Midrasch zu Schemot 14:27

(Ex. 1, 8) Now there rose up a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. Rab and Samuel differ in the explanation of the meaning of this passage. One contends that it means a real new king, while the other says "his decrees were new." According to the one who says that it means a real new king, he infers it because it is written a new. The other one who contends that his decrees were new infers because it is not mentioned that the previous king had died and a new one had become king. But how will the latter explain who knew not Joseph? This means that he pretended not to know Joseph. (Ib., ib. 9) And he said unto his people, behold the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and mightier than we. We are taught that the king himself started to find ways of destroying Israel as it is said and he said unto his people; therefore was he also smitten first, as it is said (Ib. 7, 29) And upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants shall all the frogs come up. (Ib. 1, 10) Come on, let us deal wisely with him. It should have been with them, [plural]. Said Chama b. R. Chanina: "This means that he said to them: 'Come on, let us deal wisely with the Redeemer of Israel. With what shall we punish them [so that He shall not be able to take retaliation]? Shall we punish them by fire. He will retaliate upon as it is said (Is. 66, 16) For by fire will the Lord judge. Shall we judge them with a sword? Upon this He will also retaliate as it is written (Ib.) And by His sword against all flesh. Let us therefore come and execute judgment through water; for long since He had already sworn not to bring a flood upon the world, as it is said (Ib. 54, 9) For as the waters of Noah is this unto He; as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more pass over the earth [hence there is no retaliation]. They [Pharaoh and his advisors] did not know, however, that this means only that He will not bring a flood upon the entire world but upon one Nation He may bring a flood, or He will not bring a flood upon the people, but that the people might go into the flood and thus be drowned. He could indeed act, and so also does the passage say (Gen. 14, 27) While the Egyptians were fleeing against it [the sea]: And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea." This is also meant by R. Elazar, who said: "What is the meaning of the passage (Ib. 18, 11) For by the very thing wherein they sinned presumptuously was punishment brought upon them. This means that with the very pot which they prepared to cook others therein, they themselves were cooked." Whence do we know that the word Zadu [used in the above text] refers to a pot? It is written (Gen. 25, 29) And Jacob sad [yazed] pottage. R. Chiya b. Aba said in the name of R. Jochanan: "The following three Bil'am, Job and Jethro — were the advisers of Pharaoh, concerning his decree to throw in the river the children of Israel. Bil'am, who gave this advice, was killed; Job, who kept silence, was punished with chastisement; and Jethro, who ran away, was rewarded by having his decendants placed among the Sanhedrin, in the chamber of Temple, as it is said (I Chr. 2, 55) And the families of scribes who dwelt at Jabetz. the Tiratite, etc… . these are, the Kenites that come from Chamoth, the father of the house of Rechah. And again it is written (Jud. 1, 16) And the children of the Kenite, the father-in-law of Moses. (Ib., ib., 11) And they thereupon did set over him task-masters, it should have been over them and not over him. We are taught in a Baraitha in the name of R. Elazar, son of R. Simon: "From this it might be inferred that the Egyptians took a brick-mould, hung it upon the neck of Pharaoh, and if any Israelite said that he was delicate and could not work, the Egyptians said to him: 'Art thou more delicate than Pharaoh, the King?'" (Ib.) Task-masters, i.e., a person that forced Israel to make bricks (Ib., ib., ib.) To afflict him with their burdensome labors, it should have been them instead of him. This means to afflict Pharaoh himself through their burdensome-work [because of the brick he had to wear on his neck], (Ib.) And he built store cities for Pharaoh. Rab and Samuel differ in the explanation of the above passage. One contends, cities which caused danger to its owners, and the other explains it to mean, cities which caused poverty to its owners; for the Master said elsewhere: "Whoever occupies himself with buildings will at last become poor." (Ib) Pithom and Ra'amses. Rab and Samuel differ in the explanation of this passage, one contends that its real name was Pithom, and the reason it was called Ra'amses, was because one building after the other was crushed (fell in); and the other said that its real name was Ra'amses, and the reason it was called Pithom, was because one building after the other was swallowed in the depth. (Ib., ib. 12) But the more they afflicted him, the more he multiplied and the more he spread abroad. It should have been so they multiplied and so they spread abroad? Said R. Simon b. Lakish: "The Holy Spirit predicted to them, saying: "Thus [as it keeps on now] will they multiply and spread abroad." (Ib., ib., ib.) And they felt abhorance because of the children of Israel. From this it may be inferred that the Israelites were like thorns in the eyes of the Egyptians. (Ib., ib. 13) And the Egyptians caused the children of Israel to labor with (Ib. b) rigor. R. Elazar said: "The word b'fa-rech (rigor) means with soft words." R. Samuel b. Nachmeni said: This means rigorously." (Ib., ib. 14) And they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and in bricks and in all manner of labor in the field. Said Raba: "This passage informs us that in the very beginning they started with mortar and in bricks but afterwards with all manner of labor in the field." Besides all their other service, they made them labor with rigor. Said R. Samuel b. Nachmeni in the name of R. Jonathan: "This means that they changed the work of men for women and the work of women for men, and even he who explained the foregoing b'fa-rech differently, will admit that the same word here means rigorously."

