Comentario citado sobre Isaías 65:3

ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך, “and (then) you will return to the Lord your G–d;” elsewhere (Deut.23,15) it says in indirect speech: ושב ה' אלוקיך את שבותך ורחמך, “and the Lord your G–d will return with your captives and have mercy on you. Why does this have to be repeated? In the Talmud, tractate “Yuma”, folio 86, the Talmud says that repentance is important as it hastens the arrival of the redemption. This is based on Isaiah 59,20: ובא לציון גואל, ”and the Redeemer will come to Zion,” why? The verse continues with ושבי פשע ביעקב, “when the sinners among Yaakov have repented.” Rabbi Yossi bar Yehudah added that when a person transgresses a commandment once he is forgiven. By the time he transgresses a fourth time he is no longer subject to forgiveness. He bases himself on Amos 2,6: “thus said the Lord; for three transgressions of Israel, for four I will not revoke it (evil decree);” this is how the Talmud in tractate Yuma folio 86 understands that verse. I heard a reason for this attributed to Rabi Meir Levi, who stated that access to the Lord is guarded by three different “fences.” The first is overwhelming noise, the second is fire, and the third is a region of strong wind; finally there is a region in which almost inaudible sound is heard; (Compare Kings I 19, 11-12) in each region of these fences there are angels. When a person sins for the first time, the angels in the first region obstruct such a person’s access to commit further sins. This results in his obtaining forgiveness [as without this he would continue to sin having started to do so. Ed.] This process continues in varying degrees if he commits a second or third sin [without having repented in the interval. Ed.] When he sins a fourth time, having already breached the fences separating him from the Presence of G–d three times, he is no longer subject to forgiveness, as we know from Isaiah 65,3-7: “the people who provoke My anger who continually, to My very face, sacrifice in gardens and burn incense on tiles etc. etc. such things make My anger rage, like fire blazing all day long and I will not stand idly by but will repay deliver their sins into their bosom and the sins of their fathers as well.” In other words, G–d is patient until sinning has become a pattern of the sinner’s lifestyle before He reacts irrevocably.

to His face -- i.e. before Him, as in "a people who without ceasing provoke Me to anger to My face" (Isaiah 65:3). The author specified 3 aspects 1. to His face, 2. in His hands, 3. while He rebukes you. The first aspect is that he rebels against G-d with the good itself. On that he wrote "to His face". Secondly, that he knows that he is in G-d's hands, like pottery in the hands of the potter, who can do whatever he wants with it. How could he not be ashamed to rebel against G-d? Thirdly, that G-d already warned him. Therefore, he wrote "while He rebukes you".

AND THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO MOSES: GATHER UNTO ME SEVENTY MEN OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL. Our Rabbis have already mentioned that there are seventy nations¹⁹⁰Bereshith Rabbah 66:8. with seventy languages,¹⁹¹Sanhedrin 17 a. each one having a constellation in the heavens with a prince above it, as it is said in the Book of Daniel, and the prince of the kingdom of Persia,¹⁹²Daniel 10:13. See Ramban in Leviticus 18:25, and also Vol. I, pp. 349-350. and it is [further] written with reference to the kings of Greece, lo, the prince of Greece shall come;¹⁹³Daniel 10:20. and it is about this that Scripture states, And the Eternal will punish the host of the high heaven on high.¹⁹⁴Isaiah 24:21. The Rabbis have also said¹⁹⁵Succah 58 b. that the [seventy] bullocks [brought as offerings on the seven days] of the Festival of Tabernacles allude to them. [A similar reference to the seventy princes we find, in connection with the Tower of Babel] in the Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer:¹⁹⁶Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer. Chapter 24. “Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to the seventy kings that surround the throne of His Glory: ‘Let us come and confound their language.’”¹⁹⁷Genesis 11:7. It was for this reason that the number of those who went down to Egypt was seventy,¹⁹⁸Ibid., 46:27. and that He commanded that there should be this number of judges in Israel [as is stated in the verse before us], for this number includes all opinions [that are possible in a given case] since it comprises all powers, and there will not be anything too hard for them.¹⁹⁹Deuteronomy 17:8-9: If there arise a matter ‘too hard for thee’ in judgment … then shalt thou arise etc. — and go to the judges of the Great Sanhedrin and they will answer you. The point is thus clear: there will not be anything “too hard” for them. Similarly at the Giving of the Torah [special prominence was given to] seventy elders of Israel,²⁰⁰Exodus 24:1. and it is fitting that the Glory of the Divine Presence should rest upon [a group of] this perfect number, since it is [comparable to] the camp on high, for Israel are the hosts of the Eternal²⁰¹Ibid., 12:41. See also Vol. I, p. 393. on earth, just as the ark and its cover and the Tabernacle were all made in the likeness of those that minister [before Him] on high. So also were the [four] standards made in the image of the Divine Chariot which Ezekiel saw,²⁰²Ezekiel, Chapter I. in order that the Divine Presence should rest upon them on earth as it is present in the heavens.
Now Moses was above the seventy elders [in authority], thus alluding to Israel, a nation one in the earth.²⁰³II Samuel 7:23. And our Rabbis have received by tradition that every Sanhedrin (Great Court) that sits in G-d’s House in the place which He shall choose on which to rest His Presence, should consist of this number, seventy, with the head [of the Court] above them [in authority] like Moses our teacher, and thus they comprise [a Court] a seventy-one [judges, and with the Divine Presence in their midst they are seventy-two]. Similarly the letters in the Great Ineffable Divine Name are seventy-two, corresponding to the seventy princes [of the seventy nations, together with Israel, making seventy-one nations],²⁰⁴Abusaula, and so also in Beiur Ha’lvush to Ricanti. and the One G-d who is the sole Master over all. It is to this that Scripture hints in saying, G-d standeth in the congregation of G-d; in the midst of the judges He judgeth,²⁰⁵Psalms 82:1. for the Divine Presence is with them to assent to their judgment. And Scripture further states, How long will ye judge unjustly?,²⁰⁶Ibid., Verse 2. thus admonishing [and saying] that since the Glorious Name²⁰⁷Deuteronomy 28:58. is with them in giving judgment,²⁰⁸II Chronicles 19:6. how can you not be fearful of Him when you pervert justice, as in the expression, the people that provoke Me to My face continually.²⁰⁹Isaiah 65:3. And it states furthermore [in that psalm], “I said: Ye are godlike beings, and all of you sons of the Most High,²¹⁰Psalms 82:6. for your number is the same as the number of the princes above and the One Master, and so I said that you will sit in the seat of G-d²¹¹Ezekiel 28:2. on earth. But ‘k’adam’ ye shall die²¹²Psalms 82:7. — like the first man [Adam] who was driven from his glorious place [in the Garden of Eden] and died, so will you [who judge unjustly] be driven out of the House of G-d and die. And like one of the princes²¹²Psalms 82:7. on high you were, but you fell from that high position.” I have already mentioned something of this matter in Seder V’eileh Hamishpatim.²¹³And these are the ordinances — Exodus 21:1. The verse referred to is ibid., 6.

The Midrash connects the word פניו in על פניו with פנים anger — he (Jacob) was also in an angry mood that it should be necessary for him to do all this (Genesis Rabbah 76:8).