It all starts with the verse, "For He is exalted." The Rabbis ask, what does that truly mean?
Rabbi Pappos offers a beautiful and subtle reading of the verse from Song of Songs 1:9: "I have likened you, my love, to a mare [lesusati] in Pharaoh’s chariots." Now, here's where it gets interesting. He points out that the word lesusati is written without a vav, a Hebrew letter that often functions as a vowel. This allows us to read it differently: lesisati, meaning "My gladness." God is saying that He finds gladness, even exaltation, in the face of Pharaoh's power. How can that be?
The Midrash in Shir HaShirim Rabba (Song of Songs Rabbah) expands on this idea. It portrays Pharaoh boasting over the sea, confident in his might as he chases the fleeing Israelites. But God responds, essentially, "Do you have wind, do you have wings? I am far more powerful!" The verse cited is from Psalms 18:11: "He rode upon a cherub and flew; He swooped down upon the wings of the wind."
Immediately, the Holy One, blessed be He, diverted them – the cherub and the wind – and brought them from between the wheels of the divine chariot and diverted them to the sea. Talk about a power move!
So, what's the connection to the mare, to lesusati? The Midrash continues: "I have likened you, my love." The waves of the sea were like mares, and the horses of the wicked Egyptians like lustful stallions, and they pursued [the waves] until [the Egyptians] sank to the bottom of the sea, as it is stated: "The horse and his rider He cast into the sea [rama bayam]" (Exodus 15:1).
Here’s a poignant little detail. The Egyptian would say to his horse, "Yesterday, I would lead you to have you drink water, and you would not follow me. Now you come rushing toward the water to sink me in the sea?" As if even the horse is in on God’s plan!
And the horse, in this telling, responds: "Rama bayam, look at what is in the sea [re’eh ma bayam], the heights of the universe [rumo shel olam] I see in the sea [bayam]."
What a powerful image! The horse, usually a symbol of earthly power and war, suddenly has divine insight. It sees beyond the immediate danger, beyond Pharaoh's arrogance, to the very heights of the universe reflected in the sea. It sees God's plan unfolding.
So, what does all this mean for us? Maybe it's about recognizing that even in the face of overwhelming odds, even when we feel pursued and trapped, there's a bigger picture. Maybe it's about finding that spark of "gladness," that lesisati, in the knowledge that we are not alone, and that even the horses might be seeing something we don't.
It reminds us that true power isn't always the kind that Pharaoh brandishes with chariots and armies. Sometimes, true power is the quiet, unwavering force that can turn the very waves into divine agents, revealing the heights of the universe in the depths of the sea. And maybe, just maybe, that power is on our side.