Rabbi Yoḥanan, a towering figure in the Talmudic era, offers a startling idea. He suggests that when God created the sea, He made a deal. A condition (tna’o in Hebrew) that it would split for the Israelites when the time came. The very fabric of creation, pre-programmed with moments of miraculous intervention. We see hints of this in Exodus 14:27, "The sea returned to its power [le’eitano]," which Rabbi Yoḥanan connects directly to that initial condition.
But wait, it gets even bigger.
Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar takes this concept and expands it to cosmic proportions. He argues that God didn't just make a deal with the sea. He stipulated conditions with everything created during those awe-inspiring six days of Creation. Everything!
How can we even begin to grasp that? Well, Rabbi Yirmeya points us to Isaiah 45:12: "My hands stretched the heavens and commanded all their host." Right from the moment of creation, God was setting the stage for miracles to come.
Imagine it: God commanding the sea to split, as we've discussed. But also, commanding the heavens and the earth to be silent before Moses, as Deuteronomy 32:1 tells us: “Listen, the heavens, and I will speak, and the earth will hear the sayings of my mouth.” Commanding the sun and moon to stand still for Joshua, immortalized in Joshua 10:12: “Sun, stand still at Givon; [and Moon, in the Valley of Ayalon].”
These weren't just isolated incidents. They were part of a grand, pre-ordained plan woven into the very essence of reality.
The implications are staggering. We find in Bereshit Rabbah 5, that God commanded the ravens to feed Elijah (I Kings 17:6), the fire to not harm Hananya, Mishael, and Azarya, and the lions to leave Daniel unharmed. He commanded the heavens to open before Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1) and the fish to spit out Jonah (Jonah 2:11).
Each of these miracles, each of these seemingly impossible events, were, according to this understanding, built into the system from the very beginning. It is almost like the creation itself was imbued with the promise of future redemption.
What does this mean for us? Does it mean that miracles are predetermined and inevitable? Or does it mean that our actions, our faith, can trigger these pre-ordained conditions? Perhaps it's a bit of both. This ancient text invites us to see the world not as a collection of random events, but as a tapestry woven with intention, purpose, and the potential for the extraordinary. It makes you wonder: what conditions are waiting to be triggered in our own lives?