By Rabbi Adam Frankenberg

The people’s faith in God and in Moses is paper thin. They have left Egypt, but even after all that has happened nobody seems to have learned anything. Even after witnessing all those miracles, now they seem to be trapped.

All it takes is to see Pharaoh and his army coming after them for them to turn on Moses: “It was then that the people said to Moses, “were there too few graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die in The wilderness? What is this thing that you have done to us by taking us up out of Egypt? (Exodus 14:11).

In his dealings with the people Moses still seems to have a lot to learn, because God says to him, “Why are you crying out to me? Speak to The Children of Israel and let them journey onward!” (Exodus 14:15)

Moses is known in our tradition as ‘The Prophet who spoke with God face to face’, but this was, perhaps, a moment to turn to the people and try and meet them where they were. Rather than being faced with an admittedly baffling response from them, Moses does not turn away and towards God.

As for the Egyptians, what where they thinking? After all that they had seen, there they are risking their army of 600 chariots. During the high Bronze-age this was cutting edge military technology, and 600 chariots meant at least 1500 people. After all Pharaoh had seen, to risk all that just to get the Israelites back?

From Moses’s response we can try to learn to think of where others are coming from. What’s easy for you might not be for them, so we should go easy with others.

Thinking of The Children of Israel, we should remember that despite all the miracles that they had seen a short time earlier, they had been slaves. That must have been very hard psychological baggage to set aside.
We all probably carry some form of psychological baggage with us. We should bear that in mind, but not judge ourselves too harshly because of it.

As for the Egyptians, I do not know what to say there, aside from noting that we are told that God strengthened their hearts. Given all that was to happen during The Children of Israel’s forty years in the wilderness they needed to know that a return to Egypt was completely impossible.

After being led though the Red Sea and seeing the Egyptians drowned in it we are told that the Children of Israel sang in praise of God.

We are also told the song that Miriam and the women sang: “Sing to God for He is most exalted; horse and rider He cast into the Sea.” (Exodus 15:21).

According to The Midrash, the angels in Heaven wanted to join in with the singing. But God rebuked them and said, “My children are drowning in the sea and you want to sing me songs of praise?”

For anybody not directly affected this was not something in which pleasure should be taken.

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