyond even our best efforts to praise Him and exalt Him. (Nechemyah 9,6).

ה' איש מלחמה, ה' שמו, even though He at times appears as the איש מלחמה, the “Man” of war who destroys His foes by invoking the attribute of Justice, He is yet predominantly Hashem, the G’d Who practices mercy. It is this attribute of His which is responsible for the continued existence of all His creatures. When He destroys His foes, He is in effect removing weeds from the garden in order to enable the useful plants to survive and develop. The wicked are like the thorns and thistles in a vineyard.

מרכבות פרעה וחילו, after giving thanks to G’d for the destruction of Pharaoh and his horse, Moses refers to G’d’s fight against the army and his elite corps of officers which constituted the backbone of his army.

ימינך ה' נאדרי בכח, Moses emphasises that it is not the mighty military machine of Pharaoh which glorifies in power but the right hand of the Lord; (this was already the second “war” against the Egyptians G’d conducted, i.e. a separate war against part of the power of Egypt). The first time Moses mentioned G’d’s ימין this is a grateful acknowledgment of G’d’s war against Pharaoh; the repetition of the words

'ימינך ה are a prayer for G’d to manifest this power against evil again at the time of the final redemption, may it come about soon in our days. We find a similar repetition in Devorah’s song of thanksgiving for Barak’s victory against Siserah in Judges 5,31.

וברוח אפיך נערמו מים, now Moses speaks of the third war G’d conducted against the multitudes of Egypt; (not the elite) Moses recapitulates the phenomena faced by the Egyptian hordes when the waters which had previously been normal became like towers of frozen water in the midst of the sea.

נשפת ברוחך, You used the very same wind You had used to dry out the sea bed after splitting it to now turn against the pursuers and to turned into overwhelming and turbulent waters.

אדירים, not a reference to the waters but to the men who had been considered mighty, invincible, etc. [I suppose the unusual exegesis is based on the dividing tone sign tipcha under the word במים, which indicates that it belongs to the preceding words. Ed.] The people to whom Moses refers are the ones who had been described in 14,7 as שלישים על כולו.

מי כמוכה בא-לים; Moses praised the Lord for His third war, the one against the Egyptian cavalry of the second quality. G’d’s incomparable stature consists in His ability to change the nature of phenomena in the universe which had previously been considered as indestructible, inviolate, impervious to any attempt by man to influence their nature in any way.

נאדר בקודש, that which is קודש, holy, is by definition something indestructible. This is what our sages meant (Sanhedrin 92) when they stated that the righteous people who will be resurrected in the future will never again return to their dust. They based this on Isaiah 4,3 הנשאר בציון והנותר בירושלים........ קרוש יאמר להם, “and those who remain in Zion and are left in Jerusalem, all who are inscribed for life in Jerusalem, shall be called holy.” The Talmud concludes: “what is the meaning of the word נאדר used here by Moses? There is none such as the Lord Who is known to be eternal, King over even all other holy beings, the ones that are also of an enduring nature, not mortal or subject to decay. This is the reason why there is no one else who is entitled to be worshipped, exalted, obeyed, etc. Anything that is infinite had its origin in the Lord, Who is not only infinite but also eternal.

נורא תהלות, anyone aware of the marvelous attributes of His cannot fail but recite these praises in awe, not because he is afraid of being punished but because the very nature of G’d inspires awe and reverence.

עושה פלא. He accomplishes marvelous, supernatural results, such as the type of pillar of cloud and pillar of fire which were tailored to fit the needs of the Jewish people at that time.

נחית בחסדך עם זו גאלת, ever since You redeemed them and took over their leadership at the boundary of Egypt at Sukkot, as we know from 13,20-21.

נהלת בעזך, You guided them across the dry seabed in a leisurely fashion. (compare Isaiah 63,13 “Who led them through the depths so that they did not stumble-- as a horse in a desert.”)

אל נוה קדשך, on the proper way in order to arrive at a place where they will sanctify Your holy Name.

אז נבהלו אלופי אדום, אילי מואב, when they saw all these miracles; even though they knew that Israel would not make war against them. They were still frightened by the mere spectacle even if it was not directed at them.

יאחזמו רעד, they were gripped by fear praying that the Israelites would never rise to attack them.

נמוגו כל יושבי כנען, there can be no question that the hearts of all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan melted at the manifestation of these miracles as they knew that the Israelites were marching in order to drive them out of their land. Rachav testifies even 40 years later when their worst fears had not yet been realised, that the population of Canaan had completely lost confidence in the outcome of a confrontation with Israel (Joshua 2,11).

