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Pappus expounded a verse from Job: "And He is one, and who can turn Him back? Whatever He desires, He does" (Job 23:13). His interpretation was straightforward — God is the sole ju...
Great is the faith wherein Israel believed in Him who spoke and brought the world into being; for in reward for Israel's belief in the L–rd, the Shechinah reposed upon them and the...
The Mekhilta makes a declaration that connects the Exodus to the future redemption of Israel. The exiles will be gathered in only as a reward for faith. Not for Torah study alone, ...
He devoted his life to the judges, and they were called by his name, viz. (Devarim 16:18) "Judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself in all of your gates." Now is justice ...
The ninth (song): (II Chronicles 20:21) "And he (Yehoshafat) took counsel with the people, and he set up singes to the L–rd and lauders of (His) majestic holiness. When they went o...
"I shall sing to the Lord," who is a Judge. After celebrating God as powerful, rich, wise, and merciful, the Mekhilta arrives at the attribute that ties all the others together: ju...
Variantly: "for high on high": He exalts Himself over the exalted. With what the nations of the world exalt themselves before Him, He exacts punishment of them. In the generation o...
The generation of the Flood was destroyed by the very thing they worshipped. The Mekhilta draws a chilling connection between their sin and their punishment through a play on Hebre...
The builders of the Tower of Babel were punished with the exact same thing they feared most. The Mekhilta highlights the devastating irony embedded in the biblical narrative. The m...
And thus do you find with the men of Sodom, that with what they vaunted themselves before Him, He exacted punishment of them. As it is written (Iyyov 28:5-8) "A land from which bre...
The Egyptians' greatest military asset became the instrument of their destruction. The Mekhilta points to a devastating symmetry in the Exodus narrative that reveals God's measure-...
The Mekhilta teaches a principle of divine justice that echoes throughout the Hebrew Bible: the very thing a person boasts about becomes the instrument of their downfall. Sisra, th...
The Mekhilta highlights Samson as another example of the principle that a person's punishment mirrors their sin. Whatever someone boasts about or indulges in becomes the exact inst...
The Mekhilta identifies a devastating pattern in the story of Absalom, King David's rebellious son: the very thing he was proudest of became the instrument of his downfall. Scriptu...
Absalom, the handsome prince who rebelled against his own father King David, was famous throughout Israel for one thing above all else: his magnificent hair. The Mekhilta preserves...
And thus Sancheriv—With what he vaunted himself, punishment was exacted of him, viz. (II Kings 19:23) "Through your envoys you have blasphemed the L–rd, etc.", and (Ibid. 24) "It i...
The Mekhilta continues its catalog of arrogant rulers brought low by the very thing they boasted about, and few figures in the Hebrew Bible boast as spectacularly as Nebuchadnezzar...
The Mekhilta adds two more names to its list of nations whose arrogance led to their precise downfall: the great city of Tyre and its ruler Malchah (identified with the prince of T...
The Mekhilta concludes its extended discussion of Tyre and its ruler Malchah by citing the prophetic verdicts that sealed their fate — and then draws a sweeping theological conclus...
And thus do you find, that the Holy One Blessed be He is not destined to exact punishment of the kingdoms in time to come without first exacting punishment of their plenipotentiari...
"a horse and its rider": The Holy One Blessed be He brings horse and rider, stands them in judgment, and says to the horse: Why did you pursue My children? The horse: An Egyptian s...
Antoninos, the Roman emperor who maintained a famous friendship with Rabbeinu Hakadosh (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law)), once...
Issi b. Yehudah says: It is written here "horse," unqualified (i.e., the punishments of the horse are not specified), and, elsewhere, "horse," qualified, viz. (Zechariah 12:4) "I w...
The Song of the Sea declares: "The Lord is my strength and my song" (Exodus 15:2). The Mekhilta explores what "my strength" actually means, and discovers that this single phrase ca...
viz. (Song of Songs 3: "I had almost passed them (Moses and Aaron) by, when I found Him whom my soul loved. I held onto Him and did not let go of Him until I had brought Him to the...
