Commentary for Exodus 34:9

ילך נא אדני בקרבנו LET MY LORD, I PRAY THEE, GO AMONG US as Thou hast promised (cf. Exodus 33:14), since Thou forgivest iniquity. And even if it be a stiff-necked people and they have rebelled against Thee and Thou didst on that account say, (Exodus 30:3) “lest I consume thee in the way” — yet pardon Thou our iniquity etc. — כי is sometimes used in place of (in the sense of) אם, “if”.

כי עם קשה עורף הוא, and it will commit sins even if You will go in our midst. Even though I am fully aware that such sins, due to their being committed in Your immediate presence are more serious than otherwise, as You yourself have pointed out in 33,5, on balance I believe that it is still better that You Yourself should go with us.

ילך נא ה׳ בקרבנו, "let G'd go in our midst, etc." How could Moses say this seeing G'd had told him in 33,3 that He would not go up in their midst precisely because they were a stiff-necked people? Here Moses tries to use the stiff-necked nature of the people as a reason for asking G'd to go up in their midst? In 33,3 G'd had warned Moses that if He were to go up in the midst of the people this would lead to their destruction. How could Moses take such a chance? Another difficulty in our verse is why Moses had to ask for something G'd had already been prepared to do as we know from 33,17: "I will also do this thing for you?"

כי עם קשה עורף הוא. Seeing that You are so forgiving You will be able to go in our midst in spite of this.

ילך נא א-דוני בקרבנו כי עם קשה עורף הוא, “may my Lord walk in our midst because they are a stiff-necked people.” Nachmanides in interpreting the word כי as “because,” i.e. according to the unadorned text, explains the psychology underlying Moses’ argument. G’d had warned Moses that if the people were to rebel against the angel’s instructions, he would make short shrift of them and destroy them. An angel would interpret any display of stubborn behaviour as completely negative. When, after the people had regained their grace in the eyes of Hashem, and they would meticulously, i.e. ”stubbornly,” observe all the laws of the Torah, G’d would realize that their stubborn streak had been turned to constructive use. If a relapse would occur, as was possible, G’d knowing that their stubborn streak had also been employed constructively, would look at this as making them deserve another chance, something an angel could not be expected to do. Hence, Moses argued, the very stubborn streak of the people is what made him ask to have G’d in their midst, instead of merely a proxy, an angel. G’d’s relationship to the Jewish people was that they were “His people.” No angel could relate to them as such. Other commentators view our verse as meaning almost precisely the opposite. Moses, admitting that the people‘s Achilles heel was their stubborn streak, their rebelliousness, argues that because of this inherent weakness they needed the Presence of the attributes of Hashem, Who is kind, patient, makes allowances, etc. Such a combination of attributes within one camp would mitigate the negative impact of the negative aspect of Israel’s stubbornness. Still other commentators interpret Moses’ reference to the people’s stubbornness as such that it results in their defying even death rather than violating G’d’s Torah. This is why they bend over backwards to keep His commandments, even risking their lives to do so. They treat the laws of the Torah as a burden which they are willing to carry under any circumstances, as they feel that they must do so in order to show that they appreciate G’d’s glory sufficiently. Seeing that this is their general attitude, it behooves G’d to forgive them for their grievous error in the episode of the golden calf.

וסלחת לעונינו ולחטותינו ונחלתנו, “and forgive our iniquity and error and make us Your inheritance.” Seeing Moses was so humble he included himself in the list of people needing forgiveness. By rights he should have said: “forgive them their iniquities and their errors.” The prophet Jeremiah, who was also a member of the tribe of Levi (a priest) learned from Moses when he said: (Jeremiah 14,7) “though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for the sake of Your name.” He too did not refer to the sins of the Jewish people as “their iniquities.”
When Moses said ונחלתנו instead of ותנחילנו as is found elsewhere, especially in our liturgy, the reason may be that that he meant for G’d to make us G’d’s heritage. We find this idea reflected in Deut. 32,9 “for His people are part of G’d, Yaakov is the measure of His inheritance.” We also have a verse (Lamentations 3,24) where the prophet Jeremiah describes the relationship of the Jewish people to G’d in those terms, saying: “the Lord is my portion, my soul says with full heart, therefore I will hope in Him.” The meaning of the verse is that the Jewish soul is aware of G’d being its only true share. This is why the only hold on life on this earth Israel has is its service to the Lord.

There are places where כי is used in place of אם . Rashi is answering the question: On the contrary, is not their being a stiff-necked people a reason that He should not go with them? As it is written above (33:5), “You are a stiff-necked people. Were I to go up among you for one moment, I would destroy you.” Thus Rashi explains that this כי means “if,” as he goes on to elaborate.

FOR IT IS A STIFFNECKED PEOPLE. This is to be understood in its literal sense. G-d is to go in their midst because they are a stiffnecked people, for now that the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled with them, His Presence amongst those who are stiffnecked would be better than that of the angel. For He will want to increase their blessings more, since they are His people and His inheritance.⁵¹⁶See Deuteronomy 9:29 and 32:9. And just as at the time of anger it was better for them that He send before them an angel, because they are a stiffnecked people, just as He said, lest I consume thee in the way,⁵¹⁷Above, 33:3. so at the time of good-will it is better for them that the Divine Glory go with them, because they are a stiffnecked people, and He would more readily show grace and mercy upon His servants. And G-d answered him that He would do so, that He would make the covenant and do marvels because of it, just as Moses had asked for, so that we are distinguished, I and Thy people.⁵¹⁸Ibid., Verse 16. He said, before all thy people I will do marvels… and all the people amongst which thou art shall see, because all these great and tremendous things He would do with Moses and for his sake, and the people would merely be in the covenant. It is not possible, however, to explain that G-d was promising that He would now do with Israel wonders such as have not been wrought before and in all the earth, nor in any nation, for [we do not find] that after this [statement] there were any wonders done for them, greater than those which had been wrought for them at the beginning in Egypt and at the sea; on the contrary, at first there were wrought and done for them greater things. Rather, the purport thereof hints at the dwelling of the Divine Glory amongst them, and at G-d being with Moses, for splendor and for beauty⁵¹⁹Ibid., 28:2. in hidden and wondrous matters, as he said, ‘v’niphlinu’ (so that we are distinguished)⁵¹⁸Ibid., Verse 16. [which is of the root peleh — wonder], and as I have explained. May the Holy One, blessed be He, show us wonders in His Torah.

אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך....ילך נא אדו-ני בקרבנו, “if I have indeed found favour in Your eyes, .....may my Lord walk in our midst.” Moses argues that the very reason why it is so necessary for G–d personally to walk amongst the people is the problem that the people are so stiff-necked that they might countermand an angel’s instruction which would trigger G–d’s threat to annihilate them as we read in Exodus 33,13.

אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך ה' ילך נא ה׳ בקרבנו, “if I have indeed found favour in Your eyes o G-d, may the Lord walk among us, please.” The attribute Moses addresses in this verse is both times the attribute of His name spelled Adonai.” כי עם קשי עורף הוא, “although it is a stiffnecked people.” Moses concurred with G-d Who had described this people as “stiffnecked” in Exodus 33,3. G-d had used it as an excuse for not walking amongst that people. Moses uses this very fact as justifying his request that G-d remain present among them. What better restraining influence against the evil urge is there than the very presence of G-d, the Creator, being in its midst?An alternate explanation of this argument: “Even though they are a stiffnecked people.” We find the same logic in Psalms 25,11: וסלחת לעוני כי רב הוא, “forgive my sin even though it be great.” Why do I plead that You walk amongst us? Because the angel has no authority to forgive any trespasses against You, as You, Yourself have pointed out. It is therefore better that seeing that they are a stiff necked people, You should be there to forgive one sin of the people at a time, instead of letting them accumulate sins which, collectively, will prove too difficult to forgive.

ונחלתנו. AND TAKE US FOR THINE INHERITANCE — make us a special inheritance unto Thyself. This is the same request as that contained in (Exodus 33:16) “that we should be different, I and thy people [from all other peoples]” — which means that You should not let Your Shechinah rest upon the other peoples of the world (cf. Rashi on this verse).

וסלחת לעוננו, seeing that only You are capable and willing to forgive and we constantly hope for Your forgiveness, the angel should not be the one going with us even though countermanding his instructions is a lesser sin than countermanding Your instructions. After all, there is no hope at all to obtain forgiveness for disobedience committed against the angel, as You Yourself pointed out in 23,21 “for he will not forgive your sins committed due to a rebellious spirit.”

וסלחת לעונינו ולחטאתינו, “and You will forgive our deliberate as well as our inadvertent sins.” Moses did not ask G’d to forgive also פשענו, “our sins committed out of the desire to show defiance of G’d’s legislation.”

Take us to Yourself as a special possession. . . (An alternative text:) “That You should give us a special possession. . .” Explanation: This [special possession] is the resting of Your Shechinah upon us alone, not upon other nations. Since Hashem already answered Moshe about this, Rashi therefore says: “This is the same request as: ‘so that I and Your people will be distinguished.’” I.e., Moshe is mentioning here what he had requested before.

The matter will become clearer when we look at the names for G'd Moses used in the various verses. In our verse here Moses requests that G'd should go up in the midst of the people in His manifestation as א־ד־נ־י, whereas in 33,3 G'd had warned Moses that He would not go in their midst in His manifestation as י־ה־ו־ה. At first glance this reinforces our problem seeing that I have written that Moses wanted G'd to accompany the Israelites in His capacity as the attribute of Mercy, and here he seems to request a harsher attribute of G'd.

וסלחת לעוונו ולחטאתנו ונחלתנו, “and pardon our iniquity, and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” By allowing us to take possession of the Promised Land You would demonstrate this.

ונחלתנו, “and consider us as Your inheritance.” Moses means: “and thus make certain that we will inherit the land which You have promised on oath.”We find a similar construction in Numbers 34,17: אלה ראשי האבות אשר ינחלו את בני ישראל, “these are the names of the men through whom the land shall be apportioned to you.” The word ינחלו is to be understood as if in the causative mode, i.e. ינחילו.

Perhaps the insights Moses had gained after G'd had revealed to Him His Thirteen Attributes had led to Moses' appreciation that if G'd were to apply only His attribute of Mercy to the people, ignoring the attribute of Justice completely, the people would never survive the long trip because they were so stiff-necked [and would commit too many sins for G'd to overlook permanently. Ed.] Moses therefore reconsidered and asked G'd to provide the kind of presence which would not allow the sinners to count on His Mercy as if it were an inexhaustible attribute. He expressed this by saying ילך נא א־דני, i.e. a mixture of Mercy and Justice. He did so in order for the occasional sinners not to become confirmed sinners when they would perceive G'd as waiving punishment for their sins. When Moses added: וסלחת לעונינו, וג׳ he asked for the appropriate attribute of G'd, i.e. the addition of the attribute of Mercy to the attribute of Justice he had mentioned first. We observe something similar in Exodus 23,21, where G'd had explained that an angel represents only the attribute of Justice and cannot temper Justice with Mercy. Moses now realised how important it was to be under the guidance of both attributes of G'd simultaneously.

ונחלתנו, "and take us to be Your inheritance." Moses asked that G'd never exchange the Jewish people for some other people but that they should remain His "inheritance" forever.