Reading , "And the Lord said to Moses: 'Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward," Rabbi Eliezer taught that God was telling Moses that there is a time to pray briefly and a time to pray at length. God was telling Moses that God's children were in trouble, the sea cut them off, the enemy pursued, and yet Moses stood and said a long prayer! God told Moses that it was time to cut short his prayer and act.Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, Beshallah, chapter 4, in, e.g., Jacob Lauterbach, translator, Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, volume 1, pages 143–44; Exodus Rabbah 21:8, in, e.g., Simon Lehrman, translator, Midrash Rabbah: Exodus, volume 3, page 270.
