Shevii shel Pesach - Pharoh's punishment at קריאת ים סוף

The passuk says (Shemos 6:13)

וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל אַהֲרֹן וַיְצַוֵּם אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶל פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרָיִם לְהוֹצִיא אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם

And Hashem spoke to Moshe and to Aharon and He commanded them concerning the benei yisrael and concerning Pharoh the King of Mitzrayim, to bring the benei yisrael out of Mitzrayim.

The Medrash Rabbah (quoted in Rashi) comments

"ואל פרעה מלך מצרים" – אמר להם הקב"ה: היו נוהגים בו כבוד וחלקו כבוד למלכות, אע"פ שאני צריך לעשות בו את הדין.

Hashem said to Moshe and to Aharon, “Be respectful to Pharoh even although I must administer justice to him, because you must honour royalty.”

However, at קריאת ים סוף, Hashem said to Moshe (Shemos 14:4)

וְחִזַּקְתִּי אֶת לֵב פַּרְעֹה וְרָדַף אַחֲרֵיהֶם וְאִכָּבְדָה בְּפַרְעֹה וּבְכָל חֵילוֹ וְיָדְעוּ מִצְרַיִם כִּי אֲנִי ה' וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן

And I will strengthen the heart of Pharoh and he will pursue after them, and I will be honoured through Pharoh and through all of his army and Mitzrayim will know that I am Hashem, and they did so.

It would appear from this passuk, that whereas during the עשר מכות Moshe was commanded to honour Pharoh, at קריאת ים סוף this הנהגה no longer applied and Hashem would become honoured through the downfall of Pharoh.

• Why was Hashem no longer concerned to honour Pharoh at קריאת ים סוף?

In Hallel we say

מַה לְּךָ הַיָּם כִּי תָנוּס הַיַּרְדֵּן תִּסֹּב לְאָחוֹר. הֶהָרִים תִּרְקְדוּ כְאֵילִים גְּבָעוֹת כִּבְנֵי צֹאן. מִלִּפְנֵי אָדוֹן חוּלִי אָרֶץ מִלִּפְנֵי אֱלוֹקּ יַעֲקֹב. הַהֹפְכִי הַצּוּר אֲגַם מָיִם חַלָּמִישׁ לְמַעְיְנוֹ מָיִם.

Why, sea, do you flee and the Yarden does turn aside?.. Before the Lord does the earth tremble, before the G-d of Yaakov. Who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flintstone into a well of water.

• Why does the passuk say that the sea was scared of Hashem who turns the rock into a well? Apparently the passuk should have said that the sea was scared of Hashem who turns water into dry land?

The אשי ישראל explains as follows:

The Medrash Rabbah says (Shemos 23:4)

אמר רבי יהודה בן פזי מה ראו ישראל לומר שירה באז אלא אמרו מתחלה היה הים הזה יבשה ועמדו דורו של אנוש והכעיסו לפניו באז שנאמר (בראשית ד', כ"ו) אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה' ועשאו הקדוש ברוך הוא ים ופרע מהם שנאמר (עמוס ה', ח') הקורא למי הים וישפכם על פני הארץ ועכשיו ים היה ונעשה לנו יבשה שנאמר (שמות י"ד, כ"ט) ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך הים נקלסנו באז שהפך לנו ים ליבשה הוי אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל

Why did the בני ישראל start the שירה על הים with אז? They said, “Originally this area was dry land however in the generation of אנוש when they served עבודה זרה, concerning which the passuk says אז הוחל לקרוא בשם ה', Hashem then turned the dry land into sea and drowned them. Now this same sea has been turned into dry land for us, so we should praise Hashem with the word אז.”

That is why in Hallel it says that the sea was scared of Hashem who turned the dry land into water, because since Hashem was the One who turned that dry land into water, Hashem could also decide to reverse that decision and turn the water into dry land once again.

In other words, the בני ישראל who came out of Mitzrayim had done teshuvah on serving עבודה זרה, as demonstrated by their מסירות נפש to take a lamb, which was the עבודה זרה of Mitzrayim and tying it to their beds five days before bringing it as a קרבן. In their teshuvah, they reached the madregah that existed before the generation of אנוש ever started to serve עבודה זרה, and therefore the land that had become the ים סוף once again became dry for them.

Similarly, the Medrash in Bereishis (4:4) says:

והבל הביא גם הוא מבכורות צאנו, מכבשים שלא נגזזו ולא נעבדו ולא נעברה בהן עבירה, וישע ה' אל הבל ואל מנחתו - לפי שהביא קרבנו מן המובחר בעין טובה, ערב קרבנו להקב"ה, ועליו הוא אומר וערבה לה' מנחת יהודה וירושלים כימי עולם וכשנים קדמוניות (מלאכי ג'). רבי אומר כימי עולם כימי נח, וכשנים קדמוניות, כשנות הבל, שלא היתה עבודה זרה בעולם.

Hevel brought from his firstborn sheep, he brought a korban from sheep that had not been shorn and had not been served and that no aveirah had been done with them. And Hashem turned to Hevel and to his korban, because he brought his korban from the best and with a good eye, his korban was pleasing to Hashem, and about him the passuk says ועליו הוא אומר וערבה לה' מנחת יהודה וירושלים כימי עולם וכשנים קדמוניות. Rebbi says, כימי עולם – this refers to the korbanos that were brought in the days of Noach, וכשנים קדמוניות – this refers to the korbanos that were brought in the years of Hevel, when there was no עבודה זרה in the world.

We see from the medrash that if there is any עבודה זרה in the world at all, then even if the person bringing the korban did not serve עבודה זרה, nevertheless the korban is less pleasing to Hashem because somewhere in the world there exists עבודה זרה. In other words, that world in which עבודה זרה  is served is not the same as that world in which there exists עבודה זרה.

Since the benei yisrael had achieved the madregah that existed before the generation of אנוש served עבודה זרה, therefore it was as if they now lived in the world as it had been before the דור אנוש served עבודה זרה, and it was fitting that the place of the ים סוף should be dry land for them, as it had originally been.

Pharoh, on the other hand, declared himself to be an עבודה זרה, as the passuk says (Yechezkel 29:3) - הִנְנִי עָלֶיךָ פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם הַתַּנִּים הַגָּדוֹל הָרֹבֵץ בְּתוֹךְ יְאֹרָיו אֲשֶׁר אָמַר לִי יְאֹרִי וַאֲנִי עֲשִׂיתִנִי. Since Pharoh continued in the ways of the generation of אנוש, therefore for him and the Mitzrim, it was appropriate that the place of the ים סוף should continue to be sea.

Subsequently we can understand that the way in which Hashem was honoured through the drowning of Pharoh and the Mitzrim in the Yam Suf was not through punishment that was aimed directly at Pharoh, but was rather through demonstrating the difference between the madregah of the benei yisrael and the madregah of Pharoh, which reminded people of the punishment that was visited on mankind as a whole in the דור אנוש because they served עבודה זרה.