פירוש על שמות 14:10

ופרעה הקריב — It should have written ופרעה קרב “and Pharaoh came near” — what is the force of the Hiphil הקריב, “He caused to come near”? He made himself come near — he forced himself to go in front of them as he had arranged with them (cf. Rashi on v. 6).

AND THEY WERE SORE AFRAID; AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CRIED OUT UNTO THE ETERNAL. 11. AND THEY SAID UNTO MOSES: ‘BECAUSE WERE THERE NO GRAVES IN EGYPT, HAST THOU TAKEN US TO DIE IN THE WILDERNESS’? It does not appear logical that people who are crying out to G-d to help them, should at the same time protest against the deliverance He performed for them, and say that it would have been better if He had not saved them! The correct interpretation therefore is that there were conflicting groups,³²As stated in the Mechilta here on Verse 13: “The Israelites at the Red Sea were divided into four groups, etc.” In Rabbeinu Bachya’s rendition of this text of Ramban, it clearly reads: “Therefore we can rely upon the words of our Rabbis who say that these verses represent different groups” (Bachya’s Commentary on the Torah, Vol. II, p. 113, in my edition). Ramban, however, following the plain meaning of Scripture here, does not describe them as four groups but merely as ‘conflicting groups’ without enumeration. and Scripture relates what all of them did. Thus it narrates that one group cried to G-d [for help], and another denied His prophet and did not acknowledge the deliverance done for them. They said it would have been better for them had He not saved them. It is with reference to this group that it is written, They were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.³³Psalms 106:7. This is why Scripture here repeats in the same verse the term, the children of Israel, [saying: and ‘the children of Israel’ lifted up their eyes…] and ‘the children of Israel’ cried out unto the Eternal. It thus indicates that it was the better ones among the people that cried out to G-d; the remainder rebelled against His word. This is why Scripture says afterward, And the people feared the Eternal; and they believed in the Eternal, and in His servant Moses.³⁴Further, Verse 31. It does not say “and Israel feared the Eternal, and they believed,” but it says instead “the people,” for the term the children of Israel signifies the outstanding ones, while the people is a name for the multitude. Similarly, the verse, And the people murmured,³⁵Ibid., 15:24. [clearly indicates the usage of the term people in Scripture]. Our Rabbis have also mentioned it:³⁶Bamidbar Rabbah 20:22. “And the people began to commit harlotry.³⁷Numbers 25:1. Wherever it says the people, it is an expression of reproach, and wherever it says Israel, it is one of praise.”
Now the people did not say, “you have taken us away to die in war,” but [they said], hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness, and again they said, that we should die in the wilderness.³⁸Verse 12. This was due to the fact that long before they feared war,³⁹The Tur renders this passage thus thus: “They said that even if they would not experience any war, they did not want to go out to the desert.” they already did not want to go out to the desert lest they die there from hunger and thirst.
It is possible that they said so to Moses upon their going forth from the country while they were still in the land of Egypt, when G-d led them about by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea.⁴⁰Above, 13:18. Perhaps they said so to Moses at the beginning: “Where shall we go? If by the way of the Philistines, they will war against us, and if by the way of the wilderness, better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”⁴¹Verse 12.
It is also possible to say that the people did believe in G-d and prayed to Him to save them, but a doubt entered their hearts concerning Moses lest he took them out of Egypt in order to rule over them. Although they had seen the signs and wonders he did, they thought that he did them through some manner of wisdom. Perhaps G-d brought the plagues upon the Egyptians on account of their wickedness, [but not necessarily for the purpose of redemption of Israel, and Moses took them out of Egypt just to rule over them], for if G-d had desired their going out, Pharaoh would not have pursued after them.
And Onkelos here translated vayitz’aku (and they cried out) as uz’aku,⁴²Elsewhere Onkelos translates it v’tzalu (and they prayed). See Deuteronomy 26:7, vanitz’ak, which Onkelos renders v’tzaleinu (and we prayed). The word uz’aku, on the other hand, means “complaint,” as is explained in the text. thus making its purport to be “complaint,” meaning that they did not pray to G-d but that they complained to Him for having taken them out of Egypt. It is similar in usage to that in the verse, ‘vayitz’aku’ unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?⁴³Above, 5:15. [which does not mean “and they prayed,” but that they complained.] Similarly, Then there was a great ‘tza’akath’ of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews,⁴⁴Nehemiah 5:1. which means they were complaining against them with a great voice and outcry.
In the Mechilta we find;⁴⁵Mechilta on the verse before us. “They seized upon the occupation of their fathers, [i.e., at first they conducted themselves properly in that they prayed to G-d as their fathers had done]. And they said unto Moses: ‘Because were there no graves, etc.?’ After ‘they had added leaven into the dough,’⁴⁶Ramban will explain further on that this is a euphemism for the yeitzer hara (the evil inclination). In other words, after doubts had entered their minds and excitement was stirred up, they came to Moses and said to him, etc. they came to Moses and said to him, Is not this the word that we spoke unto thee in Egypt, etc.?”⁴¹Verse 12. The “leaven in the dough” is a reference to the evil inclination. Thus the Sages in the Mechilta intended to say that at first the people prayed to G-d to instill in Pharaoh’s heart the desire to turn back from pursuing them. However, when they saw that he was not turning back but instead was marching and drawing near them, they said, “Our prayers have not been accepted,” and an evil thought entered their hearts to find fault with Moses as they had previously done.

