The Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers, dives into this very question, and what it reveals is both awe-inspiring and, well, a little unsettling.
According to it, in the very beginning, God commanded the angel of the sea to swallow all the primordial waters. Now, this angel wasn’t exactly thrilled about the task. In fact, he protested, saying he could barely handle his own immensity! He wept, apparently, and that's when things took a turn.
"He kicked him and killed him," the text says, citing (Job 26:12): “With His power, He calmed the sea, and with His understanding, He crushed Rahav.” So, the angel of the sea’s name was Rahav, and things didn't end well for him.
The Bamidbar Rabbah goes on: God crushed Rahav and trampled him, and the sea received him. Then, as (Amos 4:13) states, He "tramples upon the heights of the earth." To keep the waters in check, God set sand as "doors and a bar," as we find in (Job 38:8). And, as (Jeremiah 5:22) puts it, God set "the sand as a boundary for the sea."
But what about the mixing of fresh and saltwater?
The sea worried that its sweet waters would mingle with the salty. God reassured it: "No, each and every one has a storehouse of its own," echoing (Psalms 33:7): "He places the depths in storehouses." : we ourselves are miniature worlds. The text then shifts to a fascinating analogy: the human face. It’s just a small area, “the size of a span,” yet it contains so many different fluids, each with its own unique character. Tears are salty, earwax is fatty, nasal mucus is, well, foul, and saliva is sweet. Why?
Each serves a purpose. Salty tears prevent us from blinding ourselves with endless grief. Fatty earwax protects us from being overwhelmed by harsh news. Foul nasal mucus stops us from being poisoned by bad smells. And sweet saliva, as well as aiding in digestion, connects us to the sweetness of Torah, "sweeter than honey" (Psalms 19:11).
If such differentiation exists in something as small as a face, how much more so in the vast sea, teeming with life, as (Psalms 104:25) reminds us: "There is the sea, vast and broad; an innumerable swarm is in it."
It’s all interconnected.
The Bamidbar Rabbah emphasizes that God accomplishes His mission in all sorts of ways, sometimes through the most unexpected creatures. Rabbi Hanin of Tzipori tells stories of scorpions, snakes, even a stray bone, all carrying out God’s will, often in ways we can’t possibly foresee. One story tells of a scorpion needing to cross the Jordan River on a mission. God appointed a frog to carry it across!
These stories remind us that even the smallest, seemingly insignificant things can play a crucial role in the grand scheme of things.
And what about those who exalt themselves? The text gives the example of Titus, the Roman emperor who desecrated the Temple. He was ultimately defeated by a tiny gnat that entered his nose. The gnat, a “lowly creature” because it ingests but does not egest, brought down a powerful ruler.
The passage concludes with a powerful image: In the future, God will exact retribution from the nations through slight entities, as (Isaiah 7:18) says: “It will be on that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the edge of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.”
So, what do we take away from all this? Perhaps it's a reminder that the world, from the vast oceans to the smallest creatures, is interconnected and purposeful. Everything, in its own way, is part of a divine plan, even when we can't see it or understand it. And perhaps, too, a dose of humility. Even the mightiest among us are ultimately subject to the will of something far greater, and sometimes, the smallest things can have the biggest impact.
May the name of the King of kings the Holy One blessed be He be blessed, as He created His world with wisdom and understanding, His wonders are unfathomable, and His greatness is unquantifiable, as it is written: “He gathers the water of the sea like a heap, he places the depths in storehouses” (Psalms 33:7). What is “gathers…like a heap”? When the Holy One blessed be He created His world, He said to the angel of the sea: ‘Open your mouth and swallow all the primordial water.’ He said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, it is sufficient for me if I can withstand my own.’ He began to weep. He kicked him and killed him, as it is stated: “With His power, He calmed the sea, and with His understanding, He crushed Rahav” (Job 26:12). You find that the name of the angel of the sea is Rahav. What did the Holy One blessed be He do? He crushed it and trampled it and the sea received it, as it is stated: “And tramples upon the heights of the earth” (Amos 4:13). He placed sand for them86The water in the oceans. as doors and a bar, as it is stated: “Who dammed the sea with doors” (Job 38:8). And it is written: “Will you not fear Me – the utterance of the Lord – will you not tremble before Me? For I set the sand as a boundary for the sea” (Jeremiah 5:22). And it is written: “I said: You shall come this far and not continue” (Job 38:11). The sea said to Him: ‘If so, my sweet waters will intermingle with the salty.’ He said to it: ‘No, each and every one has a storehouse of its own,’ as it is stated: “He places the depths in storehouses.” If you say that it is a great wonder why all the water on the sea does not intermingle, the face that the Holy One blessed be He created in people is the size of a span; how many founts are in it, but they do not intermingle with one another. Tears of the eyes are salty, excretions of the ears are fatty, mucous of the nose is foul, while the saliva of the mouth is sweet. Why are the tears of the eyes salty? It is because were a person to weep uninterruptedly over the deceased, he would become immediately blinded. Because they are salty, he stops and does not weep. Why are the excretions of the ear fatty? It is so that when a person hears harsh tidings, were he to grasp it directly in his ear, it would be retained and he would die. Because they are fatty, he takes it in in this one and he lets