Parshat Beshalach5 min read

Uzza Argued Mercy While Gabriel Held a Brick

Egypt's angel said the slaves had already been paid in silver. Gabriel held up a brick-mold with straw still stuck in the corners.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Sea Stood in Walls
  2. Uzza Spoke for the Drowning
  3. Gabriel Lifted the Brick-Mold
  4. Ten Blows Before the Water
Uzza Argued Mercy While Gabriel Held a Brick Click for full size

The Sea Stood in Walls

The water stood higher than any ramp Egypt had built. Israel walked the floor it had made, twelve paths for the tribes, windows in the walls so brother could see brother. Egypt drove in after them. Chariot noise still thought it owned the morning and the right to take unpaid labor back.

None of the tribes wanted to enter first. Benjamin leaped. The path took him. That leap would buy Mordecai a name among the righteous. Behind him the other tribes followed, and behind them Egypt divided itself into companies of murder and plunder and came on shouting the old line: I will pursue, I will overtake.

Uzza Spoke for the Drowning

In heaven a brief opened its mouth. Uzza, prince of Egypt, stood before the Throne.

"You are called righteous and upright," he said. "Have the Egyptians drowned even one of Your children? If You punish them for bondage, Israel has already carried off silver and gold as wages."

The argument was skilled. Mercy has ears for skilled arguments. For a moment the court leaned toward the softer seat.

The Holy One laid out the file. Famine in the years of Joseph, who filled Egypt's storehouses when grain was a prayer. Sojourners turned into a slave caste by soft mouths and hard quotas. The cry that rose from the brick pits. Moses and Aaron sent with a demand simple enough for a child. Pharaoh searching his registers for a God he did not find, mocking, "Who is the Lord?" boasting that he made himself and the Nile. Ten plagues. Still the chase into a split sea.

The household of heaven answered, "You have great justice to drown them."

Uzza pressed the other side. "His mercies are over all His works." Mercy nearly won. The sea held its breath. Chariot wheels spun on wet sand that was not yet a grave.

Gabriel Lifted the Brick-Mold

Gabriel came down with a thing no speech could perfume. He seized a brick-mold from the Egyptian labor, straw still stuck in the dried clay of its corners, and held it up before the Throne.

Clay. Straw. The shape of a quota. The geometry of a back broken on schedule.

"Upon so accursed a nation You would have mercy?"

The scales tipped. God rose from the throne of mercy to the throne of judgment. Not a change of character. A change of seat for a case that had finished its hearing. The sea, which had humbled itself into paths and walls for love of Israel, closed its mouth on the pursuers.

A mare of light ran before their stallions. They galloped into the returning water still shouting they would overtake. Companies of murder went under as murder. Companies of plunder went under as plunder. Israel looked back from the far bank and saw the great hand, and believed.

Ten Blows Before the Water

The file in heaven had not been empty. Each plague had already answered a cruelty, blow for blow, before a single chariot wet its wheel. They barred Israel's daughters from the water, so the Nile turned to blood. They sent Israel to fish, so frogs came up from the sea into the beds. They made Israel sweep the streets, so the dust rose as lice. They sent Israel to hunt, so beasts hunted them. They forced the drawing of water, the hauling of goods, the labor of field and bathhouse and orchard and herd. Each command came back as a plague. At midnight the firstborn fell, and even then some of those firstborn had risen with swords against their own fathers when Pharaoh still refused.

A king putting down a rebel province does not strike all at once. He dams the river. Then shouters at the walls. Arrows. Barbarians. War-beasts. Burning oil. Catapult stones. Swarming legions. Prison darkness. At last the killing of the great ones. Blood, frogs, lice, beasts, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, firstborn. Pharaoh spent every chance like cheap coin. The sea was not the first verdict. It was the last one, and it waited until a brick-mold had entered the file and Egypt's own angel had finished his speech.

