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The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg
Volume III
Bible Times and Characters from the Exodus to the Death of Moses
THE REVELATION ON MOUNT SINAI
From the first day of the third month, the day on which Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, a
heavy cloud rested upon them, and every one except Moses was forbidden to ascend the
mountain, yea, they durst not even stay near it, lest God smite those who pushed forward,
with hail or fiery arrows. [197] The day of the revelation announced itself as an ominous
day even in the morning, for diverse rumblings sounded from Mount Sinai. Flashes of
lightning, accompanied by an ever swelling peal of horns, moved the people with mighty
fear and trembling. God bent the heavens, moved the earth, and shook the bounds of the
world, so that the depths trembled, and the heavens grew frightened. His splendor passed
through the four portals of fire, earthquake, storm and hail. The kings of the earth
trembled in their palaces, and they all came to the villain Balaam, and asked him if God
intended the same fate for them as for the generation of the flood. But Balaam said to
them: "O ye fools! The Holy One, blessed be He, has long since promised Noah never
again to punish the world with a flood." The kings of the heathen, however, were not
quieted, and furthermore said: "God has indeed promised never again to bring a flood
upon the world, but perhaps He now means to destroy it by means of fire." Balaam
said: "Nay, God will not destroy the world either through fire or through water. The
commotion throughout nature was caused through this only, that He is not about to bestow
the Torah upon His people. 'The Eternal will give strength unto His people.'" At this
all the kings shouted, "May the Eternal bless His people with peace," and each
one, quieted in spirit, went to his house. [198]
Just as the inhabitants of the earth were alarmed at the revelation, and believed the end
of all time had arrived, so too did the earth. She thought the resurrection of the dead
was about to take place, and she would have to account for the blood of the slain that she
had absorbed, and for the bodies of the murdered whom she covered. The earth was not
calmed until she heard the first words of the Decalogue. [199]
Although phenomena were perceptible on Mount Sinai in the morning, still God did not
reveal Himself to the people until noon. For owing to the brevity of the summer nights,
and the pleasantness of the morning sleep in summer, the people were still asleep when God
had descended upon Mount Sinai. Moses betook himself to the encampment and awakened them
with these words: "Arise from your sleep, the bridegroom is at hand, and is waiting
to lead his bride under the marriage-canopy." Moses, at the head of the procession,
hereupon brought the nation to its bridegroom, God, to Sinai, himself going up the
mountain. [200] He said to God: "Announce Thy words, Thy children are ready to obey
them." These words of Moses rang out near and far, for on the occasion, his voice,
when he repeated the words of God to the people, had as much power as the Divine voice
that he heard. [201]
It was not indeed quite of their own free will that Israel declared themselves ready to
accept the Torah, for when the whole nation, in two divisions, men and women, approached
Sinai, God lifted up this mountain and held it over the heads of the people like a basket,
saying to them: "If you accept the Torah, it is well, otherwise you will find you
grave under this mountain." They all burst into tears and poured out their heart in
contrition before God, and then said: "All that the Lord hath said, will we do, and
be obedient." [202] Hardly had they uttered these words of submission to God, when a
hundred and twenty myriads of angels descended, an provided every Israelite with a crown
and a girdle of glory - Divine gifts, which they did not lose until they worshipped the
Golden Calf, when the angels came and took the gifts away from them. [203] At the same
time with these crowns and girdles of glory, a heavenly radiance was shed over their
faces, but this also they later lost through their sins. Only Moses retained it, whose
face shone so brightly, that if even to-day a crack were made in his tomb, the light
emanating from his corpse would be so powerful that it could not but destroy all the
world. [204]
After God had bestowed upon Israel these wonderful gifts, He wanted to proceed to the
announcement of the Torah, but did not desire to do so while Moses was with Him, that the
people might not say it was Moses who had spoken out of the cloud. Hence He sought an
excuse to be rid of him. He therefore said to Moses: "Go down, warn the people, that
they shall not press forward to see, for if even one of them were to be destroyed, the
loss to Me would be as great as if all creation had been destroyed. Bid Nadab and Abihu
also, as well as the first born that are to perform priestly duties, beware that they do
not press forward." Moses, however, desirous of remaining with God, replied: "I
have already warned the people and set the bounds beyond which they may not venture."
God hereupon said to Moses: "Go, descend and call upon Aaron to come up with thee,
but let him keep behind thee, while the people do not move beyond the positions thou hadst
assigned them." Hardly had Moses left the mountain, when God revealed the Torah to
the people. [205]
This was the sixth revelation of God upon earth since the creation of the world. The tenth
and last is to take place on the Day of Judgement.
The heavens opened and Mount Sinai, freed from the earth, rose into the air, so that its
summit towered into the heavens, while a thick cloud covered the sides of it, and touched
the feet of the Divine Throne. [206] Accompanying God on one side, appeared twenty-two
thousand angels with crowns for the Levites, the only tribe that remained true to God
while the rest worshipped the Golden Calf. On the second side were sixty myriads, three
thousand five hundred and fifty angels, each bearing a crown of fire for each individual
Israelite. Double this number of angels was on the third side, whereas on the fourth side
they were simply innumerable. For God did not appear from one direction, but from all four
simultaneously, which, however, did not prevent His glory from filling the heaven as well
as all the earth. [207]
In spite of these innumerable hosts of angels there was no crowding on Mount Sinai, no
mob, there was room for all the angels that had appeared in honor of Israel and the Torah.
They had, however, at the same time received the order to destroy Israel in case they
intended to reject the Torah. [208]
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
The first word of God on Sinai was Anoki, "It is I." It was not a Hebrew word,
but and Egyptian word that Israel first heard from God. He treated them as did that king
his home-coming son, whom, returning from a long stay over sea, he addressed in the
language the son had acquired in a foreign land. So God addressed Israel in Egyptian,
because it was the language they spoke. At the same time Israel recognized in this word
"Anoki," that is was God who addressed them. For when Jacob had assembled his
children around his death-bed, he warned them to be mindful of the glory of God, and
confided to them the secrets that God would hereafter reveal to them with the word
"Anoki." He said: "With the word 'Anoki' He addressed my grandfather
Abraham; with the word 'Anoki' He addressed my father Isaac, and with the word 'Anoki' He
addressed me. Know, then, that when He will come to you, and will so address, you, it will
be He, but not otherwise." [209]
When the first commandment had come out of the mouth of God thunder and lightning
proceeded from His mouth, a torch was at His right, and a torch at His left, and His voice
flew through the air, saying: "My people, My people, House of Israel! I am the
Eternal, you God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." When Israel heard the
awful voice, they flew back in their horror twelve miles, until their souls fled from
them. Upon this the Torah turned to God, saying: "Lord of the world! Hast Thou given
me to the living, or to the dead?" God said: "To the living." The Torah:
"But they are all dead." God: "For thy sake will I restore them to
life." Hereupon He let fall upon them the dew that will hereafter revive the dead,
and they returned to life.
