Midrash su Esodo 12:41

From Adam to the Flood was 1656 years, and this is their enumeration: Adam 130, Seth 105, Enosh 90, Kenan 70, Mahalalel 65, Jared 162, Enoch 65, Methuselah 187, Lamech 182, and Noah was six hundred years old, etc." (Genesis 7, 6). Enoch buried Adam, and lived after him 57 years. Methuselah exhausted his days just before the Flood. From the Flood to the division [of languages] was 340 years. Noah lived ten years after the division [of languages]. Our father Abraham was at the division [of languages] 48 years old. Rabbi Yosei said: Eber was so great a prophet that he [preemptively] named his son Peleg ["division"], [aided] by the Holy Spirit. [Eber having foreseen what was to come] as it says "in his days the earth was divided" (Genesis 10, 25).

He set a limit for the sun, as it is said: His going forth is from the end of the heaven (Ps. 19:7). He determined the extent of the heavens, as it is said: From one end of the heavens unto the other (Deut. 4:32). He determined the extent of the earth, as it is said: Creator of the ends of the earth (Isa. 40:28). He fixed the time for the exodus from Egypt, as it is said: And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years (Exod. 12:41). He set a limit to darkness, as is said: Man setteth an end to darkness and searcheth out to the furthest bound (Job 28:3). And He likewise determined the length of Joseph’s imprisonment, as it is said: And it came to pass at the end of two full years.

(Numb. 14:27:) HOW LONG SHALL THIS EVIL CONGREGATION BE MURMURING AGAINST ME? <I HAVE HEARD THE MURMURINGS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL>….. Let our master instruct us: When a baby has a stone in his hand on the Sabbath, is it permissible to pick him up on the Sabbath?¹⁹Numb. R. 16:26. Thus have our masters taught (in Shab. 21:1): A PERSON MAY PICK UP ONE'S CHILD, EVEN WITH A STONE IN HIS HAND, OR A BASKET (of fruit), EVEN WITH A STONE INSIDE IT. You have learned from the generation of the wilderness that the Holy One, as it were, carried them up in the wilderness. (Deut. 1:31:) AND IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOU SAW HOW THE LORD YOUR GOD CARRIED YOU AS {THE PERSON} [ONE] CARRIES HIS CHILD. Yet there was an object of idolatry in their hand.²⁰Corresponding to the stone in the hand of the child. Thus it is stated (in Neh. 9:18): EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD MADE THEMSELVES A MOLTEN CALF…. And so you find that, when they crossed in the sea, Micah's image (of Jud. 17:3–4) crossed with them, as stated (in Zech. 10:11): AND A RIVAL WIFE²¹Tsarah. The Midrash understands the word in this sense, although most translations follow the other meaning of tsarah, i.e., “affliction,” “distress,” or the like. So also below, Deut. 4:14. SHALL CROSS IN THE SEA.²²Mekhilta deRabbi Ishmael, Pisha 14 on Exod. 12:41; Sanh. 103b; M. Pss. 101:2; Exod. R. 41:1; also Mekhilta deRabbi Ishmael, Wayassa‘ 1 on Exod. 15:22; ySuk. 4:3 (54c); see ARN, A, 34. Still with all this, the Holy One did not forsake them. He said to Moses: I have done a lot of good things with them; yet they are provoking me a lot. I parted the sea for them; they provoked me, as stated (in Pss. 106:7): THEY REBELLED AT THE SEA, [AT THE] REED [SEA]. I led them in the desert, but they provoked me there. And so it says (in Numb. 14:22): THEY HAVE TRIED ME THESE TEN TIMES AND NOT HEARKENED TO MY VOICE. Here also I told you to send them to explore the land, but they provoked me and brought a bad name upon it (i.e., upon the land). I am not able to endure. How long shall I endure them? Where is it shown? From what they read on the matter (in Numb. 14:27): HOW LONG SHALL THIS EVIL CONGREGATION <BE MURMURING AGAINST ME>?