מדרש אויף שמות 14:31

"King Solomon made for him a palanquin" (Songs 3:9). "Palanquin" -- that is the Tent of Meeting. "King Solomon (Shlomo) made for him" -- the King to whom the peace (shalom) belongs (i.e., God Himself). Said Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai: There was a king who had a young daughter. Before she had grown up and developed signs of puberty, he would see her in the marketplace [and] speak with her, in alleyways [and] speak with her. As soon as she grew up and developed signs of puberty, he said, "It is not honorable to my daughter that I speak with her in public; rather, make for her a partition and I will speak with her from within the partition." Thus in the beginning [it says], "When Israel was a youth, then I loved him" (Hos. 11:1). In Egypt they saw Me -- "and I will pass through the land of Egypt [on that night]" (Ex. 12:12). At the Sea they saw Me -- "and Israel saw the great hand [that God had wrought against Egypt]" (Ex. 14:31). At Sinai they saw Me -- "face to face the word of God was with you" (Deut. 5:4). And as soon as they received the Torah and became a full-fledged (sheleimah) nation to Me, I said, "It is not honorable to My children that I should speak with them in public; rather, make for Me a Tabernacle and I will speak from within the Tabernacle." Therefore it says, "When Moses would come to the Tent of Meeting [to speak with Him, he would hear a voice speaking to him from above the cover that was atop the Ark of Testimony]" (Num. 7:89).
"Of wood from Lebanon" (Songs 3:9) -- [those are] "[the boards of] acacia wood, standing upright" (Ex. 26:15); "Its posts he made of silver" -- "the hooks of the columns" (Ex. 27:10); "Its back-support of gold" (Songs 3:10) -- "the boards you shall overlay with gold" (Ex. 26:29). "Its seat of purple gold" (Songs 3:10) -- "and you shall make a curtain of blue and purple" (Ex. 26:31). "Inside it was joined together with love" -- Rabbi Yudan says, that is the merit of Torah and the righteous. Rabbi Azariah in the name of Rabbi Yehuda b'Rabbi Simon says, that is the Shekhinah. Said Rabbi Acha bar Kahana, it is written, "I will meet with you at appointed times there" (Ex. 25:22), to teach that even that which is behind the Ark-cover is not unoccupied by the Shekhinah.
A certain Gentile inquired of Rabban Gamaliel. He said to him, "For what reason did the Holy One Blessed be He conceal Himself from Moses in a bush?" He said to him, "If He would have concealed Himself on a certain carob tree or on a certain fig tree, what would you have said? Rather, [it was to show] that thee is no place on Earth that is unoccupied by the Shekhinah.
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: To what can the Tent of Meeting be compared? To a cave that is situated on the seashore, and the sea rose up and overflowed, and the cave became filled up by the sea, but the sea was not lacking. Thus is the Tent of Meeting -- it is filled up by the radiance of the Shekhinah. Therefore it is said, "And it was on the day that Moses completed (or 'fulfilled'), etc."

Another thing to conquer in music. As it says in the scripture (Proverbs 11:10), "When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices." What is written above this verse (Psalms 3:8)? "Rise up, O Lord; deliver me." And now, I play for the Lord when the wicked perish. Similarly, we find (Exodus 14:31) "And Israel saw the great power." Immediately after (Exodus 15:1), "Then sang Moses." And they said (Judges 5:1), "Then sang Deborah." And so it says (Psalms 3:8), "Rise up, O Lord; save me, O my God." And afterwards (Psalms 3:7), "For you have smitten all my enemies on the cheekbone; you have broken the teeth of the wicked." For when You struck them on the cheek, they had no embers, nor wounds. You broke the teeth of the wicked. A parable to what is this matter similar? To two people who walked on the same road, one righteous and the other wicked. They found a tavern and said to each other, "Let us enter this tavern and eat." They both entered together, and the wicked one saw many blessings of fish, cattle, sheep, and birds. He said to the righteous one, "Why don't we give money and partake?" The righteous man said to the wicked one, "Is today the day that this inn is reopening for us? If today is the first day it opened, we used to inspect it. In the end, they both entered the inn and sat separately. The wicked man would say to the innkeeper, "Bring me one portion of peas, bring me a cake, bring me whatever you have." Then the righteous man said to the innkeeper, "Bring me one glass of beer and bring me one bowl of lentils." They sat and played against each other. The wicked man said about the righteous man, "See how foolish he is? All these blessings are before him, and he eats lentils." The righteous man saw how the wicked man was mocking him and said, "See how foolish he is? He eats and breaks his teeth." The righteous man then asked for two cups of wine to bless them, paid for the little he ate, and left in peace. The wicked man stood up to leave and said, "Let's settle the bill." The righteous man asked, "How much did you eat of the lentils?" The wicked man replied, "Only one portion." The righteous man said, "No, it was two." This led to an argument between them, and the innkeeper started breaking his teeth again. This is why it is said, "The teeth of the wicked shall be broken" (Psalms 3:8). The wicked say, "How can God know?" (Psalms 73:11), and the righteous say, "For there is no word on my tongue, but You, O Lord, know it all" (Psalms 139:4).

