He's got the entire Israelite nation behind him, the relentless Egyptian army closing in, and a vast, unforgiving sea in front of him. What's a leader to do?
The familiar story tells us that God commanded Moses to part the sea. But did you ever stop to think about the conversation they might have had? It wasn't just a simple command, according to the legends.
The Zohar, a foundational text of Jewish mysticism, paints a more nuanced picture. God tells Moses, "Why dost thou stand here praying? My children's prayer has anticipated thine." In other words, the Israelites’ own desperate pleas had already set the stage for a miracle. Their collective faith and yearning were powerful forces. God assures him that all Moses needs to do is raise his rod and stretch out his hand to divide the sea.
But Moses, ever the thoughtful leader, doesn't just blindly obey. He raises a critical point. "Thou commandest me to divide the sea," he says, "and lay bare the dry ground in the midst of it, and yet Thou didst Thyself make it a perpetual decree, that the sand shall be placed for the bound of the sea." He's reminding God of the natural order, of the very boundaries that define the world. It's like saying, "But you set the rules! How can I break them?"
This is where the story gets really interesting. God responds, "Thou has not read the beginning of the Torah." Think about that for a moment. It's a gentle but firm rebuke. God reminds Moses of the creation itself. "I, yea, I, did speak, 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear,' and at that time I made the condition that the waters shall divide before Israel."
According to this, there was a pre-existing condition, a cosmic agreement made at the very dawn of creation. The waters, in their essence, were always meant to part for the sake of the Israelites. Wow!
So, armed with this knowledge, God instructs Moses: "Take the rod that I gave unto thee, and go to the sea upon Mine errand, and speak thus: 'I am the messenger sent by the Creator of the world! Uncover thy paths, O sea, for My children, that they may go through the midst of thee on dry ground.'"
Moses isn’t acting on his own authority. He’s a messenger, an emissary of the divine will. And the sea, in its ancient wisdom, recognizes this authority. As Ginzberg retells it in Legends of the Jews, the sea isn't just a passive body of water; it's an active participant in this cosmic drama.
What does this tell us? Perhaps that even the most seemingly impossible obstacles have within them the seeds of their own resolution. Maybe the challenges we face, like that sea before Moses, aren't impenetrable walls, but opportunities for divine intervention, for a miracle waiting to unfold. Maybe, just maybe, the universe itself is subtly arranged to support us on our journey, even when we can't see the path forward.