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God's Little Finger Drew Noah's Ark and the Next Finger Broke Egypt

God's little finger drew Noah's ark blueprint. The next finger broke Pharaoh across ten plagues. A third wrote the tablets on stone at Sinai.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. An Old Man Copying a Blueprint from the Sky
  2. The Finger Egypt's Magicians Named
  3. The Princess Who Reached Too Far
  4. The Finger That Wrote on Stone

An Old Man Copying a Blueprint from the Sky

When God told Noah to build an ark, He said and this is how you shall make it, and the word this was a gesture. Rabbi Ishmael, inside the text of Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, points to God's right hand and says the little finger is the one that traced the blueprint of the ark in the air while Noah watched and tried to remember every measurement.

Picture Noah squinting at the sky, an old man copying a diagram nobody else could see, writing down cubits on whatever flat surface was nearby, going back to check the proportions, asking God to show him again. The little finger of the universe is what kept him alive long enough to finish the work. His neighbors were laughing. The clouds above him looked like any other clouds. He was building the ship that would carry the future because a small finger had drawn him a picture he could barely see.

The Finger Egypt's Magicians Named

When the lice came, Pharaoh's magicians stood before their equipment and tried to produce lice from dust. They had matched the blood. They had matched the frogs, adding more frogs to Egypt's misery, which was not exactly helpful but was technically a match. The lice defeated them completely. They could not produce a single one.

They collapsed in front of Pharaoh and said three words. This is the finger of God. They were pointing at the same right hand. The little finger had drawn the ark. The next finger had brought ten plagues on Egypt. One finger. Ten plagues. The slaves being forced to make bricks without straw, the children being drowned in the river, the four hundred years of bondage, all of it answered by one finger of the hand that had given Noah his blueprints.

The magicians had named it correctly, but they had named it too late to do Pharaoh any good.

The Princess Who Reached Too Far

Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe in the Nile and saw a basket caught in the reeds. She stretched out her hand to reach it. The basket was too far. Her arm extended beyond what any arm could reach, and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer says the arm lengthened itself, or something stretched it, until her hand closed on the handle of the basket and brought it to her.

Inside was a crying boy. She knew immediately that this was a Hebrew infant, hidden because of her father's decree, and she named him Moses, drawn from the water, and raised him as her son.

The same hand that drew the ark plans, the same hand that moved through Egypt with ten plagues, was the hand that extended a princess's arm across the water to pull a baby to safety. The small acts and the large ones were all the same hand's work. Noah's measurements. Egypt's broken power. The basket caught at exactly the moment a woman's hand was reaching for it.

The Finger That Wrote on Stone

After the ten plagues, after the sea, after the wilderness, Moses went up Sinai. He came down with two tablets, and the Torah says they were written by the finger of God. Not by Moses. Not dictated to Moses to write. God wrote them Himself, with the same finger that had traced Noah's ark, that had struck Egypt, that had stretched through the reeds to reach the basket.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer traces the through-line explicitly. The finger of God at creation. The finger of God in Egypt. The finger of God on the tablets. It was the same finger acting in the same direction across all of history, building the vessel that carried the seed of humanity past the flood, breaking the power that was crushing the nation that would carry the law, and then writing the law itself in stone so it could not be mistaken for something improvised.

The Shabbat sat at the end of the hand's work the way it sat at the end of the days of creation. When the work was finished, the hand rested. What it had made would have to carry itself forward now.

Midrash AggadahPirkei Derabbi EliezerShabbatPlagues
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 48:16Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Not just any hand, but the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He. Rabbi Ishmael, in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Chapter 48), unveils a fascinating idea: each finger on God's right hand is associated with a crucial moment of redemption and divine action in Jewish history.

It's a potent image, isn't it? it.

First, we have the little finger. According to Rabbi Ishmael, God showed Noah how to build the ark using this very digit. Remember the verse, "And this is how thou shalt make it" (Gen. 6:15)? That "this," Rabbi Ishmael suggests, was pointed out by God's little finger, guiding Noah's hand in creating the vessel that would save humanity and the animals from the flood.

Then comes the second finger, the one next to the little finger. This finger, Rabbi Ishmael says, was used to smite the firstborn of the Egyptians. Remember the magicians' desperate cry to Pharaoh: "This is the finger of God!" (Ex. 8:19). How many plagues were inflicted by this divine finger? Ten, of course, each one a blow against Pharaoh's stubborn heart and a step towards freeing the Israelites.

Moving along, we arrive at the third finger. This is the finger that wrote the luchot (לוחות), the Tablets of the Law! The Torah tells us, "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him… tables of stone, written with the finger of God" (Ex. 31:18). Imagine the weight and significance of those words etched in stone by God's own hand. The very foundation of Jewish law, born from this divine digit.

The fourth finger, the one next to the thumb, is used for another act of guidance. With this finger, the Holy One showed Moses what the children of Israel should give for the redemption of their souls. We find this in (Exodus 30:13): "This they shall give… half a shekel for an offering to the Lord." It wasn’t just about money; it was about communal responsibility and each individual's role in the collective covenant.

Finally, we reach the thumb and the entire hand. This, Rabbi Ishmael declares, will be used to smite the children of Esau and Ishmael in the future, for they are considered God's foes and enemies. This idea draws from (Micah 5:9), "Let thine hand be lifted up above thine adversaries, and let all thine enemies be cut off." This is a powerful, and perhaps troubling, image of ultimate divine justice. It speaks to a future time of reckoning and the final triumph of good over evil.

