In the Greatness of Your Majesty You Overthrow Foes

"In the greatness of Your majesty You overthrow Your adversaries." You greatly exalted Yourself against those who rose up against You. And who are they who rose against You? Those who rose against Your beloved ones. Amraphel and his companions rose against Abraham — what does it say? "And he divided himself against them by night" (Genesis 14:15). So too wicked Pharaoh, who rose against Your children and pursued them with six hundred chosen chariots — what does it say? "Pharaoh's chariots and his army He cast into the sea" (Exodus 15:4). And so with Sisera, and so with Sennacherib, and so with Nebuchadnezzar, and so with Hiram king of Tyre. It is not written, "You overthrew those who rose against You," but "You will overthrow those who rise against You" — in the future to come; and so it says, "Do not forget the clamor of Your foes, the uproar of those who rise against You, which goes up continually" (Psalms 74:23); "For behold, Your enemies shall perish" (Psalms 92:10); "For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You put an end to all who are false to You" (Psalms 73:27). Another interpretation: it is not written, "You overthrew," but "You will overthrow those who rise against You"; and so it says, "O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD... because they do not regard the works of the LORD... He will tear them down and not build them up" (Psalms 58:7, Psalms 28:5). "You send out Your fury." It is not written, "You sent out Your fury," but "You will send out Your fury"; and so it says, "Pour out on them Your indignation, and let Your burning anger overtake them" (Psalms 69:25); "Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You" (Psalms 79:6). "It consumes them like stubble." It is not written, "it consumed them like stubble," but "it will consume them like stubble"; and so it says, "The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them" (Obadiah 1:18), and it says, "On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot among wood and like a flaming torch among sheaves, and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again dwell secure in her place" (Zechariah 12:6). "Like stubble." All other woods, when they burn, make no sound; but stubble, when it burns, its sound carries. So the Egyptians — their voice carried because of the calamities coming upon them. All other woods, when they burn, have substance; but stubble, when it burns, has no substance. So Egypt had no substance because of the calamities that came upon them, and so it says, "They lie down together, they cannot rise; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick" (Isaiah 43:17). Another interpretation: "like stubble" — the kingdom of Egypt was no greater than the others, but it seized kingship for a moment for the sake of Israel's honor. When He likens the kingdoms, He likens them to silver and gold, as it is written, "That image — its head was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron" (Daniel 2:32); but when He likens Egypt, He likens it to lead, as it is said, "they sank like lead in the mighty waters" (Exodus 15:10). When He likens the kingdoms, He likens them to beasts — "Four great beasts came up out of the sea" (Daniel 7:3); but when He likens Egypt, He likens it to foxes, as it is said, "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards" (Song of Songs 2:15). When He likens the kingdoms, He likens them to cedars — "Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon" (Ezekiel 31:3), and "the tree that you saw, which grew great and strong" (Daniel 4:17), and "I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedars" (Amos 2:9); but when He likens Egypt, He likens it to stubble, as it is said, "it consumes them like stubble." Antoninus asked our holy Rabbi this: One who wishes to go down to Alexandria of Egypt — will some king arise and defeat him? He said to him: I do not know; in any case, it is written that Egypt is destined to raise up neither king nor ruler, as it is said, "It shall be the lowliest of kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations; and I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations" (Ezekiel 29:15).