The trembling of heaven and earth that set in upon the perception of the Divine voice,
alarmed Israel so greatly that they could hardly stand on their feet. God hereupon sent to
every one of them two angels; on lay his hand upon the heart of each, that his soul might
not depart, and on to lift the head of each, that he might behold his Maker's splendor.
They beheld the glory of God as well as the otherwise invisible word when it emanated from
the Divine vision, and rolled forward to their ears, whereupon they perceived these words:
"Wilt thou accept the Torah, which contains two hundred and forty-eight commandments,
corresponding to the number of the members of they body?" They answered: "Yea,
yea." Then the word passed from the ear to the mouth; it kissed the mouth, then
rolled again to the ear again to the ear, and called to it: "Wilt thou accept the
Torah, which contains three hundred and sixty-five prohibitions, corresponding to the days
of the year?" And when they replied, "Yea, yea," again the word turned from
the ear to the mouth and kissed it. After the Israelites had in this wise taken upon
themselves the commandments and the prohibitions, God opened the seven heavens and the
seven earths, and said: "Behold, these are My witnesses that there is none like Me in
the heights or on earth! See that I am the Only One, and that I have revealed Myself in My
splendor and My radiance! If anyone should say to you, 'Go, serve other gods,' then say:
'Can one who has seen his Maker, face to face, in His splendor, in His glory and His
strength, leave Him and become an idolater?' See, it is I that have delivered you out of
the house of bondage; it is I that cleaved the seas before you and led you on dry land,
while I submerged you enemies in the depths. [210] I am the God of the dry land as well as
the sea, of the past as well as of the future, the God of this world as well as of the
future worlds. [211] I am the God of all nations, but only with Israel is My name allied.
If they fulfil My wishes, I, the Eternal, am merciful, gracious and long suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth; but if you are disobedient, then will I be a stern judge.
If you had not accepted the Torah, no punishment could have fallen upon you were you not
to fulfil it, but now that you have accepted it, you must obey it." [212]
In order to convince Israel of the unity and uniqueness of God, He bade all nature stand
still, that all might see that there is nothing beside Him. When God bestowed the Torah,
no bird sang, no ox lowed, the Ofannim did not fly, the Seraphim uttered not their
"Holy, holy, holy," the sea did not roar, no creature uttered a sound - all
listened in breathless silence to the words announced by an echoless voice, "I am the
Lord you God." [213]
These words as well as the others, made know by God on Mount Sinai, were not heard by
Israel alone, but by the inhabitants of all the earth. The Divine voice divided itself
into the seventy tongues of men, so that all might understand it; but whereas Israel could
listen to the voice without suffering harm, the souls of the heathens almost fled from
them when they heard it. [214] When the Divine voice sounded, all the dead in Sheol were
revived, and betook themselves to Sinai; for the revelation took place in the presence of
the living as well as of the dead, yea, even the souls of those who were not yet born were
present. Every prophet, every sage, received at Sinai his share of the revelation, which
in the course of history was announced by them to mankind. [215] All heard indeed the same
words, but the same voice, corresponding to the individuality of each, was God's way of
speaking with them. And as the same voice sounded differently to each one, so did the
Divine vision appear differently to each, wherefore God warned them not to ascribe the
various forms to various beings, saying: "Do not believe that because you have seen
Me in various forms, there are various gods, I am the same that appeared to you at the Red
Sea as a God of war, and at Sinai as a teacher." [216]
THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS REVEALED ON
SINAI
After Israel had accepted the first commandment with a "Yea," God said: "As
you have now acknowledged Me as you sovereign, I can now give you commands: Thou shalt not
acknowledge the gods of other nations as such, for they bring no advantage to those who
adore them; this thou shalt not do while I exist. I have given you my Torah in order to
lend sovereignty to you, hence you must not kindle My wrath by breaking My covenant
through idolatry. You shall not worship dead idols, but Him who kills and restores to
life, and in whose hand are all living things. Do not learn the works of other nations,
for their works are vanity. I, the Eternal, you God, rule over zeal and am not ruled by
it; I wait until the fourth generation to visit punishment. But those who love Me, or fear
Me, will I reward even unto the thousandth generation."
When Moses heard these words, according to which God would visit upon the descendants the
sins of their fathers only if the consecutive generations were one after another sinful,
he cast himself upon the ground and thanked God for it; for he knew it never occurred
among Israel that three consecutive generations were sinful. [217]
The third commandment read: "O My people of Israel, none among you shall call the
name of the Lord in vain, for he who swears falsely by the name of the Lord shall not go
unpunished on the great Judgement Day." [218] Swearing falsely has terrible
consequences not only for the one who does it, but it endangers all the world. For when
God created the world, He laid over the abyss a shard, on which is engraved the Ineffable
Name, that the abyss may not burst forth and destroy the world. But as often as on swears
falsely in God's name, the letters of the Ineffable Name fly away, and as there is then
nothing to restrain the abyss, the waters burst forth from it to destroy the world. This
would surely come to pass, if God did not sent the angel Ya'asriel, who has charge of the
seventy pencils, to engrave anew the Ineffable Name on the shard. [219]
God said then to Israel, "If you accept My Torah and observe My laws, I will give you
for all eternity a thing most precious that I have in My possession." "And
what," replied Israel, "is that precious thing which Thou wilt give us if we
obey Thy Torah?" God: "The future world." Israel: "But even in this
world should we have a foretaste of that other." God: "The Sabbath will give you
this foretaste. [220] Be mindful of the Sabbath on the seventh day of the creation of the
world." For when the world was created, the seventh day came before God, and said to
Him: "All that Thou has created is in couples, why not I?" Whereupon God
replied, "The community of Israel shall be thy spouse." Of this promise that God
had made to the seventy day, He reminded the people on Mount Sinai, when he gave them the
fourth commandment, to keep the Sabbath holy. [221]
When the nations of the earth heard the first commandment, they said: "There is no
king that does not like to see himself acknowledged as sovereign, and just so does God
desire His people to pledge unto Him their allegiance." At the second commandment
they said: "No king suffers a king beside himself, nor does the God of Israel."
