Another interpretation: “The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying” (Exodus 12:1) – what is the Holy One blessed be He doing in Egypt? It is for the sake of Israel. Rabbi Yitzḥak Nappaḥa said: This is analogous to a noblewoman who provoked the king. The king put her in prison and went with her and was with her in prison.
People said to him: ‘Why do you care?’ He said to them: ‘All the time that I am with her, she will not acquire a bad name.’ So, Israel was enslaved in Egypt, and the Holy One blessed be He, as it were, was exiled with them, as it is stated: “I will go down with you to Egypt” (Genesis 46:4). Similarly with [the exile to] Babylonia, it is stated: “For your sakes, I sent [shilaḥti]41The Masoretic text has shilaḥti but the midrash reads it shulaḥti, I was sent. to Babylon” (Isaiah 43:14).
Likewise, with [the hegemony of] Media, as it is stated: “I will place My throne in Elam” (Jeremiah 49:38), and Elam is nothing other than Media, as it is stated: “Go up, Elam; besiege, Media” (Isaiah 21:2). With the [hegemony of] Greece, the Holy One blessed be He was with them, as it is stated: “[I will rouse your children, Zion, against your children, Greece, and will set you like the sword of a mighty man.]
The Lord will be seen over them, and His arrow will emerge like lightning” (Zechariah 9:13–14). They [the angels] said to the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Why all this?’ He said to them: ‘All the time that I am with them, they will not acquire a bad name. I was with them in Egypt, and they were found whole, as it is stated: “A locked garden, my sister, my bride” (Song of Songs 4:12).42They were not corrupted by the surrounding licentiousness.
I was with them in Babylon, and they were found whole, as it is stated: “Behold our God whom we serve [is able to deliver us]” (Daniel 3:17). I was with them in Media and they were found whole, as it is stated: “Mordecai would not bow and would not prostrate himself” (Esther 3:2). In Greece, they refused to write on the horn of an ox that they have no portion in the God of Israel.43The midrash is relating to a tradition that the Greek-speaking rulers decreed that they must do so.
See Bereshit Rabba 2:4. With regard to Edom [Rome], if the Holy One blessed be He says yes, who will say no, as it is stated: “Who is this, coming from Edom” (Isaiah 63:1).’44This is the beginning of a prophecy about the destruction of Edom. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: This is analogous to a wealthy man who went out during the summer. People said that he was at the threshing floor.
What did he do? He came in with a branch of a grapevine, so that everyone would know that he had come from the vineyard. So, the idolaters said to Israel: Where is your God? As it is stated: “Where is their God” (Deuteronomy 32:37).
“Now, hear this, pampered one, who sits securely…” (Isaiah 47:8)45This verse refers to the idolaters. – what is the Holy One blessed be He destined to do to them? “I will make My arrows drunk with blood” (Deuteronomy 32:42). Not only that, but He is destined to trample them, as it is stated: “I have trodden a winepress alone” (Isaiah 63:3), and He us destined to tread with His shoe on all the great ones of Edom, as it is stated: “I cast My shoe upon Edom” (Psalms 60:10).