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God now appeared to Moses, bidding him convey the following words to the people: "You
kindle My anger on account of the very benefits I conferred upon you. When I clove the sea
for you that you might pass through, while the Egyptians stuck in the loam at its bottom,
you said to one another, 'In Egypt we trod loam, and He led us out of Egypt, only that we
might again tread it.' I gave you manna as food, which made you strong and fat, but you,
perceiving of it, said: 'How comes it to pass that twenty days a human being dies if after
four or five days he does not excrete food he had taken. Surely we are doomed to die.'
When the spies came to Palestine, I arranged it so that as soon as they entered the city
its king or governor dies, in order that the inhabitants, occupied with the burial of
their ruler, might not take account of the spies' presence and kill them. Instead of being
thankful for this, the spies returned and reported, 'The land through which we have gone
to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.' To you I gave the Torah;
for your sake I said to the Angel of Death, 'Continue to hold sway over the rest of the
world, but not over this nation that I have chosen as My people.' Truly I had hopes that
after all this you would sin no more, and like Myself and the angels would live eternally,
without ever tasting death. You, however, in spite of the great opportunity that I offered
you, conducted yourselves like Adam. Upon him also did I lay a commandment, promising him
life eternal on condition he observed it, but he brought ruin upon himself by trespassing
My commandment and eating of the tree. To him I said, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return.' Similar was My experience with you. I said, 'You are angels,' but you
conducted yourselves like Adam in your sins, and hence like Adam you must die. I had
thought and hoped you would follow example of the Patriarchs, but you act like the
inhabitants of Sodom, who in punishment for their sins were consumed by fire." 539
"If," continued God, turning to Moses, "they suppose that I have need of
swords or spears to destroy them, they are mistaken. As through the word I created the
world, so can I destroy the world by it, which would be a proper punishment for them. As
through their words and their talk they angered Me, so shall the word kill them, and thou
shalt be their heir, for 'I will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than
they.'" 540
Moses said: "If the chair with three legs could not withstand the moment of Thy
wrath, how then shall a chair that have but one leg endure? Thou are about to destroy the
seed of the three Patriarchs; how then may I hope that my seed is to fare better? This is
not the only reason for which Thou shouldst preserve Israel, as there are other
considerations why Thou shouldst do so. Were Thou to destroy Israel, the Edomites,
Moabites, and all the inhabitants of Canaan would say 541 that Thou hadst done this only
because Thou wert not able to maintain Thy people, and therefore Thou didst destroy them.
These will furthermore declare that the gods of Canaan are mightier than those of Egypt,
that Thou hadst indeed triumphed over the river gods of Egypt, but that Thou wert not the
peer of the rain gods of Canaan. Worse even than this, the nations of the world will
accuse Thee of continuous cruelty, saying, 'He destroyed the generation of the flood
through water; He rased to the ground the builders of the tower, as well as the
inhabitants of Sodom; and no better then theirs was the fate of the Egyptians, whom He
drowned in the sea. Now He hath also ruined Israel whom He had called, 'My firstborn son,'
like Lilith who, when she can find no strange children, slays her own. So did He slay His
own son." 542 Moses furthermore said: "Every pious man makes a point of
cultivating a special virtue. Do Thou also in this instance bring Thy special virtue to
bear." God: "And what is My special virtue?" Moses: "Long-suffering,
love, and mercy, for Thou art wont to be long-suffering with them that kindle Thy wrath,
and to have mercy for them. In Thy very mercy is Thy strength best shown. Mete out to Thy
children, then, justice in small measure only, but mercy in great measure." 543
Moses well knew that mercy was God's chief virtue. He remembered that he had asked God,
when he interceded for Israel after their sin of the Golden Calf, "Pray tell me by
what attribute of Thine Thou rulest the world." God answered: "I rule the world
with loving-kindness, mercy, and long-suffering." "Can it be," said Moses,
"that Thy long-suffering lets sinners off with impunity?" To this question Moses
had received no answer, hence he felt he might now say to God: "Act now as Thou didst
then assent. 544 Justice, that demands the destruction of Israel, is on one side of the
scales, but it is exactly balance by my prayer on the other side. Let us now see how the
scales will balance." God replied: "As truly as thou livest, Moses, thy prayer
shall dip the scales to the side of mercy. For thy sake must I cancel My decision to
annihilate the children of Israel, so that the Egyptians will exclaim, 'Happy the servant
to whose wish his master defers.' I shall, however, collect My debt, for although I shall
not annihilate Israel all at once, they shall make partial annual payments during the
following forty years. Say to them, 'Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all
that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and
upward, which have murmured against Me. And your children shall be wanderers in the
wilderness forty years, and shall bear you whoredoms, until your carcasses be consumed in
the wilderness.'" 545
This punishment was not, however, as severe as it might appear, for none among them died
below the ages of sixty, whereas those who had at the time of the exodus from Egypt been
either below twenty or above sixty were entirely exempt from this punishment. Besides only
such were smitten as had followed the counsel of the spies, whereas the others, and the
Levites and the women were exempt. 546 Death, moreover, visited the transgressors in
such fashion that they were aware it was meant as punishment for their sins. Throughout
all the year not one among them died. On the eighth day of the month of Ab, Moses would
have a herald proclaim throughout the camp, "Let each prepare his grave." They
dug their graves, and spent there the following night, the same night on which, following
the counsel of the spies, they had revolted against God and Moses. In the morning a herald
would once more appear and cry: "Let the living separate themselves from the
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dead." Those that were still alive arose, but about fifteen thousand of them remained
dead in their graves. After forty years, however, when the herald repeated his customary
call the ninth day of Ab, all arose, and there was not a single dead man among them. At
first they thought they had made a miscalculation in their observation of the moon, that
is was not the ninth day of Ab at all, and that this was the reason why their lives had
been spared. Hence they repeated their preparations for death until the fifteenth day of
Ab. Then the sight of the full moon convinced them that the ninth day of Ab had gone by,
and that their punishment had been done away with. In commemoration of the relief from
this punishment, they appointed the fifteenth day of Ab to be a holy day. 547
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