“How is your beloved more than another beloved, fairest of women? How is your beloved more than another beloved, that you administer an oath to us so? My beloved is clear and ruddy, more eminent than ten thousand” (Song of Songs 5:9–10).
“How is your beloved more than another beloved, fairest of women?” – the nations of the world say to Israel: “How is your beloved more than another beloved?” In what way is He God more than other gods, in what way is He a protector more than other protectors? Israel says to them: “My beloved is clear and ruddy” – clear³⁷This is a metaphor for the attribute of mercy. for me in the land of Egypt and red³⁸This is a metaphor for the attribute of justice. for the Egyptians. Clear for me in the land of Egypt, as it is stated: “I will pass through the land of Egypt [on that night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.… and I will pass over you]” (Exodus 12:12–13).³⁹This was during the plague of the firstborn. Red for the Egyptians, as it is stated: “The Lord hurled the Egyptians [in the midst of the sea]” (Exodus 14:27). It was clear for me at the sea, as it is stated: “The children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:29). It was red for me⁴⁰The text should state: It was red for the Egyptians (Etz Yosef). at the sea – as it is stated: “The Lord hurled the Egyptians in the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:27). It is clear for me in the World to Come, and it is red for me in this world.⁴¹God brings hardship upon the righteous in this world in order to punish them for their sins or in order to motivate them to improve, and He rewards them in the World to Come.
Rabbi Levi bar Ḥaita said three [statements] about this: It is clear for me on Shabbat, and it is red for me all the days of the week. It is clear for me on Rosh HaShana, and it is red for me the rest of the year. It is clear for me in this world, and it is red for me in the World to Come.
“More eminent than ten thousand” – Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: A king of flesh and blood is identified by his trappings; however, here, He is fire and His servants are fire: “He came [ve’ata] from the holy tens of thousands, [from His right, a fiery law to them]” (Deuteronomy 33:2) – it is a sign [ot] from the midst of the holy tens of thousands.

Another matter, “I have likened you [dimitikh], my love,” the Rabbis say: Because Israel appeared like mares, and [the horses of] the wicked Egyptians were aroused stallions, and they were pursuing them until they sank in the sea. Rabbi Simon said: Heaven forbid, Israel did not appear like mares, but rather the waves of the sea appeared like mares and [the horses of] the wicked Egyptians were aroused stallions, and they pursued them until they sank them in the sea. The Egyptian would say to his horse: ‘Yesterday, I would drag you to the Nile and you would not follow me, and now, you are sinking me in the sea?’ The horse would say to its rider: “He cast into the sea [rama bayam]” (Exodus 15:1); see what is in the sea [re’eh ma bayam]. A trap is prepared for you in the sea. Rabbi Yishmael taught: “The Lord overthrew Egypt in the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:27); it teaches that the horse would cast its rider upward and he would descend downward with the horse above him. Rabbi Levi said: Like one who stirs a pot; what is below rises to the top and what is above descends below.
“My love [rayati]”—what is rayati? Rabbi Yonatan said: My benefactor; it is they who provide for Me two daily continual offerings. That is what is written: “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning” (Numbers 28:4), as Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: Israel would sacrifice two continual offerings each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The one in the morning was sacrificed for transgressions that were performed at night, and the one in the afternoon was sacrificed for transgressions that were performed during the day. There was, then, no person in Jerusalem who would remain overnight with iniquity ascribed to him, as it is stated: “Righteousness would dwell there” (Isaiah 1:21).
Another matter, “I have likened you, my love [rayati]”—the shepherds [rayata] of My world, as you accepted the Torah. Had you not accepted it, I would have restored My world to emptiness and disorder, as Rabbi Ḥanina said in the name of Rabbi Aḥa: It is written: “The earth and all its inhabitants melt away; I set its pillars firm, Selah” (Psalms 75:4). Had Israel not stood at Mount Sinai and said: “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will perform and we will obey” (Exodus 24:7), the world would have melted away and returned to emptiness and disorder. Who firmly established the world? “I [anokhi] set its pillars firm, Selah.” Due to the merit of “I [anokhi] am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2),²⁵¹Due to the fact that Israel accepted the Torah, represented by the first of the Ten Commandments, “I am the Lord your God,” God set the the world on a firm foundation. “I set its pillars firm.”

"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".