We often hear the story, but sometimes the sheer impossibility of it all gets lost. Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Psalms, gives us some truly stunning imagery to help us grasp the magnitude of that moment.
Think about it: God didn't just ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. As Deuteronomy 4:34 asks, "Or has God ever tried to go and take a nation for Himself from the midst of another nation?" Rabbi Chiya, quoting Rabbi Yirmiya, uses the analogy of a warrior going into battle. God wasn’t negotiating; He was actively fighting to liberate His people.
But Rabbi Abba Bar Acha, citing Rabbi Chanin, offers an even more visceral image: extracting a fetus from an animal's womb. That's how intimately and forcefully God removed Israel from Egypt. As we find in Leviticus 1:3, "And he shall bring it close," and in Exodus 7:5, "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord." This teaches us, the Midrash emphasizes, the difficulty of being cast off, of being wrenched from a place you've been embedded within. Deuteronomy 4:20 tells us, "He took you out of the iron crucible." It was like extracting pure gold from a fiery furnace without even tongs or a scoop – an impossible task, yet God accomplished it.
Rabbi Avin, quoting Rabbi Simon, adds another layer, drawing on Psalm 124:3: "They would have swallowed us alive." The Israelites were not merely living alongside the Egyptians; they were, figuratively, being consumed by them. If you doubt that "men" refers to Egypt here, Psalm 124:2 says, "If the Lord had not been for us when men rose up against us," which is clarified by Isaiah 31:3, "And Egypt is man and not God."
And what about the splitting of the Red Sea? The Midrash doesn’t just gloss over it. Oh no. It explodes with imaginative detail. We’re told that God performed ten miracles at the sea!
First, picture this: Walls upon walls of water, each wall topped with a tower, and each tower guarded by ministering angels protecting the Israelites! Moses tells them to cross, but they balk. "How can we cross between these walls," they ask, "as it is said (Exodus 14:22-29), 'And the waters were a wall unto them?'"
Then, the sea freezes, filling all its depths. Imagine someone floating with their arms outstretched – that's how God froze the heart of the sea. And then, the water transforms into arched bricks, referencing Habakkuk 3:14: "You pierced with his own arrows the head of his warriors."
But the Israelites are still hesitant! "When the waters were two below and one above, we could not cross, and now that they are two above and one below, how much less can we cross?" So, the water morphs again, this time into flat bricks, like the "apple" of God’s eye, as described in Zechariah 2:8-9: "For he that touches you touches the apple of his eye… And I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants."
And that's not all! Sweet water springs forth from the salty depths, quenching their thirst, echoing Psalm 78:16: "And he brought streams also out of the rock." The water then becomes clay, evoking Habakkuk 3:15: "Thou didst walk through the sea with thy horses, through the heap of great waters."
Next, towering columns of water rise up, "The floods stood upright as a heap," (Exodus 15:8), like a stack of straw between two piles. Then, the water breaks into separate drops, as Psalm 74:13 states, "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength."
Finally, valleys appear, grass grows, and the Israelites graze like sheep in a pasture, a scene reminiscent of Isaiah 33:9: "The land mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits."
This isn’t just a story about crossing a sea. It's a story about relentless divine intervention, a complete reshaping of reality to liberate a people from bondage. The Midrash Tehillim, through these vivid images, helps us understand the Exodus not just as a historical event, but as a powerful demonstration of God's unwavering commitment to His people. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, what seemingly impossible transformations are possible with faith and divine assistance?