Comentario sobre Deuteronómio 4:12

AND THE ETERNAL SPOKE UNTO YOU OUT OF THE MIDST OF THE FIRE. I have already explained the matter in its place⁵⁹Ibid., 19:20, and 20:15. See Vol. II, pp. 282-284, and p. 325. that the people heard the speaking of the Great Name, blessed be He, out of the midst of the fire, as they saw His great fire⁶⁰Further, Verse 36. and they perceived it. With this [Revelation] His covenant was declared to them in the ten words [i.e., the Ten Commandments],⁶¹Verse 13: And He declared unto you His covenant … even the ‘ten words’ (i.e., the Ten Commandments). for in all of them they heard the Voice out of the midst of the fire. And the rest of the commandments He commanded me at that time to teach you,⁶²Verse 14. See also Vol. II, p. 305. because I was already established to be a prophet of the Eternal⁶³I Samuel 3:20. by what you saw, just as He said, and they may also believe in thee forever,⁵⁶Exodus 19:9. See Vol. II, pp. 277-278. as I have explained.

קול דברים אתם שומעים, "you (only) heard the sounds of words, etc." The words "the sound of words" may best be understood in connection with Shir Hashirim Rabbah on Song of Songs 1,2: "may He kiss me with the kisses of His mouth." The Midrash explains that every utterance of G'd during the revelation at Mount Sinai resulted in the creation of an angel who would stand by each Israelite and ask him: "are you willing to accept me i.e. the respective one of the Ten Commandments and what other sub-commandments it contained?" The Israelite in question would answer in the affirmative whereupon the angel would embrace him and kiss him. The words קול דברים, "the sound of the words," is a reference to these questions the angels asked the Israelites. Please refer to what I have written in Parshat Yitro (page 671) where I explained that the only words the Israelites heard from the mouth of G'd directly were the first two commandments. They were physically unable to comprehend the other eight commandments though G'd uttered them simultaneously. The other eight utterances were turned into angels. When the souls returned to the Israelites' bodies at the time, they heard those commandments from the angels. This is what the Midrash described.

Hashem addressed you. Later (Devarim 10:4) with regard to the first set of Ten Commandments, which says, “Remember the day of Shabbos” the verse states, “That Hashem addressed to you,” whereas with regard to the second tablets which say “Preserve the day of Shabbos,” (Devarim 5:12) it states, “that Hashem addressed you.” This is because all of Yisroel heard “Remember” but only Moshe heard “Preserve” and the rest of Yisroel did not. They heard other sounds apart from the words that they heard. The amazing fact that Moshe is describing here, “Hashem addressed you” meaning that you heard the sounds of speech but not words.

V. 12. וידבר וגו׳. Ihr nahmet wahr, nicht nur, dass Gott sprach, sondern dass Gott zu euch sprach, dass seine Rede an euch aus dem Feuer gerichtet war, und zwar war es nicht etwa eine Wahrnehmung im Geiste, nicht קול דברים אתם שומעים ,דברים, es war sinnliche Wahrnehmung, ihr hörtet die Wortlaute; darauf war aber auch eure sinnliche Wahrnehmung beschränkt, auch nicht die Andeutung, den Umriss einer Gestalt habt ihr gesehen (siehe zu Schmot 20, 4).

Solely sound. Another amazing fact was that you saw nothing but the image of the sound, meaning that the people saw pictures in the shapes of letters through the tongues of fire.

ותמונה אינכם רואים, "but you did not see an image." How can we understand Moses referring to an image by contrasting it with a sound, i.e. זולתי קול? It seems quite obvious that if one did not see an image that what one heard was only a sound? You may understand this in conjunction with what I explained on the last verse, that the Israelite saw an angel who communicated G'd's words, i.e. the sound to him. This is also a way the Mechilta explains the words: "the whole people saw the voices (Exodus 20,15)." Moses was afraid that the Israelites would think that the angel whom they had seen was the G'd of Israel. He therefore had to underline that all the Israelites saw in addition to the voices described in that verse were the angels described by the Midrash. They most certainly did not see G'd.