When the water settled, fish swam through chariot knotholes. Miriam's timbrel found a rhythm on the far bank. Uzza's plea stayed on the record as the mercy that almost was. The mold, invisible now, still outweighed the silver carried out in the night.

Red SeaUzzaGabrielEgyptExodusPlagues
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Midrash Vayosha 3Midrash VaYosha

Translation of the source text.Otzar Midrashim, New York 1915, Public Domain · CC-BY-SA

"And Israel saw the great hand which the Lord wrought upon Egypt" (Exodus 14:31). Our Sages of blessed memory said: At the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to drown the Egyptians in the sea, Uzza, the prince of Egypt, stood before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said before Him: "Master of the Universe, You are called righteous and upright, and before You there is neither injustice nor favoritism. Why, then, do You wish to drown my children in the sea? Have they drowned even one of Your children, or killed even one of Your children? And if it is on account of the harsh bondage with which they enslaved them that You wish to drown them, Your children have already taken their wages, for they took all the silver and gold that the Egyptians had."

Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, assembled the heavenly household and said to them: "Judge, I pray, between Me and Uzza, the prince of Egypt. In truth, at first I brought a famine upon them and set over them Joseph My beloved, who saved them by his wisdom, and they all became his servants; and afterward [Israel] came there as sojourners because of the famine [in their land], and the Egyptians made them serve with every harsh labor in the world. And they cried out from the abundance of labor, and their cry came up before Me. And I sent to Pharaoh My faithful messengers Moses and Aaron, and they came before Pharaoh and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord: Send forth My people that they may serve Me.' And before that wicked one the kings of the east and the west were sitting, and he began to be haughty and said, 'Who is the Lord, that I should hearken to His voice? Why has He not come before me as all the kings of the east and the west come, and why has He not brought a gift before me as all the kings bring to me? But this God of whom you speak, I do not know Him.' What did he do? He went and searched in his registers and did not find My mission written there. He answered and said to his servants, 'Have you ever heard of this God?' His wise men answered and said, 'We have heard that He is a son of the wise and a son of the kings of old.' He said to My messengers, 'What are the deeds of this God?' They answered and said to him, 'He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords; He created the heavens and the earth, and He puts to death and gives life; the soul of every living thing is in His hand.' He answered and said to My messengers, 'There is no God like this in all the world who could do these deeds, except I alone, for I created myself and my river the Nile.' And because of this matter, that he denied Me, I sent upon him ten plagues until he sent My children forth against his will; and even with all this he did not restrain himself from his wickedness, but turned back and pursued after them to return them to his bondage. And because all this was done to him and he did not acknowledge Me, We wish to drown him in the sea, he and all his host."

Immediately all the heavenly household answered and said: "You have great justice to drown them in the sea." When Uzza saw this, he opened and said: "Master of the World, I know that they are guilty before You; nevertheless, may it be Your will that You deal with them according to the measure of mercy, and have compassion on the work of Your hands, as it is written, 'And His mercies are over all His works' (Psalms 145:9)." And the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to have mercy upon them, until Gabriel came and took a mold of the bricks that Israel used to make in Egypt and showed it before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said before Him: "Master of the Worlds, upon so accursed a nation, who imposed harsh labor upon Your children, will You have mercy?!" And the Holy One, blessed be He, turned back from the measure of mercy, and sat over them upon the throne of judgment and drowned them in the sea. Therefore it is said, "And Israel saw the great hand" (the great hand is the measure of judgment, see Rabbenu Bahya, chapter 7) "which the Lord wrought upon Egypt, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses His servant" (Exodus 14:31).

