Exploring Exodus

(11) Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. (12) He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (13) When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” (14) He retorted, “Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was frightened, and thought: Then the matter is known!

Because everyone gathered there were traitors and haters of Israel:

This is Moses, who killed the Egyptian, as it says (Exodus 2:11–12), “Sometime after that, when Moses had grown older, he went out among his brothers and saw what they were enduring…and he turned this way and that, and saw that there was no one there.” What do we learn from “there was no one there”? This teaches that Moses brought the question before the council of angels who serve God, and asked them: Shall I kill this man? They said to him: Yes, kill him. And did Moses kill him with a sword? No, he killed him with words, as it says (Exodus 2:14), “Are you saying you will kill me, just as you killed the Egyptian?” This teaches that Moses killed him by saying the [Ineffable] Name of God.

(5) He used to say: A brute is not sin-fearing, nor is an ignorant person pious; nor can a timid person learn, nor can an impatient person teach; nor will someone who engages too much in business become wise. In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.

(6) Moreover he saw a skull floating on the face of the water. He said to it: because you drowned others, they drowned you. And in the end, they that drowned you will be drowned.

He came to teach that where there is no one who knows or is able to do the right thing, a person must make an effort, fill the void and act properly. The language of this is based on the story of Moses, who went out to his brother, saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew, and after looking around him, "and saw that there was no one," he did something and saved the Hebrew immediately from his blow (Exodus 2:12).

(10) “The children of Israel came into the midst of the sea upon dry ground; and the waters were a wall for them to their right, and to their left” (Exodus 14:22).
“The children of Israel came into the midst of the sea upon dry ground” – if in the midst of the sea, why on dry ground? If on dry ground, why in the midst of the sea? Rather, from here you learn that the sea was not split for them until they entered up to their noses, and then it became dry land for them. Rabbi Nehorai expounded: An Israelite woman would pass through the sea, with her son crying in her hand, and she would extend her hand and take an apple or a pomegranate from the sea and give it to him, as it is stated: “He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness” (Psalms 106:9); just as in the wilderness they lacked nothing, so too in the depths they lacked nothing. That is what Moses said: “These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7). Nothing was lacking; all they had to do was mention something and it would be created before them. Rabbi Shimon says: Even speech was unnecessary, but rather anyone who thought something in his heart, it would be prepared, as it is stated: “They tried God in their hearts, asking food for their craving” (Psalms 78:18). Alternatively, “You have lacked nothing,” – that no thing [davar] was lacking in the world. But what was lacking? Repentance, as it is stated: “Take words [davar] with you and return to the Lord” (Hosea 14:3).

(51) And the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, ‎and they were afraid, and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And the children of ‎Israel divided themselves into four parties in their views concerning the Egyptians, for they ‎were afraid of the Egyptians, and Moses spoke to every one of those parties. The first party ‎consisted of the children of Reuben, and Simeon and Issachar, who thought to cast ‎themselves into the sea, so exceedingly afraid were they of the Egyptians, and Moses said ‎unto them: . Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to ‎you to-day. The second party consisted of the children of Zebulun, and Benjamin and Naphtali ‎and they thought they would return unto Egypt with the Egyptians, and to them Moses said: ‎Fear ye not, for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more ‎forever. The third party consisted of the children of Judah and Joseph, and they thought to go ‎against the Egyptians to fight with them, and to them Moses said: Maintain your position, the ‎Lord will fight for you and ye hold your peace. And the fourth party consisted of the children of ‎Levi, and Gad, and Asher and they thought to go among the Egyptians and confound them, ‎and to them Moses said: Maintain your position and fear ye not, only call upon the Lord to ‎deliver you from the hand of the Egyptians. And after this Moses stood up in the midst of the ‎people, and he prayed unto the Lord, saying: Oh Lord, God of all the earth, deliver now thy ‎people, whom thou hast brought forth from Egypt and let not all the Egyptians say that they ‎have a powerful hand ' And the Lord said unto Moses: Wherefore cryest thou unto me? speak ‎unto the children of Israel that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thine ‎hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the ‎sea. And Moses did so, and he lifted up his rod over the sea and he divided it. And the waters ‎of the Red Sea were divided into twelve sections, and the children of Israel passed through ‎the sea on foot, and in their shoes, as a man walketh over a beaten road, and the Lord thus ‎showed unto the children of Israel his wonders, through Moses and Aaron, both in Egypt and ‎on the sea. And when the children of Israel had come unto the sea the Egyptians followed ‎them, and the waters of the sea returned upon them and they sank all into the water; and ‎there was not left of them one man, save Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who rendered thanks unto ‎the Lord and confessed his belief in him, and therefore the Lord did not cause him to die at ‎that time with the Egyptians, but the Lord commanded one of his angels, and he cast him into ‎the land of Ninevah, where he reigned for many days. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from ‎the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and Israel ‎saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians and in the sea.

