And in Shemot Rabbah, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Book of Exodus, they offer a powerful, if somewhat unsettling, answer.

The verse in question is God's instruction to Moses at the Red Sea: "Why are you crying out to Me?" (Exodus 14:15). But the rabbis at play here see something deeper. They ask, as the text puts it: “Have you composed your prayer [shuakha] with no trouble?” Now, most translations interpret shuakha as "your wealth." But this midrash, this interpretive story, understands it to mean "your prayer" or "your cry."

So, what does it mean to "compose your prayer"? Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat uses a proverb to explain: "Honor your doctor before you need him." In other words, prepare yourself spiritually before crisis strikes. Rabbi Shimon adds to this, saying: "Compose your prayers before your Creator, so you will not have enemies on high." It’s a preventative measure, a spiritual inoculation against the forces that might come against you.

But who are these "enemies on high?" This is where the story gets really interesting.

Rabbi Ḥama bar Rabbi Ḥanina introduces the angel Samael, often seen as an accuser, an adversary. He says that when Israel was leaving Egypt, Samael rose up to prosecute them. Rabbi Ḥama explains this with a parable: Imagine a shepherd crossing a river with his flock. A wolf appears, threatening the sheep. The clever shepherd throws the wolf a large ram, a distraction. "Let him scuffle with it," he thinks, "until we cross the river, then I will retrieve it."

Similarly, when Israel left Egypt, Samael accused them before God: "Until now, these people were worshipping idols, and you're splitting the sea for them?" So, what did God do? According to this midrash, He gave Samael Job.

Yes, that Job, the one who suffered so much. The text tells us that Job was one of Pharaoh’s advisors, “a wholehearted upright man” (Job 1:1). God essentially says to Samael: "Here he is, in your control." The idea is that while Samael is preoccupied with Job, Israel can safely cross the sea.

Job, of course, doesn't understand this divine chess game. He cries out: "I was at peace and He crushed me" (Job 16:12). The midrash interprets this as: "I was at peace in the world and He crushed me…in order to render me as protection [matara] for His people." Job becomes a "target [matara]" so that Israel can be saved.

He laments: "He has handed me over to an evil angel" (Job 16:11), handed me into the hand of the accuser so that Israel would not emerge guilty at trial." That is why He cast me into his hands; that is: “He hast cast me into the hands of the wicked” (Job 16:11).

At that moment, God tells Moses: "I handed Job to the accuser. What should you do? 'Speak to the children of Israel and have them set forth.'" In other words, stop praying and start moving.

It's a complex and even unsettling idea, isn't it? The notion that one person might suffer to protect others, that even suffering can have a divine purpose. This midrash from Shemot Rabbah forces us to grapple with the uncomfortable question of why bad things happen to good people, and how even in the face of immense suffering, there might be a larger, unseen plan unfolding. It reminds us that sometimes, the answer to our prayers isn't a miraculous intervention, but a call to action, a push to "set forth" even when we don't understand the full picture.