Rabbi Yehoshua disagrees. In his reading, the "haste" of the Passover meal belongs to the Israelites themselves, not to the Egyptians. And he flips the proof texts to make his case.
The Torah says elsewhere, in (Exodus 12:39), that the Israelites baked unleavened bread because "they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay." That verse, Rabbi Yehoshua argues, already accounts for the Egyptians' haste — their frantic urgency to expel the Israelites after the plague of the firstborn. Since the Egyptian haste is addressed in one verse, the word "haste" in the Passover eating command must refer to something else: the Israelites' own state of mind as they ate.
This reversal creates a completely different portrait of the first Passover night. In Rabbi Yehoshua's reading, the Israelites were not calm and collected. They ate with urgency, with the nervous energy of people who knew that at any moment the signal to leave could come. Their sandals were on their feet. Their staffs were in their hands. They ate standing up, ready to move, because freedom was about to arrive and they did not want to miss it.
The debate between these two readings is not just about historical reconstruction — it is about the spiritual posture of redemption. Does freedom come to those who wait in confidence, trusting that God will act? Or does it come to those who stand ready, trembling with anticipation, prepared to run the moment the door opens? The Mekhilta preserves both answers, because both contain truth. Sometimes faith is stillness. Sometimes faith is the readiness to leap.