Introduction: A Chapter of Transmission Across Generations
Psalm 78 recounts the history of Israel - the wonders the Holy One, blessed be He, performed for our ancestors, set against their ingratitude and rebelliousness. In the passage before us, we arrive at the description of the sin of Bnei Yisrael, who failed to keep the covenant and forgot the lovingkindness of Hashem. Immediately afterward, Scripture details the wonders themselves: in Egypt, at the splitting of the Red Sea, in the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, and with the water in the wilderness. Let us proceed through the verses in order.
The Three Reasons for Which Hashem Would Deliver - And All Were Breached
לֹא שָׁמְרוּ בְּרִית אֱלֹהִים וּבְתוֹרָתוֹ מֵאֲנוּ לָלֶכֶת׃ וַיִּשְׁכְּחוּ עֲלִילוֹתָיו וְנִפְלְאוֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר הֶרְאָם׃ - They did not keep God's covenant, and refused to walk in His Torah; and they forgot His deeds and His wonders that He had shown them.
What is the "covenant of God" mentioned here? Radak explains that this refers to the covenant He made with them at Sinai. The Malbim elaborates on the structure of the verse: the Holy One, blessed be He, would seek to deliver them for three possible reasons. The first was by virtue of the covenant He forged with them, regarding which it is said, "They did not keep God's covenant." The second was in the merit of Torah observance, but this too was lacking, as stated, "and refused to walk in His Torah." The third was on account of the wonders He performed for them in ancient times, which they should have recalled in prayer and invoked as Hashem's past kindnesses; yet this too was breached: "and they forgot His deeds and His wonders that He had shown them."
And what is the meaning of alilah (deed)? As we have noted several times based on the Malbim's foundational principle, alilah and maalalim always denote an action stemming from an inner trait of character - cruelty, kindness, or compassion. Here too, the actions that emerged in His "deeds" out of His mercy and grace toward us - even these they did not remember.
"In the Sight of Their Fathers He Did Wonders" - The Patriarchs Witness the Redemption
נֶגֶד אֲבוֹתָם עָשָׂה פֶלֶא בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם שְׂדֵה צֹעַן׃ - In the sight of their fathers He did wonders, in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan.
The word neged here does not mean "against," but rather "opposite" or "in front of." There is a Midrash cited by Rashi: Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov came to the sea, and the Holy One, blessed be He, showed them how He was redeeming their children - so that Avraham Avinu would not complain about the fulfillment of the prophecy, "and they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them," without seeing the redemption. The Holy One, blessed be He, brought the Patriarchs there: Behold, see that I am redeeming your children. This is "in the sight of their fathers" - in the presence of their ancestors He performed wonders and split the sea.
Radak explains that those born in the wilderness did not see the miracles of the Exodus; it was a new generation. We have already seen that Ibn Ezra gives this as the reason the Holy One, blessed be He, led them on a roundabout route for forty years in the wilderness: the previous generation was a generation of slaves, crushed in spirit, and incapable of waging battle against thirty-one kings upon entering the land. Therefore, Hashem raised up a new generation that grew up as free men, equipped to rise and fight.
Consider how clearly this is demonstrated: the nation of slaves that left Egypt numbered six hundred thousand fighting men between the ages of twenty and sixty, and they even went out armed. And with how many did the Egyptians pursue them? Six hundred chosen chariots. Even if you factor in "and captains over all of them" and assume a thousand men to every chariot, our numerical superiority was beyond comparison. They had weapons and were armed, so why did they not fight? Ibn Ezra explains: because they had a crushed spirit. A slave who sees his master melts with fear; he is incapable of standing up and fighting against him. Thus, the new generation that arose in the wilderness was destined to be free men, capable of fighting upon their entry into the land.
We have already addressed the apparent question: this does not seem to be the reason given in the Torah itself, where it is written that it was because of the spies' slander of the Land that they were decreed to wander for forty years in the wilderness. Yet as we explained: it was because they chose to walk along a purely physical path, without taking the Holy One, blessed be He, into account. They did not say, "The One Who brought us out of Egypt will bring us into the Land," but rather, "He is stronger than we" - from their perspective, there were to be no miracles. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: If this is the path you choose, you cannot enter and you cannot fight, for you are weak; you need forty years in the wilderness until a new generation arises that can. Had you walked along the spiritual path, the One Who brought you out of Egypt would have brought you into the Land. But you recalculated your route, and along that path, you cannot succeed.
