The Mekhilta adds another dimension to the Song of the Sea: "I shall sing to the Lord," who is wise. Not merely knowledgeable or clever — wise in the absolute sense. All wisdom that exists in the world flows from a single source, and the Israelites sang because they recognized that source at the Red Sea.
The proof texts build the case systematically. "For the Lord shall give wisdom. From His mouth are knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 2:6). Wisdom does not emerge from human effort alone — it is given by God, spoken from His mouth. When a sage arrives at a brilliant insight, the Mekhilta implies, that insight originated in the divine mind. "He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the knowers of understanding" (Daniel 2:21). Even those who are already wise receive their ongoing wisdom from God. Wisdom is not a one-time gift but a continuous flow.
The climactic verse comes from Jeremiah: "Who will not fear You, King of the nations? For among all the sages of the nations and in all of their kingdoms, there is none like You" (Jeremiah 10:7). The Mekhilta acknowledges that other nations have sages. The claim is not that non-Israelite wisdom does not exist. The claim is that no human wisdom, from any nation or kingdom, can compare to God's. At the sea, the Israelites witnessed a display of strategic genius — the timing, the method, the precision of the destruction — that made the wisest military minds of Egypt look foolish. They sang because they saw wisdom itself in action.