Who Is Like You Among the Mighty Ones

Another interpretation: "Who is like You," in the miracles and mighty deeds You performed at the sea, as it is said, "awesome things at the Sea of Reeds" and "He rebuked the Sea of Reeds and led them through the depths" (Psalms 106:7-9). "Who is like You among the mighty ones [ba'elim]": who is like You, who sees the disgrace of Your children and is silent, as it is said, "I have long held My peace" (Isaiah 42:14), in the past, "I have been still and restrained Myself"; from here onward, "now I will cry like a travailing woman, I will gasp and pant together... I will lay waste mountains and hills... and I will lead the blind by a way they knew not" (Isaiah 42:14-16). "Who is like You among the mighty ones": like those who minister before Him on high, as it is said, "For who in the sky can be compared to the LORD" (Psalms 89:7), and it says, "a God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones" (Psalms 89:8), and it says, "O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD?" "Who is like You among the mighty ones": who is like You among those who call themselves divinity. Pharaoh called himself a god, as it is said, "My river is my own, and I have made myself" (Ezekiel 29:3). Sennacherib called himself a god, as it is said, "Who among all the gods of the lands" (2 Kings 18:35). Nebuchadnezzar called himself a god, as it is said, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds" (Isaiah 14:14). The prince of Tyre called himself a god, as it is said, "Say to the prince of Tyre" (Ezekiel 28:2). "Who is like You" not like those whom others call divinity though there is nothing real in them, of whom it is said, "they have mouths but they do not speak... they make no sound in their throat" (Psalms 115:5-7). These have mouths but do not speak; but the One who spoke and the world came into being is not so. Rather, He said two things in a single utterance, which is impossible for flesh and blood to do, as it is said, "God has spoken once, twice have I heard this" (Psalms 62:12), and "Is not My word like fire?" (Jeremiah 23:29). "Who is like You, glorious in holiness": comely are You and majestic in holiness. The quality of the Holy One, blessed be He, is unlike the quality of flesh and blood. Flesh and blood cannot say two things as one, but the One who spoke and the world came into being said the Ten Commandments in a single utterance, which is impossible for flesh and blood, as it is said, "And God spoke all these words, saying" (Exodus 20:1). The way of flesh and blood is that one cannot listen to two people when they cry out at once; but the One who spoke and the world came into being, even if all who come into the world come and cry out before Him, He hears their cry, as it is said, "O You who hear prayer, to You all flesh shall come" (Psalms 65:3). "Awesome in praises": not from now, but from of old awesome in praises.