In any case, returning to our subject: a new generation arose here to inherit the Land, but it had a shortcoming - it had not seen the wonders with its own eyes, for they had not left Egypt. Therefore, Scripture states, "He performed wonders before their fathers" there in Egypt. And "wonder" (pele) here is in the plural sense, just as in the phrase "I have acquired an ox and a donkey" (vayehi li shor va'chamor), where the intention is not a single ox but oxen; so too, "He performed wonders" - many wonders. And "the field of Zoan," according to the Radak, is a repetition of the concept in different words: the field of Zoan means the land of Zoan, like "the field of Aram" and "the field of Moab," which mean the land of Aram and the land of Moab. And Zoan, as is known, is Egypt - the royal city of Egypt was called Zoan.
The Alshich's Explanation: The Children Who Grew in the Field and Recognized Their Fathers
The holy Alshich explains based on the words of Chazal that the women would give birth in the field, as it says, "Under the apple tree I aroused you." And the Holy One, blessed be He, would prepare for them something like two stones - "and He suckled him honey from the rock and oil from the flinty boulder" - one of honey and one of milk, from which they would nurse, and Hashem raised them there. When the Egyptians came to seize them, the Holy One, blessed be He, swallowed them into the earth. What did the Egyptians do? "Plowers plowed upon my back; they lengthened their furrows" - they brought plows to plow the fields, yet they could not unearth them from the ground. And when they left, Hashem brought them out of the earth, and they came forth and grew, "and you arrived with exquisite ornaments" (ba'adi adayim) - Chazal interpret this as be'edrim edrim, in droves; they would arrive in droves, and each one recognized his father.
And this is the wonder: "Before their fathers" - who now saw their children coming toward them - "He performed wonders." Each one recognized: this is his father. How? After all, the child grew up there in the field, never saw his father in his life, nor any pictures! And this is "in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan" - it was as though the fathers saw with their own eyes everything that had occurred in the field, "plowers plowed upon my back," and as though the sons had grown up with their fathers in that very field, rather than being handed over from their custody into another's hand.
The Malbim's Explanation: The Tradition of the Fathers and Open Miracles
The Malbim explains that the wonders were performed before the eyes of their fathers, and they transmitted this to their children through tradition (kabbalah) - and such a tradition is as though you saw it with your own eyes, as the Ramban writes: fathers do not bequeath a lie to their children. And we have already noted that all of our knowledge about the Exodus from Egypt comes from our fathers, who received it from their fathers, who received it from their fathers. The Seder night began at some point, and it is inconceivable that on some random Seder night people deliberately and systematically decided, "Let us fool our children and tell them a story that never happened." There is no more powerful transmission than millions of people passing it down generation after generation. It turns out that "He performed wonders before their fathers" - we have received by tradition that our fathers witnessed this, and it is therefore as though it were performed before our very eyes.
Furthermore: these miracles were visible to the eyes of all Egypt, as it is written, "for all the signs and wonders that He performed... in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants... which Moses performed before the eyes of all Israel." Regarding this, the verse says, "in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan" - that these events occurred openly, not as a miracle done in secret. And we have already discussed the difference between this and all the alleged miracles of the nations, where they tell you about that individual who performed miracles in secret where no one saw, except for a mere handful; or that he distributed bread to hundreds of people and everyone was satisfied - anyone can claim there were a few witnesses there. Here, it was "before their fathers," in plain sight of all Egypt; the entire land of Egypt turned to blood.
And if today we have a generation weak in faith, truth will sprout from the earth: papyri are being uncovered in excavations in Egypt and elsewhere in which people who lived back then describe the plague of blood - the land filled with blood, blood everywhere - and describe the wild beasts that confronted them, and the fire flashing amidst the hail. A papyrus is a kind of sheet made from pressed reeds upon which people wrote, and some of these have survived. For what deteriorates most things is moisture; something dry endures. A dry biscuit can last two months, while a rugelach will grow mold within four days. Moisture destroys, dryness preserves - and Egypt has extreme dryness, which is what preserved many of the monuments and relics of those periods.