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Midrash Vayosha 7Midrash VaYosha

Translation of the source text.Otzar Midrashim, New York 1915, Public Domain · CC-BY-SA

"And in the greatness of Your majesty" (Exodus 15:7), The Sages said: Ten plagues did the Holy One, blessed be He, bring upon the Egyptians in Egypt. The first plague He brought upon them was blood. And why did He bring blood upon them? Because the Egyptians prevented the daughters of Israel from performing immersion; therefore He brought blood upon them. The second plague He brought upon them was frogs, which fell into their kneading-troughs and into the chambers of their dwellings and their beds, and croaked in their faces. And the plague of frogs was the harshest of them all. And why did He bring frogs upon them? Because the Egyptians used to say to Israel, "Go, hunt fish for us" (another version: creeping and crawling things) "from the sea"; therefore He brought frogs upon them. The third plague He brought upon them was lice, and the lice were a cubit high upon the ground, and when the Egyptians put on their clean garments they were immediately filled with lice. And why did He bring lice upon them? Because the Egyptians used to say to Israel, "Go and sweep our houses, our courtyards, and the marketplaces"; therefore the dust of the earth was turned into lice.

The fourth plague He brought upon them was a mixture of lions, wolves, bears, and leopards, and they entered their houses, and the Egyptians shut their doors. And the Holy One, blessed be He, sent them a beast from the sea, whose name is siloni, and it would enter through the windows and open the doors, and the beasts would enter and devour the Egyptians. And why did He bring the mixture upon them? Because the Egyptians used to say to Israel, "Go and hunt beasts for us from the field"; therefore He brought the mixture upon them. The fifth plague the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them was pestilence. And why did He bring pestilence upon them? Because the Egyptians used to say to Israel, "Go and pasture our cattle for us"; therefore He brought pestilence upon them, so that all their cattle died. The sixth plague the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them was boils, on man and on beast. And why did He bring boils upon them? Because the Egyptians used to say to Israel, "Go and prepare bathhouses for us, that we may pamper ourselves"; therefore He brought boils upon them, which heated their flesh.

The seventh plague the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them was hail, upon man and upon beast. Why? Because the Egyptians used to say to Israel, "Go, plow and sow our fields and our land"; therefore He brought hail upon them, which shattered the trees and the seedlings. And the Sages said: When Moses lifted his hands to the Holy One, blessed be He, the hail stood between heaven and earth, as it is said, "And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunderings and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth" (Exodus 9:33), rather it was suspended between heaven and earth, until Joshua came and waged war with those thirty-one kings, and the Holy One, blessed be He, cast it down upon them, as it is said, "more died from the hailstones than those whom the children of Israel slew with the sword" (Joshua 10:11). And what remains the Holy One, blessed be He, will rain down upon Gog and Magog, as it is said, "Then the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle" (Zechariah 14:3). The eighth plague the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them was locusts, whose teeth were like the teeth of a lion and which had the fangs of a lioness. Why did He bring locusts upon them? Because the Egyptians used to say to Israel, "Go and plant trees for us and guard their fruits"; therefore He brought locusts upon them, and they ate what remained of the hail.

The ninth plague the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them was the darkness of Gehinnom, and one who was sitting could not stand, and one who was standing could not sit, because of the heaviness of the darkness. And why did He bring darkness upon them? Because there were transgressors among Israel, and the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to put them to death during the three days of gloom, so that the Egyptians would not see their downfall and rejoice over them; therefore He brought darkness upon them. And the tenth plague, that is the plague of the firstborn. And before the plague came, Moses went to the firstborn of Egypt and said to them, "Thus says the Lord: About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die" (cf. Exodus 11:4-5). Immediately all the firstborn of Egypt went to their fathers and said to them, "Know that all the plagues that Moses said, they have all come, and now he has said that every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die." Their fathers answered them, "Go to Pharaoh, for he too is a firstborn." And so they did, and they said to him, "Send out this people, and if you do not send them, every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die." Pharaoh said to his servants, "I said: either my life shall go forth or their life shall go forth" (its meaning: I shall die, or Israel shall die, before I send them out). And he said to his servants, "Strike them with every kind of chastisement." Immediately all the firstborn of Egypt went and each took his sword and slew their fathers, as it is said, "to Him who struck Egypt through their firstborn" (Psalms 136:10). And on top of all this, at midnight every firstborn of Egypt was slain. Therefore it is said, "And in the greatness of Your majesty You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your wrath, it consumes them like stubble" (Exodus 15:7).

