Israel Cried Out and Seized the Craft of Their Fathers

"And they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD" (Exodus 14:10) - they seized the craft of their fathers. Of Abraham, what does it say? "with Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east" and so on (Genesis 12:8); "And he planted a tamarisk in Beersheba" (Genesis 21:33). Of Isaac, what does it say? "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field" (Genesis 24:63), and "meditation" means nothing other than prayer, as it is said, "Evening and morning and noon I meditate" (Psalms 55:18), "I pour out my meditation before Him" (Psalms 142:3), "A prayer of the afflicted when he is faint" (Psalms 102:1) and so on. Of Jacob, what does it say? "And he encountered the place" (Genesis 28:11), and "encounter" means nothing other than the language of prayer, as it is said, "Do not pray for this people" (Jeremiah 7:16). And so it says, "Fear not, worm of Jacob" (Isaiah 41:14): just as the worm strikes the cedars only with its mouth, so Israel have nothing but prayer. And so it says, "And I have given you one portion above your brothers" (Genesis 48:22) - did he take it with his sword and his bow? Yet of Abraham it is said, "For I do not trust in my bow" (Psalms 44:7). What then does "with my sword and with my bow" teach? This is prayer. And so it says, "Judah is a lion's whelp" (Genesis 49:9), and it says, "And this for Judah, and he said" and so on (Deuteronomy 33:7). And so Jeremiah said, "Cursed is the man who trusts in man... Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose trust is the LORD" (Jeremiah 17:5,7). And so David said, "You come to me with sword and spear" (I Samuel 17:45), and it says, "These trust in chariots and these in horses... they have bowed down and fallen... O LORD, save; may the King answer us on the day we call" (Psalms 20:8-10). And so Asa said, "And Asa cried out to the LORD his God... for upon You we lean, and in Your name we have come against this multitude; O LORD, You are our God, let no man prevail against You" (II Chronicles 14:10). Of Moses, what does it say? "And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh... and our fathers went down to Egypt... and we cried out to the LORD, and He heard our voice" (Numbers 20:14-16). They said to them: you take pride in what your father bequeathed you, "The voice is the voice of Jacob" (Genesis 27:22), "and He heard our voice"; and we take pride in what our father bequeathed us, "and the hands are the hands of Esau" (Genesis 27:22), "by your sword you shall live" (Genesis 27:40). What does it say? "You shall not pass through me, lest with the sword" and so on (Numbers 20:18). So here too you say, "and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD" - they seized the craft of their fathers, the craft of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.