Shirat ha-yam (The Song at the Sea)

Then did Moses and the Children of Israel sing this song (Exodus 15:1). Before we explain the words of this song, it is appropriate to clarify its poetic structure. I maintain that we, the Israelite nation, possess three types of poem.

The first consists of those statements having meter, rhyme, and measure, even if they are recited without melody, since the poetic element within them consists simply of the consonance of the words, their mutual resemblance, and their similarity at the ends of the statements; namely, at the ends of the respective stanzas of the poems that resemble one another either in three concluding letters, or in two, depending upon their vocalization and the manner of their recitation, observing the meter of the consonants and the vowels as well as the purity of the language and its compatibility with the language appropriate to a verse from the sacred scriptures.

And such poems are called ḥaruzim [rhymed] as they are “ordered paths,” as in the phrase Your neck [is comely] with beads [ba-ḥaruzim] (Song of Songs 1:10)—which are pierced precious stones and pearls connected and arranged in proper order and shape. And likewise we find in the words of our sages of blessed memory: strings [maḥrozot] of fish [m. Bava Meẓi‘a 2:1]—which are rows of fish joined to one another in ordered fashion, bound together by their snouts with a reed rope. Now it is on account of this comparison that the poems belonging to this category are called ḥaruzim by virtue of their being equal and interconnected lines, since the words contained in this class of poem are metered in the number of consonants and vowels.

And the labor involved in constructing this type of metered poem is heavenly labor, and they are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb; and they were composed in our holy Hebrew tongue with a greater degree of perfection than can be found in any other language. Now it is true that we find no examples of this category of poems in the words of the prophets, nor in those of the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud, since its origin lay in our exile among the sages of Israel living in Arab lands, who learned from their [the Arabs’] activities in the poetic art, and cleverly replicated it in our sacred tongue. Now we possess superiority in dignity and power [see Genesis 49:3] to what the Arabs produced in their language, and also over the Christian sages in Latin, as well as in the various vernacular languages. There are other examples of such metered poems, but I have not seen such an outstanding quality of perfection as in those composed in Hebrew.

And subsequently this precious art was transmitted to the sages among our people living in Provence and Catalonia, as well as in the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile—and in their poems they spoke of God and of all manner of wisdom and knowledge; how much sweeter were they than honey and how much more powerful than a lion [see Judges 14:18]! But since this class of poem was newly invented in the exile, and they are recent innovations, unknown to our original prophets and sages of blessed memory, we have no need to speak further of such poems here, as the Song of the Sea is not of this type.

However, the second class of poem is that which is recited to melody, even if they are not metered or rhymed, as they are termed poetry solely on account of the song and its musical accompaniment. And the sages have already stated that the poems of this kind differ from the other scriptural narratives in two respects, in substance and in the laying down of an order of recitation. By substance I mean that they are intellectual metaphysical matters, teaching about God’s elevated status, and praises of what is apprehended from the deeds of the Almighty so that they will be fluent in the mouths of the righteous and the enlightened, such as The voice of shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous (Psalms 118:15); Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, praise is comely for the upright (Psalms 33:1); Let the high praises of God be in their throats (Psalms 149:6), and many similar instances.

And so that they should be familiar in their mouths, constantly to arouse the intellectual apprehension of the divine, they would invariably chant them with sweet melodies and voices or a pleasant musical instrument. And those sounds and melodies are arranged with wisdom and in appropriate sequence so as to bestir the listeners’ hearts to take care to discern their inner meanings—and that is why our sages declared: “All songs are holy [and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies]” [m. Yadayim 3:5]. And the meaning of “the laying down of an order” is the establishment of a system that dictates the manner of their recitation and the arrangement of their melodies—and that is what our sages of blessed memory meant by “a log above a brick; a brick above a log; a brick above a brick; a log above a log” [in stipulating how biblical songs are to be written out] [b. Megillah 16b].

Now the explanation of this is that the composers of ancient poems insisted upon arranging the number of words [in the poems] so as to fit the arrangement of the melody which they composed to be sung with them and to arrange their settings with the meter of their syllables—and with the order of this meter they set the arrangement of the melody. There are melodies arranged in such fashion that the first line is the counterpart to the third and the second to the fourth—these equaling one another either in the length to which the melody is extended or is abridged—where that part of the melody which is extended is called “the log” and that part that is abridged is called “the brick,” whose length is half that of the “brick.” And this meter which is arranged so that the first line is the counterpart to the third, and the second to the fourth, is referred to as “a brick above a brick” and “a log above a log.” And this is the way in which the song of Ha’azinu, Job’s responses, and Proverbs have been composed—a lengthy line above a lengthy line, and a short one above a short one in accordance with the theme of the song, it being arranged for reading purposes in the following format: 1) “My doctrine shall drop as the rain”; 2) “My speech shall distil as the dew”; 3) “As the small rain upon the tender grass”; 4) “And as the showers upon the herb.” Now these songs were chosen in preference to ordinary prose narratives and speech because most people forget standard narratives despite reading them day and night; but when they are set to melodies to be sung and played on musical instruments, they are always remembered by reason of their melodies, as scripture declares: And this song shall testify before them as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants (Deuteronomy 31:21). And in this connection, our sages have declared [b. Sanhedrin 101a]: Where anyone reads the Torah without cantillation, it is as though the Torah were girded with sack cloth—namely, that all memory of it would escape his mind. Now the songs that are in the form of “a brick above a log,” and the converse, are numerous and of various kinds, such as the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), Now David sang unto the Lord this song (2 Samuel 22) and generally the entirety of Psalms; and in a few accurate texts you will also find many of Job’s responses and the words containing the proverbs of Solomon to be of this type. And all the composers of these songs made it their objective to meter the words so that each of them can respond in accordance with the arrangements of their melody, and the meter of the words will vary in accordance with the variations in the arrangements of the melodies. And they doubtless possessed well-known melodies, which were forgotten over the immense passage of time and during the lengthy exile; and they all followed the movements of the varying musical instruments and the number of their cords, their strings, and their tone holes; the harp and the horn-pipe, the timbrel and the flute, the stringed instruments, the cymbals and the neginot and gittit and the eight- and ten-stringed instruments, and the psaltery and maḥol,¹ and so forth. And likewise the arrangements of those melodies, which were known by name, such as menatse’aḥ, mizmor, maskil, mikhtam, shir, and the like. And the meter within the words of those songs altered in accordance with the changes to their melodies—for this musical art, through divine providence, contains amazing elements—and this constitutes the second type of poem.