At the third commandment they said: "Is there a king that would like to have people
swear false oaths by his name?" At the fourth commandment they said: "No King
dislikes to see his birthday celebrated." But when the people heard the fifth
commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother," they said: "According to
our laws, if a man enrolls himself as a servant of the king, he thereby disowns his
parents. God, however, makes it a duty to honor father and mother; truly, for this is
honor due to Him." [222]
It was with these words that the fifth commandment was emphasized: "Honor thy parents
to whom thou owest existence, as thou honorest Me. Honor the body that bore thee, and the
breasts that gave thee suck, maintain thy parents, for thy parents took part in thy
creation." [223] For man owes his existence to God, to his father, and to his mother,
in that he receives from each of his parents five of the parts of his body, and ten from
God. The bones, the veins, the nails, the brain, and the white of the eye come from the
father. The mother gives him skin, flesh, blood, hair, and the pupil of the eye. God gives
him the following: breath, soul, light of countenance, sight, hearing, speech, touch,
sense, insight, and understanding. [224] When a human being honors his parents, God says:
"I consider it as if I had dwelled among men and they had honored Me," but if
people do not honor their parents, God say: "It is good that I do not dwell among
men, or they would have treated Me superciliously, too." [225]
God not only commanded to love and fear parents as Himself, but in some respects He places
the honor due to parents even higher than that due Him. A man is only then obliged to
support the poor or to perform certain religious ceremonies, if he has the wherewithal,
but it is the duty of each one even to go begging at men' doors, if he cannot otherwise
maintain his parents. [226]
The sixth commandment said: "O My people Israel, be no slayers of men, do not
associate with murderers, and shun their companionship, that your children may not learn
the craft of murder." As a penalty for deeds of murder, God will send a devastating
war over mankind. [227] There are two divisions in Sheol, an inner and an outer. In the
latter are all those who were slain before their time. There they stay until the course of
the time predestined them is run; and every time a murder has been committed, God says:
"Who has slain this person and has forced Me to keep him in the outer Sheol, so that
I must appear unmerciful to have removed him from earth before his time?" [228] On
the Judgement Day the slain will appear before God, and will implore Him: "O Lord of
the world! Thou hast formed me, Thou hast developed me, Thou hast been gracious unto me
while I was in the womb, so that I left it unharmed. Thou in Thy great mercy hast provided
for me. O Lord of all worlds! Grant me satisfaction from this villain that knew no pity
for me." Then God's wrath will be kindled against the murderer, into Gehenna will he
throw him and damn him for all eternity, while the slain will see satisfaction given him,
and be glad. [229]
The seventh commandment says: "O My people of Israel, be not adulterers, nor the
accomplices or companions of adulterers, that your children after you may not be
adulterers. Commit no unchaste deeds, with your hands, feet, eyes, or ears, for as a
punishment therefore the plague will come over the world." [230]
This is the eighth commandment: "Be not thief, nor the accomplice or companion of
thieves, that your children may not become thieves." As a penalty for robbery and
theft famine will come upon the world. [231] God may forgive idolatry, but never theft,
and He is always ready to listen to complaints against forgers and robbers. [232]
The ninth commandment reads: "O My people of Israel, bear not false witness against
your companions, for in punishment for this the clouds will scatter, so that there may be
no rain, and famine will ensue owing to drought." God is particularly severe with a
false witness because falsehood is the one quality that God did not create, but is
something that men themselves produces. [233]
The content of the tenth commandment is: "O My people Israel, covet not the
possessions of your neighbors, for owing to this sin will the government take their
possessions from the people, so that even the wealthiest will become poor and will have to
go into exile." [234] The tenth commandment is directed against a sin that sometimes
leads to a trespassing of all the Ten Commandments. If a man covets his neighbor's wife
and commits adultery, he neglects the first commandment: "I am the Eternal, thy
God," for he commits his crime in the dark and thinks that none sees him, not even
the Lord, whose eyes float over all the world, and see good as well as evil. He oversteps
the second commandment: "Thou shalt not have strange gods besides Me..., I am a
jealous God," who is wroth against faithlessness, whether toward Me, or toward men.
He breaks the third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in
vain," for he swears he has not committed adultery, but he did so. He is the cause of
profanation of the Sabbath, the consecration of which God commands in the fourth
commandment, because in his illegal relation he generates descendants who will perform
priestly duties in the Temple on the Sabbath, which, being bastards, they have no right to
do. The fifth commandment will be broken by the children of the adulterer, who will honor
as a father a strange man, and will not even know their true father. He breaks the sixth
commandment: "Thou shalt not kill," if he is surprised by the rightful husband,
for every time a man goes to a strange woman, he does so with the consciousness that this
may lead to his death or the death of his neighbor. The trespassing of the seventh
commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," is the direct outcome of a
forbidden coveting. The eighth commandment: "Thou shalt not steal," is broken by
the adulterer, for he steals another man's fountain of happiness. The ninth
commandment" "Thou shalt not bear false witness," is broken by the
adulterous woman, who pretends that the fruit of her criminal relations is the child of
her husband. In this way, the breaking of the tenth commandment has not only led to all
the other sins, but has also the evil effect that the deceived husband leaves his whole
property to one who is not his son, so that the adulterer robs him of his possessions as
well as of his wife. [235]
THE UNITY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
The Ten Commandments are so closely interwoven, that the breaking of one leads to the
breaking of another. But there is a particularly strong bond of union between the first
five commandments, which are written on one table, and the last five, which were on the
other table. The first commandment: "I am the Lord, thy God," corresponds to the
sixth: "Thou shalt not kill," for the murderer slays the image of God. The
second: "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me," corresponds to the seventh:
"Thou shalt not commit adultery," for conjugal faithlessness is as grave a sin
as idolatry, which is faithlessness to God. The third commandment: "Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord in vain," corresponds to the eighth: "Thou shalt not
steal," for theft leads to false oath. The fourth commandment: "Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy," corresponds to the ninth: "Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbor," for he who bears false witness against his
neighbor commits as grave a sin as if he had borne false witness against God, saying that
He had not created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, the Sabbath. The fifth
commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother," corresponds to the tenth:
"Covet not thy neighbor's wife," for one who indulges this lust produces
children who will not honor their true father, but will consider a stranger their father.
[236]
The Ten Commandments, which God first revealed on Mount Sinai, correspond in their
character to the ten words of which He had made use at the creation of the world. The
first commandment: "I am the Lord, thy God," corresponds to the first word at
the creation: "Let there be light," for God is the eternal light. The second
commandment: "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me," corresponds to the
second word: "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide
the waters from the waters." For God said: "Choose between Me and the idols;
between Me, the fountain of living waters, and the idols, the stagnant waters." The
third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain" corresponds
to the word: "Let the waters be gathered together," for as little as water can
be gathered in a cracked vessel, so can a man maintain his possession which he has
obtained through false oaths. The fourth commandment: "Remember to keep the Sabbath
holy," corresponds to the word: "Let the earth bring forth grass," for he
who truly observes the Sabbath will receive good things from God without having to labor
for them, just as the earth produces grass that need not be sown. For at the creation of
man it was God's intention that he be free from sin, immortal, and capable of supporting
himself by the products of the soil without toil. The fifth commandment: "Honor thy
father and thy mother," corresponds to the word: "Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven," for God said to man: "I gave thee two lights, thy
father and thy mother, treat them with care." The sixth commandment: "Thou shalt
not kill," corresponds to the word: "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the
moving creature," for God said: "Be not like the fish, among whom the great
swallow the small." The seventh commandment: "Thou shalt not commit
adultery," corresponds to the word: "Let the earth bring forth the living
creature after his kind," for God said: "I chose for thee a spouse, abide with
her." The eighth commandment: "Thou shalt not steal," corresponds to the
word: "Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed," for none, said God,
should touch his neighbor's goods, but only that which grows free as the grass, which is
the common property of all. The ninth commandment: "Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor," corresponds to the word: "Let us make man in our
image." Thou, like thy neighbor, art made in My image, hence bear not false witness
against thy neighbor. The tenth commandment: "Thou shalt not covet the wife of thy
neighbor," corresponds to the tenth word of the creation: "It is not good for
man to be alone," for God said: "I created thee a spouse, and let not one among
ye covet his neighbor's wife." [237]
MOSES CHOSEN AS INTERMEDIATOR
After Israel had heard the Ten Commandments, they supposed that God would on this occasion
reveal to them all the rest of the Torah. But the awful vision on Mount Sinai, where they
heard the visible and saw the audible - the privilege was granted them that even the slave
women among them saw more than the greatest prophet of later times - this vision has so
exhausted them that they would surely have perished, had they heard another word from God.