תפול עליהם אימתה ופחד בגדול זרועך, may it be Your will that fear will overcome them in a manner which will make them flee because they are afraid of Your arm. Moses refers to what the Torah described in 14,25 when the Egyptians announced that they would flee as they realised that G’d was fighting on behalf of Israel.

ידמו כאבן עד יעבור עמך הן, may it also be Your will that they will not launch an attack against us until we have crossed the rivers still in front of us, i.e. the Arnon and the Jordan, seeing that the battles are always more difficult at river crossings, and we would need greater miracles in order to become victorious. We might not be deserving of such miracles.

תביאמו ותטעמו, in a manner that will ensure that they will never be exiled from there.

בהר נחלתך, on the Temple Mount, of which it has been said in Genesis 22,14 בהר ה' יראה, “on the Mountain of the Lord He manifests Himself.”

'מכון לשבתך פעלת ה, similar to what David, quoting G’d, said in Psalms 132,14 פה אשב כי אויתיה, “here I shall dwell for I have yearned for it.”

מקדש ה' כוננו ידיך, a veiled reference to the sanctuary which G’d would instruct the Jewish people to build for His Presence in Exodus 25,8-9. [G’d’s stating the sizes, furnishings, and materials this Sanctuary would be made of makes it equivalent to He Himself having constructed it. Ed.] Also David, in Chronicles I 28,19 spoke about his having received the details of the blueprint of the Temple to be built by his son Solomon from G’d, proving that G’d Himself considered this as His permanent residence on earth.

ה' ימלוך לעולם ועד, this too is a prayer by Moses who expresses the hope that G’d, exclusively, will reign forever, and that He will not have to share power with anyone else claiming divine authority on earth.

כי בא סוס פרעה, the opening words of this song,אז ישיר משה had been inspired by the spectacle of Pharaoh with his chariot, his horses and its riders drowning in the sea at the time when the Israelites, by contrast, were taking their time walking through the same sea on dry ground. ביבשה בתוך הים, they began the song of thanksgiving even before all had emerged from the sea to the shore.

ושם נסהו, to find out if they would be willing to accept statutes (laws not given to our intelligence to understand,) as well as social legislation and they would not ignore it when they were not in a state of crisis as now when they needed water through a miracle.

אם שמוע תשמע לקול ה' אלוקיך, to accept the statutes which would follow as a way of life, not merely as emergency regulation in the desert, and if from now on they would הישר בעיניו תעשה והאזנת למצותיו, וגו, carefully observe G’d’s commandments endeavouring to live according to their understanding of what is pleasing to Him, then they would be permanently spared any of the afflictions that G’d had brought upon the Egyptians. The implication was that betraying G’d’s trust would have painful consequences. The entire experience is a reminder of the manner in which the Rabbis relate to a potential convert to Judaism. One does not present Judaism in rosy attractive colours so as to encourage him to convert, but on the contrary, one apprises him first and foremost of the עול המצות, “the yoke of the commandments,” telling him of all the things he would have to forego by joining the Jewish people, i.e. the Jewish religion. Moreover, one advises him that whereas up until now he was able to eat certain foods, such as chelev, not only would he no longer be able to eat these foods, but violation of the commandment would carry the penalty of karet, loss of entitlement to his afterlife, etc. Only after he has duly absorbed this information does one proceed with teaching him the intricacies of Judaism. What happened at Marah was preparatory to accepting Judaism at Mount Sinai. If the people had not gone through this process it is doubtful that they would have said נעשה ונשמע, “we will do, now let us learn G’d’s Torah,” when the time came for this a few weeks later.

כי אני ה' רופאך, the point of all this is that once you have accepted the statutes and then fail to honour your commitment you will be subject to punishment by G’d. These punishments will be in the nature of being self-inflicted as all of G’d’s commandments are designed to make your life on earth and beyond a healthy life. Failure to honour your commitment will expose you to all the negative influences which abound on earth. I have shown you that I can cure harmful waters, waters which humans cannot drink. This is only a sample of what My commandments and observing them can do for you. We, today, do not know what kind of wood or tree G’d told Moses to throw into these waters. The Torah deliberately did not reveal this information. Even if all the trees in the world would be the kind that G’d told Moses to throw into the water, and even if we would throw all this wood into only a minute quantity of water the result would be nil. On the other hand, if, by the grace of G’d, one throws even a minute quantity of such wood into even an entire ocean, the waters of the ocean would suddenly become drinking water. [my addition. Ed.] Leviticus 20,26 states clearly that G’d separates the Jewish people from the surrounding nations. Failure to honour commitments results in “disease,” i.e. the defilement of one’s soul. As a result, such a person deserves his punishment.

שתים עשרה עינות מים, in spite of this, the people moved on from there.