(4) The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Moses! "Stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it" (Ex. 14:16). "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea" (Ex. 14:21), but the sea refused to be divided. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He looked at the sea, and the waters saw the face of the Holy One, blessed be He, and they trembled and quaked, and descended into the depths, as it is said, "The waters saw thee, O God; the waters saw thee, they were afraid: the depths also trembled" (Ps. 77:16).

(4) R. Yehudah perceives it thus: "And the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea": When the tribes were standing at the sea, each of them said: I will not go down first into the sea, viz. (Hoshea 12:1-3) "Ephraim surrounds Me with deceit, and the house of Israel with guile. Because they stood and deliberated, Nachshon the son of Aminadav leaped into the sea. Of him Scripture writes (Psalms 69:2-3 ) "Save me, O G–d, for the waters have reached my soul. I am sinking in the slimy depths and I find no foothold. I have come into the watery depths, and the flood sweeps me away." (Ibid. 16) "Let the floodwaters not sweep me away, and let the deep not swallow me, and let the mouth of the pit not close over me." At that time Moses waxed long in prayer — whereupon the L–rd said to him: My loved ones are drowning in the sea, and the sea is raging, and the foe is pursuing, and you stand and wax long in prayer? To which Moses replied: L–rd of the universe, what can I do? And He said to him (Exodus 14:16) "And you, raise your staff, etc." And what did Moses and Israel say at the sea? (Ibid. 15:18) "The L–rd will reign for ever and ever" — to which He responded: He who made Me "King" at the sea, (i.e., the tribe of Judah) him will I make king over Israel."

(26) R. Yossi Haglili says: When Israel entered the sea, Mount Moriah was uprooted from its place, with the altar of Israel built upon it, and its woodpile upon it, and Isaac bound upon it upon the altar, and Abraham stretching out his hand and taking the knife to slaughter his son — whereupon the L–rd said to Moses: Moses, My children are in trouble, the sea raging and the foe pursuing them, and you stand and indulge in prayer? Moses: But what can I do? The L–rd: "Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, etc." And you — exalt and praise and accord song and praise and thanks and grandeur and glory and splendor and hallel to the Master of wars!

(17) And they saw streams of water. This was at the moment when God said to Moses (Exodus 14:16), "You, raise your staff." At that moment, all the wellsprings of the deep in the world were split open, even the water in jugs, pits, and barrels were divided. Woe to them, they saw streams of water, and the foundations of the earth were exposed. These are the seas. Rabbi Yudan said (Psalms 77:17), "The waters saw You." These are the upper waters. (ibid.) "The waters trembled." These are the lower waters. "Your rebuke." Rabbi Chanina said, "It is not really Your rebuke, but the breath of Your nostrils." As it says (Exodus 15:8), "At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up."