They therefore went to Moses and implored him to be the intermediator between them and
God. God found their wish right, so that He not only employed Moses as His intermediator,
but determined in all future times to send prophets to Israel as messengers of His words.
Turning to Moses, God said: "All that they have spoken is good. If it were possible,
I would even now dismiss the Angel of Death, but death against humanity has already been
decreed by Me, hence it must remain. [238] Go, say unto them: 'Return to your tents,' but
stay thou with Me." In these words God indicated to Israel that they might again
enter upon conjugal relations, from which they has abstained throughout three days, while
Moses should forever have to deny himself all earthly indulgences. [239]
Moses in his great wisdom now knew how, in a few words, to calm the great excitement of
the myriads of men, saying to them: "God gave you the Torah and wrought marvels for
you, in order, through this and through the observances of the laws which He imposed upon
you, to distinguish you before all other nations on earth. Consider, however, that whereas
up to this time you have been ignorant, and your ignorance served as your excuse, you now
know exactly what to do and what not to do. Until now you did not know that the righteous
are to be rewarded and the godless to be punished in the future world, but now you know
it. But as long as you will have a feeling of shame, you will not lightly commit
sins." Hereupon the people withdrew twelve miles from Mount Sinai, while Moses
stepped quite close before the Lord. [240]
In the immediate proximity of God are the souls of the pious, a little farther Mercy and
Justice, and close to these was the position Moses was allowed to occupy. [241] The vision
of Moses, owing to his nearness to God, was clear and distinct, unlike that of the other
prophets, who saw but dimly. He is furthermore distinguished from all the other prophets,
that he was conscious of his prophetic revelations, while they were unconscious in the
moments of prophecy. A third distinction of Moses, which he indeed shared with Aaron and
Samuel, was that God revealed Himself to him in a pillar of cloud. [242]
In spite of these great marks of favor to Moses, the people still perceived the difference
between the first two commandments, which they heard directly from God, and those that
they learned through Moses' intercession. For when they heard the words, "I am the
Eternal, thy Lord," the understanding of the Torah became deep-rooted in their
hearts, so that they never forgot what they thus learned. But they forgot some of the
things Moses taught, for as man is a being of flesh and blood, and hence ephemeral, so are
his teachings ephemeral. They hereupon came to Moses, saying: "O, if He would only
reveal Himself once more! O that once more He would kiss us with the kisses of His mouth!
O that understanding of the Torah might remain firm in our hearts as before!" Moses
answered: "It is no longer possible now, but it will come to pass in the future
world, when He will put His law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts."
Israel had another reason for regretting the choice of an intermediator between themselves
and God. When they heard the second commandment: "Thou shalt have no strange gods
beside Me," the evil impulse was torn out from their hearts. But as soon as they
requested Moses to intercede for them, the evil impulse set in once more in its old place.
In vain, however, did they plead with Moses to restore the former direct communication
between them and God, so that the evil impulse might be taken from them. For he said:
"It is no longer possible now, but in the future world He will 'take out of your
flesh the stony heart.'" [243]
Although Israel had now heard only the first two commandments directly from God, still the
Divine apparition had and enormous influence upon this generation. Never in the course of
their lives was any physical impurity heard of among them, nor did any vermin succeed in
infesting their bodies, and when they died, their corpses remained free from worms and
insects. [244]
MOSES AND THE ANGELS STRIVE FOR THE
TORAH
The day on which God revealed Himself on Mount Sinai was twice as long as ordinary days.
For on that day the sun did not set, a miracle that was four times more repeated for
Moses' sake. [245] When this long day had drawn to its close, Moses ascended the holy
mountain, where he spent a week to rid himself of all mortal impurity, so that he might
betake himself to God into heaven. At the end of his preparations, God called him to come
to Him. [246] Then a cloud appeared and lay down before him, but he knew not whether to
ride upon it or merely to hold fast to it. Then suddenly the mouth of the cloud flew open,
and he entered into it, and walked about in the firmament as a man walks about on earth.
Then he met Kemuel, the porter, the angel who is in charge of twelve thousand angels of
destruction, who are posted at the portals of the firmament. He spoke harshly to Moses,
saying: "What dost thou here, son of Amram, on this spot, belonging to the angels of
fire?" Moses answered: "Not of my own impulse do I come here, but with the
permission of the Holy One, to receive the Torah and bear it down to Israel." As
Kemuel did not want to let him pass, Moses struck him and destroyed him out of the world,
whereupon he went on his way until the angel Hadarniel came along.
This angel is sixty myriads of parasangs taller than his fellows, and at every word that
passes out of his mouth, issue twelve thousand fiery lightning flashes. When he beheld
Moses he roared at him: "What dost thou here, son of Amram, here on the spot of the
Holy and High?" When Moses heard his voice, he grew exceedingly frightened, his eyes
shed tears, and soon he would have fallen from the cloud. But instantly the pity of God
for Moses was awakened, and He said to Hadarniel: "You angels have been quarrelsome
since the day I created you. In the beginning, when I wanted to create Adam, you raised
complaint before Me and said, 'What is man that Thou are mindful of him!' and My wrath was
kindled against you and I burned scores of you with My little finger. Now again ye
commence strife with the faithful one of My house, whom I have bidden to come up here to
receive the Torah and carry it down to My chosen children Israel, although you know that
if Israel did not receive the Torah, you would no longer be permitted to dwell in
heaven." When Hadarniel heard this, he said quickly to the Lord: "O Lord of the
world! It is manifest and clear to Thee, that I was not aware he came hither with Thy
permission, but since I now know it, I will be his messenger and go before him as a
disciple before his master." Hadarniel hereupon, in a humble attitude, ran before
Moses as a disciple before his master, until he reached the fire of Sandalfon, when he
spoke to Moses, saying: "Go, turn about, for I may not stay in this spot, or the fire
of Sandalfon will scorch me."
