On the morning after the eventful night, though the sea was not yet
made dry land, the Israelites, full of trust in God, were ready to cast
themselves into its waters. The tribes contended with one another for
the honor of being the first to jump. Without awaiting the outcome of
the wordy strife, the tribe of Benjamin sprang in, and the princes of
Judah were so incensed at having been deprived of pre-eminence in
danger that they pelted the Benjamites with stones. God knew that the
Judaeans and the Benjamites were animated by a praiseworthy purpose.
The ones like the others desired but to magnify the Name of God, and He
rewarded both tribes: in Benjamin's allotment the Shekinah took up her
residence, and the royalty of Israel was conferred upon Judah.
When God saw the two tribes in the waves of the sea, He called upon
Moses, and said: "My beloved are in danger of drowning, and thou
standest by and prayest. Bid Israel go forward, and thou lift up thy
rod over the sea, and divide it." Thus it happened, and Israel passed
through the sea with its water cleft in twain.
The dividing of the sea was but the first of ten miracles connected
with the passage of the Israelites through it. The others were that the
waters united in a vault above their heads; twelve paths opened up, one
for each of the tribes; the water became transparent as glass, and each
tribe could see the others; the soil underfoot was dry, but it changed
into clay when the Egyptians stepped upon it; the walls of water
transformed into rocks, against which the Egyptians were thrown and
dashed to death, while before the Israelites could slake their thirst;
and, finally, the tenth wonder was, that this drinking water was
congealed in the heart of the sea as soon as they had satisfied their
need. [36]
And there were other miracles, besides. The sea yielded the Israelites
whatever their hearts desired. If a child cried as it lay in the arms
of its mother, she needed but to stretch out her hand and pluck and
apple or some fruit and quiet it. [37] The waters were piled up to the
height of sixteen hundred miles, and they could be seen by all the
nations of the earth. [38]
The great wonder of Israel's passage through the sea took place in the
presence of the three Fathers and the six Mothers, for God had fetched
them out of their graves to the shores of the Red Sea, to be witnesses
of the marvelous deeds wrought in behalf of their children. [39]
Wonderful as were the miracles connected with the rescue of the
Israelites from the waters of the sea, those performed when the
Egyptians were drowned were no less remarkable. First of all God felt
called upon to defend Israel's cause before Uzza, the Angel of the
Egyptians, who would not allow his people to perish in the waters of
the sea. He appeared on the spot at the very moment when God wanted to
drown the Egyptians, and he spake: "O Lord of the world! Thou are
called just and upright, and before Thee there is no wrong, no
forgetting, no respecting of persons. Why, then, dost Thou desire to
make my children perish in the sea? Canst Thou say that my children
drowned or slew a single one of Thine? If it be on account of the
rigorous slavery that my children imposed upon Israel, then consider
that Thy children have received their wages, in that they took their
silver and golden vessels from them."
Then God convoked all the members of His celestial family, and He spake
to the angel hosts: "Judge ye in truth between Me and yonder Uzza, the
Angel of the Egyptians. At the first I brought a famine upon his
people, and I appointed My friend Joseph over them, who saved them
through his sagacity, and they all became his slaves. Then My children
went down into their land as strangers, in consequence of the famine,
and they made the children of Israel to serve with rigor in all manner
of hard work there is in the world. They groaned on account of their
bitter service, and their cry rose up to Me, and I sent Moses and
Aaron, My faithful messengers, to Pharaoh. When they came before the
king of Egypt, they spake to him, 'Thus said the Lord, the God of
Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the
wilderness.' In the presence of the kings of the East and of the West,
the sinner began to boast, saying: 'Who is the Lord, that I should
hearken unto His voice, to let Israel go? Why comes He not before me,
like all the kings of the world, and why doth He not bring me a present
like the others? This God of whom you speak, I know Him not at all.
Wait and let me search my lists, and see whether I can find His Name.'
But his servants said, 'We have heard that He is the son of the wise,
the son of ancient kings.' Then Pharaoh asked My messengers, 'What are
the works of this God?' and they replied, 'He is the God of gods, the
Lord of lords, who created the heaven and the earth.' But Pharaoh
doubted their words, and said, 'There is no God in all the world that
can accomplish such works besides me, for I made myself, and I made the
Nile river.' Because he denied Me thus, I sent ten plagues upon him,
and he was compelled to let My children go. Yet, in spite of all, he
did not leave off from his wicked ways, and he tried to bring them back
under his bondage. Now, seeing all that hath happened to him, and that
he will not acknowledge Me as God and Lord, does he not deserve to be
drowned in the sea with his host?"
The Celestial family called out when the Lord had ended His defense,
"Thou hast every right to drown him in the sea!"
Uzza heard their verdict, and he said: "O Lord of all the worlds! I
know that my people deserve the punishment Thou has decreed, but may it
please Thee to deal with them according to Thy attribute of mercy, and
take pity upon the work of Thy hands, for Thy tender mercies are over
all Thy works!"
Almost the Lord had yielded to Uzza's entreaties, when Michael gave a
sign to Gabriel that mad him fly to Egypt swiftly and fetch thence a
brick for which a Hebrew child had been used as a mortar. Holding this
incriminating object in his had, Gabriel stepped into the presence of
God, and said: "O Lord of the world! Wilt Thou have compassion with the
accursed nation that has slaughtered Thy children so cruelly?" Then the
Lord turned Himself away from His attribute of mercy, and seating
Himself upon His throne of justice He resolved to drown the Egyptians
in the sea. [40]
The first upon whom judgement was executed was the Angel of Egypt -
Uzza was thrown into the sea. [41] A similar fate overtook Rahab, the
Angel of the Sea, with his hosts. Rahab had made intercession before
God in behalf of the Egyptians. He had said: "Why shouldst Thou drown
the Egyptians? Let is suffice the Israelites that Thou hast saved them
out of the hand of their masters." At that God dealt Rahab and his army
a blow, under which they staggered and fell dead, and then He cast
their corpses in the sea, whence its unpleasant odor. [42]