Question: Did the Israelites carry idols with them across the Red Sea? What’s the source for that?

Answer: Thank you for your excellent question. There is some disagreement. If there was any idol, it was certainly only one.

There are several issues involved. In Exodus 12, the commentary of Rashi says that before they brought the Paschal lamb, they removed themselves from idolatry. Thus it would seem that they did not have any idols at the Crossing of the Sea.

There is a Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 1:238) that says the angels called the Israelites idolaters at the crossing of the Red Sea. However, this does not prove that they had actual idols; rather, the angels were accusing them of the sin of idolatry which they had in their past.

There is another Midrash which indicates that one idol may have crossed with the Israelites over the Sea. There is a narrative in the book of Judges chapters 17 and 18 about a man named Micah who had a shrine to an idol. There is discussion about where this idol came from in Rabbinical literature:

One passage (Midrash Exodus Rabba chapter 24) says that the idol of Micah passed with them over the Sea. Another passage (ibid. chapter 41) says that the metals that were later used by Micah to make the idol passed over the sea with them. This is also echoed in the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 103b.

According to another Midrash (Tanhuma, Yelammedenu 1 100), Moses saved Micah as a child from being killed by Pharaoh. Moses later used a parchment containing the words “Rise, Oh Ox” to raise the bones of Joseph from the river where he was interred so he could be brought to Shechem where he is buried. Micah took the parchment and used it to create an idol later, which according to many was the Golden Calf. It would seem that it was not in idol form when they crossed the sea according to this opinion.

It should be noted that this Micah was not the same Micah who was a prophet later in history.

All the best,
Rabbi Kolakowski