The Exodus and the Crossing of the Sea

Chapter 10

1 When the king of Egypt was dead, another king arose and afflicted all the people of Israel. But they cried out to the Lord, and he heard them and sent Moses and delivered them out of the land of Egypt. God also sent upon the Egyptians 10 plagues and struck them. These were the plagues: blood, frogs, all kinds of flies, hail, the death of cattle, locusts, gnats, darkness that could be felt, and the death of the firstborn. 2 When they had gone out from there and were on their way, the heart of the Egyptians was hardened yet again, and they continued to pursue them and found them by the Red Sea. The children of Israel cried out to their God and said to Moses, “The time of our destruction has come, for the sea is in front of us and the multitude of enemies behind us, and we are in the middle. Was it for this that God brought us out? Are these the covenants he made with our fathers, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give the land where you dwell’? Now let him do with us what seems good in his sight.” 3 Then the children of Israel split their counsels into three, because of the fear of that moment.⁠ The tribes of Ruben, Isachar, Zabulon, and Symeon said, “Come, let us throw ourselves into the sea, for it is better for us to die in the water than to be killed by our enemies.” The tribes of Gad, Aser, Dan, and Neptalim said, “No, let us go back with them, and if they will spare our lives, we will serve them.” But the tribes of Levi, Juda, Joseph, and Benjamin said, “Not so; let us take up our weapons and fight them, and God will be with us.” 4 Moses also cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord God of our fathers, did you not say to me, ‘Go and tell the sons of Lia, God has sent me to you’? And now you have brought your people to the edge of the sea, and the enemy is following after them; but you, Lord, remember your name.” 5 God said, “Because you have cried out to me, take your rod and strike the sea, and it will be dried up.” When Moses did all this, God rebuked the sea, and the sea was dried up;⁠ the waters stood still and the depths of the earth appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare⁠ at the sound of the fear of God and at the breath of the anger of the Lord. 6 Israel crossed over on dry land in the middle of the sea. The Egyptians saw and went on pursuing them, and God hardened their minds, and they did not realize that they were entering the sea. So while the Egyptians were in the sea, God commanded the sea once again and said to Moses, “Strike the sea once more.” And he did so. The Lord commanded the sea, and it returned to its waves and covered the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen, to this day. 7 But as for his own people, he led them out into the wilderness. For forty years he rained bread from heaven for them, and he brought them quail from the sea, and he brought out for them a well of water that followed them.⁠ In a pillar of cloud he led them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night he gave them light.

Texts in conversation

Compare Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10:7 and Tosefta Sukkah 3

Classical · Rabbinic

Summary

Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities and the Tosefta echo a Jewish midrash that the well in Exodus and Numbers followed the Israelites. This tradition, not in the Torah, shows how interpreters connected distinct elements to create a unified story.

Passages

Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10:7

Classical

6 Israel crossed over on dry land in the middle of the sea. The Egyptians saw and went on pursuing them, and God hardened their minds, and they did not realize that they were entering the sea. So while the Egyptians were in the sea, God commanded the sea once again and said to Moses, “Strike the sea once more.” And he did so. The Lord commanded the sea, and it returned to its waves and covered the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen, to this day. 7 But as for his own people, he led them out into the wilderness. For forty years he rained bread from heaven for them, and he brought them quail from the sea, and he brought out for them a well of water that followed them. In a pillar of cloud he led them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night he gave them light.

1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities

Tosefta Sukkah 3

Rabbinic · Tosefta

And also : By the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for meat, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail ; it shall bring forth first-fruits every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary ; and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for healing intimating that all "the waters of creation" will come forth as from the mouth of this flask. So the well, which was with Israel in the wilderness, was like a rock of the size of a k'bara, and was oozing out and rising as from the mouth of this flask, travelling with them up the mountains and going down with them to the valleys. Wherever Israel encamped it encamped opposite them before the door of the Tabernacle. The princes of Israel with their slaves surrounded it, and said over it this song, Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it. Then the waters bubbled forth, and rose on high like a pillar; and every one drew out the staff of his tribe and family, as it is said, The well which the princes digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre and with their staves. And from Mattanah to Nahaliel ; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth ; and from Bamoth to the valley, etc. going round every camp of the Lord, and watering all Jeshimon ; and it made mighty streams, as it is said, And streams overflowed. 3 And they were sitting in skiffs, going from place to place, as it is written, They ran in the dry places like a river. If Israel went up on the right, it would come down on the right ; if on the left, it would come down on the left. The waters which emptied themselves from it became a great river, pouring themselves into the Mediterranean, and bringing thence all the precious things of the world, as it is said, These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee ; thou hast lacked nothing.

190–230 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tosefta Sukkah

References

"... although Josephus mostly explains the biblical description of miracles in his wilderness narrative, in the case of the water from the rock he enhances the features of the παράδοξον. He upholds his description by referring in an editorial remark to the interpretation of a writing from the Temple. The authority of that writing would justify the description of the episode as a miracle in the eyes of Josephus’s non-Jewish audience. But Josephus’s editorial comment may also address a Jewish audience: in so doing, Josephus would reaffirm the correct interpretation of the passage against alternative contemporary interpretations such as the tradition of the travelling rock or well attested in 1 Corinthians 10:4 and Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10.7, as well as in rabbinic literature ..."

Jan Willem van Henten and Silvia Castelli, “Massah and Meribah Re-interpreted: Biblical Accounts, Judith, and Josephus,” in The Early Reception of the Torah, ed. Kristin De Troyer et al. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2020), 19–45.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

The Exodus and the Crossing of the Sea

Biblical Antiquities65 chapters

Compare Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10:7 and Tosefta Sukkah 3

Summary

Passages

Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10:7

Tosefta Sukkah 3

References

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