Midrasch zu Schemot 14:21

(Cant. 2:12:) THE BLOSSOMS HAVE APPEARED IN THE LAND. These are the redeemers (i.e., Moses and Aaron).³²Cant. R. 2:12:1. (Ibid., cont.:) THE TIME OF PRUNING (rt.: ZMR) HAS ARRIVED, <i.e.,> The time for the foreskin to be pruned (rt.: ZMR) has arrived, as stated (in Exod. 15:2): THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND MY CIRCUMCISION (rt.: ZMR).³³So has the midrash understood the text. More common translations would be either THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND MY MIGHT OR THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG. Cf. PR 15:11, which finds the concept of pruning in the idea of the sea dividing (Exod. 14:21). Cf. also PR 15:12, which alludes to the Canaanites being cut down and the land being divided (Numb. 26:53). The time for Torah to be given has arrived, since there is written concerning it (in Ps. 119:54): YOUR LAWS HAVE BEEN MY SONGS (rt.: ZMR).³⁴Cf. Sot. 35a. (Cant. 2:12, cont.:) AND THE VOICE OF THE TURTLEDOVE IS HEARD IN OUR LAND. R. Johanan said: This VOICE OF THE TURTLEDOVE (TWR) refers to Moses,³⁵Cf. PR 15:11, which adds here that Moses led Israel through the turnings (TYYRI) of their wanderings. Cf. also PRK 5:9. since it is stated (in Exod. 11:4): THEN MOSES SAID: THUS SAYS THE LORD: ABOUT MIDNIGHT <I SHALL GO FORTH INTO THE MIDST OF EGYPT>…. (Cant. 2:13:) AND THE FIG TREE SHEDS³⁶Heb.: Hanetah. Although this rare verb can mean “enbalm” (as in Gen. 50:2, 26), here the biblical context suggests a translation such as “give form to,” “put forth,” “fill with juice,” or “ripen.” The midrash, however, understands the word in a more negative sense such as “overripen” or “shed.” ITS GREEN FIGS. These are the wicked Israelites who died during the three days of darkness. (Ibid., cont.:) AND THE BLOOMING VINES GIVE OFF AN AROMA. These are the mediocre ones who have been accepted through <the aroma of> repentance. The Holy One said to them: Why are you sitting <there>? (In the words of Cant. 2:10) ARISE. The wicked are dead and the mediocre ones have repented. ARISE, (for in the words of Exod. 12:2): In THIS MONTH you are being redeemed.

“The blossoms have appeared in the land, the time of the nightingale has arrived, and the sound of the turtledove is heard in our land” (Song of Songs 2:12).
“The blossoms [hanitzanim] have appeared in the land,” the administrators [hanatzoḥot] have appeared in the land; these are Moses and Aaron, as it is stated: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying” (Exodus 12:1).¹¹⁰This is the month of redemption and they would be the leaders who facilitate that redemption.
“The time of the nightingale [hazamir] has arrived,” the time for Israel to be redeemed has arrived, the time for the foreskin to be cut off [shetizamer] has arrived, the time for Egypt to be cut off has arrived, the time for their idol worship to be uprooted has arrived, as it is stated: “And I will administer punishments against all the gods of Egypt” (Exodus 12:12). The time for the sea to have its water split has arrived, as it is stated: “The water split” (Exodus 14:21). The time for song has arrived, as it is stated: “Then Moses…sang” (Exodus 15:1). Rabbi Tanḥuma said: The time to compose paeans to the Holy One blessed be He has arrived, as it is stated: “The Lord is my strength and my song [vezimrat ya]” (Exodus 15:2); paeans to the Lord [zemirot ya]. Rabbi Beivai said: “Your statutes were paeans to me” (Psalms 119:54). ”The sound of the turtledove [hator] is heard in our land,” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The voice of a good explorer [tayar] was heard in our land; this is Moses, at the time that he said: “Moses said: So said the Lord: At about midnight” (Exodus 11:4).