This angel towers above his fellows by so great height, that it would take five hundred
years to cross over it. He stands behind the Divine Throne and binds garlands for his
Lord. Sandalfon does not know the abiding spot of the Lord either, so that he might set
the crown on His head, but he charms the crown, so that it rises of its own accord until
it reposes on the head of the Lord. As soon as Sandalfon bids the crown rise, the hosts on
high tremble and shake, the holy animals burst into paeans, the holy Seraphim roar like
lions and say: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His
glory." When the crown has reached the Throne of Glory, the wheels of the Throne are
instantly set in motion, the foundations of its footstool tremble, and all the heavens are
seized with trembling and horror. As soon as the crown now passes the Throne of Glory, to
settle upon its place, all the heavenly hosts open their mouths, saying: "Praised be
the glory of the Eternal from His place." And when the crown has reached its
destination, all the holy animals, the Seraphim, the wheels of the Throne, and the hosts
on high, the Cherubim and the Hashmalim speak with one accord: "The Eternal is King,
the Eternal was King, the Eternal will be King in all eternity."
Now when Moses beheld Sandalfon, he was frightened, and in his alarm came near to falling
out of the cloud. In tears he imploringly begged God for mercy, and was answered. In His
bountiful love of Israel, He Himself descended from the Throne of His glory and stood
before Moses, until he had passed the flames of Sandalfon.
After Moses had passed Sandalfon, he ran across Rigyon, the stream of fire, the coals of
which burn the angels, who dip into them every morning, are burned, and then arise anew.
This stream with the coals of fire is generated beneath the Throne of Glory out of the
perspiration of the holy Hayyot, who perspire fire out of fear of God. God, however,
quickly drew Moses past Rigyon without his suffering any injury.
As he passed on he met the angel Gallizur, also called Raziel. He it is who reveals the
teachings to his Maker, and makes known in the world what is decreed by God. For he stands
behind the curtains that are drawn before the Throne of God, and sees and hears
everything. Elijah on Horeb hears that which Raziel calls down into the world, and passes
his knowledge on. This angel performs other functions in heaven. He stands before the
Throne with outspread wings, and in this way arrests the breath of the Hayyot, the heat of
which would otherwise scorch all the angels. He furthermore puts the coals of Rigyon into
a glowing brazier, which he holds up to kings, lords, and princes, and from which their
faces receive a radiance that makes men fear them. When Moses beheld him, he trembled, but
God led him past unhurt.
He then came to a host of Angels of Terror that surround the Throne of Glory, and are the
strongest and mightiest among the angels. These now wished to scorch Moses with their
fiery breath, but God spread His radiance of splendor over Moses, and said to him:
"Hold on tight to the Throne of My Glory, and answer them." [247] For as soon as
the angels became aware of Moses in heaven, they said to God: "What does he who is
born of woman here?" And God's answer was as follows: "He has come to receive
the Torah." They furthermore said: "O Lord, content Thyself with the celestial
beings, let them have the Torah, what wouldst Thou with the dwellers of the dust?"
Moses hereupon answered the angels: "It is written in the Torah: 'I am the Eternal,
thy Lord, that have led thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage.'
Were ye perchance enslaved in Egypt and then delivered, that ye are in need of the Torah?
It is further written in the Torah: 'Thou shalt have no other gods.' Are there perchance
idolaters among ye, that ye are in need of the Torah? It is written: 'Thou shalt not utter
the name of the Eternal, thy God, in vain,' Are there perchance business negotiations
among ye, that ye are in need of the Torah to teach you the proper form of invocation? It
is written: 'Remember to keep the Sabbath holy.' Is there perchance any work among you,
that ye are in need of the Torah? It is written: 'Honor thy father and thy mother.' Have
ye perchance parents, that ye are in need of the Torah? It is written: 'Thou shalt not
kill.' Are there perchance murderers among ye, that ye are in need of the Torah? It is
written: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' Are there perchance women among ye, that ye are
in need of the Torah? It is written: 'Thou shalt not steal.' Is there perchance money in
heaven, that ye are need of the Torah? It is written: 'Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor.' Is there perchance any false witness among ye, that ye are in need
of the Torah? It is written: 'Covet not the house of thy neighbor.' Are there perchance
houses, fields, or vineyards among ye, that ye are in need of the Torah?" The angels
hereupon relinquished their opposition to the delivering of the Torah into the hands of
Israel, and acknowledged that God was right to reveal it to mankind, saying:
"Eternal, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Who hast set Thy
glory upon the heavens."
Moses now stayed forty days in heaven to learn the Torah from God. But when he started to
descend and beheld the hosts of the angels of terror, angels of trembling, angels of
quaking, and angels of horror, then through his fear he forgot all he had learned. For
this reason God called the angel Yefefiyah, the prince of the Torah, who handed over to
Moses the Torah, "ordered in all things and sure." All the other angels, too,
became his friends, and each bestowed upon him a remedy as well as the secret of the Holy
Names, as they are contained in the Torah, and as they are applied. Even the Angel of
Death gave him a remedy against death. The applications of the Holy Names, which the
angels through Yefefiyah, the prince of the Torah, and Metatron, the prince of the Face,
taught him, Moses passed on to the high-priest Eleazar, who passed them to his son
Phinehas, also known as Elijah. [248]
MOSES RECEIVES THE TORAH
When Moses reached heaven, he found God occupied ornamenting the letters in which the
Torah was written, with little crown-like decorations, and he looked on without saying a
word. God then said to him: "In thy home, do not people know the greeting of
peace?" Moses: "Does it behoove a servant to address his Master?" God:
"Thou mightest at least have wished Me success in My labors." Moses hereupon
said: "Let the power of my Lord be great according as Thou hast spoken." [249]
Then Moses inquired as the significance of the crowns upon the letter, and was answered:
"Hereafter there shall live a man called Akiba, son of Joseph, who will base in
interpretation a gigantic mountain of Halakot upon every dot of these letters." Moses
said to God: "Show me this man." God: "Go back eighteen ranks." Moses
went where he was bidden, and could hear the discussions of the teacher sitting with his
disciples in the eighteenth rank, but was not able to follow these discussions, which
greatly grieved him. But just then he heard the disciples questioning their master in
regard to a certain subject: "Whence dost thou know this?" And he answered,
"This is a Halakah given to Moses on Mount Sinai," and not Moses was content.
Moses returned to God and said to Him: "Thou has a man like Akiba, and yet dost Thou
give the Torah to Israel through me!" But God answered: "Be silent, so has it
been decreed by Me." Moses then said: "O Lord of the world! Thou has permitted
me to behold this man's learning, let see also the reward which will be meted out to
him." God said: "Go, return and see." Moses saw them sell the flesh of the
martyr Akiba at the meat market. He said to God: "Is this the reward for such
erudition?" But God replied: "Be silent, thus have I decreed." [250]
Moses then saw how God wrote the word "long-suffering" in the Torah, and asked:
"Does this mean that Thou hast patience with the pious?" But God answered:
"Nay, with sinners also am I long-suffering." "What!" exclaimed Moses,
"Let the sinners perish!" God said no more, but when Moses implored God's mercy,
begging Him to forgive the sin of the people of Israel, God answered him: "Thou
thyself didst advice Me to have no patience with sinners and to destroy them."