So, what are we to make of this? Is it a literal depiction of God’s anatomy? Probably not. But it's a vivid and memorable way to understand God's active involvement in the world, from the smallest detail of ark construction to the grand sweep of history and redemption. It reminds us that even the seemingly smallest act, symbolized by the little finger, can have profound consequences. And it offers a powerful, if somewhat unsettling, vision of ultimate justice delivered by the full force of the divine hand.

Think about the power of your own hand, what you create, what you build, what you offer. Maybe, in our own small way, we too can use our hands to participate in acts of redemption and building a better world.

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 48:8Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to The Egyptian Princess Who Rescued Baby Moses.

The story begins with his birth. Rabbi Simeon tells us he was called Ṭob, "good," because, as (Exodus 2:2) says, "when she saw him, that he was good." A simple statement. But it hints at something deeper, perhaps a divine spark already visible in the infant Moses.

For three months, Moses was hidden, protected from Pharaoh's decree to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. Can you imagine the fear, the desperation of his parents? They concealed him in a "house of the earth" – likely a cellar or hidden room.

Then came the moment of truth. Unable to keep him hidden any longer, his mother placed him in an ark of bulrushes – a small basket – and set him afloat on the Nile.

Here's where things get truly interesting. The text emphasizes that "All things are revealed before the Holy One, blessed be He." Nothing is random. Everything is part of a larger plan. Even a seemingly desperate act like setting a baby adrift.

And who finds him? Bithyah, Pharaoh's daughter.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer adds a layer to the familiar story. It tells us that Bithyah was afflicted with leprosy and unable to bathe in hot water. She sought healing in the river. It was there, in that moment, that she saw the crying child.

She reached out, took hold of him, and was healed! A miraculous encounter.

Bithyah recognizes something special in this child. She declares, "This child is righteous, and I will preserve his life." This is a pivotal moment. She defies her own father's decree, choosing compassion over obedience.

The text then delivers a powerful statement: "Whosoever preserves a life is as though he had kept alive the whole world." What a profound idea! Every single life is precious, containing within it the potential for infinite good. By saving Moses, Bithyah saved a world.

And what was her reward? She was "worthy to inherit the life in this world and the life in the world to come." Her act of kindness, her willingness to defy injustice, earned her eternal life.

It makes you think, doesn't it? About the power of small acts, about the interconnectedness of all things, and about the profound consequences of choosing compassion. Bithyah’s story reminds us that even in the darkest of times, goodness can prevail, and that a single act of kindness can echo through eternity.

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 19:1Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

It's a portal, a time set apart. And according to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a beautiful, almost novelistic Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), keeping Shabbat (the Sabbath) brings immense blessings. It says, "Happy is he in this world and happy will he be in the world to come" for those who observe it (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 19). But it goes even further. It suggests a play on words from (Isaiah 56:2). Instead of reading "He who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it," we can read it as "He who keeps the Sabbath is pardoned" for all transgressions.

That's not all. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer then dives into something truly intriguing: the ten things created in the twilight of the sixth day, that liminal space right before Shabbat began. These weren't things God created during Shabbat – that would be forbidden! No, these were special creations, almost like divine afterthoughts, specifically made right before the cosmic clock struck sundown.

So, what were these last-minute wonders?

First, we have "the mouth of the earth." This refers to the incident in the Torah when Korah and his followers rebelled against Moses and Aaron, and the earth opened up to swallow them (Numbers 16). This wasn't a natural disaster; it was a targeted, divine response, prepared in advance.

Then there's "the mouth of the well." This speaks to Miriam's Well, a miraculous source of water that sustained the Israelites during their forty years of wandering in the desert. According to tradition, this well was created at twilight on Friday, ensuring the people would have water throughout their journey.

Next is "the mouth of the ass," a reference to Balaam's ass, which spoke to him when an angel blocked their path (Numbers 22). A talking donkey? Definitely needed a little extra divine intervention!

And what about "the rainbow?" A symbol of God's covenant with humanity after the flood, a promise never to destroy the world again by water (Genesis 9:13-17). It’s a powerful reminder of hope and divine protection.

Then comes "the Manna," the miraculous food that sustained the Israelites in the wilderness. This wasn't just food; it was a symbol of God's constant care and provision.

"The Shamir" is also on the list: a mythical worm or substance capable of cutting through the hardest stone. Tradition says it was used to build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, without the use of iron tools, which were associated with warfare.

We also have "the shape of the alphabet," "the writing," and "the tables (of the law)." These all point to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The very letters we use to connect with the divine, the act of writing itself, and the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, all created in that sacred twilight.

Finally, there's "the ram of Abraham," the ram that appeared as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac (Genesis 22). This ram wasn't just any animal; it was a symbol of God's mercy and the ultimate test of Abraham's faith.

The text then adds parenthetically that some sages include "the destroying spirits also, and the sepulchre of Moses, and the ram of Isaac; and other sages say: the tongs also." This hints at the idea that even negative forces are ultimately under divine control and that certain things, like the location of Moses's grave (which remains a mystery), were predetermined. Even the simple act of creation – tongs to make more tongs – was planned from the start.

What's so significant about all of this? It tells us that God doesn't just create the big, obvious things. God also takes care of the details, the things we might overlook. It's a reminder that even in the last moments, even in the twilight, miracles can happen. And that keeping Shabbat connects us to this divine creativity and care. So, as we prepare for Shabbat, let's remember those last-minute miracles and the blessings that come with observing this sacred time. What last-minute miracles might we experience as we enter into a space of rest and connection?

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