And confronted with empty arguments, one does not need to exert much effort. A person tells you, "It was high tide and low tide" - where does a tide turn a sea into dry seabed? What then, do you claim that what is written is inaccurate? If so, simply say that you do not accept the text, and do not labor to provide excuses that contradict what is written. Nor does the terminology matter much: call Him God, call Him a Higher Power - we know His Name, and you do not yet know it, that is the only difference. But even this is great progress: once they claimed the universe was eternal (kadmon), while we maintained that the world had a beginning (mechudash); it took several centuries until science acknowledged that the universe is not eternal but came into being at a point in time, though they initially thought it evolved gradually, and later concluded it was created in a single instant. Slowly but surely, progress is made; we need to give the scientists time and not rush them. There remains a debate over the count of years - we say five thousand and some years, and they say five billion or twenty billion, depending on what kind of mood one wakes up in, just how "generous" he feels like being. Do not worry, the scientists will get there and understand; in the end, everyone will understand.
The Splitting of the Red Sea - and the Order of the Verse
בָּקַע יָם וַיַּעֲבִירֵם וַיַּצֶּב מַיִם כְּמוֹ נֵד׃ - He split the sea and brought them across, and made the waters stand like a wall.
After the wonders He performed for them in Egypt, He also performed wonders for them when they went out of Egypt: He split the sea for them, as the Radak explains. "And made the waters stand like a wall" - just as it is written, "the flowing waters stood like a wall," and "the water was a wall to them." For even if you say "He split the sea" and propose all kinds of natural theories, how could the water stand as a wall on their right and on their left? Unquestionably, this was an overt miracle.
The Alshich HaKadosh examines the order of the verse: It should have said, "He split the sea, stood up the waters like a heap, and led them through" - first You split it, then You stood the waters up as a heap, and then You led them across. Why then does it say "and led them through" and only afterward "and He stood up the waters"? Rather, Chazal expounded on the verse, "and the waters were a wall (chomah) for them," where chomah is written deficiently without a vav: do not read chomah (a wall), but cheimah (fury). The sea was filled with fury against them and sought to drown them, were it not that the Holy One, blessed be He, rescued them and held back the sea so it would not drown them. And this is the order: "He split the sea and led them through" on dry land, and afterward the sea became filled with fury against them - as we find, Micah's idol crossed with them, and there were several reasons for this wrath: "These are idolaters and those are idolaters." The sea wanted to collapse upon them, but Hashem held it firm - "and He stood up the waters like a heap" - and thereby Israel was saved from the waters pouring over them.
The Malbim: Wonders Corresponding to Deeds
The Malbim explains the parallel to the previous verse, "His deeds and His wonders": the wonder (pele) is the miracle itself, while the deed (alilah) is the action stemming from the revelation of divine attributes - here, the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. Corresponding to wonders, it says, "He split the sea," which was an open miracle and wonder. Corresponding to deeds, it says, "and led them through": His bringing Israel through the sea stemmed from the attribute of mercy and lovingkindness, for strict justice had prosecuted with the accusation, "These are idolaters and those are idolaters," and nevertheless He had mercy on us and acted with us in lovingkindness.
And "and He stood up the waters like a heap" is also part of that lovingkindness, in order to bring about the downfall of the Egyptians: by standing the waters up like a heap, the Egyptians were enticed to descend into the sea, for it appeared completely stable, not like something about to collapse - not like a shaky bridge or a crumbling balcony - but something solid. They entered, "and with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up (ne'ermu)." What does ne'ermu mean? In its simple sense, it means piled into a heap (areimah), but the Sages expound it as a term of cunning (ormah): the waters acted with cunning to entice the Egyptians to enter, and thus they drowned. This too stems from "His deeds," from the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who judges man measure for measure: "in the very matter wherein they conspired against them (zadu)" - they drowned our sons in the river, and the Holy One, blessed be He, drowned them in the sea. And Chazal expounded zadu from the word nazid (stew): in the pot in which they cooked, they themselves were cooked. Thus, this too is from His divine attributes, as Hashem judges and repays measure for measure.
The Pillar of Cloud and the Pillar of Fire
וַיַּנְחֵם בֶּעָנָן יוֹמָם וְכׇל הַלַּיְלָה בְּאוֹר אֵשׁ׃ - He guided them with a cloud by day, and all night with a light of fire.
