Creation Bound by Conditions From the First Six Days

Rabbi Yirmeyah ben Elazar said: not with the sea alone did the Holy One, blessed be He, make a condition, but with everything created during the six days of creation. This is what is written, "My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host I commanded" (Isaiah 45:12). I commanded the sea to split before Israel. I commanded the heavens and the earth to be silent before Moses, as it is said, "Give ear, O heavens" (Deuteronomy 32:1). I commanded the sun and the moon to stand still before Joshua, as it is said, "Sun, stand still upon Gibeon, and moon in the valley of Aijalon" (Joshua 10:12). I commanded the ravens to feed Elijah, as it is said, "And I have commanded the ravens to feed you there" (1 Kings 17:4). I commanded the heavens to open before Ezekiel. I commanded the fish to vomit out Jonah, as it is said, "And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah" (Jonah 2:11). "And the sea returned at the turning of the morning to its strength [le-eitano]." Eitano means nothing but its might, as it is said, "Firm [eitan] is your dwelling place" (Numbers 24:21). Rabbi Natan says: eitan means nothing but a term of hardness, as it is said, "It is an enduring [eitan] nation" (Jeremiah 5:15). "And the Egyptians fled toward it" (Exodus 14:27). This teaches that wherever an Egyptian fled, the sea ran against him. They told a parable: to what is the matter like? To a dove that fled from a hawk and entered a hall. The king opened the eastern window; it went out and flew off. The hawk entered after it, and the king shut all the windows in its face and began to shoot arrows at it. So when the last of Israel came up from the sea, the last of Egypt went down into the midst of the sea, and the ministering angels began to hurl at them arrows and hailstones, fire and brimstone, as it is said, "And I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood, and an overflowing rain and great hailstones" (Ezekiel 38:22). "And the LORD overthrew [va-yena'er] the Egyptians" - like a man who shakes out a pot: the bottom goes up to the top and the top goes down to the bottom.