Musar for Sotah 9:5

The very words "what is this you have done to us," seem a repetition. When Moses answers them at length, saying a) "do not fear," b) "stand upright," c) "watch the salvation of G–d," plus the words "the way you see Egypt this day you will never see Egypt again," this surely appears an unnecessarily long answer! Besides, the last statement is not a clear-cut promise, but could be interpreted in exactly the reverse manner! In fact, in the days of Jeremiah, the Israelites who fled from the land of Israel after the ruin of the Temple turned to Egypt for succour! Moreover, the Torah (Deut. 28,68) describes Israel's return to Egypt as one of the curses in store for them for not observing the Torah! For all these reasons our sages did not view this latter statement of Moses: לא תוסיפו לראותם עוד עד העולם as a promise, but construed it as a prohibition not to settle in the land of Egypt (Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah 5,5). Even so, how can the historical period under discussion be related to what happened a millenium later to permit a distorted text at this point! This was surely not the time and the place to teach Israel never again to settle in Egypt! At this time the only thing that mattered was a timely prayer! This is why G–d said to Moses: "Israel is in distress and you indulge in overly long prayer!"