The Mekhilta draws attention to a pattern hidden in the Torah's language. The verse states, "And it was in the morning watch" (Exodus 14:24) — God looked down upon the Egyptian camp at the Red Sea during the predawn hours and threw them into confusion. Why the morning? Because the prayers of the righteous are heard in the morning.
The rabbis trace this principle through the patriarchs. The "morning" of Abraham appears in the story of the Binding of Isaac: "And Abraham rose early in the morning" (Genesis 22:3). Abraham did not delay, did not wait until a more comfortable hour. He woke at dawn to fulfill God's most terrifying command. The "morning" of Isaac is embedded in the same narrative: "and both of them went together" (Genesis 22:6) — father and son walking side by side in the early morning light, both knowing what lay ahead, both willing.
The Mekhilta establishes that morning is not merely a time on the clock. It is a spiritual reality. The patriarchs chose the morning for their most consequential acts of faith. Abraham rose before dawn to bind his son. Isaac walked beside his father at first light toward the altar. God responded in kind at the Red Sea, choosing the morning watch to deliver Israel. The hour of dawn, in rabbinic thought, carries a charge of divine responsiveness — it is when heaven most readily answers the prayers of those who, like the patriarchs, do not hesitate.