Rabbi Yehuda tells us that the Israelites reasoned, "The Holy One, blessed be He, only took us out of Egypt for five things!" What were those five things? First, to give us the plunder of Egypt; second, to bear us on the clouds of glory; third, to split the sea on our behalf; fourth, to take our vengeance from the Egyptians; and fifth, to recite song before Him. And since they’d already experienced all of that, they figured their purpose was fulfilled. “Let us return to Egypt,” they declared. Can you imagine Moses' reaction?
Moses reminds them, "The Omnipresent said to me, 'For as you saw the Egyptians today, you shall not see them ever again!'" (Exodus 14:13). But the people were unconvinced. “They have all died already,” they countered. "Let us return to Egypt."
But Moses wasn’t having it. He played his trump card: “Let us repay our promissory note, for so said the Holy One, blessed be He, to me: ‘When you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship God upon this mountain’” (Exodus 3:12). In other words, "Guys, we have a promise to keep! We're not done yet."
Rabbi Elazar adds another layer to the story. He suggests the Israelites weren’t exactly cooperating. They didn't travel at God's command, but rather, Moses had to force them to move with his staff! Why the resistance? Because they were seeing the corpses of their former enslavers, the Egyptians who had oppressed them with mortar and bricks, floating on the water. Seeing them vanquished, they thought, "Okay, everyone's dead, no one’s left in Egypt. ‘Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt’" (Numbers 14:4). Even worse, they considered crafting an idol to lead them back!
Did they only talk about going back, or did they actually try to? The verse in Nehemiah 9:17 tells us, "They refused to heed and did not remember Your wonders." It wasn't just idle chatter; they were actively rejecting the miracle they’d witnessed!
Finally, Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Ilai offers a fascinating insight. He says there was actually an idol already in the possession of the Israelites, and Moses removed it. The Hebrew words are key here: Moses “led” Israel, which is vayasa (וַיַּסַע). Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Ilai connects this to another Hebrew word, hisia (הֵסִיר), meaning "removed." So, the very act of Moses leading them was also an act of removing idolatry from their midst.
So, what does this all mean? Perhaps it's a reminder that even after experiencing incredible miracles and achieving apparent goals, the journey is far from over. There’s always a "promissory note" to repay, a purpose to fulfill, and maybe even some hidden idols we need to confront within ourselves. The Exodus wasn't just about leaving Egypt; it was about the ongoing process of leaving behind the things that hold us back from fully embracing our potential and our destiny. And sometimes, like the Israelites, we need a little… or a lot… of prodding to keep us moving forward.