The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael connects the drowning of the Egyptians at the Red Sea to the apocalyptic prophecy of Ezekiel about the war of Gog and Magog. The link between these two events, separated by centuries of prophecy, reveals how the rabbis understood the Exodus as a preview of the end of days.
The verse cited is (Ezekiel 38:18-20): "And it will be on this day, on the day that Gog comes against the land of Israel... the fishes of the sea will quake before Me." Ezekiel's prophecy describes a future invasion of the land of Israel by Gog, a mysterious figure who leads a coalition of nations against God's people. The devastation will be so total that even the fish in the sea will tremble before God's wrath.
The Mekhilta draws the connection: just as those thousands and ten thousands of Egyptian soldiers plummeted like lead into the depths of the sea, so too will the armies of Gog be destroyed when they dare to attack Israel. The language is deliberate. "Plummeted like lead" echoes the Song at the Sea (Exodus 15:10), where the Torah describes the Egyptians sinking "like lead in the mighty waters."
By linking these two events, the Mekhilta establishes a typological pattern. The Exodus is not merely history. It is prophecy. What God did to Egypt, He will do again to Gog. The sea that swallowed Pharaoh's army will quake again when Gog's armies approach the land of Israel. The same divine power that acted at the beginning of Jewish history will act again at its climax. Thousands and ten thousands will fall again, and the pattern established at the Red Sea will repeat on a cosmic scale.