when God wanted to drown the Egyptians, and he spake: "O Lord
of the world! Thou are called just and upright, and before Thee
there is no wrong, no forgetting, no respecting of persons. Why,
then, dost Thou desire to make my children perish in the sea?
Canst Thou say that my children drowned or slew a single one of
Thine? If it be on account of the rigorous slavery that my children
imposed upon Israel, then consider that Thy children have received
their wages, in that they took their silver and golden vessels from
them."

Then God convoked all the members of His celestial family, and
He spake to the angel hosts: "Judge ye in truth between Me and
yonder Uzza, the Angel of the Egyptians. At the first I brought a
famine upon his people, and I appointed My friend Joseph over
them, who saved them through his sagacity, and they all became
his slaves. Then My children went down into their land as
strangers, in consequence of the famine, and they made the
children of Israel to serve with rigor in all manner of hard work
there is in the world. They groaned on account of their bitter
service, and their cry rose up to Me, and I sent Moses and Aaron,
My faithful messengers, to Pharaoh. When they came before the
king of Egypt, they spake to him, 'Thus said the Lord, the God of
Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the
wilderness.' In the presence of the kings of the East and of the
West, the sinner began to boast, saying: 'Who is the Lord, that I
should hearken unto His voice, to let Israel go? Why comes He not
before me, like all the kings of the world, and why doth He not
bring me a present like the others? This God of whom you speak, I
know Him not at all. Wait and let me search my lists, and see
whether I can find His Name.' But his servants said, 'We have