תהלים, פרק ק״ו, פסוק ז׳

The history of the Israelites is often marked by a recurring cycle of sin, distress, and salvation. A tragic gap exists between the overwhelming power of God's miracles and the human capacity to truly absorb them. The spiritual failure of the generation that left Egypt began while they were still in the land of slavery and reached its peak at the edge of the sea.

A profound spiritual blindness plagued the people. The primary approach among commentators is that God's wonders and kindnesses refer to the plagues that struck the Egyptians, the careful protection of the Israelites during those plagues, the actual release from slavery to freedom, and the fulfillment of God's promises to their ancestors. Yet, even after witnessing these miracles with their own eyes, the people failed to pay proper attention or show basic wisdom [מצודת דוד, מאירי, אלשיך]. Some even doubted the reality of the miracles altogether, suspecting them to be mere trickery or magic, which prevented them from serving God out of genuine gratitude [מלבי״ם].

This failure to internalize God's protection led directly to the next crisis. When the Egyptian army pursued them, rather than relying on Him who had just performed wonders for them, the Israelites panicked. They rebelled, refused to move forward, and actively angered God [מצודת ציון, מאירי]. They leveled harsh complaints, sarcastically asking if there was a lack of graves in Egypt that they had to be brought to the wilderness to die [רד״ק, אבן עזרא].

The exact location of this rebellion is a point of discussion. The simplest explanation is that the rebellion occurred on the shore just before the waters split [מאירי]. However, many commentators identify two distinct stages of faithlessness: an initial rebellion on the shore, followed by a continued rebellion within the sea itself.

This lack of faith inside the parted waters manifested in several ways. First, out of a petty lack of trust, the Israelites feared that just as they were emerging from one side of the sea, the Egyptians would simply exit from the other side and continue their pursuit. This anxiety was only resolved when God commanded the sea to cast the Egyptian bodies onto the dry land, allowing the Israelites to see their enemies dead and finally believe [תורה תמימה, רש״י, מצודת דוד].

Second, they complained about the physical conditions of their rescue. Although the waters had split, the seabed remained muddy. The people grumbled that they had merely traded the mud and bricks of Egypt for the mud of the sea [אלשיך, מאירי]. This reaction is deeply ironic; typically, people facing danger at sea are moved to repent, but the Israelites chose that exact moment to anger God [מאירי]. Finally, another perspective notes that the spiritual failure was so severe that some Israelites actually carried an idol with them as they walked through the parted waters [מלבי״ם].