Parashat Beshallach opens with God’s concern that Israel, as newly freed slaves, are hardly ready for battle – “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt” (13:17) – and indeed, when the formidable Egyptian army approaches, Israel flounders, petrified.
Yet, at the close of the parashah, when Amalek attacks, the people fight, and win: “Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword” (17:13). And we wonder, how did this timid slave nation build confidence so quickly?
Many see the intervening stories as mere grumblings and complaints, but comparing these two battles reveals a profound national transformation. What happened?
Between these two wars, we have three stories about sustenance: First, God provides water; second, He provides food – the manna and the quail; third, again water – Moses is instructed to hit the rock and water emerges. (And consequently, we have a lovely chiasm: war (Egypt) – water – food – water – war (Amalek).)
Each story follows an identical pattern. God brings the people to desperation through thirst or hunger. At the point of despair, God offers a miracle that provides the essential commodity. And in parallel, he teaches them His laws.
At Marah where bitter waters were sweetened: “He taught them a statute and a law” (15:25).
With the manna, he teaches Shabbat: “Today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any [manna] on the ground today” (16:25).
At Massah and Merivah, God sends Moses to strike the rock at an auspicious location – Horeb-Sinai. The people drink their water from the very source of the Torah!
God is building a bond with Israel through basic sustenance – water and food – much like a baby forms attachment to its mother by her nourishment. Israel is learning that God provides for them. But not unconditionally. God provides only if Israel obeys His law! These chapters build Israel’s dependency upon God. That reliance, that faith, that relationship, forged as the nation travel from the sea to Sinai, gives them the confidence to confront and defeat Amalek.
“When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed” (Exodus 17:1). Did the hands of Moses wage war or lose the war? Rather, “as long as Israel would look upwards and subject their hearts to their Father in heaven they prevailed, and if not they fell” (Mishnah Rosh Hashannah 3:8).
Faith, nurtured through dependence, transforms slaves into a nation.
Image: the Egyptians pursue the Israelites across the Red Sea, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, c 1888 (Wikimedia Commons)
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