After He led them through the sea, He guided them with a cloud by day, which went before them to guide them along the way - and indeed already before they crossed the sea, after they journeyed from Sukkot. "And all night with a light of fire" - the pillar of fire accompanied them the entire night; they needed no candles, searchlights, or flares, for they had a pillar of fire. And here too, an ancient papyrus discovered in Egyptian excavations describes a great fire moving before "the people of slaves" - a description written by an Egyptian from that era, reflecting the pillar of fire that went before them. Even when they camped, the pillar of fire rested above the Mishkan and illuminated the camp for them.
The Alshich: Why "Light of Fire" and Why "All Night"?
The Alshich HaKadosh notes two precise details. First, why does it say "a light of fire"? It would have sufficed to say "with a pillar of fire" or "with fire," just as it says "with a cloud by day" without any addition. What does the word "light" add? Second, it does not say "He guided them all day with a cloud," but simply "with a cloud by day," whereas concerning the night it emphasizes "and all night."
The Alshich explains: It does not say "all day" regarding the cloud, because even before the day ended, the pillar of fire would arrive early, allowing them to benefit from its light in the evening. For had the pillar of cloud continued until the very end of the day and only then been replaced by the pillar of fire, they would have been left in twilight without light and unable to see what was around them. It is well known that the most perilous time for travel is twilight: headlights are not yet effective enough, and the ambient natural light is already fading fast. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, ensured that "all night with a light of fire" was provided - from its very beginning to its end, arriving even ahead of time so that they had light during twilight as well.
He further explains: The Torah states, "to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night," which seemingly appears redundant - it would have been enough to say that the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were there to guide them. Rather, it comes to teach us not to think the light illuminated only those walking at the head of the camp. For if the pillar went before the camp, logic would suggest that those in front could see, while those behind them were blocked from the light, like a headlight shining forward from which those behind derive no benefit. Therefore it says, "that they might travel by day and by night" - they traveled by night just as one travels by day. When you walk by day, the light is not only in front of you but everywhere; so too at night, the light of the fire spread miraculously throughout the entire camp, as though day were shining upon them. And this is also the meaning of "a light of fire": had it been merely a pillar of fire in the sense of a torch or flare, it would only illuminate what is directly ahead. Thus it says "light," which implies illumination like the shining sun - lighting everywhere, and not merely for those walking in the front ranks.
Furthermore: with a pillar of fire, anyone walking near it would be expected to swelter from its heat, especially on hot summer nights when they also had to march at night. Therefore, the verse tells you: it was not burning fire in the physical sense, but "a light of fire" - the radiance of fire without its heat. This is what the Torah intended when it stated, "in a pillar of fire to give them light" - the pillar did not overheat them; it only illuminated their way. Thus, it was purely beneficial, without any drawback whatsoever.
The Malbim: Everything Is Supernatural
יְבַקַּע צֻרִים בַּמִּדְבָּר וַיַּשְׁקְ כִּתְהֹמוֹת רַבָּה׃ - He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as abundantly as from the great depths.
The Malbim connects these verses: "He split the sea," "He led them," "He split rocks." The splitting of the Yam Suf demonstrates Hashem's power to upend the laws of nature. The same is true of the guidance by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire - supernatural phenomena, in the realm of miracle and wonder. And so too the water He gave them, the Well of Miriam, an act transcending nature that showed Hashem was watching over them and providing for all their needs through miracle and wonder. This is precisely what was said: "And they forgot His deeds and His wonders that He showed them" - what were all these if not wonders? Guiding them with a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud, and water accompanying them constantly - all of this was wondrous, and all of this they forgot.
In summary: The chapter enumerates the three merits by which the Holy One, Blessed be He, would redeem Israel - the covenant, the Torah, and the wonders - and shows how all three were breached. In contrast, Scripture describes the greatness of His lovingkindness: "Before their fathers He performed wonders" in Egypt, through miracles open for all to see, transmitted to us through an ancestral tradition of unquestionable reliability; the splitting of the Yam Suf, in which both the wonder ("He split the sea") and the deed, the attribute of kindness and mercy ("and He brought them across"), were revealed alongside measure-for-measure retribution in the drowning of the Egyptians; and the guidance in the wilderness with the pillar of cloud and the "light of fire" that illuminated the entire camp without generating heat, as well as the water brought forth from the rock. All of these were supernatural miracles - and the great sin was that "they forgot." From this stems our own obligation: to remember, to recount, and to pass it down, for our very existence is built upon this chain of memory.