The Shirat HaYam (the Song of the Sea) sung by the Jewish people after the splitting of the Red Sea, concludes in Chapter 15 verse 18. The next verse states something seemingly superfluous.
כִּי בָא סוּס פַּרְעֹה בְּרִכְבּוֹ וּבְפָרָשָׁיו בַּיָּם וַיָּשֶׁב ה’ עֲלֵהֶם אֶת־מֵי הַיָּם וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָלְכוּ בַיַּבָּשָׁה בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם׃
For the horses of Pharaoh, with his chariots and horsemen, went into the sea; and the LORD turned back on them the waters of the sea; but the Israelites marched on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
Don’t we know this already? That’s why they sang this song in the first place! Why repeat this? In the very next verse the Torah relates how Miriam, Moshe’s sister, led the women in song.
וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן אֶת־הַתֹּף בְּיָדָהּ וַתֵּצֶאןָ כׇל־הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת׃ וַתַּעַן לָהֶם מִרְיָם שִׁירוּ ה’ כִּי־גָאֹה גָּאָה סוּס וְרֹכְבוֹ רָמָה בַיָּם
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea.
These are the same words recorded at the beginning of the song in 15:1.
It appears that the women followed the men in singing this song. The commentary of Meor V’Shemesh is puzzled why the women didn’t sing at the same time. The Talmud relates that when the Jewish people sang they were so spiritually elevated by the revelation of the Shechina( the Divine Presence) that took place then that even babies sang this song of praise to Hashem! If so the women surely should have burst forth in song!
Rabbi Moshe Sofer (1762-1839) (known as Chatam Sofer) answers both our questions in the following way. Before recording the song, the Torah states:
וַיּוֹשַׁע יְהֹוָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּד מִצְרָיִם וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־מִצְרַיִם מֵת עַל־שְׂפַת הַיָּם׃
Thus the LORD delivered Israel that day from the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea. (14:30)
Rashi cites the Talmud that the Jewish people saw that the sea threw the dead Egyptians out on its shore so that the Israelites should not say: “Just as we have come up from out of the sea on this part, they have come up on another part of this shore and they will pursue us.” Even after Hashem split the sea, had the Jewish people walk through on dry land, and brought the waters down on their enemies, they were still unsure that Hashem had completed the job and maybe the Egyptians were still around to pursue them. Only after they saw them dead did they have the peace of mind to rise to the level of singing this holy song.
Now the Torah states, as mentioned at the beginning of this message, “For the horses of Pharaoh, with his chariots and horsemen, went into the sea; and the LORD turned back on them the waters of the sea but the Israelites marched on dry ground in the midst of the sea.” It then states,“Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted for them:Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea.” There is no mention of seeing the Egyptians dead. This implies that for the women this was irrelevant.
The Torah describes how Miriam and the women used timbrels. Rashi cites from the Midrash that the righteous women in that generation were confident that God would perform miracles for them so they brought out timbrels with them from Egypt. For such women once they saw Hashem’s miracles, their faith in Him was unwavering. Right then and there they were ready to sing!
Now we can see why the Torah repeated how Pharaoh’s horses went into the sea etc. It’s in order to lead from that into the women’s song and highlight that unlike the men, the women were ready to sing once they saw this without seeing the Egyptians dead.
Based on this it can be said that the women actually didn’t sing after the men. They sang before them! Because unlike the men they didn’t need to wait for the sea to cast the dead Egyptians out onto the shore in order to sing. (Chatam Sofer writes that the women sang the first verse before the men and sang the rest at the same time as them.)
These were the women upon whom our Sages declared that in the merit of the righteous women our ancestors were redeemed from Egypt!
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak