The Heavenly Prince of Egypt Falls Before the Kingdom Below

Another interpretation of "He cast": when Israel saw the heavenly prince of the kingdom of Egypt falling, they began to give praise; therefore it says "He cast." And so you find that the Omnipresent is not destined to exact punishment from the kingdoms in the time to come until He first exacts punishment from their heavenly princes, as it is said, "And it will be on that day that the LORD will punish the host of the height on high" (Isaiah 24:21), and afterward "the kings of the earth." And it says, "How are you fallen from heaven, O shining one, son of dawn" (Isaiah 14:12), and afterward "you are cut down to the earth, who laid low the nations." And it says, "For My sword is sated in heaven" (Isaiah 34:5), and afterward "it shall come down upon Edom." "The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea." In the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring the horse and its rider and stand them in judgment. He will say to the horse, "Why did you run after My children?" And it will say, "The Egyptian forced me to run against my will," as it is said, "For Pharaoh's horse came" (Exodus 15:19). Antoninus asked Rabbi: When a person dies and the body decays, and the Holy One, blessed be He, stands him in judgment, [how can he be judged]? He said to him: Before you ask me about the body, which is impure, ask me about the soul, which is pure. A parable: to what is the matter like? To a king of flesh and blood who had a fine orchard and seated guards in it, one lame and one blind, and so forth. Rabbi Yose ben Azzai says: "horse" is stated here without elaboration, and "horse" is stated elsewhere with elaboration, as it is said, "On that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with madness" (Zechariah 12:4), and it says, "And this shall be the plague" (Zechariah 14:12), and it says, "And so shall be the plague of the horse" (Zechariah 14:15). The elaborated case comes to teach about the unelaborated: just as the elaborated one involves fifty plagues, so too the unelaborated involves fifty plagues.