"And with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up" (Exodus 15:8), The Sages said: When the waters of the sea saw the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loved Israel, the waters lowered themselves for the honor of Israel; and the sea too lowered itself and made itself into twelve splits (paths) corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, and raised its waves on high six hundred cubits (mil), and congealed itself below, and made its waters sweet, and made itself like a wall, and windows were made in it so that Israel could see one another and praise the Holy One, blessed be He, with songs and praises, and they walked within the sea like a man who walks in his house, until they came out onto dry land. Therefore it is said, "And with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, the floods stood upright like a heap, the depths congealed in the heart of the sea" (Exodus 15:8).

"The enemy said" (Exodus 15:9), The Sages said: When the Egyptians pursued Israel at the sea, they became three companies. The first company said, "Let us drown ourselves in the sea"; the second company said, "Let us return to Egypt"; and the third company said, "Let us wage war with them." To the company that said, "Let us drown ourselves in the sea," Moses said, "Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord" (Exodus 14:13). To the company that said, "Let us return to Egypt," Moses said, "You shall not see them again forever" (cf. Exodus 14:13). To the company that said, "Let us wage war with them," Moses said, "The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace" (Exodus 14:14). And when the sea was split, the report of it was heard from one end of the world to the other, and the waters rose one thousand six hundred mil (in Targum Yonatan on the portion Beshalach it states: three hundred mil), and all the world was terrified and seized with dread and trembling. At that hour all the tribes stood at the edge of the sea and said, "Who shall go down into the sea first?" until the tribe of Benjamin leaped and went down first, and all the tribes after him. Therefore Benjamin merited that there went forth from him Mordecai the Righteous, through whom Israel was redeemed from death to life. When the Egyptians saw that Israel had entered the Sea of Reeds, they too divided into three companies. The first company said, "Let us bring them back to Egypt"; the second company said, "Let us kill them"; the third company said, "Let us strip them and leave them naked." To the company that said, "Let us bring them back to Egypt," the Holy One, blessed be He, blew upon them with His wind and the sea covered them, as it is said, "You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them" (Exodus 15:10); and the company that said, "Let us kill them," the Holy One, blessed be He, drowned, as it is said, "and the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Sea of Reeds" (Exodus 15:4); and the company that said, "Let us strip them and leave them naked," the Holy One, blessed be He, shook into the sea, as it is said, "and the Lord shook off Egypt in the midst of the sea" (Exodus 14:27). When the Egyptians saw that the punishment had begun upon them, they said, "The God of Israel is exceedingly great; let us turn and flee to Egypt." When the Holy One, blessed be He, saw this, He sent before them an angel in the form of a female horse, and it entered the sea, and all the horses ran after it and entered the sea against their will. Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, and the waters shall return upon Egypt." And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and immediately Israel plundered the wealth of Egypt. Therefore it is said, "The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall dispossess them'" (Exodus 15:9).

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Midrash Vayosha 5Midrash VaYosha

Translation of the source text.Otzar Midrashim, New York 1915, Public Domain · CC-BY-SA

"The LORD is a man of war" (Exodus 15:3), our Sages of blessed memory said: with the stratagems of a king of flesh and blood He brought the plagues upon them. A king of flesh and blood, when a province rebels against him, what does he do? At first he sends legions and they surround it, and he dams up its watercourse so that they will die. If they repent, well and good; and if not, he brings against them shouters (men of loud noise). If they repent, well and good; and if not, he shoots arrows at them. If they repent, well and good; and if not, he leads barbarians against them, and afterward war-beasts, and afterward he throws naphtha upon them, and afterward he hurls catapult-stones upon them, and afterward he incites legions and multitudes against them, and afterward he binds them in prison, and afterward he kills the great ones among them.

