Comentario sobre Exodo 14:26

וישבו המים means THE WATERS that were standing erect as a wall SHALL RETURN to their places and form a cover over the Egyptians.

נטה את ידך..וישובו המים, "Incline your hand so that the waters may come back, etc." Why was it necessary for Moses to incline his hand in order to make the waters come back? Surely, the division of the waters was only for the time it took for the Israelites to cross? G'd had not revised the laws of nature permanently! In fact Shemot Rabbah 22 states that when the last of the Israelites ascended from the sea, the last of the Egyptians entered the sea, implying that the sea would come back by itself.

נטה את ידך, as soon as the last Israelite had completed crossing to the far shore of the Sea of Reeds.

The waters that were standing erect. . . Rashi explains this because וישובו seems to imply that the waters will come back again over the chariots and cavalry, while in truth the waters were still standing erect until Moshe extended his hand over the sea.

(Exodus 14:26) "And the L rd said to Moses: Stretch forth your hand over the sea": It will not stand against you and it will not deviate from your command. "and the waters will turn back upon Egypt, upon its chariots, and upon its riders": The "wheel" will turn back upon them. For with the counsel that they thought to destroy Israel, I will destroy them. They thought to destroy Israel by water, and it is by water that I will exact punishment of them, viz. (Psalms 7:16) "He has dug a pit and he has deepened it, and he will fill in the pit he has wrought", (Koheleth 105:8-10) "He who digs a hole will fall in it; he who breaches a fence will be bitten by a snake. He who quarries stones will be saddened by them; he who splits timbers will be imperiled by them", (Mishlei 26:27) "The digger of a pit will fall in it, etc." And thus Solomon says (Ibid. 12:14) "From the fruit of a man's mouth, he will be sated with good, and the payment of a man's hands will revert to him." And thus, Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 59:18) "As with reward (for good), so will He return wrath to His enemies, payment to His foes — to (distant) isles will He bring retribution." And it is written (Ibid. 65:7) "And I will measure out (retribution for) their deeds, etc." And thus did Jeremiah the prophet say (Jeremiah 32:19) "Wondrous in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of man, to give each man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds." And thus is it written (Ibid. 50) "Summon many against Bavel, all who draw the bow. Encamp against her roundabout. Let there be no escape for her. Repay her according to her deeds. According to all that she has done, do to her. For she has acted insultingly against the L rd, against the Holy One of Israel." And thus did Yithro say to Moses (Exodus 18:11) "Now I know that greater is the L rd than all the gods." I recognized Him in the past, and now, even more so, His name having been magnified in the world. (Ibid.) "For (they were destroyed) by the (very) thing (water) whereby they devised evil against them."

Perhaps the sea reasoned that the area where the Jews had crossed was meant to remain a crossing and that just as the Israelites could cross so could the Egyptians. Actually, G'd had decreed that the waters should not close immediately behind the Israelites in order to lure the Egyptians into pursuit. This is something the sea was not aware of. The sea did not concern itself with this, having kept its original promise to G'd at the creation to split when the time came. When Moses inclined his hand this was a signal to the sea that it had completed its task.

We have a rule in Masechet Yom Tov 5 that if a collegium of judges has made a ruling of even a temporary nature, this decree remains in force until a collegium of at least an equal number of judges declares the original ruling as void. This is also what happened here.

Another reason why it was necessary for Moses to incline his hand was simply that though the waters of the sea would indeed come back on their own, this would occur at such a slow speed that the Egyptians would be able to escape. Indeed, we have an opinion that some of the Egyptians who were close to shore were able to save themselves. As a result of Moses inclining his hand the waters returned with a rush as indicated by the word לאיתנו. Alternatively, seeing Moses had been the agent who struck the sea it was only fitting that it should be he who restored the sea to its original position. We find support for this view in Isaiah 63,12.

Still another reason why G'd asked Moses to incline his hand prior to the waters returning was to give the sea a signal not to allow a single rider or chariot of the Egyptians to escape. Not even those who were close to the shore should be given a chance to save themselves. We know that the waters complied as the Torah writes that "the waters covered them and that not a single Egyptian survived."