Now the third category of poem consists of matters expressed by way of hyperbole and metaphor and simile, either to praise something or to censure it—either to express joy or lament and mourning, for, in this respect, they are all called “poetic songs.” And their function is to stir up hearts, and to obliterate nasty traits and characteristics, and to strengthen the desired objective and to verify it by means of numerous statements and stories and many images, metaphors, and similes—not that such words possess any objective reality! And this category is that which is essentially called poetry, drawing upon which Aristotle composed a book of poetry, incorporated within philosophical works—and it is stated there that “the special characteristic of the poem and its imagery is that it should be in praise or in censure of something,” etc.² So that, on this account, the more an individual indulges in hyperbole and metaphorical language, the more praiseworthy his poem will be; and in this regard, the Sage [Plato] has written: “The best aspect of a poem lies in its falsehood”—i.e., the falsity of the plain meaning of the poetical expressions. But no wise man should occupy himself with this other than in order to heal the maladies of people’s hearts and the feebleness of their opinions, to eradicate nasty traits, to gladden the grieving, and to arouse the sleepers, and attract them. For there is a natural attraction to hyperbolic verse, and one is impressed by its strangeness—just like those acute poisons that kill healthy persons and cure the sick from their existing illnesses. And falling within this class of poem is the one written in the Torah: Then sang Israel this song: “Spring up, O well—sing ye unto it—the well dug by the princes, delved by the nobles of the nation, with the scepter and with their staves” (Numbers 21:17–18). For plainly the princes did not dig the well with scribal quills, but rather, this was written with poetic license. And Song of Songs also belongs to this category, for the beloved who desires is a metaphor for the Almighty, and the bride for the rational soul. And it was with this in mind that our sages declared: “All the [biblical] songs are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies!” [m. Yadayim 3.5]. And it is said of Solomon (1 Kings 5:12): And he uttered three thousand parables and his songs were one thousand and five, for the song is one type of the parables mentioned. And likewise we find in the words of the prophet Isaiah (5:1): Let me sing of my well-beloved, a song of my beloved about his vineyard—for this song was a parable in which he compared the Assembly of Israel to a vineyard. And similarly it is stated: On that day will this song be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city!” (Isaiah 26:1)—as Isaiah compared Divine Providence to a strong city and tower.

And now that we are aware of these types of poems, it is appropriate to determine, as regards the Song of the Sea, composed by Moses, to which category of poem it belonged and whether or not it contains elements from different categories. Now clearly it does not belong to the first category, of the metered poems, but to both the second and third categories. To the second category, in that it relates to and is balanced upon eight melodic settings, of which two are exceedingly brief and two following them are exceedingly lengthy and the remaining four are intermediate, as in the following format: The first constitutes the counterpart to the ninth and to the eighth of the brief settings, while the second constitutes the counterpart to the tenth, and likewise the third to the eleventh, all of them being intermediate; and similarly the fourth is the counterpart to the twelfth, while the fifth serves as counterpart to the thirteenth, all of these being lengthy; and furthermore, the sixth serves as counterpart to the fourteenth, and the seventh to the fifteenth. Their configuration is:

And thus the song proceeds along in accordance with this setting and meter that has been arranged for it. However, every song was compiled to settings of well-known melodies, and hence you will find in this song that the letters have been forced into certain unnatural positions for the sake of maintaining the meter, and in many places it has become necessary to lengthen a word and to add letters so as to observe the correct meter and the melody, while in other instances it has become necessary also to omit one or more letters, for the same reason. [ . . . ]

Do you really imagine that the master of the prophets erred in the precise details of the letters and the sequence in which they were written? It must surely be that the theme of the song and the requirements of the melody compelled him to employ such forms. Thus it has become clear from the above that this song belonged to the second type of poem mentioned by me. But that it also belonged to the third, metaphorical type, has similarly become clear, for “the Lord is a man of war” is a metaphorical phrase, since God is not a man, neither does He wage war; and likewise: “Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power, Your right hand, O Lord, dashes in pieces the enemy,” since God has no right and left hands; and in similar vein, “and with the blast of Your nostrils,” “You blew with your wind,” “You stretch out Your right hand,” “The place of Your habitation,” “Your hands have established”—these are all poetic expressions in regard to the Almighty, not absolute truth, as will subsequently become clear in the elucidation of the verses of the song.