it out with the other. Why is the mucous of the nose foul? It is so that when a person smells a foul odor, were it not for the fact that the mucous of the nose is foul and stops it, he would immediately die. Why is the saliva of the mouth sweet? It is because sometimes one eats food that is objectionable; if the saliva of his mouth was not sweet, his soul would no longer be restored to him. Moreover, it is because he reads in the Torah, in whose regard it is written: “And sweeter than honey” (Psalms 19:11). That is why the saliva of the mouth is sweet. Can the matters not be inferred a fortiori? If in the size of a span there are several founts, all the more so in the vast sea, in whose regard it is stated: “There is the sea, vast and broad; an innumerable swarm is in it” (Psalms 104:25). It is to teach you that the Holy One blessed be He accomplished His mission in all manners, and did not create anything for naught. At times He accomplishes His mission by means of a frog, at times, by means of a hornet, and at times, by means of a scorpion. Rabbi Ḥanin of Tzipori said: There was an incident involving a certain scorpion who went to perform the mission of the Holy One blessed be He across the Jordan. The Holy One blessed be He appointed for it a certain frog, and it crossed upon it. That scorpion went and stung the person.87That was the scorpion's mission. Likewise, there was an incident involving a certain reaper, who was reaping and gathering in the Beit Tofet valley. When the heat of the day came, he took some of the grass and tied it to his head. A large serpent came upon him, and he arose and killed it. A snake charmer passed by him, he saw that he had killed the serpent. He said to him: ‘Who killed that serpent?’ He said: ‘It was I.’ He saw the grass on his head.88According to Etz Yosef, the grass on his head protected him from the poison of the snake. He said to him: ‘Would you agree to remove the grass that is on your head? Then you can boast that you killed it.’ He did so, approached it, and he did not manage to touch it before he fell apart, limb by limb. Rabbi Yannai was sitting and interpreting verses at the entrance of his city. He saw a snake, trembling, and approaching the city. If one would seek to stop it from here, it would go there, and if one would seek to stop it from there, it would go here. He said: ‘This one is going to perform its mission.’ When it entered the city an outcry emerged in the city: ‘So-and-so son of so-and-so, a snake bit him and he died.’ Rabbi Yitzḥak ben Elazar was strolling on the rocky coast of Caesarea. He found a certain femur cast along the road. He would conceal it from here and would find it from there. He said: ‘It seems to me that this is prepared to fulfill its mission.’ Days later, an emissary of the empire passed, stumbled over it, fell, and died. They investigated after him and found in his hand harsh edicts written against the Jews. There was an incident involving two people who were walking along the road, one sighted and one blind. They sat to eat and extended their hands to the vegetation of the field and ate. The one who had been sighted was blinded, and the one who had been blind became sighted. They did not move from there until the one who had been supported by the other was now supporting him. There was an incident involving one who was going from the Land of Israel to Babylon. While he was eating bread, he saw two birds fighting one another. One of them killed the other. It went and brought grass and placed it on its mouth, and revived it. That person went and took the grass that had fallen from the bird and went to revive the dead with it. When he reached the Promontory of Tyre, he found a lion cast aside and dead. He placed the grass on its mouth and revived it. The lion stood and ate him. They say a parable: Do not do good to the wicked, and evil will not befall you. There was an incident in Siḥin in which a certain blind person entered the water to immerse himself. He happened upon Miriam’s well, immersed himself and was cured. The wicked Titus entered the chamber of the Holy of Holies while he was cursing and blaspheming. He stood and cut the curtain, took a Torah scroll, spread it, brought two prostitutes, and committed a sin with them. He drew his sword and cut the Torah scroll. A miracle was performed and blood began flowing out of it. He began taking credit, saying that he [Titus] had killed Him [God]. He continued exalting himself. When he reached the sea, the sea was gradually growing stormier. He said: ‘The God of these, His strength is only in the sea. If He wishes, let Him climb onto dry land and we will see who prevails.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Wicked one son of a wicked one, a tiny creature, the least significant of all My creatures, I will send against you to eliminate you from the world.’ A gnat entered his nose and he died an unnatural death. Why is it called a lowly creature? It is because it ingests, but does not egest. Sometimes it is by means of a hornet, as it is stated: “I will send the hornet before you” (Exodus 23:28). Our Rabbis said: When the Holy One blessed be He sent the hornet before Israel to kill the Emorites, see what is written in their regard: “I destroyed the Emorite from before them, whose height was like the height of cedars and who was strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit from above…” (Amos 2:9). It would enter into his right eye and release its poison, and he would be split in two, fall, and die, as this is the way of the Holy One blessed be He, to accomplish his mission by means of the slightest entities. To all those who exalt themselves over Him, he sent a slight creature to exact retribution from them, to inform you that their might is not genuine. In the future, the Holy One blessed be He is destined to exact retribution from the nations by means of slight entities, as it is stated: “It will be on that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the edge of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria” (Isaiah 7:18).
