출애굽기 14:16의 주석

1 AND YOU [MOSES] RAISE UP YOUR STAFF AND STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND OVER THE SEA: In the Midrash (Shemot Rabah 21:9), they said: "Because the Egyptians would say that without the staff, [Moses] wasn't able to do all the miracles that he did, therefore G-d said: "Remove your staff and stretch out your hand because 'raise' is a word often used to mean remove." And I will now give a reason for the matter why, specifically at the Splitting of the Sea of Reeds, G-d commanded Moses to make the staff exemplify what was occurring above [in the Heavens]. For behold, all the Plagues were brought about through the Finger of G-d therefore down [on Earth] they were brought about through the staff of Moses, because the staff is comparable to a finger. But by the sea, [G-d] smote with the entire Hand. As it says, "And Israel saw the Great Hand etc." Therefore, G-d said to Moses that he should make the staff exemplify this and remove the finger-like staff and stretch out your [Moses's] entire hand, which exemplified the Strong Supreme Hand of God. Therefore, it was said that "Israel saw the Great Hand" and through this they saw that Moses did not act through the power of the staff in all of these great and mighty actions because he needed to stretch out his hand, it modeled the Strong Hand above therefore they [the Israelites] believed in G-d and Moses, His Servant. That they returned from their declarations when they said in the past that through the strength of the staff, [Moses] did all this.

הרם את מטך, in the direction of the east wind so that it will cause the sea bed to dry out.

ובקעהו, the letter ע with the vowel tzeyreh converts the intransitive mode, as does the tzeyreh in the word שמענו in Genesis 23,6; on the other hand, in the construction זכרני, zochreyni, based on the root זכר, the first letter of the root has the full vowel kametz. (Psalms 106,4)

הרם את מטך, “raise your rod!” Some commen-tators understand the word הרם as meaning the same as הסר, to remove, so that it would parallel the meaning of Ezekiel 21,31 הסיר המצנפת והרם העטרה, “remove the turban and lift off the crown!” G’d, according to this, told Moses to divest himself of his staff and to use his bare hand instead. i.e. to make it appear as hanging inactive by his side. This would also explain that in response (verse 21) Moses is described as ויט משה את ידו, “Moses inclined his hand.” Seeing that I have explained earlier that in most of the miracles Moses deviated somewhat from the literal meaning of the instruction he had received, unless the Torah writes ויעש כן, i.e. he did exactly as instructed, here too the line “he did as instructed” is missing. (compare Exodus 17, 6 and Numbers 8,3, the only time the Torah reports instructions as having been carried out precisely as given.) The Torah does not criticize Moses for departing slightly from the instructions received, [presumably because unless someone else had heard the instructions he had received, this would not be a desecration of the word of G’d. Ed]

ואתה הרם את מטך ונטה את ידך, “as for you, raise your staff and incline your hand.” We must not understand this verse as an instruction to Moses to raise his staff above the sea. After all, the Torah does not report Moses as raising his staff over the sea. He only raised his hand over the sea (verse 21). The meaning of the words “raise your staff” is that Moses was to divest himself of the staff. You find confirmation of this in Shemot Rabbah 21,9 where the Midrash quotes the Egyptians as saying that Moses’ entire strength lay in his staff, that he was unable to do anything without it. There were also some Israelites who did not believe that Moses would be able to perform such a miracle without the aid of his staff. G’d therefore told him to get rid of the staff and to perform the miracle with his hand. This is why we read subsequently that the people had faith in G’d and His servant Moses, seeing that he had been able to perform such a miracle merely with his hand (verse 31). Whereas previously the Torah had stated that the people did have faith in Moses (4,31), this faith had been shaken in the interval. It was therefore necessary for the Torah to write in connection with the splitting of the Sea that their faith in Moses had been completely restored.

