Commentary for Exodus 34:9
וַיֹּ֡אמֶר אִם־נָא֩ מָצָ֨אתִי חֵ֤ן בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ אֲדֹנָ֔י יֵֽלֶךְ־נָ֥א אֲדֹנָ֖י בְּקִרְבֵּ֑נוּ כִּ֤י עַם־קְשֵׁה־עֹ֙רֶף֙ ה֔וּא וְסָלַחְתָּ֛ לַעֲוֺנֵ֥נוּ וּלְחַטָּאתֵ֖נוּ וּנְחַלְתָּֽנוּ׃
And he said: ‘If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray Thee, go in the midst of us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance.’
Rashi on Exodus
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”.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Sforno on Exodus
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Or HaChaim on Exodus
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?"
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy