Singing Praise

Today's summary comes from Haviva Garret.

What does it mean that the water praised Hashem? When things do what G-d commanded them to do (i.e. water staying in sea, sun rising and setting) they praise Hashem through obeying Him. It is a praise of Hashem because it shows that He has so much power that He can make nature act the way He wants it to. By the water praising Hashem (by doing what it's supposed to do) we can learn the greatness of Hashem.

An example of this is in sefer Yehoshua, when Yehoshua told the sun to be still. When the sun stopped moving, Rashi said it also stopped singing shira--praising Hashem by fulfilling its role in the world.

Talmud Bavli- When a person is arrogant and thinks that he can do whatever he wants and he can do things without Hashem in his life, it is as if he pushed Hashem out of his world. Hashem punishes him because he is not leaving a place in his life for Hashem. How does G-d punish him? With water, because the water does do whatever G-d tells it to do, but this person isn't listening to Hashem.