Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:1
רש"י על דברים א׳:א׳
Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:1
Rashi explains that Devarim opens by alluding to earlier events in the wilderness, and here he notes the connection to the Israelites' fear after the splitting of the sea. The point is to read Moshe's opening rebuke as grounded in past experience and memory.
מול סוף. עַל מַה שֶּׁהִמְרוּ בְיַם סוּף בְּבוֹאָם לְיַם סוּף, שֶׁאָמְרוּ (שם י"ד) "הֲמִבְּלִי אֵין קְבָרִים בְּמִצְרַיִם", וְכֵן בְּנָסְעָם מִתּוֹךְ הַיָּם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהילים ק"ו) "וַיַּמְרוּ עַל יָם בְּיַם סוּף" כִּדְאִיתָא בַּעֲרָכִין (דף ט"ו):
מול סוף OVER AGAINST SUPH — i.e. he reproved them regarding that in which they had shown themselves rebellious at the Red Sea (סוף): viz., on their arrival at the Red Sea — that they said, (Exodus 14:11) “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt [that thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness?]"; and similarly when they left the midst of the Sea, as it is said, (Psalms 106:7) “They murmured because of the Sea, at the Red Sea”, as it is related in Treatise Arakhin 15a (cf. Rashi on Numbers 14:22 and Sifrei 1:14).