The Midrash on Psalms 113–118

This book [Psalms] was described with ten terms [types] of praise: glorification, melody, song, Hallel, chorus, wisdom, adoration, supplication, songs of joy, and thanksgiving. Ten prophets recited [Psalms]: Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Asa, Heman, Jedutun, Eviasaf, and Daniel—some say the three sons of Koraḥ as well.

The Torah has five parts, and this book has five parts, and Hallel has five parts. And why was Hallel blessed from among them all? Because it is the choice part and is a supplement [tosefet] to all the world; it encompasses everything that has happened in the past and will happen in the future: the Exodus from Egypt, the present generations, the messianic days, and the time of Gog and Magog.

First, for the past, hallelujah (Psalms 113:1); for the future, hallelujah (Psalms 113:1, repeated in the verse). For the Exodus from Egypt, When Israel went forth from Egypt (Psalms 114:1). [Not to us, O Lord (Psalms 115:1), for present generations]. I love the Lord who hears (Psalms 116:1) and Praise the Lord for He is good (Psalms 118:1), for the days of the Messiah and for the time of Gog and Magog.¹

[One recites Hallel on] eighteen [days] and one night—these are the eight festival days of Sukkot, the eight days of Hanukkah, and the first day of Passover, and the eve and first day of Shavuot. Who said it? R. Nehemiah said that David said it. And what did Israel do from the time of the Exodus from Egypt until David said it? Is it possible that they ate the Passover sacrifice without saying Hallel? They said, Moses said it during the Exodus from Egypt. [ . . . ] Moses said, “Last night we were slaves to Pharaoh and now we are the servants of God.” They stood and sang praises to God who brought them forth from slavery to freedom, saying before him hallelujah (Psalms 113:1).

Hallelujah. (Psalms 113:1)

Hallelu yah [praise Yah]—Him who created the world, whose praises we sing with two letters, as it says: Yah [yod heh; the Lord] is my strength and my song (Exodus 15:2), and as it says, Trust in the Lord forever and ever, for Yah [yod heh] is the Lord, an everlasting rock (Isaiah 26:4).

Another interpretation: Hallelujah. A parable—what does it resemble?—a king who married a woman and wrote in her codicil [to the marriage contract] that the marriage would be publicly announced when she reached the age of seventy-one. She said to him, “When you meet all my needs, it is I who will write it [i.e., declare the marriage] under your name.” So too, the assembly of Israel said to God: Master of the World! When you do for us all the miracles and mighty deeds that you did for our forefathers, we will praise you with seventy-one letters. And these are: heh-five, lamed-thirty, lamed-thirty, vav-six [spelling hallelu], together seventy-one letters. That is why it says hallelujah. [ . . . ]

When Israel went forth from Egypt. (Psalms 114:1)

The people said to God, “Master of the World! The early prophets, each and every one, prophesied good prophecies, and we still have not seen them come to pass: Jeremiah said, Then shall the maiden rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together (Jeremiah 31:13); Hosea said, The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sands of the sea (Hosea 2:1); Joel said, And in that day, the mountains shall drop down sweet wine (Joel 4:18); Amos said, A time is coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper (Amos 9:13); and it says, [In the days to come,] the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the top of the mountains (Isaiah 2:2); and it says, There shall yet old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem [every man with his staff in his hand for very age] (Zechariah 8:4). We have not yet seen one of them come to pass, as Asaph ben Koraḥ says: We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any who knows how long (Psalms 74:9).”

And the holy spirit answered them, saying, “When I revealed myself to Abraham, and I said to him, [Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,] and shall serve them and they shall afflict them [four hundred years] (Genesis 15:13), did I say to him that I will split the sea for them, and did I say to him that I will give them manna? The things I did not say, I gave them, the things I said, so much the more so.”

Another interpretation: When Israel went forth from Egypt (Psalms 114:1)—when Israel was in Egypt, they were concerned, saying, “Not a single commandment has been given to us to observe and through which we can be redeemed.” Immediately, God said to Moses, “Go, begin with the laws of the Passover offering,” as it says: This month shall be to you [the beginning of months . . . on the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb] (Exodus 12:2[–3]). For was there not enmity between them and the Egyptians because of the lambs? [see Song of Songs Rabbah 43:7].

That is not all, for the time of circumcision had also come, as it says: When I passed by you and saw you [wallowing in your blood,] I said to you: In your blood, live. Yea, I said to you: In your blood, live (Ezekiel 16:6)—the blood of the Passover offering and the blood of circumcision.

R. Judah said, “If we begin counting the laws of the Passover offering, they had more than thirty commandments.” And there are those who say they were only commanded four things. They did not change their language, they were not [even] suspected of committing incest, nor slander, and they did not change their names. That they did not change their language, it says: The sons of Reuben, [Israel’s firstborn,] Enoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi (Exodus 6:14). And it says of Reuben, the clans of the Reubenites (Numbers 26:5) and of Simeon [the clans of the Simeonites (Numbers 26:14)]. This teaches that Moses considered their genealogies to be particularly pure.

How do we know that they were not suspected of incest? As it says: And the son of an Israelite woman [whose father was an Egyptian] went out among the children of Israel (Leviticus 24:10). This teaches that there were no mamzerim [children of Jewish women from certain forbidden relationships] among them except this one, and that this verse was revealed for him. It is explained in the tradition: “A garden shut up is my sister, my bride, [a spring shut up, a fountain sealed] (Song of Songs 4:12). R. Nathan says: A garden shut up—these are the men. A fountain shut up—these are the women.” [ . . . ] Another interpretation: A garden shut up—[even] when their sign [of puberty] was visible.

How do we know they were not suspected of slander? As it says: Each woman shall borrow from her neighbor (Exodus 3:22); they prepared twelve months before [the Exodus]. Here you find that no one informed on his fellow.