The timeless Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea, is preceded by the verses, psukim:(14:30-31)’On that day, Hashem saved Israel from the hand of Egypt, and Israel saw Egypt dead on the seashore; Israel saw the great hand that Hashem inflicted upon Egypt; and the people revered Hashen, ויאמינו:and they had faith in Hashem and in Moshe, His servant.’
Comments the Ibn Ezra:’They had faith in.. Moshe, His servant:’that he was the servant of Hashem, and only did that which Hashem commanded him.
Rabbeinu Nissim - the venerable sage, the R’an - in his eleventh Drasha, expounds on the concluding words of these psukim:’There is place here, for a question to arise: If after the splitting of the sea, we find written, that ‘they had faith in Hashem and in Moshe, His servant’, it appears that before this, their faith was not complete in Moshe.
‘The answer to this is: immediately after Moshe performed the signs, the people believed in him with complete faith, as it is written:(Shemot 4:31)’And the people believed’, because why would they believe in him more because of the splitting of the sea, than their belief in him after all the signs hat he performed in Egypt, that were all beyond the nature of the world?
However, several great doubts arose regarding the exodus from Egypt, and thus, although at the outset, when Moshe performed the signs, the people had complete faith in him, after that, they saw with their eyes, several matters of wonderment, that needed to be clarified.
‘First, after the Torah relates, that Hashem had ‘remembered’ Bnei Israel, and wanted to redeem them from the Egyptians, and to give them the Land as an inheritance as He had promised their fore-fathers, and commanded Moshe to gather the elders, and give them these glad tidings, what reason, then, was there to ‘steal the mind of Pharoah’, by saying to him:
(Shemot 3:24)’The G-d of the Hebrews has appered to us, and now let us go a distance of three days’, which is the way of the subservient who are planning to run away from their masters; and why didn’t Moshe and Aaron, who were the emissaries of Hashem, instead say to Pharoah with a strong hand, that the time for the redemption of Israel had arrived, and that they, the Egyptians, were to cease enslaving them- surely the Hand of Hashem was not ‘unable’ to compel Pharoah to obey; and if the ten makot were insufficient to this end, Hashem could afflict him with more makot, till he complied.
‘This sowed doubts in the hearts of Bnei Israel, as to Moshe truly being Hashem’s emissary, in this matter, as why, then, was he seemingly fearful to demand that Pharoah release them, from their servitude.
‘If we were to answer, that the purpose of this, was to show the obstinacy of Pharoah, that he would not agree to even such a ‘minor’ request - a three day furlough - we are left with a greater doubt: Moshe’s request to Bnei Israel, that (Shemot 11:2) ’Please, speak into the ears of the people, and let them borrow’ from the Egyptians ‘silver vessels and golden vessels’, and this is a truly wondrous matter, as, despite the Egyptians owing them far more than this, as recompense for their servitude, instead of demanding their due, they chose to act in this surrepticious and roundabout manner.‘This despited the clear injunction of our Sages, that one may even enter another’s property, to take that which is yours, without seeking his permission- and should he confront you, you may ‘break his teeth’, and tell him:’I am taking that which is mine!.’
‘The answer to these two difficulties is one: this is the Way of Hashem to bring ‘distant advice’ to vanquish His enemies and to exact […] revenge upon them.
Thus, as He wished to punish them ‘measure-for-measure’ for that which they had inflicted on Bnei Israel, He ‘orchestrated’ that the Egyptians should, of their own volition enter the sea, and meet their end there.
‘Had Moshe informed Pharoah of this impending fate at the outset, there is no doubt that he would have released Bnei Israel, and not pursued them, since he had ‘voluntarily’ released them from his servitude.
‘However, the decreed ‘measure-for-measure’ punishment would, then not have been meted. This is why Hashem commanded Moshe to mislead Pharoah, both regarding the three day furlough, and ‘borrowing’ the vessels, both to ensure that which ensued, as we read in our Parasha.
‘Bnei Israel were unaware of this Divine masterplan, as its purpose was - in addition to punishing the Egyptians - to perfect their faith in Hashem, and equally, that Moshe was, in all that he did, only doing Hashem’s Will.
