On the seventh day of
the exodus from Egypt the holy one blessed be He tells Moshe to act as if the
nation is confused and wandering aimlessly then to camp on the shore of the Red
Sea. As a result Pharaoh will think he can bring Israel back into slavery and
chase after them. When G-d destroys them it will be a terrific honor and Egypt
will know that Hashem is master of the world.
The commentaries
embellish the miracle. Rashi says that when the Red Sea split it split into
twelve paths, one for each of the twelve tribes. The Midrash Tanchuma explains
that the water congealed like glass to form the walls and that fresh water
flowed through the salty water for anyone who was thirsty.
The parting of the Red
Sea is perhaps the largest miracle performed for the nation of Israel. If one
accepts that it occurred the way it is described in the Chumash, it is a
dramatic proof that there is a power above nature. This is a variant of the
analysis in the Kuzari that the arguments (still going on today) whether the
universe is eternal or there was an external creator are balanced. However the
fact that the Jews have a tradition of a creator tips the balance to that side.
Egypt was punished
because they were bad. However, Israel was not saved because of their great
righteousness at that time; rather it was because they would accept upon
themselves the mission of demonstrating heaven’s law to mankind. Never the less
the idea that there is a reward for those that do good and punishment for those
that do bad comes through.
There is also the idea
that the great miracles and the mighty power of heaven can be obtained by
something as easy as waving a wand. The total mastery over nature, the great
reverse in fortune, and the benevolence with justice, shown by the parting of
the Red Sea, amazes, befuddles, and awes the mind. It leaves a person
dumbfounded with the only reaction being silence.
King David grapples
with the concept of G-d’s omnipresence and omnipotence in Psalm 139. He
describes how G-d had perfect knowledge of him from the moment he was
conceived. The Almighty is to be found in the heights of heaven and the depths
of hell. He is in the recesses of the sea and the darkness for him is like
light. This knowledge, though, is reckoned as too recondite for man to comprehend.
Never the less it is
through these concepts that we get a glimpse of the days of the Moshiach. We
can half believe the fanciful Gemara (Shabbos 30b) that the time will come when
loaves of bread and finished garments will sprout from the land of Israel. The
prophecies that the wolf will dwell with lamb, a child will play with a viper,
and the lion will eat straw, may seem to be at best allegories. However we can
begin to conceive of a world where the Jews will be free to involve themselves
in Torah and wisdom without any pressures or disturbances.
In that era, there
will be no famine or war, envy, or competition. Good will flow in abundance and
all the delights will be freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire
world will be solely to know God. Israel will be a nation of great scholars
with the greatest human understanding of the most difficult concepts of
religion as it says, “the earth will be filled with knowledge of Hashem as
water covers the sea”, (Isaiah 11:9) (see Maimonides Mishna Torah ‘Kings and
their Wars chapter 12).
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
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