..."And the waters were a wall for them" Made them as a type of wall. "On their right and on their left" On their right due to the merit of the Torah that they would in the future receive through the right, as it is said "From His right, a fiery law to them" (Deut. 33:2). And on their left: this is prayer.

"And you, raise your staff" (Exodus 14:15) Moses said before the Holy One Blessed Be He, "You say to me that I will split the sea and I will make the sea dry land, but is it not written, 'that I have placed sand as the boundary of the sea' (Jeremiah 5:22)? And behold, you have sworn that you will not split ever!" Rabbi Eliezer ha Kappar said: Moses said to Him"Not so, for you have said that the sea will not be made dry land, as was said 'that I have placed sand as the boundary of the sea' and it is written, 'And who shut up the sea with doors' (Job 38:8)!" The Holy One Blessed Be He said to him, "You have not read the Torah from the beginning. What is written? 'And God said, let the waters be gathered' (Genesis 1:9). I am the one who placed a condition on it - such I placed a condition from the beginning that I would split it, as was said, 'the sea returned according to its condition at the approach of morning' (Exodus 24:27) [reading l'eitano - "to its strength" as liteinao "according to its condition"]" Immediately, Moses listened to God and went to split the sea, but when he went to divide the sea, it would not accept from him to split. The sea said to him, "I should split before you? I am greater than you! I was created on the third day, and you were created on the sixth day!" When Moses heard this, he went and said to the Holy One Blessed Be He, "The sea doesn't want to be split." What did the Holy One Blessed Be He do? He put His right hand on the the right hand of Moses, as it is said, "who caused [His glorious arm] to go at the right hand of Moses [dividing the waters before them to make Himself an eternal name]" (Isaiah 63:12) Immediately, it saw the Holy One Blessed Be He and fled, as was said, "the sea saw and fled" (Psalms 114:3). What did it see? It saw none other than the Holy One Blessed Be He who gave His right hand upon Moses, and it could not delay, but split immediately. Moses said, "Because of what do you flee?" The sea said to him, "Because of the God of Jacob. (Psalms 114:7) Because of the fear of the Holy One Blessed Be He." Immediately when Moses raised his hand against the sea, it was split, as was said, "The waters split" (Exodus 14:21). It does not say, the sea split, but rather the waters split to teach that all the waters that were in all the springs, and the well and in every place were split, as was said, "The waters were split." And so, at the time that they returned, all the waters returned, for such it says, "And the waters returned" (Exodus 14:28). And all these miracles were done through the hand of Moses, as was said, "And Moses extended his hand over the sea" (Exodus 14:21). Therefore, the Holy One Blessed Be He praised him, as was said, "His people remembered the days of old - Moses" (Isaiah 63:11), and it is written [in the next verse]: "who caused [His glorious arm] to go at the right hand of Moses".

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Moses! "Stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it" (Ex. 14:16). "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea" (Ex. 14:21), but the sea refused to be divided. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He looked at the sea, and the waters saw the face of the Holy One, blessed be He, and they trembled and quaked, and descended into the depths, as it is said, "The waters saw thee, O God; the waters saw thee, they were afraid: the depths also trembled" (Ps. 77:16).

Rabbi Eliezer said: || On the day when He said, "Let the waters be gathered together" (Gen. 1:9), on that very day were the waters congealed, and they were made into twelve valleys, corresponding to the twelve tribes, and they were made into walls of water between each path, and (the people) could see one another, and they saw the Holy One, blessed be He, walking before them, but the heels of His feet they did not see, as it is said, "Thy way was in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters, and thy footsteps were not known" (Ps. 77:20).