R. Levi stated: He then took the list of gods and began to read: The god of Edom, the god of Moab, the god of Sidon, etc. And he said to them: “I have read the entire list, but the name of your God is not upon it.” R. Levi said: This may be compared to a priest who had a foolish servant. On one occasion, after the priest had left the city, his servant went to the cemetery to seek him. He inquired of the men loitering about: “Have you seen my master here?” They replied: “Isn’t your master a priest?” Indeed, he replied. “Fool,” they said, “who has ever seen a priest in a cemetery?”⁷Priests are not permitted to enter cemeteries (Lev. 21:1 and the halakhic codes). Moses and Aaron likewise rebuked Pharaoh, saying: “Fool, these gods that you mentioned are all dead, but the Lord, the true God, is a living God, the King of the Universe.” Pharaoh asked them: “Is He young or old? How many cities has He captured? How many provinces has He humbled? How long has He been King?” They replied: “The strength and power of our God permeates the world. He was before the world was created, and He will be at the end of all worlds. He fashioned you and placed within you the breath of life.” “What else has He done?” he asked. They replied: He stretched forth the heavens and the earth and His voice heweth out flames of fire (Ps. 29:7); He rends the mountains and breaketh in pieces the rocks (I Kings 19:11); His bow is of fire; His arrows are flames; His spear is a torch; His shield is of the clouds; His sword is lighning; He formeth mountains and hills; covereth the mountains with the grass; the heavens with clouds; He bringeth down rain and dew, cạuseth plants to grow and fruits to ripen; He afflicteth the beasts; He formeth the embryo in the womb of the mother and bringeth it forth into the light of the world. He removeth kings and setteth up kings (Dan. 2:21). He said to them: “You have been speaking falsehood from the start! For I am the lord of the world, and I created myself and the Nile, as is written: The Nile is mine, I made it (Ezek. 29:3).” At that moment he gathered all the wise men of Egypt, and said to them: “Perhaps you have heard about the god of these?” They said to him: “We have heard that he is the son of wise men and the son of early kings.” The Holy One, blessed be He said: They call themselves wise men, but Me (they call) a son of wise men! By your life, I will destroy you for your wisdom, as is written: All the wisdom of Pharaoh’s advisers, their plans are foolish. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of wise men, I am the son of early kings? (Isa. 19:11). See what is written of them: The wisdom of his wise men and the understanding of his discerning men will be hidden (ibid. 29:14). He (Pharaoh) answered them (Moses and Aaron): “I do not understand what you are saying. Who is God that I should harken to His voice? (Exod. 5:2).” The Holy One, blessed be He responded: Evil one! Who is God? you asked. (With) who (mi) you will be plagued. Mi equals fifty in gematria.⁸Mem = 40, yod = 10. These are the fifty plagues which the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt. What does Scripture say regarding Egypt? The sorcerers said to Pharaoh: “This is the finger of God” (ibid. 8:15), and regarding the sea, what does (Scripture) say? Israel saw the great hand (ibid. 14:31). How many plagues did they suffer with a finger? Ten plagues. Calculate the five fingers on a great hand; each one corresponds to ten, hence fifty. Another interpretation: mi (“who”), switch the letters of mi (mem-yod)and you spell yam (yod-mem, “sea”); the Red Sea will inform you who God is. By your life! With your own mouth you will exclaim: ‘The Lord is righteous.’ You have said: I will not send, but tomorrow you will take hold of each of them by the hand and say: Go in peace, take even thy sheep and thy cattle, and the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste (ibid. 12:33). And thus it is said: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go (ibid. 13:17).