출애굽기 14:20의 인용 해설

An additional reason for introducing this paragraph with the word ויהי is that G'd announced that there would be a famine and G'd always shares the pain He inflicts on His world (compare Megillah 10 on Exodus 14,20).

על כנפי נשרים UPON EAGLES’ WINGS — as an eagle which bears its fledglings upon its wings. Scripture uses this metaphor because all other birds place their young between their feet since they are afraid of another bird that flies above them, but the eagle fears none except man — apprehending that perhaps he may cast an arrow at it — since no bird can fly above it; therefore he places it (its young) upon its wings, saying, “Better that the arrow should pierce me than my young!” (Mekhilta). — “I, too”, said God, “did thus”: (Exodus 14:19, 20) “And the angel of God … journeyed etc…. And he came between the camp of Egypt etc.” … and the Egyptians were casting arrows and stone missiles and the cloud caught these (cf. Rashi on these verses).

and ten at the sea: The first, "and it lit the night" (Exodus 14:20) - and like the translation of Onkelos, "and it was (darkness) [cloud and fog] for the Egyptians and light for Israel all night." And the second and the third are "And the Lord looked down upon the Egyptian camp in a pillar of fire and cloud" (Exodus 14:24) - the cloud would come down and make it like sludge and the pillar of fire would boil it, [such that the] hoofs of their horses would be severed. The fourth is "He removed the wheels of their chariots" (Exodus 14:25) - that He removed the wheels from the wagons and the Egyptians fell and were crushed. The fifth is "and they drove with heaviness" (Exodus 14:25) - after they fell and were crushed, they could not stand. And [so,] they stayed in the place that they fell. And the sixth is that they wanted to flee and they could not, as it is stated (Exodus 14:25), "And Egypt said, 'Let us flee from Israel.'" And [this is] not like we found with Sisera, as it stated (Judges 4:15), "and Sisera descended from his chariot and fled on foot." But these did not descend and they did not have the possibility of fleeing. And the seventh is "And the Lord shook the Egyptians into the sea" (Exodus 14:27) - likes its [classic Aramaic] translation, "and He confounded," which is an expression of breaking. As He shook them like a man shakes a pot, [such] that what is above [goes] below and what is below [goes] above. And the eighth is that the earth at the bottom of the sea swallowed them, as it is stated (Exodus 15:12), "You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them." The ninth is that they descended heavily into the depths of the sea like lead, as it stated (Exodus 15:10), "They sank like lead in the mighty waters." The tenth is that the sea spit them out, as it stated (Exodus 14:30), "And Israel saw Egypt dead on the shore of the sea."

“and the night will be dark about me” Heb. אור, lit. light. And the night will darken before me. This אוֹר is an expression of darkness, like (Job 37:11): “he spreads his clouds of darkness (אור)”; similarly (below 148:3), “all stars of the night (אור)”; similarly (Exod. 14:20), “and it darkened (ויאר) the night.”

He put [a protective] darkness around. For [protective] cover as it says, "The pillar of cloud and the darkness separated between Mitzrayim and Yisroel."¹²See Shemos 14:20.