And they rose up in the morning, all the princes of Pharaoh with their people, about seven ‎hundred thousand men, and the Egyptians went forth on that day, and they came to the place ‎where the children of Israel were encamped, and all the Egyptians saw, and behold Moses and ‎Aaron and all the children of Israel sat before Pi-hachiroth eating and drinking and celebrating ‎the feast of the Lord. And all the Egyptians said unto the children of Israel: Have ye not said: ‎We will go a three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God and then we will ‎return? And now it is four days since your going away, and why do you not return unto your ‎masters? And Moses and Aaron said unto them: Because the Lord our God hath instructed us ‎saying: Ye shall return no more unto Egypt; but we will go unto a land flowing with milk and ‎honey, as the Lord our God had sworn to our fathers to give it unto us. And when the princes ‎of Egypt saw that the children of Israel would not listen unto them to return, they assembled ‎to fight with the children of Israel. But the Lord strengthened the hearts of the children of ‎Israel over the Egyptians, and they smote them a great smiting, and the battle was very ‎disastrous upon the Egyptians, and they fled from before the children of Israel for many of ‎them were slain by the hand of Israel. And the princes of Pharaoh went to Egypt unto ‎Pharaoh, and they spoke unto Pharaoh saying: The children of Israel have fled and refuse to ‎return to Egypt, and thus did Moses and Aaron speak unto us. And when Pharaoh heard this ‎thing his heart turned against Israel, and also the hearts of all his servants, and they repented ‎having sent away the Israelites, and all the Egyptians counseled Pharaoh to pursue the children ‎of Israel, and to force them to return to their servitude; and they said to each other: Why have ‎we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And the Lord hardened the hearts of ‎the Egyptians to pursue the children of Israel, for it was the pleasure of the Lord to cast all the ‎Egyptians into the Red Sea. And Pharaoh made ready his chariot, and he commanded and they ‎assembled all Egypt, not one man remained, save the children and women. And all Egypt went ‎forth with Pharaoh to pursue the children of Israel, and the army of Egypt was exceedingly ‎large, about one million of men, and this entire army moved on in pursuit of the children of ‎Israel and overtook them encamped by the Red Sea. ‎

...And Avraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey (Genesis 22:3). Rabbi Simeon b. Yohai said: Love upsets the natural order, and hate upsets the natural order. Love upsets the natural order: "And Avraham rose early in the morning, etc".: surely he had plenty of slaves? But the reason was that love upset the natural order. Hate upsets the natural order: "And Bilam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey" (Num. 22:21): surely he had plenty of slaves? Hate, however, upsets the natural order. Love upsets the natural order: "And Yosef made ready his chariot, etc." (Gen. 46:29): yet surely Yosef had plenty of slaves? But love upsets the natural order. Hate upsets the natural order: "And he made ready his chariot" (Ex. 14:6); yet surely he had plenty of slaves? Thus hate upsets the natural order. Rabbi Simeon b. Yohai said: Let saddling counteract saddling. Let the saddling done by our father Avraham in order to go and fulfill the will of the One at whose word the world came into existence counteract the saddling done by Bilam in order to go and curse Israel. Let preparing counteract preparing. Let Yosef’s preparing [of his chariot] to meet his father counteract Pharaoh’s preparing to go and pursue Israel. Rabbi Ishmael taught: Let the sword of the hand counteract the sword of the hand. Let the sword taken in the hand of our father Avraham, as it says, "And Avraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son" (Gen. 22:10), come and counteract the sword grasped by Pharaoh’s hand when he said, "I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them" (Ex. 15:9). "And took two of his young men with him, and Itzchak his son." (Gen. 22:3) Rabbi Abbahu said: Two people behaved with derech eretz (decency), Avraham and Saul: Avraham, as it says, "And took two of his young men with him"; Saul, as it says, "And Saul … went, he and two men with him" (I Sam. 28:8). "And he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering," (Gen. 22:3) Rabbi Hiyya b. Rabbi Yosei said in the name of Rabbi Meyasha, and it was also repeated in the name of Rabbi Benaiah: As a reward for the two cleavings with which our father Avraham cleaved the wood of the burnt-offering, he earned that God should cleave [divide] the Sea before his descendants, as it says, And the waters were divided (Ex. 14:21). Said Rabbi Levi: Enough of this! In truth Avraham acted according to his powers an the Holy One of Blessing according to His powers. "And he rose up, and went to the place." (Gen. 22:3) Avraham was rewarded for rising up and for going.