Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Ayub 41:23

48. “The floods stood straight like a wall;” (Ex. 15:8) The Egyptians were bound up with the Israelites so that they could not go out (of the sea). They were enthralled by the smell of the sea. The Israelites gave off an aroma, as is stated, "He bubbles up the sea like a pot, etc." (Job 41:23) And to Israel, the sea was like a bed of spices, viz. (Ibid.) "He makes the sea like a spice-bed." (Song 4:16) "Awake, O north wind, and come, O south, blow over my garden that its spices may flow." (Ex. 15:8) "The depths were congealed ("kafu") in the heart of the sea, etc." He made them like a kuppah (a dome) in the midst of the sea. How so? A man's heart consists of two chambers and its arch. Thus did He arch the sea over them. The sea has no heart, and He gave it a heart. Thus far is the Mekhilta.²²⁹Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael 15:8:1-4 In the Tanchuma: “Congealed (Ex. 15:8). He fashioned them into a kind of vault (kippah). In the heart of the sea (Ex. 15:8)). Where is a man’s heart located? It is located just above two thirds of his height.” It is possible to explain the difference between kuppah and kippah. Kuppah alludes to the retribution against the Egyptians in which it did not allow them to escape, as the Midrash suggests. Kippah alludes to something to save the Israelites, as it was stated that the water became like a tent over their heads. ‘

V. 25. רקח. Es ist nicht ganz sicher, welche Art der Operation bei der Parfümbereitung unter רקח verstanden ist. Nahe liegt die Lautverwandtschaft von רקח und ריח. In ריח selbst liegt aber, wie bereits zu Bereschit 8, 21 bemerkt, ursprünglich der Begriff feinster Zerteilung, woher ja auch ריחים, die Mühle, und ist es daher zweifelhaft, ob man bei רקה an die mechanische Zerreibung der Gewürzstoffe, oder an die Durchdringung anderer Stoffe, hier des Öles, mit deren Aroma zu denken habe. Ausdrücke wie שמן רוקח (Kohel. 10, 1), יין הרֶקַח (Hohel. 2, 8) sprechen für die letztere Annahme. So auch: Job 41, 23: ים ישים כמרקחה, wo offenbar mehr an einen siedenden Destillierapparat, als an eine Pulverisierschale oder einen Mörser zu denken ist.