Commentary for Exodus 34:7

נצר חסד means God keeps (stores up) the mercy which a person does in His presence,

נוצר חסד לאלפים, He preserves the accumulated merits of the fathers and will let the children draw on these merits.

Iniquity, transgression and sin. Iniquity (avon) refers to intentional sin; transgression (pesha) to acts of rebellion and sin (cheit) to inadvertent infractions. The vav between “transgression” and “sin” does not mean “and” but “like.” Thus the sense of the verse is, “Bear iniquity and transgression as if they were only inadvertent sins”.

Which the person does before Him. I.e., not the kindness that Hashem intends to do for him. [Rashi knows this] because נוצר applies only to that which has already been done.

נוצר חסד לאלפים, “extending kindness to a thousand generations;” G–d undertakes to extend kindness to the descendants of the good and righteous fathers even of sinners. This concept has been repeated in Deuteronomy 7,9: where a time limit of one thousand generations is the limit. Rash’bam explains the apparent contradiction with our verse where the word לאלפים appears to mean at least two thousand, that we find, grammatically speaking, that a fourth generation, normally described as דור רביעי, is on occasion described as רבעים, with the plural mode ending. The same is true here. (Compare our verse) Therefore אלף or אלפים, can mean the same thing on occasion.

נושא עון ופשע, “He welcomes the penitent, even those who sinned deliberately or out of obstinacy.”

לאלפים TO THOUSANDS — to two thousand generations (the plural, “generations”, and “two” is the least that this can imply; cf. Rashi on Exodus 20:6).

נושא עון, premeditated sin.

He does not clear those who do not repent. Although the second attribute of “Adonoy, Adonoy” also entails mercy for those who repent, the difference is: the attribute of “He clears” waives the sin and clears him as if he never did it, without bestowing any goodness upon him. Whereas the second attribute [of “Adonoy, Adonoy” bestows goodness upon him]. And this is the difference between the plain meaning, and the interpretation [of our Sages]: the plain meaning conveys that He does not completely waive the sin but exacts retribution for it bit by bit. Whereas the interpretation [of our Sages] is that He waives the sin completely. (Re”m)

נושא עון, “He forgives iniquity;” when the iniquity was the result of the person having been unable to resist the evil urge, G–d does take that into consideration.

ונקה לא ינקה, “but He does not let the sinner go completely free of retribution.”

עונות — These are sins committed presumptuously (with premeditation). פשעים — These are sins committed rebelliously.

ופשע, sins intended to challenge G’d.

Five hundred fold for regarding the Attribute of Good. . . Explanation: one generation of the Attribute of Retribution corresponds to five hundred generations of the Attribute of Good. Accordingly, the four generations of the Attribute of Retribution correspond to the two thousand generations of the Attribute of Good.

ופשע, “He does so on occasion even when the sin represented an act of rebellion against Him.” (Compare Kings II 3,7) where this term is applied to the King of Moab.

פוקד עון אבות, “Who remembers the sins of the fathers;” [G-d explains why punishment is not meted out to the first generation of sinners, as if it were, mankind would soon be exterminated, there being no one free from sin. Ed.] When two people carry a burden it seems lighter than if one alone has to carry it. The same is true for three people carrying a load together. On the other hand, how long can G-d be perceived as ignoring our sins without inviting us to believe that He does not care or cannot exact penalties? He therefore imposes partial punishment, delaying the balance if the sinner does not repent, or forgiving the penitent sinner by delaying the unexpired guilt indefinitely. He therefore exacts that part from the third or fourth generation of the original sinner. [This is not unfair, as if the original sinner had received his entire punishment, the grandson would never have seen the light of day. Ed.] This is the thirteenth of the “visibly” beneficial attributes of G-d. If you were to counter that the Torah has written: לא יומתו אבות על בנים, “children must not be executed for the sins of the fathers,” (Deut. 24,16) this applied to the human tribunal, not to the celestial tribunal.

ונקה לא ינקה AND WHO WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY — According to its plain sense this means that He is not altogether indulgent to sin (He does not entirely remit the punishment), but little by little exacts punishment from, him (the sinner). Our Rabbis, however, have explained: ונקה, And he clears — He clears those who repent, לא ינקה, He does not clear — but does not clear those who will not repent (Yoma 86a).

וחטאה, additional to the taunting sin called פשע. We encounter an illustration of this in Jeremiah 11,15 כי רעתכי אז תעלוזי, “for you exult while performing your evil deeds.” We must remember that the degree of evil committed by different people is never a duplicate, i.e. each one commits evil according to his own agenda; hence G’d’s reaction to such evil varies after taking into consideration all the circumstances. This is why all these attributes have been enumerated separately.

וחטאה, ”as well as unintentionally committed sin;” this has been spelled out in detail, in Leviticus 4,2 as well as the remedial action that has to be taken by the guilty party.

פקד עון אבות על בנים VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN — when they retain in their hands (follow the example of) the evil doings of their ancestors. This must be the meaning because in another verse of a similar character it has already been stated: of them that hate Me (cf. Exodus 20:5: Visiting the iniquity of fathers upon the children, upon the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me (Berakhot 7a; Sanhedrin 27b).

ונקה, even though G’d wipes the slate clean for those penitents motivated by their love for G’d and not by their fear of punishment, לא ינקה, He will not do this for the ones whose only motivation for turning penitent is their fear of G’d’s retribution, or their desire to arrest such retribution. We find confirmation of this in Yuma 86 that i.e. intentional sins of such penitents will be treated as if they had been unintentionally committed sins, a conclusion based on Hoseah 14,2 כי כשלת בעונך, “for you have fallen because of your sin.”

