The opening words of the Song of the Sea — "I shall sing to the Lord" (Exodus 15:1) — prompt the Mekhilta to reflect on what makes God worthy of song. The phrase that follows in the verse, "for He is highly exalted," is read as a declaration that the ascription of "strength" is befitting to God alone. No other power in the universe deserves to be called strong. Whatever might Egypt possessed, whatever force Pharaoh projected, it evaporated at the sea. True strength belongs only to the Creator.
David expressed the same idea centuries later in a prayer that became one of the most important liturgical statements in Jewish tradition: "To You, O Lord, is befitting greatness, might, splendor, triumph, and majesty" (1 Chronicles 29:11). David listed five attributes — greatness, might, splendor, triumph, and majesty — and assigned every one of them to God. Not one belongs to a human king, not even to David himself.
The Mekhilta links Moses and David through their shared recognition. Both stood at moments of supreme victory — Moses at the sea, David at the height of his kingdom — and both directed all credit upward. The Song of the Sea is not a victory anthem for Israel. It is a declaration that victory itself is a divine attribute. When Israel sings, they are not celebrating their own escape. They are acknowledging that the power which saved them was never theirs to claim.