"Yea," said Moses, "but Thou didst declare that Thou art long-suffering
with sinners also, let now the patience of the Lord be great according as Thou has
spoken." [251]
The forty days that Moses spent in heaven were entirely devoted to the study of the Torah,
he learned the written as well as the oral teaching, yea, even the doctrines that an able
scholar would some day propound were revealed to him. [252] He took an especial delight in
hearing the teachings of the Tanna Rabbi Eliezer, and received the joyful message that
this great scholar would be one of his descendants. [253]
The study of Moses was so planned for the forty days, that by day God studied with him the
written teachings, and by night the oral. In this way was he enabled to distinguish
between night and day, for in heaven "the night shineth as the day." There were
other signs also by which he could distinguish night from day; for if he heard the angels
praise God with "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts," he knew that it was
day; but if they praised Him with "Blessed be the Lord to whom blessing is due,"
he knew it was night. Then, too, if he saw the sun appear before God and cast itself down
before Him, he knew that it was night; if, however, the moon and the stars cast themselves
at His feet, he knew that it was day. He could also tell time by the occupation of the
angels, for by day they prepared manna for Israel, and by night they sent it down to
earth. The prayers he heard in heaven served him as another token whereby he might know
the time, for if he heard the recitation of the Shema' precede prayer, he knew that it was
day, but if the prayer preceded the recitation of the Shema', then it was night. [254]
During his stay with Him, God showed Moses all the seven heavens, and the celestial
temple, and the four colors that he was to employ to fit up the tabernacle. Moses found it
difficult to retain the color, whereupon God said to him: "Turn to the right,"
and as he turned, he saw a host of angels in garments that had the color of the sea.
"This," said God, "is violet." Then He bade Moses turn to the left,
and there he saw angels dressed in red, and God said: "This is royal purple."
Moses hereupon turned around to the rear, and saw angels robed in a color that was neither
purple nor violet, and God said to him: "This color is crimson." Moses then
turned about and saw angels robed in white, and God said to him: "This is the color
of twisted linen." [255]
Although Moses now devoted both night and day to the study of the Torah, he still learned
nothing, for hardly had he learned something from God when he forgot it again. Moses
thereupon said to God: "O Lord of the world! Forty days have I devoted to studying
the Torah, without having profited anything by it." God therefore bestowed the Torah
upon Moses, and now he could descend to Israel, for now he remembered all that he had
learned. [256]
Hardly had Moses descended from heaven with the Torah, when Satan appeared before the Lord
and said: "Where, forsooth, is the place where the Torah is kept?" For Satan
knew nothing of the revelation of God on Sinai, as God had employed him elsewhere on
purposes, that he might not appear before him as an accuser, saying: "Wilt Thou give
the Torah to a people that forty days later will worship the Golden Calf?" In answer
to Satan's question regarding the whereabouts of the Torah, God said: "I gave the
Torah to Earth." To earth, then, Satan betook himself with his query: "Where is
the Torah?" Earth said: "God knows of its course, He knoweth its abiding-place,
for 'He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven.'" Satan
now passed on to the sea to seek for the Torah, but the sea also said: "It is not
with me," and the abyss said: "It is not in me." Destruction and death
said: "We have heard the fame thereof with our ears." Satan now returned to God
and said: "O Lord of the world! Everywhere have I sought the Torah, but I found it
not." God replied: "Go, seek the son of Amram." Satan now hastened to Moses
and asked him: "Where is the Torah that God hath given thee?" Whereupon Moses
answered: "Who am I, that the Holy One, blessed be He, should have given me the
Torah?" God hereupon spoke to Moses: "O Moses, thou utterest a falsehood."
But Moses answered: "O Lord of the world! Thou hast in Thy possession a hidden
treasure that daily delights Thee. Dare I presume to declare it my possession?" Then
God said: "As a reward for thy humility, the Torah shall be named for thee, and it
shall henceforth be known as the Torah of Moses." [257]
Moses departed from the heavens with the two tables on which the Ten Commandments were
engraved, and just the words of it are by nature Divine, so too are the tables on which
they are engraved. These were created by God's own hand in the dusk of the first Sabbath
at the close of the creation, and were made of a sapphire-like stone. On each of the two
tables are the Ten Commandments, four times repeated, and in such wise were they engraved
that the letters were legible on both sides, for, like the tables, the writing and the
pencils for inscription, too, were of heavenly origin. Between the separate commandments
were noted down all the precepts of the Torah in all their particulars, although the
tables were not more than six hands in length and as much in width. [258] It is another of
the attributes of the tables, that although they are fashioned out of the hardest stone,
they can still be rolled up like a scroll. [259] When God handed the tables to Moses, He
seized them by the top third, whereas Moses took hold of the bottom third, but on third
remained open, and it was in this way that the Divine radiance was shed upon Moses' face.
