8:26: He subdued the winds and the sea, and there was a great silence.
Babylonian Talmud Baba Meṣiʿa 59B: Rabban Gamliel (ca. 90) had gone on
a ship; an impetuous sea rose against it to sink it. He said, “It seems to me
that this happens only because of R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus” (whom he had put
under the ban). He stood on his feet and said, “Lord of the world, it is
manifest and known before you that I have not done it for my honor, nor for the
honor of my father’s house, but for your honor, that the factions in Israel may
not increase.” Then the sea calmed from its raging. ‖ Babylonian Talmud Baba
Batra 73A: Rabbah († 330; perhaps Rabbah bar bar Hana [ca. 280] is meant?)
said, “The sailors told me, ‘This wave that sinks a ship looks like a white ray
of fire at the top, and we strike it with a rod engraved with, “I will be who I
will be, Yah, Yahweh Sabaoth, Amen, Amen! Sela,” then it calms down ונייח.’ ” ‖ See another narrative belonging
here from y. Ber. 9.13B.22 at § Matt 7:7 A, #2, n. a, about a quarter of the way through the paragraph. ‖ We are told
of the authority of R. Phineas b. Yair over the waters of a stream as follows.
Babylonian Talmud Ḥullin 7A: R. Phineas b. Yair (ca. 200) went to release
captives. He came upon the river Ginai (according to the context of the
passage, at any rate, in Galilee); he said to it, “Ginai, divide for me your
waters, that I may pass through!” It answered, “You go to do the will of your
creator, and I go to do the will of my creator; of you it is doubtful whether
you will carry it out or not, but I carry it out with certainty!” That one
said, “If you do not divide, I impose on you the decree that never more will
water flow into you.” So it divided for him. Now there was a man there carrying
wheat for the Passover. R. Phineas said to the river, “Divide for this one
also, because he is busy with a duty!” It parted for him. There was also a
Tajite (Arab) there who had joined those two. R. Phineas said to the river,
“Part also for this one, lest he say, ‘Is this the way to act towards traveling
companions?’ ” So it divided for him. Rab Joseph († 333) said, “How much
greater is the man (R. Phineas) than Moses and the 60 myriads (for whom Moses
parted the Reed Sea); for there (at the Reed Sea) the parting took place once
and here three times” (cf. incidentally 2 Kgs 2:8, 14). (Hermann L.
Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the
Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and
Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 1:548)
