We continue with pasuk ט of Az Yashir: אָמַ֥ר אוֹיֵ֛ב אֶרְדֹּ֥ף אַשִּׂ֖יג אֲחַלֵּ֣ק שָׁלָ֑ל תִּמְלָאֵ֣מוֹ נַפְשִׁ֔י אָרִ֣יק חַרְבִּ֔י תּוֹרִישֵׁ֖מוֹ יָדִֽי The enemy (referring to Paroah) said (to his nation), “I will chase. I will capture. We will split up the booty. I will fill my soul (or, as Rashi says, my will), which is to catch up with them and destroy them. I will empty my sword. and my hand will impoverish them ( which means they’d take all the money). Rashi explains that Paroah was trying to convince the people to go for the chase. This is an important part of the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, that we didn't explain beforehand. When it was time to leave, God told Moshe to tell the people to borrow the gold and silver from the Egyptians. But the Jewish people didn't want to, because they knew they weren't coming back. They reasoned, “W hy should we say we're borrowing it, which means we're going to return it, when we don't plan on returning it? It's just going to cause problems. When we don't turn back, they're going to chase us.” And that is what happened. Hashem set up something that the Jewish people didn't understand at the time. We kept on plaguing Paroah to just let us go for three days, and we would come back. If you read the narrative, Moshe never tells Paroah that they weren’t ever coming back. He just said they were going to slaughter their sheep in the desert. That's why they needed to take the sheep. When Paroah asked why they needed to bring their kids, Moshe replied that the kids also had to go to the party. The whole time, the story was that they were going to slaughter in the desert and were planning to come back. Of course, that was not their plan. And then, on top of that, they borrowed all that money, which added insult to injury. If they wouldn't have taken the money, there’s a good chance the Mitzrim would have just let them go. The Jews caused so many problems for them, but now, since they also had their money, it was incentive to go for the chase. That's exactly what is being pointed out in Az Yashir- Paroah convinced them to chase for the money. They would impoverish the Jews from all the money they took, split the booty, and return with it. That's what caused them to go for the chase. In essence, this was all God's plan. God wanted them to willingly go for a chase and, Middah K’Neged Middah , He would drown them in the water. The money was what made them go for the chase. And God made it even more tempting by having the Jewish people travel backwards, and encamp by an idol called Baal Safon, which was their guard of the treasures, as if to say, “ The guard of the treasures is demanding justice because the Jewish people are stealing our treasures.” It was a all a set up. God was setting up Paroah, playing with his will and playing with the will of the Egyptian people. This is something that became clear at Az Yashir , and it’s one of the reasons we say that marriages are as difficult as splitting the sea- because when it comes to marriages, God also has to do that-He also has to set people up and He sometimes uses money. Very often, somebody marries a person because there's some kind of advantage or incentive. But it's just God setting them up. He needs to make this marriage happen and He’s not going play with your freedom of choice, so He uses these ‘external stimuli,’ to make the make the deal. That's what happened here with Paroah. And that's why this is an important piece. Pasuk 9 maybe not be fully appreciated. It’s the pasuk of Paroah really playing into the plan, exactly as set out by God. They would chase the money and end up really running into their downfall. Have a wonderful day.