So too the Holy One, blessed be He, came upon the Egyptians with the stratagems of kings. At first He dammed up their water, as it is said, "He turned their rivers into blood." They did not let Israel go; He brought upon them shouters, these are the frogs, which croaked in their bellies. They did not let Israel go; He brought arrows upon them, these are the lice, which entered their bodies like arrows. They did not let Israel go; He brought barbarians upon them, this is the wild-beast swarm (arov). They did not let Israel go; He brought war-beasts upon them, this is the pestilence that killed their cattle. They did not let Israel go; He threw naphtha upon them, this is the boils. They did not let Israel go; He brought catapult-stones upon them, this is the hail. Afterward He brought legions upon them, this is the locust. Afterward He put them in prison, this is the darkness. Afterward He killed the great ones, these are the firstborn.

And according to what the Egyptians plotted to do to Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the plagues upon them. They thought concerning Israel that they would draw water for them, therefore He turned their water into blood. They thought that they would carry their merchandise, therefore He sent frogs among them (which destroyed their merchandise), that they would leap about in their bellies. They thought that they would till their soil, therefore their dust turned into lice. They thought concerning Israel that they would carry their children, therefore He sent among them a swarm of lions and wolves and bears and leopards; and an Egyptian would have ten children and would give them to a Jew to walk with them in the marketplace, and a lion would come and snatch one, and a bear one, and a serpent one, until he gave an accounting of them all. They thought to make Israel shepherds for their cattle, therefore He sent among them pestilence that killed all their cattle. They thought to drown Israel in water, therefore He drowned them in water, for the Holy One, blessed be He, judges a person only measure for measure.

And know that all the plagues that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Egyptians, He will likewise bring upon Edom after Israel goes out from exile, in the days of the Messiah. In Egypt He brought upon them the plague of blood first; so too He will bring upon Edom when she is uprooted, as it is said, "And I will set wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke" (Joel 3:3), "the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD" (Joel 4:4 [3:4]). In Egypt He brought frogs, whose sound was great; so too He will do to Edom, He will send among them sounds, as it is said, "A sound of tumult from the city, a sound from the Temple, the sound of the LORD rendering recompense to His enemies" (Isaiah 66:6). In Egypt He brought lice upon them, which burned them; so too He will do to Edom, as it is said, "And her streams shall be turned into pitch and her dust into brimstone" (Isaiah 34). In Egypt He brought upon them the wild-beast swarm; in Edom too He will do so, as it is written, "And the pelican and the bittern shall possess it, and the owl and the raven shall dwell there" (Isaiah 34). In Egypt the Holy One, blessed be He, brought pestilence; in Edom too He will do so, as it is written, "And I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence" etc. (Ezekiel 38:22). In Egypt He brought boils; in Edom too He will do so, as it is said, "And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot away" etc. (Zechariah 14:12). In Egypt He brought hail; so too He will do to Edom, as it is said, "And I will rain upon him hailstones, fire, and brimstone" (Ezekiel 38). In Egypt He brought locusts; so too He will do to Edom, as it is said, "Speak to the birds of every wing and to every beast of the field: Gather and come" (Isaiah 34:11). In Egypt He brought darkness; so too He will do to Edom, as it is said, "And He shall stretch over it the line of chaos and the stones of emptiness" (Isaiah 34). In Egypt He brought a plague upon their firstborn; in Edom too He will do so, as it is said, "There are the princes of the north, all of them" etc. (Ezekiel 32:30). In Egypt He exacted punishment from their gods and afterward exacted punishment from them; in Edom too He will do so, that He will exact punishment from their celestial prince first and afterward exact punishment from them, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass on that day that the LORD will punish the host of the height on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth" (Isaiah 24:21). Therefore it is written, "The LORD is a man of war."

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