Whose Word Moved Israel Away From the Sea

"And Moses caused Israel to journey" (Exodus 15:22). Rabbi Yehoshua says: This journey Israel set out on by the word of Moses, but all the other journeys they set out on by the word of the Almighty, as it is said, "At the mouth of the LORD they journeyed" (Numbers 9:18). But this journey they set out on only by the word of Moses; therefore it is said, "And Moses caused Israel to journey." Rabbi Eliezer says: They journeyed by the word of the Almighty, for we find in two or three places that they journeyed only by the word of the Almighty. Then what does Scripture teach by saying "And Moses caused Israel to journey"? Only to make known the praise of Israel, that when Moses said to them, "Arise and journey," they did not say, "How shall we journey into the wilderness when we have no provisions for the way?" Rather, they believed and went after Moses. Of them it is explained in tradition, "Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you went after Me in the wilderness" (Jeremiah 2:2). And so we find that they turned back three journeys, as it is said, "And they journeyed from Pi-hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea; and they journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and they journeyed from Elim and encamped by the Sea of Reeds." And so we find that they went back eight journeys for the honor of Aaron, for his burial, as it is said, "And the children of Israel journeyed from Beeroth-bene-jaakan to Moserah; there Aaron died." Now did he die at Moserah? Did he not die only at Mount Hor, as it is said, "And Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor" (Numbers 33:38)? Then what does Scripture teach by saying "there Aaron died"? Rather, it teaches that they went back eight journeys for the honor of Aaron, for his burial. Rabbi Eliezer says: They journeyed by the word of the Almighty; then what does Scripture teach by saying "And Moses caused Israel to journey"? It teaches that Moses caused them to journey against their will. For when they saw the corpses of the men who had enslaved them with rigor and harsh labor, all of them dead corpses cast upon the seashore, they said, "It seems to us that not a single man remained in Egypt," as it is said, "Let us appoint a chief and return to Egypt" (Numbers 14:4) and let us make ourselves an idol with it at our head and return to Egypt. Could it be that they only said this and did not act? Scripture says, "But they refused to listen, neither were they mindful of Your wonders that You did among them, but they stiffened their neck." Rabbi Yehudah bar Ilai says: An idol crossed with Israel through the sea, and Moses made them journey away from it at that hour, as it is said, "And Moses caused Israel to journey from the Sea of Reeds," away from the thing that was with them at the Sea of Reeds.