Commento su Deuteronomio 11:4

HOW HE MADE THE WATER OF THE RED SEA TO OVERFLOW THEM THAT PURSUED AFTER YOU, AND HOW THE ETERNAL HATH DESTROYED THEM UNTO THIS DAY. I have not understood the meaning of the phrase, unto this day, for all who die in the sea are destroyed forever [thus the expression unto this day would appear redundant]! Possibly it refers back to the expression unto their horses, and to their chariots, that for the entire generation [following the exodus] horses and chariots remained [irretrievably] lost, since Pharaoh had taken along with him all the horses, chariots, and horsemen that were in Egypt and they were all destroyed, and henceforth it was a lowly kingdom²⁹⁴Ezekiel 17:14. without the chariot and horse, the army and the power.²⁹⁵Isaiah 43:17. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that [the expression unto this day] denotes that their children afterwards never rose in their stead to resemble them. Rabbi Abraham’s intent is to state that G-d [not only] destroyed the pursuers in the sea, [but] in Egypt [proper] He destroyed the seed [of the pursuers], not leaving them a name and remnant,²⁹⁶Ibid., 14:22. since they were the most wicked of all the Egyptians to pursue after the redeemed of the Eternal.²⁹⁷Ibid., 62:12. But this is not mentioned in the Torah!

ויאבדם ה' עד היום הזה, for then the choicest captains of the Egyptian cavalry were drowned with their armies in such a decisive manner that even now, forty years later, they have not recovered from this defeat. Until this day these military leaders of Egypt have not been replaced.

אשר הציף את מי הים סוף על פניהם...ויאבדם ה' עד היום הזה, “Who poured the waters of the Sea of Reeds upon their faces…and He wiped them out until this day.” Nachmanides agonises over the meaning of the words עד היום הזה, “until this day.” After all, all the Egyptians who perished in the sea remain dead forever. What does any of this have to do with “היום הזה”? It is possible that Moses by speaking of היום הזה, reverts to the loss of horses and riders that the Egyptians experienced at that time 40 years ago, and which to the best of his knowledge had not been made good until the time when he was speaking. As a result of that stunning military defeat, according to Moses, Egypt had become relegated to being a “third rate kingdom.” Ibn Ezra understands Moses to mean that never since that time until now did there arise among the Egyptians personalities of impressive stature as Egypt had produced many of while the Israelites were still in that country. This would have been a fitting punishment for a people who in spite of being blessed with an abundance of riches allowed themselves to descend to unparalleled depths of depravity. They reached a zenith in their wickedness when they set out in pursuit of a nation that had been redeemed by the Creator Himself, personally.

V. 4. 2 .הציף וגו׳ על פניהם. B. M. 14, 27 heißt es: ומצרים נסים לקראתו, das Wasser stürzte also ihnen entgegen und warf sie rücklings nieder. Daher: על פניהם. צוף wohl verwandt mit צפה, das im Piel einen Überzug, eine Oberfläche machen heißt: so צוף: obenauf schwimmen, צפו מים על ראשי (Klagel. 3, 21). ויצף הכרול, er brachte das Eisen an die Oberfläche (Kön. II. 6, 6). ויאכדם ד׳ עד היום הזה wohl: die ägyptische Macht hat sich nicht wieder erholt.

ואשר עשה לחיל מצרים, “and what He did to the army of Egypt;” Moses adds in verse 6, that G-d had killed Datan and Aviram. These two actions do not appear to be related to one another, neither in the manner in which either party met its death, nor in the quantity of people involved in each action. Why did Moses treat them in such a manner? He wished to demonstrate how both the earth and the ocean collaborated with G-d. The Egyptians did not drown in the regular manner but the waves piled up upon them forcing them below. In the case of Datan and Aviram, though they stood far away from Korach, they were also swallowed by the earth which strained to carry out what it perceived to be G-d’s will. Onkelos pays tribute to the astuteness with which nature cooperated with G-d, i.e. חכימא מיא, “the waters acted with wisdom.”