|
|
|
Those who were executed by these judgements numbered three thousand, so that Moses said to
God: "O Lord of the world! Just and merciful art Thou, and all Thy deeds are deeds of
integrity. Shall six hundred thousand people - not to mention all who are below twenty
years of age, and all the many proselytes and slaves - perish for the sake of three
thousand sinners?" God could no longer withhold His mercy, and determined to forgive
Israel their sins. 282 It was only after long and fervent prayers that Moses succeeded
in quite propitiating God, and hardly had he returned from heaven, when he again repaired
thither to advance before God his intercession for Israel. He was ready to sacrifice
himself for the sake of Israel, and as soon as punishment had been visited on the sinners,
he turned to God with the words: "O Lord of the world! I have now destroyed both the
Golden Calf and its idolaters, what cause for ill feeling against Israel can now remain?
The sins these committed came to pass because Thou hadst heaped gold and silver upon them,
so that the blames is not wholly theirs. 'Yet now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin; and if
not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou has written.'" 283
These bold words of Moses were not without consequences for him, for although God
thereupon replied: "Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My
blood," still it was on account of this that his name was omitted from one section of
the Pentateuch. 284 But for Israel his words created an instant revulsion of feeling in
God, who now addressed him kindly, and promised that he would send His angel, who would
lead the people into the promised land. These words indicated to Moses that God was not
yet entirely appeased, and he could further see this in the punishment that fell upon
Israel on that day. Their weapons, which every man among them had received at the
revelation on Sinai, and which had miraculous virtues, having the name of God engraved
upon them, were taken from them by the angels, and their robes of purple likewise. When
Moses saw from this that God's wrath was still upon Israel, and that He desired to have
nothing further to do with them, he removed his tent a mile away from the camp, saying to
himself: "The disciple may not have intercourse with people whom the master has
excommunicated."
Not only the people went out o this tent whenever they sought the Lord, but the angels
also, the Seraphim, and the heavenly hosts repaired thither, the sun, the moon, and the
other heavenly bodies, all of whom knew that God was to be found there, and that the tent
of Moses was the spot where they were to appear before their Creator. God, however, was
not at all pleased to see Moses keep himself aloof from the people, and said to him:
"According to our agreement, I was to propitiate thee every time thou wert angry with
the people, and thou wert to propitiate Me when My wrath was kindled against them. What is
now to become of these poor people, if we be both angry with them? Return, therefore, into
the camp to the people. But if thou wilt not obey, remember that Joshua is in the camp at
the sanctuary, and he can well fill thy place." Moses replied: "It is for Thy
sake that I am angry with them, and now I see that still Thou canst not forsake
them." "I have," said God, "already told thee, that I shall send and
angel before them." But Moses, by no means content with this assurance, continued to
importune God not to entrust Israel to an angel, but to conduct and guide them in person.
285
Forty days and forty nights, from the eighteenth day of Tammus to the twenty-eight day of
Ab, did Moses stay in heaven, 286 beseeching and imploring God to restore Israel once
more entirely into His favor. But all his prayers and exhortations were in vain, until at
the end of forty days he implored God to set the pious deeds of the three Patriarchs and
of the twelve sons of Jacob to the account of their descendants; and only then was his
prayer answered. H said: "If Thou art angry with Israel because they transgressed the
Ten Commandments, be mindful for their sake of the ten tests to which Thou didst subject
Abraham, and through which he nobly passed. If Israel deserves at Thy hands punishment by
fire for their sin, remember the fire of the limekiln into which Abraham let himself be
cast for the glory of Thy name. If Israel deserves death by sword, remember the readiness
with which Isaac laid down his neck upon the altar to be sacrificed to Thee. If they
deserve punishment by exile, remember for their sake how their father Jacob wandered into
exile from his paternal home to Haran." Moses furthermore said to God: "Will the
dead ever be restored to life?" God in surprise retorted: "Hast thou become a
heretic, Moses, that thou dost doubt the resurrection?" "If," said Moses,
"the dead never awaken to life, then truly Thou art right to wreak vengeance upon
Israel; but if the dead are to be restored to life hereafter, what wilt Thou then say to
the fathers of this nation, if they ask Thee what has become of the promise Thou hadst
made to them? I demand nothing more for Israel," Moses continued, "than what
Thou were willing to grant Abraham when he pleaded for Sodom. Thou wert willing to let
Sodom survive if there were only ten just men therein, and I am now about to enumerate to
Thee ten just men among the Israelites: myself, Aaron, Eleazar, Ithamar, Phinehas, Joshua,
and Caleb." "But that is only seven," objected God. Moses, not at all
abashed, replied: "But Thou hast said that the dead will hereafter be restored to
life, so count with these the three Patriarchs to make the number ten complete."
Moses' mention of the names of the three Patriarchs was of more avail than all else, and
God granted his prayer, forgave Israel their transgression, and promised to lead the
people in person. 287
 |  |  |
|
|
|