Journeying Forth in Faith

With Pharaoh and the Egyptian army on one side and the sea on the other, the children of Israel faced a critical moment and lashed out at Moshe for leading them into what seemed certain doom. Moshe, their leader, quieted the people, but he too was uncertain how to proceed, turning to God in prayer for guidance. God’s response was entirely unexpected:

And the Lord said to Moshe: “Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they journey onward (vayisa’u). As for you, raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it apart.” (Exodus 14:15–16)

The standout midrashim on this episode, often quoted, understand God’s reply as advocating a pragmatic religious approach: there are moments when action must replace prayer:

Rabbi Yehoshua says: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: Moshe, all that Israel has to do is to go forward.
Rabbi Eliezer says: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: Moshe, My children are in trouble. The sea is raging and the enemy is pursuing, and you stand and prolong your prayers? For Rabbi Eliezer was wont to say: There is a time to prolong prayer and a time to shorten it…
(Mekhilta de Rabbi Yishmael 3, Horowitz–Rabin ed., p. 97)

These interpretations align naturally with the narrative; yet since God’s words do not explicitly state the reason for this command, they granted the sages wide latitude in discerning divine intent. Indeed, the Mekhilta offers a virtual catalogue of possibilities, two of which, attributed to a single sage, present sharply contrasting religious messages.

In the first midrash, God rebukes Moshe for praying while the people are suffering from a crisis of faith:

Rabbi says: Last night you said, “From the time I came to Pharaoh…” (Exodus 5:23), and now you stand and prolong your prayer? “Why do you cry out to Me?”

“Speak to the children of Israel and have them go forward (veyisa’u).” Have them retract (yasi’u) the things they said. Last night they said, “Is it for lack of graves…?” (Exodus 14:11), and now you stand and prolong your prayer for them? Let them retract what they have said. (adapted from Mekhilta 3, p. 98)

Here, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, through a subtle wordplay, portrays God as directing Moshe to address the people’s spiritual failings rather than engage in prayer. Moshe must restore their wavering faith, for only through renewed trust in God can redemption unfold.

In a second midrash, however, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi offers a strikingly different assessment. There is no need for Moshe to pray at all, for the people’s faith is already complete and sufficient to merit salvation:

Rabbi says: Their faith in Me suffices for Me to split the sea for them, as it is written: “Let them return and encamp…” (Exodus 14:2). (ibid.)

Together, these opposing readings capture a profound tension at the heart of religious life. At times, redemption is held back by doubt and requires leadership that nurtures faith; while at other times, faith itself is so powerful that it renders prayer unnecessary, demanding only the courage to move forward. God’s enigmatic command: “Why do you cry out to Me?”, thus becomes not a rejection of prayer, but a call to discern what the moment truly requires. Whether by strengthening faltering belief or by trusting in faith already present, Moshe’s task as the leader of his people and, in fact, the people’s as well, is to step into the unknown with the confidence that redemption unfolds not only through words directed heavenward, but through the spiritual readiness to act and to journey onward.