[260]
THE GOLDEN CALF
When God revealed Himself upon Mount Sinai, all Israel sang a song of jubilation to the
Lord, for their faith in God was on this occasion without bounds and unexampled, except
possibly at the time of the Messiah, when they likewise will cherish this firm faith. The
angels, too, rejoiced with Israel, only God was down-cast on this day and sent His voice
"out of thickest darkness," in token of His sorrow. The angels hereupon said to
God: "Is not the joy that Thou hast created Thine?" But God replied: "You
do not know what the future will bring." He knew that forty days later Israel would
give the lie to the words of God: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," and
would adore the Golden Calf. [261] And truly, God had sufficient cause to grow sad at this
thought, for the worship of the Golden Calf had more disastrous consequences for Israel
than any other of their sins. God had resolved to give life everlasting to the nation that
would accept the Torah, hence Israel upon accepting the Torah gained supremacy over the
Angel of Death. But they lost this power when they worshipped the Golden Calf. As a
punishment for this, their sin, they were doomed to study the Torah in suffering and
bondage, in exile and unrest, amid cares of life and burdens, until, in the Messianic time
and in the future world, God will compensate them for all their sufferings. [262] But
until that time there is no sorrow that falls to Israel's lot that is not in part a
punishment for their worship of the Golden Calf. [263]
Strange as it may seem that Israel should set out to worship this idol at the very time
when God was busied with the preparation of the two tables of the law, still the following
circumstances are to be considered. When Moses departed from the people to hasten to God
to receive the Torah, he said to them: "Forty days from to-day I will bring you the
Torah." But at noon on the fortieth day Satan came, and with a wizard's trick
conjured up for the people a vision of Moses lying stretched out dead on a bier that
floated midway between earth and heaven. Pointing to it with their fingers, they cried:
"This is the man Moses that bought us up out of the land of Egypt." [264] Under
the leadership of the magicians Jannes and Jambres, they appeared before Aaron, saying:
"The Egyptians were wont to carry their gods about with them, to dance and play
before them, that each might be able to behold his gods; and now we desire that thou
shouldst make us a god such as the Egyptians had." When Hur, the son of Miriam, whom
Moses during his absence had appointed joint leader of the people with Aaron, owing to his
birth which placed him among the notables of highest rank, beheld this, he said to them:
"O ye frivolous ones, you are no longer mindful of the many miracles God wrought for
you." In their wrath, the people slew this pious and noble man; and, pointing out his
dead body to Aaron, they said to him threateningly: "If thou wilt make us a god, it
is well, if not we will dispose of thee as of him." Aaron had no fear for his life,
but he thought: "If Israel were to commit so terrible a sin as to slay their priest
and prophet, God would never forgive them." He was willing rather to take a sin upon
himself than to cast the burden of so wicked a deed upon the people. He therefore granted
them their wish to make them a god, but he did it in such a way that he still cherished
the hope that this thing might not come to pass. Hence he demanded from them not their own
ornaments for the fashioning of the idol, but the ornaments of their wives, their sons,
and their daughters, thinking: "If I were to tell them to bring me gold and silver,
they would immediately do so, hence I will demand the earrings of their wives, their sons,
and their daughters, that through their refusal to give up their ornaments, the matter
might come to nought." But Aaron's assumption was only in part true; the women indeed
did firmly refuse to give up their jewels for the making of a monster that is of no
assistance to his worshippers. As a reward for this, God gave the new moons as holidays to
women, and in the future world too they will be rewarded for their firm faith in God, in
that, like the new moons, they too, may monthly be rejuvenated. But when the men saw that
no gold or silver for the idol was forthcoming from the women, they drew off their own
earrings that they wore in Arab fashion, and brought these to Aaron. [265]
No living calf would have shaped itself out of the gold of these earrings, if a disaster
had not occurred through an oversight of Aaron. For when Moses at the exodus of Israel
from Egypt set himself to lifting the coffin of Joseph out of the depths of the Nile, he
employed the following means: He took four leaves of silver, and engraved on each the
image of one of the beings represented at the Celestial Throne, - the lion, the man, the
eagle, and the bull. He then cast on the river the leaf with the image of the lion, and
the waters of the river became tumultuous, and roared like a lion. He then threw down the
leaf with the image of man, and the scattered bones of Joseph united themselves into an
entire body; and when he cast in the third leaf with the image of the eagle, the coffin
floated up to the top. As he had no use for the fourth leaf of silver with the image of
the bull, he asked a woman to store it away for him, while he was occupied with the
transportation of the coffin, and later forgot to reclaim the leaf of silver. This was now
among the ornaments that the people brought to Aaron, and it was exclusively owing to this
bull's image of magical virtues, that a golden bull arose out of the fire into which Aaron
put the gold and silver. [266]
When the mixed multitude that had joined Israel in their exodus from Egypt saw this idol
conducting itself like a living being, they said to Israel: "This is thy God, O
Israel." [267] The people then betook themselves to the seventy members of the
Sanhedrin and demanded that they worship the bull that had led Israel out of Egypt.
"God," said they, "had not delivered us out of Egypt, but only Himself, who
had in Egypt been in captivity." The members of the Sanhedrin remained loyal to their
God, and were hence cut down by the rabble. [268] The twelve heads of the tribes did not
answer the summons of the people any more than the members of the Sanhedrin, and were
therefore rewarded by being found worthy of beholding the Divine vision. [269]
But the people worshipped not only the Golden Calf, they made thirteen such idols, one
each for the twelve tribes, and one for all Israel. More than this, they employed manna,
which God in His kindness did not deny them even on this day, as an offering to their
idols. [270] The devotion of Israel to this worship of the bull is in part explained by
the circumstance that while passing through the Red Sea, they beheld the Celestial Throne,
and most distinctly of the four creatures about the Throne, they saw the ox. It was for
this reason that they hit upon the notion that the ox had helped God in the exodus from
Egypt, and for this reason did they wish to worship the ox beside God. [271]
The people then wanted to erect an altar for their idol, but Aaron tried to prevent this
by saying to the people: "It will be more reverential to your god if I build the
altar in person," for he hoped that Moses might appear in the meantime. His
expectation, however, was disappointed, for on the morning of the following day, when
Aaron had at length completed the altar, Moses was not yet at hand, and the people began
to offer sacrifices to their idol, and to indulge in lewdness. [272]
MOSES BLAMED FOR ISRAEL'S SIN
When the people turned from their God, He said to Moses, who was still in heaven:
"'Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt,
have corrupted themselves.'" Moses, who until then had been superior to the angels,
now, owing to the sins of Israel, feared them greatly. The angels, hearing that God meant
to send him from His presence, wanted to kill him, and only by clinging to the Throne of
God, who covered him with His mantle, did he escape from the hands of the angels, that
they might do him no harm. [273] He had particularly hard struggle with the five Angels of
Destruction: Kezef, Af, Hemah, Mashhit, and Haron, whom God had sent to annihilate Israel.
Moses then hastened to the three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and said to them:
"If ye are men who are participators of the future life, stand by me in this hour,
for your children are as a sheep that is led to the slaughter." The three Patriarchs
united their prayers with those of Moses, who said to God; "Hast Thou not made a vow
to these three to multiply their seed as the stars, and are they now to be
destroyed?" In recognition of the merits of these three pious men, God called away
three of the Angels of Destruction, leaving only two: whereupon Moses further importuned
God: "For the vow Thou madest to Israel, take from them the angel Mashhit;" and
God granted his prayer. Moses continued: "For the vow Thou madest me, take from them
also the angel Haron." God now stood by Moses, so that he was able to conquer this
angel, and he thrust him down deep into the earth in a spot that is possession of the
tribe of Gad, and there held him captive.
So long as Moses lived this angel was held in check by him, and if he tried, even when
Israel sinned, to rise out of the depths, open wide his mouth, and destroy Israel with his
panting, all Moses had to do was to utter the name of God, and Haron, or as he is
sometimes called, Peor, was drawn once more into the depths of the earth. At Moses' death,
God buried him opposite the spot where Peor is bound. For should Peor, if Israel sinned,
reach the upper world and open his mouth to destroy Israel with his panting, he would,
upon seeing Moses' grave, be so terror-stricken, that he would fall back into the depths
once more. [274]
Moses did indeed manage the Angels of Destruction, but it was a more difficult matter to
appease God in His wrath. He addressed Moses harshly, crying: "The grievous sins of
men had once caused Me to go down from heaven to see their doings. Do thou likewise go
down from heaven now. It is fitting that the servant be treated as his master. Do thou now
go down. Only for Israel's sake have I caused this honor to fall to thy lot, but now that
Israel has become disloyal to Me, I have not further reason thus to distinguish
thee." Moses hereupon answered: "O Lord of the world! Not long since didst Thou
say to me: 'Come now, therefore, and I will send thee that thou mayest bring forth My
people out of Egypt;' and now Thou callest them my people. Nay, whether pious or sinful,
they are Thy people still." Moses continued: "What wilt Thou now do with
them?" God answered: "I will consume them, and I will make of thee a great
nation." "O Lord of the world!" replied Moses, "If the three-legged
bench has no stability, how then shall the one-legged stand? Fulfil not, I implore Thee,
the prophecies of the Egyptian magicians, who predicted to their king that the star
'Ra'ah' would move as a harbinger of blood and death before the Israelites." [275]
Then he began to implore mercy for Israel: "Consider their readiness to accept the
Torah, whereas the sons of Esau rejected it." God: "But they transgressed the
precepts of the Torah; one day were they loyal to Me, then instantly set to work to make
themselves the Golden Calf." Moses: "Consider that when in Thy name I came to
Egypt and announced to them Thy name, they at once believed in me, and bowed down their
heads and worshipped Thee." God: "But they now bow down their heads before their
idol." Moses: "Consider that they sent Thee their young men to offer Thee burnt
offerings." God: "They now offered sacrifices to the Golden Calf." Moses:
"Consider that on Sinai they acknowledged that Thou are their God." God:
"They now acknowledge that the idol is their god."
