Who Is Like You Among the Mighty and the Living God Above Idols

"Who is like You among the gods, O LORD?" (Exodus 15:11). When they saw that Pharaoh and his army perished in the sea, and the kingdom of Egypt was destroyed, and judgments were executed upon their idols, they all opened their mouths and acknowledged the Omnipresent and said, "Who is like You among the gods, O LORD?" And not Israel alone, but even the nations of the world, when they saw what befell Egypt and its idols, denied their idolatry and acknowledged the Omnipresent and said, "Who is like You among the gods, O LORD?" And so Rahab says, "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you... and as soon as we heard it our hearts melted" (Joshua 2:10-11). And so you find for the time to come, that the nations of the world will yet deny their idolatry, as it is said, "In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold which they made for him to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks... for fear of the LORD and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth" (Isaiah 2:20-21). What does it say [of the idols]? "And the idols shall utterly pass away" (Isaiah 2:18). Another interpretation: "Who is like You among the gods, O LORD?" Who is like You in the miracles and mighty deeds You did for us at the sea, as it says, "terrible things by the Red Sea" (Psalms 106:22)? Another interpretation: Who is like You, who sees the humiliation of His children and keeps silent, as it says, "I have long held My peace, I have been still, and refrained Myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman" (Isaiah 42:14)? Another interpretation: Who is like You among those who stand before You on high, as it says, "For who in the skies can be compared unto the LORD?" (Psalms 89:7)? Another interpretation: Who is like You among those who called themselves gods? Pharaoh called himself a god, as it says, "My river is my own, and I have made myself" (Ezekiel 29:3); what is written of him? "Behold, I am against you, and against your rivers." Sennacherib called himself a god, as it says, "Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem?" (2 Kings 18:35); what is written of him? "As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword" (2 Kings 19:37). So too Nebuchadnezzar, and so too Hiram king of Tyre. Another interpretation: "Who is like You among the gods" -- among those whom others call gods. What is their nature? "They have mouths but they speak not" (Psalms 115:5). But He who spoke and the world came into being is not so; rather, He spoke the Ten Commandments in a single utterance, as it says, "And God spoke all these words, saying" (Exodus 20:1), and it says, "Is not My word like fire? says the LORD" (Jeremiah 23:29). "Eyes they have but they see not" (Psalms 115:5); but He who spoke and the world came into being is not so, rather, "The eyes of the LORD that range to and fro through the whole earth" (Zechariah 4:10), and "In every place the eyes of the LORD keep watch upon the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3). "Ears they have but they hear not" (Psalms 115:6); but He is not so, rather, "O You that hear prayer, unto You shall all flesh come" (Psalms 65:3), and "You will direct their heart, You will incline Your ear" (Psalms 10:17). "Noses they have but they smell not" (Psalms 115:6); but He is not so, rather, "an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the LORD" (Leviticus 1:13), and "the LORD smelled the sweet savor" (Genesis 8:21). "Hands they have but they handle not" (Psalms 115:7); but He is not so, rather, "My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens" (Isaiah 48:13), and "I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens" (Isaiah 45:12). "Feet they have but they walk not" (Psalms 115:7); but He is not so, rather, "Then shall the LORD go forth and fight against those nations" (Zechariah 14:3), and "His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives" (Zechariah 14:4). "Neither speak they through their throat" (Psalms 115:7); but He is not so, rather, "His mouth is most sweet, yea he is altogether lovely" (Song of Songs 5:16), and "a sound goes out of His mouth" (Job 37:2). "Who is like You, glorious in holiness" (Exodus 15:11). You are exalted and glorious in holiness, for the measure of the Omnipresent is not like the measure of flesh and blood. Flesh and blood cannot speak two things at once, but He who spoke and the world came into being spoke the Ten Commandments in a single utterance, as it says, "And God spoke all these words." Another interpretation: the measure of the Omnipresent is not like flesh and blood; flesh and blood cannot listen to two people at once, but all who come into the world stand and pray before Him and He hears their prayer as one, as it says, "O You that hear prayer." Another interpretation: a hired laborer works for a householder and the householder sows with him, plows with him, weeds with him, and pays him once; but He who spoke and the world came into being is not so; one who desired children, He gave them, as it says, "Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD" (Psalms 127:3); one who desired wisdom, He gave it, as it says, "For the LORD gives wisdom" (Proverbs 2:6); one who desired wealth, He gave it, as it says, "Both riches and honor come of You" (1 Chronicles 29:12). "Fearful in praises" (Exodus 15:11). The measure of the Omnipresent is not like flesh and blood. A mortal's awe is greater upon the distant than the near, but with Him the awe upon the near is greater than upon the distant, as it says, "and round about Him it stormeth mightily" (Psalms 50:3), and "A God dreaded in the great council of the holy ones, and feared by all them that are round about Him" (Psalms 89:8), and "Dominion and fear are with Him" (Job 25:2), and "I will be sanctified in them that come near Me" (Leviticus 10:3). "Doing wonders" (Exodus 15:11). The measure of the Omnipresent is not like flesh and blood. Flesh and blood builds the lower part first and then the upper, but He who spoke and the world came into being is not so; He built the upper first and then the lower, as it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Another interpretation: flesh and blood, when it roofs, roofs with wood and stones and earth, but He roofs only with water, as it says, "Who lays the beams of His chambers in the waters" (Psalms 104:3). Another interpretation: flesh and blood cannot form an image in water, but He forms an image in water, as it says, "And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures" (Genesis 1:20). Another interpretation: flesh and blood cannot form an image in darkness, but He forms an image in darkness, as it says, "when I was made in secret, wrought in the lowest parts of the earth" (Psalms 139:15). Another interpretation: flesh and blood, when it forms an image, begins from its head or its feet or from one of its limbs, but He forms it all as one, as it says, "for He is the former of all things" (Jeremiah 10:16), and "there is no rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2) -- there is no former like our God. Flesh and blood forms an image and must put dye among pigments, but the Holy One, blessed be He, formed the human from a single substance: the eyeball's pupil is black, surrounded by white, and the teeth white surrounded by red. Flesh and blood cannot form an image within an image, but the Holy One, blessed be He, formed the human within its mother's womb. Flesh and blood forms an image and it does not move from its place, but He formed the human and it walks from one end of the world to the other. Flesh and blood forms an image and it does not see or hear or speak, but He formed the human and it sees and hears and speaks. Flesh and blood forms an image and cannot make it a soul and innards, but the Holy One, blessed be He, formed the human and made for it a soul and innards; this is what David means when he says, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name" (Psalms 103:1). Another interpretation: "doing wonders" -- it is not written "did a wonder" but "doing a wonder"; He did wonders with the fathers and will yet do wonders with the children, as it says, "As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt I will show him marvelous things" (Micah 7:15), and "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works" (Psalms 139:14).