"And you, raise your staff": Ten miracles were performed for Israel at the sea: The waters were split and became like a dome, viz. (Habakkuk 3:14) "You split (the sea) for his tribes; the summit of its scattering raged to scatter me"; the sea became dry land, viz. (Exodus 14:29) "and the children of Israel walked on the dry land"; it became like tar (where the Egyptians trod), viz. (Habakkuk, Ibid. 15) "You led your horses in the sea, in the mire of many waters"; it (the water) became like crumbs, viz. (Psalms 74:13) "You 'crumbed' the sea with Your might"; it became like rocks, viz. (Ibid.) "You broke the heads of serpents (the Egyptians) on the waters"; the sea split into sections, viz. (Ibid. 136:13) "You split the Red Sea into sections," viz. (Ibid. 15:8) "and with the breath of Your nostrils the waters piled up"; they became like a wall, viz. (Ibid.) "the waves stood up as a wall"; He extracted for them sweets from salts, viz. (Psalms 78:16) "and He brought forth streams from a rock and brought down waters as rivers"; He froze the sea for them and it became like vessels of glass, viz. (Exodus 15:8) "The depths froze in the midst of the sea."

V. 16 u. 17. Nicht bloß ich habe dabei zu wirken: auch das Volk durch vertrauensvollen Mut; du als Gottgesandter mit dem das Ereignis als Gottestat dokumentierenden Stabe; Und endlich ich, indem ich den Vorgang so gestalte, dass Mizrajim die Kühnheit bewahrt, ihnen nachzufolgen. — ואכברה, das ה hier sowohl wie in V. 4 drückt aus: Pharaos Untergang ist zu Israels Rettung nicht unumgänglich. Er konnte ja, durch das Ereignis abgeschreckt, umkehren und für immer Israels Verfolgung aufgeben. Allein durch den Frevel, der in seinem ganzen Unternehmen lag, hatte er den Untergang verdient, und Gott wollte in der Vernichtung dieser riesigen Macht die ganze Wucht Seiner Größe offenbar werden lassen, die durch dasselbe Element die zu einem Frevel vereinte Menschenmacht vernichtet, das vor den Hilflosen, aber Schuldlosen, und nur in Gott ihre Rettung Suchenden, scheu und Rettung gewährend zurückweicht. — ברכבו וגו׳: trotz, eigentlich: mit, oder bei, wie בחרי אף (Jes.7, 4).

ויבואו בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel came;” this verse describes what happened on the seventh night of Passover. The problem with this interpretation is that Rashi states on Numbers15,41 that the eight strands of the tzitzit are to act as a reminder of the eight days the Israelites had to wait until they were able to break out in their famous song of redemption composed by Moses when they saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians being tossed back by the sea that had swallowed them. We would have to say that the day on which they prepared for the Exodus and offered the Paschal lamb is included in the days that Rashi referred to, seeing that they had been given notice of their impending departure. At any rate they had not prepared themselves with adequate provisions as the Torah tells us specifically in Exodus 12,39.

ואתה, הרם את מטך, “as far as you are concerned “raise your staff, etc,” Moses was not to lift his staff in order to orchestrate a miracle, but on the contrary, he was to raise his staff so that the people could see that the miracle was possible not only by means of striking the sea with his staff. G-d told Moses that all he had to do was make a threatening gesture and the waters would already split. Our author quotes examples of similar constructions, citing Daniel 8,11 הורם התמיד, “the daily communal offering was removed;” or Isaiah 57,14: הרימו מכשול מדרך עמי, “remove obstacles from the path of My people.” Verse 21 tells us that as soon as Mosesextended his staff G-d was making the sea respond to the east wind etc.

2 AND FROM THIS YOU WILL UNDERSTAND, THAT IN TRUTH, what was the sin of Moses by the Waters of Strife? Because here [by the splitting of the sea] the exact opposite was stated, because here it was stated: "Raise up your staff" which means 'Remove your staff' and "Stretch out your hands" and through this they [the Israelites] came to believe. And there [by the waters of tribulation] it was said: "And he [Moses] raised his hand and he struck the rock with his staff," [which implies] that he removed his hand because he had not done the action with his hand, but rather with his staff, and therefore returned the earlier remarks--[of the Israelites] who said that it was with the power of the staff that he did everything--to their place [i.e. the thoughts were believed again] and with this diminished the belief [of the Israelites] as it is written: "Because you did not [cause them to] believe in me." And this matter will be explained, G-d willing, better in its place in the Section (Chukat 20:8).

ונטה את ידך על הים, so that the waters will split to the two opposite sides of the shore, similar to what the prophet Elijah would do in Kings II 2,8.