The Mekhilta continues its exploration of the word "ve'anvehu" from (Exodus 15:2) by presenting two more rabbinic interpretations, each connecting the Song of the Sea to broader Jewish theology in unexpected ways.
Rabbi Yossi Haglili reads "ve'anvehu" as a command to declare God's praise publicly: "Beautify and praise the Holy One Blessed be He before all the peoples of the world." In this interpretation, the Israelites standing at the shore of the Red Sea were not merely celebrating their own rescue. They were making a public theological statement — announcing God's sovereignty to every nation that would hear of the miracle. The splitting of the sea was not a private salvation. It was a global revelation.
Rabbi Yossi ben Dormaskith takes the interpretation in a completely different direction. He reads "ve'anvehu" as "I shall make a naveh (dwelling place) before Him" — meaning a Temple. The word "naveh" refers to a habitation, and it is the same root used for the Temple in other biblical passages. As proof, he cites (Psalms 79:7): "And they have destroyed navehu" — His Temple. And (Isaiah 33:20): "Your eyes will see Jerusalem, the peaceful habitation" — neveh sha'anan.
According to this reading, the moment the Israelites sang at the sea, they were already expressing the desire to build God a permanent dwelling place on earth. The song contained within it the seed of the Temple in Jerusalem. From the shore of the Red Sea, Israel's gaze was already fixed on Zion.