"Toward morning, the sea returned to its course." (Ex. 14:27)
The sea beheld the great pleasure its splitting had brought to God, since it caused Israel to sing. It did not want to return to its normal course. "Let me remain dry land and let Israel go on singing forever!" That is why Scripture had to tell us that it returned to its course (etano); it followed the condition (tena'o) set for it, that it split only for Moses, but afterwards returned to being in an ordinary sea.
This also settles a question raised by the Or ha-Hayyim, who asked what was so extraordinary about the sea's splitting. Didn't the Jordan also split [for Joshua], and the River Ginai for Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair (b. Hullin 7a)? But now we understand the difference. Those rivers had already seen the great pleasure God derived from the splitting of the Reed Sea. They therefore lovingly desired to split. But the sea hadn't yet seen the joy that was to come to its Creator. That was the difference.
The sea beheld the great pleasure its splitting had brought to God, since it caused Israel to sing. It did not want to return to its normal course. "Let me remain dry land and let Israel go on singing forever!" That is why Scripture had to tell us that it returned to its course (etano); it followed the condition (tena'o) set for it, that it split only for Moses, but afterwards returned to being in an ordinary sea.
This also settles a question raised by the Or ha-Hayyim, who asked what was so extraordinary about the sea's splitting. Didn't the Jordan also split [for Joshua], and the River Ginai for Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair (b. Hullin 7a)? But now we understand the difference. Those rivers had already seen the great pleasure God derived from the splitting of the Reed Sea. They therefore lovingly desired to split. But the sea hadn't yet seen the joy that was to come to its Creator. That was the difference.
This is Levi Yitshak's vision of the world. All creatures are as filled as he is with the desire to bring pleasure and joy to God! Even the sea wants only that Israel keep on singing.