The East Wind of Judgment That Split Every Water

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 234:2

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"And the LORD drove back the sea with a fierce east wind" (Exodus 14:21): with the fiercest of the winds. And which is that? This is the east wind. And so you find that the Omnipresent exacted punishment from the generation of the Flood and from the men of Sodom only by means of the east wind, as it is said (Job 4:9), "By the breath of God they perish" - this is the generation of the Flood; "and by the wind of His anger they are consumed" - these are the men of Sodom. And so you find regarding the men of the Tower, that the Omnipresent exacted punishment from them only by means of the east wind, as it is said (Genesis 11:9), "and from there the LORD scattered them," and scattering is nothing other than the east wind, as it is said (Jeremiah 18:17), "like an east wind I will scatter them." And so you find regarding the Egyptians, that He exacted punishment from them only by means of the east wind, as it is said, "and the LORD drove the east wind." And so you find that the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact punishment from the wicked in Gehinnom in the time to come only by means of the east wind, as it is said (Isaiah 30:33), "for Topheth has long been prepared," and so forth; (Isaiah 27:8) "He removed them with His fierce blast on the day of the east wind." Here too you find "And the LORD drove back the sea with a fierce east wind," the fiercest of the winds, and which is that? This is the east wind. "And He made the sea into dry land" (Exodus 14:21): He made it like dry land. "And the waters were split" (Exodus 14:21): all the waters in the world were split. And from where do you say that even the waters in the wells and in the pits and in the caves and in the jug and in the cup and in the flask and in the barrel were split? Scripture teaches, "and the waters were split" - all the waters in the world. And from where do you say that even the upper and lower waters were split? As it is said (Psalms 77:17), "the waters saw You, O God, they were in anguish" - these are the upper; "the depths also trembled" - these are the lower. And so it says (Psalms 77:18), "the clouds poured out water, the skies thundered" - these are the upper; "Your arrows also flashed about" - these are the lower. (Psalms 42:8) "Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your channels." And it says (Habakkuk 3:10), "the deep gave forth its voice." And when they returned, all the waters in the world returned, as it is said (Exodus 14:28), "and the waters returned," and so forth: all the waters in the world returned.

Themes

Divine JusticeMiraclesCreation

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