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God's Little Finger Drew the Ark and His Hand Freed the Slaves

Noah copied cubits off a finger drawn in the air. When the lice came, Pharaoh's magicians named that same hand and could not match it.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Noah Copied Cubits Off the Air
  2. The Magicians Named It Too Late
  3. The Princess Reached the Basket
  4. The Finger Wrote on Stone
God's Little Finger Drew the Ark and His Hand Freed the Slaves Click for full size

Noah Copied Cubits Off the Air

When God told Noah how to build the ark, He said, "This is how you shall make it," and the word this was a gesture. The little finger of the right hand traced the plan in the air. Noah squinted and copied length, width, three decks, a window, pitch inside and out. He went back to the empty air to check a measurement his neighbors could not see.

They laughed. The sky over him looked like any other sky. He was an old man building a ship on dry ground because a small finger had drawn him a picture. That finger drew the plan, then built the vessel that carried every future through the water.

The Magicians Named It Too Late

Long after, the lice came down on Egypt. Pharaoh's magicians had matched the blood. They had matched the frogs, which only meant more frogs, a match that helped no one. They set out their tools for the lice and produced nothing. Not one louse from all that dust.

They went in to Pharaoh and said three words.

"This is the finger of God." (Exodus 8:19)

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. Bricks without straw, children drowned in the river, four hundred years of bondage, answered by a single digit of the hand that had given Noah his cubits.

The magicians had the name right. They had it too late to save Pharaoh anything.

The Princess Reached the Basket

Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the Nile and saw a basket in the reeds. She stretched for it. The basket sat too far. Her arm went past what an arm can do. It lengthened until her hand closed on the handle and brought the basket in.

A boy was crying inside. She knew he was a Hebrew infant, hidden from her father's decree. She named him Moses, drawn from the water, and raised him as her son.

The hand that had drawn cubits in the air, the hand that had moved through Egypt with ten plagues, stretched a princess's arm across a few extra cubits of river. A small rescue. A large one. Same work.

The Finger Wrote on Stone

After the plagues, after the sea, after the wilderness, Moses climbed Sinai. He came down with two tablets. They were written with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10), not dictated and not copied by a prophet with a good memory.

The little finger had built the ark. Another finger had broken Egypt and freed the slaves. This finger cut the words into stone so no one could call the law a suggestion. Then the work stopped. Shabbat sat at the end of that hand the way it sat at the end of the days of creation. What the finger had made would have to stand without being drawn again in the air.

Midrash AggadahPirkei Derabbi EliezerShabbatPlagues
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 48:16Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

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.

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). 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. 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

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

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. 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.

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

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

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).

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. 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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