When Pharaoh sent soldiers to hunt down Moses after the slaying of the Egyptian taskmaster, God intervened in a way no one expected. Rather than striking the pursuers dead or sending a plague, the Almighty turned them into groups of mutes, deaf ones, and blind ones — each affliction perfectly chosen to thwart their mission.
The soldiers who could still see ran up to the mutes and demanded: "Where is Moses?" But the mutes could not speak a word in reply. They turned to the deaf, shouting their questions — but the deaf could not hear what was being asked. They pointed and gestured to the blind, but the blind could not see which direction to go. Every avenue of pursuit collapsed into confusion and futility.
The Mekhilta roots this miracle in a deeper theological point. As it is written (Exodus 4:11): "Who made a mouth for man, or who makes one mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" The very faculties that humans take for granted — speech, hearing, sight — belong to God alone. He grants them, and He can withdraw them in an instant.
This is why Moses later declared, "The God of my father was my help." He did not say God fought for him or destroyed his enemies. He said God helped him — quietly, decisively, by rearranging the basic capacities of those who meant him harm. The pursuers were not killed. They were simply rendered unable to pursue.