ופרעה הקריב, he had brought the entire Egyptian army right up close to the Israelites.

ופרעה הקריב….והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, when Pharaoh drew close the Israelites raised their eyes and saw that Egypt was marching after them, etc. Why was this whole line necessary? Would the words: "they caught up with them while they were encamped by the sea" not have sufficed to describe what took place? Why did the verse commence by telling us about what Pharaoh did and conclude by telling us what Egypt was doing? The Torah should have continued that "Pharaoh was marching after them;" Why is the word נסע "was marching" in the singular when many Egyptians are being described as marching?

וייראו מאד, “they were very much afraid.” Ibn Ezra expresses surprise that a body of 600,000 armed men such as the Israelites, should have displayed fear because an army of only 600 chariots pursued them. Why were these people not prepared to defend their lives and the lives of their children against this miniscule force of Egyptians? The answer is strictly psychological. All the Israelites had been raised from infancy to see in the Egyptians their natural masters, and to willingly bear the burden of being slaves to these masters. They had absolutely no knowledge of how to conduct a self defense. We have evidence from the encounter with Amalek, a small people. The Israelites who far outnumbered them, would have been lost if not for the support offered by the knowledge that Moses prayed for their victory. Eventually, this slave mentality caused the death of the whole generation who had left Egypt as adults, and only their children, who had not been slaves, could be relied upon to face the Canaanites in battle and not to run scared. If Ibn Ezra would have taken a look at the Midrash, which deals with the meaning of the words שלישים על כולם, he would have seen that the Israelites, at least according to that Midrash, were outnumbered by three Egyptians to each one of them. Some sages challenge Ibn Ezra, saying: “who told him that the Amalekites attacked with only a small army?”

An alternate explanation: And behold the Egyptian is coming. . . The angel is not called by a proper name but rather מצרים , because the guardian angel of Egypt is in fact named מצרים .

Pharaoh drew near. The B’nei Yisrael had not been frightened of Pharaoh because they saw how few troops he brought with him and assumed that he did not come to do battle. But afterwards they “looked up” and saw the Egyptian masses in the distance and then became very afraid. And the B’nei Yisrael cried out. They cried out in prayer asking Hashem to cause Pharaoh to retreat. Then when he continued drawing near they began casting aspersions upon Moshe, insinuating that Hashem had not told him to take them out of Egypt but only to ease their burdens.

V. 10. נשא עין, ist, wie schon oft bemerkt, ein absichtliches Ausschauen. Sie hatten das Geräusch des anrückenden ägyptischen Heeres gehört und wurden dadurch veranlasst, nach der Gegend hinzuschauen. Indem hier in ויצעקו וגו׳ das Subjekt בני ישראל wiederholt wird, ist damit dem Aufschrei zu Gott jede Missbilligung genommen. Ihre Furcht war eine natürliche, und ihr bei Gott Hilfe suchender Aufschrei des Israelcharakters nicht unwürdig.

והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, “and here the Egyptians are pursuing them!” The Torah uses the singular mode for describing all these Egyptian soldiers and their officers. We have found examples of this in Numbers 13,23: ויבא עד חברון, “he came as far as Chevron,” when actually the Torah speaks of 12 spies. Or, another example: Joshua 8,19: האורב קם מהרה ממקומו, “The people lying in ambush arose quickly from their place.” The word: ממקומו, means: “from its place.” There were actually only 5000 Egyptian soldiers.