‘The people, being unaware of this, on seeing the Egyptians pursuing them, immediately thought that Moshe, had on his own volition, decided on these two deceptions to Pharoah and the Egyptians, as they said to him:(14:11)’What is this that you have done to us to take us out of Egypt?’.
To which Moshe replied:(14:13)’Do not fear! Stand fast and see the salvation of Hashem that He will perform for you today; for as you have seen Egypt today, you shall not see them ever again!’
‘And, as the Divine Wisdom intended, all their doubts were answered, and the initial faith that the people had that Moshe was, in all that he did, only acting as Hashem’s faithful servant, was reinforced’, as we read in the psukim we brought at the outset, when they saw, that all that had perplexed them, was solely Hashem’s plan, to bring the Egyptians of their own volition, to pursue Bnei Israel, and to enter the sea, and meet their deserved fate.’
The Malbim adds:’Till the events at the sea, some of the people were unaware of the greatness of Hashem, and thought that most of what occurred till then had been performed by Moshe in his wisdom, and not by Hashem.
‘Others among the people believed in Hashem, and not in Moshe, and surmised that Moshe added things by himself, as they said: ‘what have you done to take us out of Egypt?’.
‘On seeing the events at the sea, all the people had full awe of Hashem, and had faith in Hashem, and that Moshe was His servant, the most faithful ‘member’ of His household.’
The Netziv expounds:’Till this time, there was room for the people to still think, that perhaps Moshe, either by sorcery, or his knowledge of ‘holy names’, was able to afflict the Egyptians with the ten plagues, and even to split the sea; now, when they saw the punishment to each of their Egyptian oppressors commensurate with his own misdeeds, they believed that only Hashem could inflict this ‘measure-for-measure’ punishment, and that Moshe was His faithful servant, and did nothing of his own volition, G-d forbid.’
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch adds, that at the sea, the people saw, with their own eyes, that Hashem, in the one deed, acts both in His attribute of Mercy, and in His attribute of Judgement.
‘At this time of redemption, the corpses of mighty Egypt were cast at the feet of their former slaves; that moment, as well as bearing testimomy to the mighty hand of Hashem, which operates as one in Mercy and in Judgement, also bore eternal witness, as to the truth of Moshe Rabbeinu as Hashem’s servant: his hand was cast over the sea, and with his hand, Moshe led Egypt to destruction - and Bnei Israel to freedom and to life.’
A concluding beautiful insight from the Shelah Hakadosh - Rav Yeshayahu Halevi Horowitz -proffering an answer to the question posed by the Rabbeinu Nissim:’Our Sages note, that the doubts of the people arose when they saw מצרים: ‘Egypt’ - not מצריים: ‘the Egyptians’ - pursuing them.
‘This greatly worried them, as they had thought that ‘Egypt’, the ‘minister of Egypt’ Above, being ‘the first-born of all the ministers of the nations Above’, had been ‘killed’ by Hashem Himself, in the plague of the first-born.
‘Thus, when they saw him pursuing them, a fear arose in them, that their servitude was not yet over, as - as our Sages relate - no nation is vanquished until its ‘minister Above’ is first defeated by Hashem.
‘The people therefore mused that perhaps they were only meant to have the three day furlough, and then be returned to servitude in Egypt. This, too, was their complaint against Moshe, on whom, as always, they laid the blame for any predicaments.
‘Moshe then revealed to them, for the first time, that: ‘As you have seen מצרים: the minister of Egypt Above, you shall not see again!’.
‘And, when they saw the Egyptians dead at the sea, then they knew that their minister had finally also met his end’, as, as we brought, no nation can be defeated until its minister is first defeated.
‘Only then, on seeing that all that Moshe had told them, had indeed occurred, they had faith in Hashem and in Moshe, His servant, this being the meaning of וירא ישראל את מצרים:’And Israel saw מצרים’ - the Zohar Hakadosh noting: מצרים, לא מצריים: the minister of Egypt Above, not the Egyptians, teaching us that Hashem showed them the dead minister of Egypt, who no longer posed a threat to them.’
Danny Ginsbourg is a retired lawyer and Torah scholar who made aliya from Australia a decade ago. He has written five volumes of Torah thoughts in Hebrew, and was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the two volume Davsha shel Torah to which there are already several sequels. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369886
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