ונקה לא ינקה, “but He will not let the guilty escape scot free;” (unless the guilty party had rehabilitated himself through sincere teshuvah, repentance.) The Talmud, tractate Yuma, folio 86 spells out clearly that anyone (later generations) whose sinful fathers did not repent and had not been punished for their sins as G–d had waited if their offspring would repent, will also have to bear the burden of the sins of their fathers. [The reason why this is not unfair is that if G–d had punished their forefathers they would not even have been born, so what have they lost? Ed.]

ועל רבעים means AND UPON THE FOURTH GENERATION — It follows, therefore, that the measure of good (reward) is greater than the measure of punishment in the proportion of one to five hundred, for in respect to the measure of good it says: “Keeping mercy for thousands” (two thousands at least) (cf. Rashi above: Tosefta Sotah 4:1; see also Rashi on Exodus 20:5).

פוקד עון אבות על בנים, He delays punishing the wicked in the land until their measure of sin is such that they deserve to be wiped out. This “measure” is one that in G’d’s opinion, precludes their ever becoming penitents. (compare Sotah 9). Such a situation usually is not reached until several successive generations are steeped in sin.

פוקד, “He remembers (and acts upon) the sins of the fathers;” even this attribute is part of G–d being merciful, as it shows how patient G–d had been in not punishing the fathers immediately for the sins they had committed. We know this from Exodus 32,34, where G–d speaks of וביום פקדי וגו', “and on the day when I remember” (to take action etc.) This clearly shows that G–d does not take punitive action immediately. It also shows that this is no longer one of the thirteen attributes listed here. This presents a difficulty for the scholars who argue that the words: וימהר משה ויקוד ארצה, “Moses hastened to prostrate himself to the ground,” (verse 8) show that he was afraid that G–d might “remember” to extend punishment for sins that had not been punished even to the fifth generation of the descendants of the sinner. I believe that Moses’ haste is proof that G–d’s mercy extends even further, if he allowed four generations to rehabilitate the original sinners because that generation became a true penitent.

על שלשים, when the latest generation intensifies the evil perpetrated by their fathers and grandfathers. Jeremiah 7,26 describes such a scenario when he writes: “they would not listen to Me or give ear. They stiffened their necks, they acted worse than their fathers.”

ועל רבעים, when the generations do not become worse than their fathers but commit sins of the same type and seriousness.

And that is that He commanded us to confess the transgressions and sins that we have done before God and to say them together with [our] repentance. And that is confession. And its intent is that one say, "Please, Lord, I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have rebelled and I have done such and such." And he should prolong the statement and request forgiveness about this matter according to the polish of his speech. And you should know that even the sins for which one is liable for the types of sacrifices that are mentioned - that He said that one offer them and it atones for him - do not suffice with the sacrifice when it is without confession. And that is His saying, "Speak to the children of Israel [saying], a man or woman who commits from any of the sins of man [...]. And they shall confess the sins that they did" (Numbers 5:6-7). And the language of the Mekhilta is, "Since it is stated (Leviticus 5:5), 'and he shall confess that which he has sinned upon it' - it is to be upon the sin-offering when it is in existence, not after it has been slaughtered. It is only understood that an individual confesses for entering the Temple [impure]" - for this verse appears in Parashat Vayikra about one who renders the Temple and its sanctified objects impure, and that which is mentioned with it, as we explained; and so the Mekhilta there raises the possibility that we would only learn the obligation for confession from Scripture about one who renders the Temple impure. "From where are you to include all the other commandments? [Hence] we learn to say, 'Speak to the children of Israel [...]. And they shall confess.' And from where [do we know] even [sins that bring punishments of] excision and death penalties of the court? It states, 'the sins,' to include negative commandments; 'that they did,' to include positive commandments." And there it says, "'From any of the sins of man' - for theft, for robbery, for evil speech; 'to commit a trespass' - to include one who swears falsely and a blasphemer; 'and be guilty' - to include all those guilty of death penalties. It might be even those who are killed according to the testimony of colluding ones. I only said, 'and that man be guilty.'" That means to say that he is not obligated to confess when he knows that he has not sinned, but rather what was testified against him was false. Behold it has been made clear to you that we are obligated to confess for all types of transgressions, big and small - and even [for] positive commandments. But because this command - that is, "And they shall confess" - appeared with an obligation for a sacrifice, it could have entered our mind that confession is not a commandment by itself, but is rather from those things that are an extension of the sacrifice. [Hence] they needed to clarify this in the Mekhilta with this language - "It might be that when they bring their sacrifices, they confess; when they do not bring their sacrifices, they do not confess. [Hence] we learn to say, 'Speak to the children of Israel [...]. And they shall confess.' But still, the understanding of confession is only in the Land [of Israel]. From where [do we know], also in the diaspora? [Hence] we learn to say, 'their iniquities [...] and the iniquities of their fathers' (Leviticus 26:40)." And likewise did Daniel say, "To You, Lord, is justice, etc." (Daniel 9:7). Behold that which we have mentioned has been made clear to you - that confession is a separate obligation; and that it is an obligation for the sinner for every sin that he did. Whether in the Land or outside of the Land; whether he brought a sacrifice or did not bring a sacrifice - he is obligated to confess, as it is stated, "And they shall confess for their iniquities." And the language of the [Sifra] is, "'And he shall confess' - that is confession of words." And the regulations of this commandment have already been explained in Tractate Yoma. (See Parashat Nasso; Mishneh Torah, Repentance 1).