Commento su Esodo 15:12

נטית ימינך THOU INCLINEST THY RIGHT HAND — When the Holy One, blessed be He, inclines His hand the wicked cease to be and fall — because everything is held in His hand and consequently falls when He inclines it. Similarly it states, (Isaiah 31:3) “When the Lord inclineth His hand, he that helpeth shall stumble and he that is helped shall fall”. A parable: it may be compared to glass vessels held in a man’s hand: if he inclines his hand a little they fall and are shattered to pieces (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:12:3).

THOU STRETCHEDST OUT THY RIGHT HAND — THE EARTH ‘TIVLA’EIMO’ (SWALLOWED THEM). The meaning is that “after you blew with Your wind and the sea covered them, You stretched out Your right hand and Your arm,²⁰³Verse 16: By the greatness of Thine arm… and the earth swallowed them.” The purport thereof is that after they drowned, the sea cast them out as is the custom of the seas, and so Scripture says, And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore.²⁰⁴Above, 14:30. There, [on the sea-shore], their bodies decomposed and they returned to the dust upon the earth as they were,²⁰⁵See Ecclesiastes 12:7. and thus they were swallowed up and destroyed [by the earth]. The usage of the word tivla’eimo is similar to the expressions: Together round about, ‘vativla’eini’ (Thou dost destroy me);²⁰⁶Job 10:8. The Eternal ‘bila’ (hath swallowed up) unsparingly;²⁰⁷Lamentations 2:2. And the way of thy paths ‘bileiu,’²⁰⁸Isaiah 3:12. which means “they destroyed.” Our Rabbis have said²⁰⁹Mechilta on the verse here. that the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them, for they were privileged to be buried by virtue of having said, The Eternal is righteous.²¹⁰Above, 9:27. [Thus, according to this Midrash of the Rabbis, the bodies of the Egyptians were not totally destroyed, for they even merited a place for burial.] But the expression of G-d’s “outstretched right hand or arm,” [as stated here. Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand], is used in Scripture only as indicating vengeance and destruction! Perhaps the Rabbis [of the above-mentioned interpretation] will explain the verse as follows: “Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand to slay them in the sea, and the earth swallowed them up after that,” this being the burial which they merited.

נטית ימינך תבלעימו ארץ, "when You inclined Your right hand the earth swallowed them." Mechilta describes the sea as tossing the Egyptians onto the dry land and the earth as tossing them right back into the sea. The dry land argued with the sea saying: "considering that I was cursed by G'd for having merely absorbed a single human being's blood, i.e. Abel's, at the time, what will G'd do to me if I will accept an entire population of human beings unless G'd swears an oath to me not to demand an accounting from me? [this is based on the meaning of "right hand" often being equated with an oath. Ed.] Targum Yonathan also explains our verse in this sense. We learn from here that the sea did not want to accept the Egyptians and tossed them out. This contradicts something we have learned in Pessachim 118. G'd is quoted as saying to the guardian angel of the sea: "spit them out onto the dry land." The guardian angel of the sea retorted: "Lord of the universe, is there then a servant who has been given a gift by his master (food for the fish according to Rashi) and the master subsequently demands the gift back?" To this argument G'd replied: "I will give you a gift worth one and a half times the original gift if you give Me back the original gift." The sea replied: "can a servant take a master to court?" G'd answered: "I will guarantee My promise by giving you the river Kishon as a pledge." Upon hearing this the sea immediately disgorged the bodies of the Egyptians onto the dry land and the Israelites were able to see that they were dead. It is clear from that story in the Talmud that the sea was quite unwilling to toss the Egyptians onto the dry land. Why then was the sea not overjoyed when the dry land refused the bodies of the Egyptians and tossed them back into the sea? Besides, why did G'd have to repay the sea from the camp of Siserah (900 chariots versus the Egyptians' 600 chariots, compare Judges 4,13)? Why did He not repay the sea personally so that He did not have to give the sea the river Kishon as a pledge?