Why Cry Out to Me and the Merits That Split the Sea

"And the LORD said to Moses, Why do you cry out to Me?" (Exodus 14:15). Rabbi [Joshua] says: Israel has nothing to do but to journey on. Rabbi Eliezer says: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "My children are in distress, the sea closing them in and the enemy pursuing, and you stand multiplying prayer before Me? Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they journey on." Rabbi Abtolos the Elder told a parable. To what is this like? To a king of flesh and blood who grew angry with his son, and a certain guardian was pleading before him. He said to him, "Do you plead before me for any reason but for the sake of my son? I am already reconciled to my son." So too, "Speak to the children of Israel, that they journey on." Rabbi [Judah the Prince] says: He said to him, "Last night they were saying, Was it for lack of graves in Egypt? (Exodus 14:11), and now you multiply prayer before Me? Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel" -- He removed these matters from their hearts. Rabbi Meir says: He said to him, "If for a single man I made the sea into dry land, as it is written, And God said, Let the waters be gathered, and let the dry land appear (Genesis 1:9), shall I not do so for this holy congregation, of whom it is said, To the holy ones who are in the land (Psalms 16:3)?" Rabbi Ishmael says: He said to him, "By the merit of Jerusalem I split the sea for them, as it is said, Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion (Isaiah 52:1), and it says, Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD... Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to pass over? (Isaiah 51:9-10)." Rabbi Benaiah says: By the merit of what Abraham did before Me I split the sea for them. Of Abraham it says, And he split the wood for the burnt offering (Genesis 22:3); of the sea it says, And the waters were split (Exodus 14:21). Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: Isaac is already as if bound before Me upon the altar, and Abraham as if he stretched out his hand and took the knife; "And you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it" (Exodus 14:16). Rabbi Akiva says: By the merit of Jacob I split the sea for them, as it is said, And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall break forth to the west (Genesis 28:14). Rabbi Eliezer ben Judah of Bartota says: By the merit of the tribes I split the sea for them, as it is said of Joseph, And he left his garment and fled outside (Genesis 39:12); and of the sea it says, The sea saw it and fled (Psalms 114:3). Shimon the Temanite says: By the merit of circumcision I split the sea for them, as it is said, If not for My covenant day and night (Jeremiah 33:25). Which covenant is observed by day and by night? You find none but circumcision. And it says, To Him who cut the Sea of Reeds into pieces [le-gezarim] (Psalms 136:13) -- do not read "into pieces" but "to those who cut" [a play marking circumcision]. Shemaiah says: Worthy is the faith with which Abraham believed in Me that I should split the sea for them, as it is said, And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Avtalion says: Worthy is the faith with which Israel believed in Me in Egypt that I should split the sea for them, as it is said, And the people believed (Exodus 4:31). Others say: Worthy is the faith with which Israel believed in Me in Egypt that I should split the sea for them, for they did not say to Moses, "To where are we going out, into this trackless wilderness that has nothing in it, with no provision in our hands for the way?" Thus says the LORD: I remember for you the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown (Jeremiah 2:2). What reward did they receive for this? "Israel is holy to the LORD, the first of His harvest" (Jeremiah 2:3). Rabbi Elazar of Modiin says: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Concerning My children do you command Me? Concerning My children and the work of My hands do I need a command? They are already prepared before Me from the six days of creation, as it is said, Thus says the LORD: If the heavens above can be measured... I also will reject all the seed of Israel (Jeremiah 31:36)." Rabbi Aha says: The Holy One said to Moses, "Were it not for your cry I would already have destroyed them from the world, as it is said, He said He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one (Psalms 106:23)." Rabbi Shimon ben Judah of Kfar Akko says: Their cry already preceded your cry, as it is said, They were greatly afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD (Exodus 14:10). Rabbi Nathan says in the name of Rabbi Yose: The Holy One said to Moses, "I have already written of you in the Torah, In all My house he is faithful (Numbers 12:7). You are in My charge and the sea is in My charge; I have already made you treasurer over it." [Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa says: The Holy One said, I have already written, A brother is born for adversity (Proverbs 17:17); I am a brother to Israel in the hour of their trouble, and there are no brothers but Israel, as it is said, For the sake of my brothers and companions (Psalms 122:8).]