beyond the superficial

1) According to Midrash (see Ramban as well), Bn"Y splintered into different camps as they stood at Yam Suf watching the Egyptian army fast approaching.  Some were sure G-d would save them, but others were prepared to throw in the towel and started to question why they ever left Egypt to begin with.  It is to that group that Moshe directed his words, "Hashem yilachem lachem v'atem tacharishun."  Hashem will take care of the Egyptians and fight the fight for you, but "atem tacharishun," while everyone else is singing shirah, you will remain silent.  Only those who stood firm and passed the test of belief beforehand have a right to celebrate afterwards.  

2) The haggadah darshens the pasuk, " וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹקים את־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיֵּ֖דַע אֱלֹקים," as referring to "perishus derech eretz," privacy in intimate matters, something only G-d could know and be aware of.  The Midrash, however, darshens the pasuk quite differently:

דָּבָר אַחֵר: וַיַּרְא אֱלֹקים – אָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ, שֶׁרָאָה שֶׁהֵן עֲתִידִין לְהַמְרוֹת עַל יַם סוּף, דִּכְתִיב: וַיַּמְּרוּ עַל יָם בְּיַם סוּף (תהלים ק״ו:ז׳).  וַיֵּדַע אֱלֹקים – יָדַע שֶׁהֵן עֲתִידִין לוֹמַר (שמות ט״ו:ב׳): זֶה קלי

The Shem m'Shmuel, in his commentary on the haggadah, asks how can be that on the one hand the baal ha'haggadah sees in this pasuk a tremendous shevach of Bn"Y, and other meforshim comment that this וַיַּ֥רְא is one of the keys to unlocking the geulah, and yet the Midrash reads these same words as an allusion to the rebellion at Yam Suf?  How can you reconcile such widely opposing approaches to the same text?

He answers as follows:

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹקים and וַיֵּדַע אֱלֹקים,  the rebellion at Yam Suf and the singing of shirah, are not put side by side in the Midrash because one follows the other in chronological order.  Look at the very next line of the Midrash, which reads:

רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי אָמַר, רָאָה שֶׁעֲתִידִין לוֹמַר (שמות ל״ב:ד׳): אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל  וַיֵּדַע אֱלֹקים – שֶׁעֲתִידִים לְהַקְדִּים נַעֲשֶׂה לְנִשְׁמָע.

Naaseh v'nishma preceded cheit ha'eigel, yet the Midrash has the order reversed.

וַיֵּדַע אֱלֹקים does not follow וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹקים in time, but rather וַיֵּדַע is a deeper, more profound understanding and appreciation of what was once only seen, וַיַּ֥רְא , superficially.

On the surface, cheit ha'eigel is no less than a monumental rebellion against G-d.  However, if you dig below the surface, the exact opposite is true.  Bn"Y came to the eigel because they feared that they had lost Moshe, the only conduit they knew of to connect to G-d.  It was the search for a substitute, something to fill the void left by the loss of Moshe, something to help them reconnect with the spirituality and idealism they had known through him, which led them astray (an all too common story in our history -- how many people latch on to all kinds of ideals and causes to fill the void in their neshoma left by having no connection to anything?) וַיֵּדַע אֱלֹקים that this is not as rebellion, but a product of the same holy fervor that led to naaseh v'nishma in the first place.

The same is true of the rebellion at Yam Suf.  You can find Jews in the leadership of every movement -- civil rights, social justice, etc. -- that speaks out against unfairness and injustice.  The spark for that comes from Yam Suf.  We don't like to sit back passively and watch events unfold; we like to share our opinion on everything, to make their voices heard.  Our neshoma gets stirred up easily.  Sometimes, unfortunately, it leads us to וַיַּמְּרוּ עַל יָם בְּיַם סוּף, in the wrong direction.  Yet that same stirring up is what also leads to shirah. 

וַיֵּדַע אֱלֹקים that that passion, that hislahavus, that energy, that sometimes seems to carry us away, comes from a holy source and therefore can and will find expression in a great way as well.