All these arguments with God did not help Moses; he even had to put up with having the
blame for the Golden Calf laid on his shoulders. "Moses," said God, "when
Israel was still in Egypt, I gave thee the commission to lead them out of the land, but
not take with thee the mixed multitude that wanted to join them. But thou in thy clemency
and humility didst persuade Me to accept the penitent that do penance, and didst take with
thee the mixed multitude. I did as thou didst beg me, although I knew what the
consequences would be, and it is now these people, 'thy people,' that have seduced Israel
to idolatry." Moses now thought it would be useless to try to secure God's
forgiveness for Israel, and was ready to give up his intercession, when God, who in
reality meant to preserve Israel, but only like to hear Moses pray, now spoke kindly to
Moses to let him see that He was not quite inaccessible to his exhortations, saying:
"Even in Egypt did I foresee what this people would do after their deliverance. Thou
foresawest only the receiving of the Torah on Sinai, but I foresaw the worship of the Calf
as well." With these words, God let Moses perceive that the defection of Israel was
no surprise to Him, as He had considered it even before the exodus from Egypt; hence Moses
now gathered new courage to intercede for Israel. He said: "O Lord of the world!
Israel has indeed created a rival for Thee in their idol, that Thou are angry with them.
The Calf, I supposed, shall bid stars and moon to appear, while Thou makest the sun to
rise; Thou shalt send the dew and he will cause the wind to blow; Thou shalt send down the
rain, and he shall bid the plants to grow." God: "Moses, thou are mistaken, like
them, and knowest not that the idol is absolutely nothing." "If so," said
Moses, "why art Thou angry with Thy people for that which is nothing?"
"Besides," he continued, "Thou didst say Thyself that it was chiefly my
people, the mixed multitude, that was to blame for this sin, why then are Thou angry with
Thy people? If Thou are angry with them only because they have not observed the Torah,
then let me vouch for the observance of it on the part of my companions, such as Aaron and
his sons, Joshua and Caleb, Jair and Machir, as well as many pious men among them, and
myself." But God said: "I have vowed that 'He that sacrificeth unto any god,
save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed,' and a vow that has once passe My
lips, I can not retract." Moses replied: "O Lord of the world! Has not Thou
given us the law of absolution from a vow, whereby power is given to a learned man to
absolve any one from his vows? But every judge who desires to have his decisions accounted
valid, must subject himself to the law, and Thou who has prescribed the law of absolution
from vows through a learned man, must subject Thyself to this law, and through me be
absolved from Thy vow." Moses thereupon wrapped his robe about him, seated himself,
and bade God let him absolve Him from his vow, bidding Him say: "I repent of the evil
that I had determined to bring upon My people." Moses then cried out to Him:
"Thou are absolved from Thine oath and vow." [276]
THE PUNISHMENT OF THE SINNERS
When Moses descended from Sinai, he there found his true servant Joshua, who had awaited
him on the slope of the mountain throughout all the forty days during which Moses stayed
in heaven, [277] and together they repaired to the encampment. On approaching it, they
heard cries of the people, and Joshua remarked to Moses: "There is a noise of war in
the camp," but Moses replied: "Is it possible that thou, Joshua, who art one day
destined to be the leader of sixty myriads of people, canst not distinguish among the
different kinds of dins? This is no cry of Israel conquering, nor of their defeated foe,
but their adoration of an idol." [278] When Moses had now come close enough to the
camp to see what was going on there, he thought to himself: "How now shall I give to
them the tables and enjoin upon them the prohibition of idolatry, for the very trespassing
of which, Heaven will inflict capital punishment upon them?" Hence, instead of
delivering to them the tables, he tried to turn back, but the seventy elders pursued him
and tried to wrest the tables from Moses. But his strength excelled that of the seventy
others, and he kept the tables in his hands, although these were seventy Seah in weight.
All at once, however, he saw the writing vanish from the tables, and at the same time
became aware of their enormous weight; for while the celestial writing was upon them, they
carried their own weight and did not burden Moses, but with the disappearance of the
writing all this changes. Now all the more did Moses feel loath to give the tables without
their contents to Israel, and besides he thought: "If God prohibited one idolatrous
Israelite from partaking of the Passover feast, how much more would He be angry if I were
now to give all the Torah to an idolatrous people?" Hence, without consulting God, he
broke the tables. God, however, thanked Moses for breaking the tables. [279]
Hardly had Moses broken the tables, when the ocean wanted to leave its bed to flood the
world. Moses now "took the Calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and
ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water," saying to the waters: "What
would ye upon the dry land?" And the waters said: "The world stands only through
the observance of the Torah, but Israel has not been faithful to it." Moses hereupon
said to the water" "All that have committed idolatry shall be yours. Are you now
satisfied with these thousands?" But the waters were not to be appeased by the
sinners that Moses cast into them, and the ocean would not retreat to its bed until Moses
made the children of Israel drink of it. [280]
The drinking of these waters was one of the forms of capital punishment that he inflicted
upon the sinners. When, in answer to Moses' call: "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him
come unto me," all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him - they who
had not taken part in the adoration of the Golden Calf, - Moses appointed these Levites as
judges, whose immediate duty it was to inflict the lawful punishment of decapitation upon
all those who had been seen by witnesses to be seduced to idolatry after they had been
warned not to do so. Moses gave the command as though he had been commissioned to do so by
God. This was not actually so, but he did it in order to enable the judges appointed by
him to punish all the guilty in the course of one day, which otherwise, owing to the
procedure of Jewish jurisprudence, could not well have been possible. Those who, according
to the testimony of witnesses, had been seduced to idolatry, but who could not be proven
to have been warned beforehand, were not punished by temporal justice, they died of the
water that Moses forced them to drink; for this water had upon them the same effect as the
curse-bringing water upon the adulterous woman. But those sinners, too, against whom no
witnesses appeared, did not escape their fate, for upon them God sent the plague to carry
them off. [281]
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