He revealed Himself to them as a rider, viz. (Ibid. 18:11) "And He mounted a cherub and flew, etc." He revealed Himself to them in mail and helmet, viz. (Isaiah 59:17) "He donned r...
There is a warrior in a province. As soon as the arrow leaves his hand he cannot retrieve it. Not so, the Holy One Blessed be He. When Israel do not do His will, a decree goes fort...
The Mekhilta offers a second reading of the phrase "as a stone" from the Song at the Sea. The Egyptians sank like stone because their hearts were hard as stone — unyielding, unmova...
And all who help Israel, help, as it were, the Holy One Blessed be He, viz. (Judges 5:23) "Curse Meroz, said the angel of the L–rd. Curse bitterly its dwellers. For they came not t...
The Mekhilta draws a remarkable distinction between what the Red Sea was for Egypt and what it was for Israel. For the Egyptians, the sea was a sealed tomb. For the Israelites, it ...
The sea has no heart, and He gave it a heart. A terebinth has no heart, and He gave it a heart, viz. (II Samuel 18:4) "He (Avshalom) was yet alive in the heart of the terebinth." T...
The Egyptians drowned at the Red Sea — but they also received burial. The Mekhilta asks the obvious question: in what merit were the Egyptians granted burial? They had enslaved Isr...
The Mekhilta offers an alternate reading of the Song at the Sea's phrase "You have inclined Your right hand." When God stretches out His hand, the wicked vanish from the world enti...
The Mekhilta reads the phrase "You have guided them in Your strength" as a prophecy pointing forward in time. God guided Israel through the sea not because of anything they had alr...
The Mekhilta tells a parable. Robbers break into a king's palace. They despoil everything of value. They kill the king's courtiers — his loyal servants, the people who maintained h...
The Mekhilta interprets the verse "There He made for them statute and judgment" by asking what these two terms — statute and judgment — actually refer to. The first opinion identif...
The Torah says in its description of life after the Exodus: "And you do what is just in His eyes" (Exodus 15:26). The Mekhilta identifies this as a reference to integrity in one's ...
"Speak to them, saying: Towards evening you will eat flesh": He said to them: You have asked for two things: You have asked for bread; for it is impossible for flesh and blood (to ...
(Numbers 11:33) "the flesh was still between their teeth": They said: The "kosher" one among them ate it and became immediately diarrhetic. The wicked one among them ate it and suf...
Once, R. Tarfon and the elders were sitting, and R. Elazar Hamodai was sitting before them, when he said to them: The height of the manna was sixty cubits. R. Tarfon: "Modai, until...
(Exodus 16:28) "And the L–rd said to Moses: How long will you refuse to keep, etc.": R. Yehoshua says: The Holy One Blessed be He said to Moses: Moses, say to Israel: I took you ou...
R. Yehoshua says: He said to Israel: If you keep this Sabbath the Holy One Blessed be He is destined to give you three festivals: the festival of Nissan (Pesach), the festival of S...
Rabbi Yossi offered a provocative comparison: just as a prophet reveals what is hidden, the manna did the same. The wordplay is built into the Hebrew—the word maggid (one who tells...
Ten miraculous objects were created in the final moments before the first Shabbat (the Sabbath), squeezed into existence during the twilight of the sixth day of Creation. The Mekhi...
The Mekhilta preserves a striking teaching about the limits of human knowledge: seven things are permanently hidden from the eyes of every person. No amount of wisdom, prophecy, or...
When God told Moses to take the staff that had struck the Nile, the Mekhilta explains the reason: it was because of Israel's "murmurings." The people had been complaining, and now ...
The incense was terrifying. Israel had watched it kill Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, when they brought unauthorized fire before God (Leviticus 10:1). Two young priests, dead ...
They said: This ark is an instrument of punishment. It smote the men of Beth Shemesh, viz. (I Samuel 6:19) "And He smote the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of...