(1) And lift thou up thy rod (Exod. 14:16). Ten miracles were performed in their behalf at the sea. The sea was split asunder for them, and became a kind of vault, as it is said: Thou hast struck through with his own rods the heads, etc. (Hab. 3:14). It was divided into twelve paths, as it is said: And stretch out thy hand over the sea and divide it (Exod. 14:16). It was turned into dry land, as it is said: And the children of Israel walked upon dry land the midst of the sea (ibid., v. 29). It was converted into a kind of clay, as is said: Thou hast trodden the sea with thy horses, the mud of mighty waters (Hab. 3:15). The water was made into pieces, as it is said: Thou didst break the sea into pieces by Thy strength (Ps. 74:13). It was changed into rocks, as is said: Thou didst shatter the heads of the sea monsters in the waters (ibid.). It was torn asunder, as it is said: To him who divided the Red Sea asunder (ibid. 136:13). It was piled up into stacks, as it is said: And with the blast of Thy nostrils, the waters were piled up (Exod. 15:8). It was made into a heap, as is said: Stood upright like a heap (ibid.). Barrels of sweet water flowed out of the salt water for them, and the sea congealed and became like a glass vessel, as it is said: The deeps were congealed (ibid.).

(28) We assume that the reader is familiar with how the ‎sages explained psalms 114,2 ‎היתה יהודה לקדשו ישראל ‏ממשלותיו‎, “Yehudah became His holy one, Israel His ‎dominion.” I mentioned earlier that the leader of the ‎tribe of Yehudah, Nachshon ben Aminadav, earned this ‎merit when he fearlessly entered the sea of reeds up to ‎his neck before it split. At that time he appealed for ‎help from G’d saying that the level of the water was ‎about to cause him to drown therein.‎
Yehudah’s entering the sea may have been ‎prompted by one of two considerations. 1) Seeing G’d ‎had commanded Moses to order the Israelites to ‎proceed forward, he felt that it was his duty to risk his ‎life in order to fulfill G’d’s commandment. He knew ‎that it was his duty to proceed even if it were to cost ‎him his life. 2) His act was simply a demonstration of ‎his faith in G’d; he jumped into the sea convinced that ‎G’d would save him. He had absolutely no doubt that ‎he would survive. He realized that it would take a ‎miracle to save him, but he was convinced that G’d ‎would perform such a miracle. He was also convinced ‎that in response to this miracle that G’d was about to ‎perform, the people would break out in a song of ‎thanksgiving immediately after the event.
This latter facet of Yehudah’s action is in line with ‎what Rashi, basing himself on the ‎‎Mechilta, writes on 15,20: ‎ותקח מרים אחות אהרן את ‏התף בידה ותצאנה וגו'‏‎, “Miriam, Aaron’s sister took the drum ‎in her hand and led the women in song.” He writes that ‎the righteous women in Miriam’s time were all ‎convinced that G’d would perform miracles for them in ‎their life time, and this is the reason why they ‎burdened themselves with taking drums out of Egypt. ‎They had already planned to use these drums when ‎singing songs of thanksgiving to the Lord. On Samuel ‎II 22,4 ‎מהלל אקרא ה' ומאויבי אושע‎, Rashi explains ‎that David too announced that he would praise the ‎name of the Lord as soon as G’d would deliver him ‎from his enemies. He understood that verse as David’s ‎absolute faith that G’d would deliver him from his ‎enemies. He was so certain that he already composed ‎the song of thanksgiving before he had been delivered.‎
What occurred to the Israelites at the sea of reeds ‎was similar to David’s experience related in Samuel II ‎‎22,4. The Israelites, and Nachshon ben Aminadav as a ‎leader of the tribe of Yehudah, especially, were so ‎convinced that G’d would split the sea for them and ‎lead them across in complete safety, that they already ‎prepared the song of thanksgiving in preparation to ‎thanking Him for their salvation. This absolute ‎confidence is reflected in the word ‎ישיר‎ in the future ‎mode, at the beginning of Moses’ song, poem. ‎Nachshon’s jumping into the sea reflected the faith of ‎the collective Jewish soul. This is also reflected in ‎‎Rashi’s commentary on Exodus 14,15 where ‎G’d appears to chide Moses for crying out to Him for ‎help when He said to Him: ‎מה תצעק אלי? דבר אל בני ישראל ‏ויסעו‎, “why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Children ‎of Israel to keep moving!”