Literary Devices – Shemot 15/0

Literary Devices – Shemot 15

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Structure

Prof. Cassuto suggests that the song of the sea can be divided into three strophes, each ending with a celebration of Hashem's supremacy, formulated with a poetic doubling.¹ The division is further marked by the fact that the  penultimate verse² of each stanza contains a comparison of the drowning Egyptians to either stone or lead. The poem would be divided as follows:³

• Verses 1-6: Introduction
• Verses 7-11: Details of the Miracle
• Verses 12-end:  Wish for Future Salvation⁴

Wordplay and Alliteration

Examples

• The word “גאה” in verse 1 has the double meaning of “has triumphed” and “has surged”.⁵  This forms a play on words, as Hashem triumphs by engulfing His enemies in surging waters.⁶ 
• Amos Hakham suggests that it is possible that the word “רמה” (hurled) is used here due to its associations with the root “רום” (to raise / be exalted), often paired with the word “גאה”.‎⁷  Here, “רמה” ironically has the opposite meaning of רם and גאה.

Character Titles

¹ See verses 6, 11, and 16. In each case the verse opens, diverges to mention the subject or to elaborate upon it, and then doubles the opening before finishing the thought, as in verse 6: "יְמִינְךָ י"י נֶאְדָּרִי בַּכֹּחַ יְמִינְךָ י"י תִּרְעַץ אוֹיֵב".  This specific type of poetic doubling is noted by Rashbam as being a common phenomenon; see his (and Rashi's) comments on verse 6 for other examples. Cf. R. D"Z Hoffmann who suggests that the Song of the Sea is responsive; Moshe sings each stanza and the nation replies with these poetic doublings.

² In the third strophe, the imagery is found slightly earlier in the stanza.

³ One might alternatively divide the song into two halves, verses 1-12 which speak of the current miraculous salvation and verses 13-end which speak of future redemption.

⁴ One weakness of this division is that verse 12 appears to still be speaking of the miracle at the sea, and one would have expected it to be part of the second stanza. See Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (New York, 2019), who suggests that this verse acts as a segue, mentioning the "earth" (rather than sea) as swallowing the Egyptians to draw the reader into the theme of this last stanza, that of the promised land.

⁵ See, for example, its usage in  Yechezkel 47:5 and Tehillim 89:10 to refer to surging waters.

⁶ See Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (New York, 2019).

⁷ See, for example Yeshayahu 2:12.