נסע אחריהם [EGYPT] JOURNEYED AFTER THEM (נסע is singular) — the Egyptians journeyed after them with one mind and as one man (hence the use of the singular) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:10:3). Another explanation of והנה מצרים נסע אחריהם is: the singular denotes that they saw, not the Egyptians, but the guardian angel of Egypt coming from heaven to assist the Egyptians. Thus is it explained in the Tanchuma (cf. Exodus Rabbah 21:5).

ויצעקו בני ישראל אל ה', “The Children of Israel cried out in supplication to Hashem.”

In order to understand this whole verse we must first understand the Israelites' comments to Moses: "did you take us out of Egypt because there are not enough burial places in Egypt? What did you do to us, etc.?" Looking at these words one gains the impression that the Israelites were surprised that the Egyptians pursued them. How could this be seeing that G'd had told them beforehand that their whole maneuver was designed to fool Pharaoh and cause him to pursue them? Why did they suddenly become afraid? Possibly they did not realise that Pharaoh had so much military capability left after all that happened. Even so, in view of the assurances the Israelites had from G'd that He would deal harshly with Pharaoh why did they display this mortal fear?

וייראו מאד, “They were very scared.” Why would 600000 male, able bodied, Israelites, be so scared of 5000 Egyptians? We had been told that they were all armed! Their fear was based on their slave mentality. Every slave is afraid of his master. These Israelites had not yet proven to themselves that they could fend for themselves.

ויצעקו AND THEY CRIED — they took to hand the handicraft of their fathers (they had recourse to prayer as their fathers had always done in times of trouble). In the case of Abraham it is said, (Genesis 19:27) “[And Abraham went] to the place where he had stood in prayer”. In the case of Isaac: (Genesis 24:63) “[He went out towards evening] to pray”. In the case of Jacob: (Genesis 28:11) “He prayed to the Omnipresent God” (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:10:4; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 9, and Rashi on the texts quoted).

We must fall back on what our sages have taught as described in Shemot Rabbah 21,5 that when the Israelites noticed Pharaoh pursuing them they naturally turned their eyes heavenwards expecting G'd to manifest Himself and to smite the Egyptians. Imagine the Israelites' surprise when what they saw was the guardian angel of Egypt whose name is Mitzrayim flying through the air. It was then that they became afraid as they realised that this angel had now come out in order to help his protegees, the Egyptians. It is an accepted theory that the fortunes of these guardian angels are bound up with their charges. When the protegees of such guardian angels suffer a defeat so does the guardian angel himself. [In fact according to the Kabbalists when G'd wants to destroy a people, He first destroys their guardian angel. After that, even if the people appear still to be going strong, their fate has already been sealed. Ed.] We are told in Yuma 69 that Alexander the Great was in the habit of observing the guardian angel of Macedonia at work whenever he went into battle. It is customary for a minister to take up position on the right side of the king and not in front of the people. Normally, a king who travels into battle with his troops takes up his position behind the infantry. In this instance the Israelites had the impression that the guardian angel of Egypt was still going strong, far from being the first one to be defeated by G'd. The Torah also describes Pharaoh הקריב, as coming close, i.e. travelling ahead of his troops not behind them. The reason the Israelites were able to see the guardian angel of Egypt at all was because the guardian angel was positioned next to the king who travelled ahead of his troops. This unusual spectacle frightened the Israelites. They believed that celestial forces were now arraigned against them. In view of all this, the fact that G'd had told them that the Egyptians would pursue them and He would deal harshly with Pharaoh was no longer enough for the people to keep their cool.

There were two reasons why G'd had not interfered with the guardian angel at that time. 1) G'd was looking for a legal excuse to kill that guardian angel. The Zohar, section two, page 52 interprets 14,30 "Israel saw Mitzrayim dead on the beaches of the sea," as a reference to the guardian angel of Egypt. The second reason G'd allowed the guardian angel of Egypt to adopt such a visibly threatening posture was for Israel's benefit. G'd wanted Israel to do תשובה, to repent. They needed to acquire the merit of repentance in order to justify that G'd should perform the great miracle of splitting the Sea of Reeds on their behalf. This was something G'd had not promised them previously. Shemot Rabbah 21,5 also points out that the unusual form (causative) ופרעה הקריב "and Pharaoh caused himself to come close," instead of the usual ופרעה קרב, "and Pharaoh approached," is a clear indication of G'd's purpose being to cause the Israelites to do תשובה. In the event, G'd's expectations were fulfilled as the Torah reports that "the children of Israel cried out to G'd" (14,10).