With Pharaoh’s Egyptian army trailing behind and the sea in front of them, the Israelites were trapped with no place to escape. The frightened people complained “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness?’” (Exodus 14:11-12).
According to rabbinic tradition, Moses offers a lengthy prayer to God for a solution (Talmud Sotah 37a). God doesn’t want to hear his cries but instead instructs Moses to lead them forward.
Why does God disapprove of Moses’s prayer, telling him to move rather than “crying out to me”? Further, the Passover Haggadah emphasises that the Israelites were redeemed from slavery because “they cried out to God”.
Surely prayer is an admirable endeavour in a time of national crisis? God’s surprising response, which criticises Moses for “crying out,” teaches an important lesson. There is a time for prayer and there is a time for action. However, making a lengthy prayer when people are in clear danger is not helpful and does not get a stamp of approval from the Almighty.
