וַיְמָאֲנ֣וּ לִשְׁמֹ֗עַ וְלֹא־זָכְר֤וּ נִפְלְאֹתֶ֙יךָ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשִׂ֣יתָ עִמָּהֶ֔ם וַיַּקְשׁוּ֙ אֶת־עָרְפָּ֔ם וַיִּתְּנוּ־רֹ֛אשׁ לָשׁ֥וּב לְעַבְדֻתָ֖ם בְּמִרְיָ֑ם וְאַתָּה֩ אֱל֨וֹהַּ סְלִיח֜וֹת חַנּ֧וּן וְרַח֛וּם אֶֽרֶךְ־אַפַּ֥יִם וְרַב־וחסד [חֶ֖סֶד] וְלֹ֥א עֲזַבְתָּֽם׃
Y no quisieron oir, ni se acordaron de tus maravillas que habías hecho con ellos; antes endurecieron su cerviz, y en su rebelión pensaron poner caudillo para volverse á su servidumbre. Tú empero, eres Dios de perdones, clemente y piadoso, tardo para la ira, y de mucha misericordia, que no los dejaste.
Kli Yakar
And what seems closest to me to say about this. That the waters of Marah, and the waters of the sotah [suspected adulteress], and the matter of the [Golden] Calf, they are all one and the same, since our Sages have already said (Mekhilta Yitro, Ch. 8:13) that the Ten Commandments were five opposite five, and the commandment You shall have no other gods corresponds to You shall not commit adultery. For one who worships idols is as if he commits adultery against God, as it is said The adulterous wife, etc. (Ezekiel 16:32). And at Marah they were immersed in idolatry, as is found in the Mekhilta (Beshalach [Vayisa] 1:22) and brought in the Yalkut on Parshat Beshalach (15:254) on the verse And Moses led Israel. For they said there: “Let us make an idol for ourselves and it will lead us,” and lest you think they said this but did not do it, Scripture teaches And they refused to listen, etc. (Nehemiah 9:17), see there.
And according to this Midrash, they were like an adulterous woman for whom sweet waters become bitter in her mouth. So too here, the waters became bitter in their mouths, and the Lord showed him a tree — He taught them the way of Torah, which is a tree of life that distances one from idolatry, and through this the waters were sweetened. This is the matter of the [Golden] Calf, about which it is said And he ground it until it was fine… and made the children of Israel drink it (Exodus 32:20). And our Sages said (Avodah Zarah 44a) that he intended to test them like suspected adulteresses, etc., both because idol worshippers are judged like adulteresses and because they also transgressed sexual immorality at that time, as they learned (Tanchuma Ki Tisa 20) from the verse And they rose to make merry (Exodus 32:6).
And perhaps for this reason it says and he ground it — to test the sin of grinding, that is, sexual immorality, as explained above. And the Calf itself was a bitter matter, and impurity clung to it — the impurity of idolatry and the impurity of sexual immorality. Therefore, it specifically harmed all those who worshipped it, because “like found like,” but to those who did not worship it, it did not cause harm, because nothing of the banned object clung to them, and the ground gold was for them just like ordinary gold.
And according to our Sages (Sotah 20a), something bitter was placed in the waters of the sotah, because it is said For the lips of a strange woman drip honey, etc., but her end is bitter as wormwood (Proverbs 5:3-4). And putting the water in an earthenware vessel was because an earthenware vessel never loses [its absorbed impurity] forever. Similarly, one who has relations with a forbidden woman and fathers a mamzer [illegitimate child] with her, it is called a crooked thing that cannot be made straight (Chagigah 9a).
And according to this Midrash, they were like an adulterous woman for whom sweet waters become bitter in her mouth. So too here, the waters became bitter in their mouths, and the Lord showed him a tree — He taught them the way of Torah, which is a tree of life that distances one from idolatry, and through this the waters were sweetened. This is the matter of the [Golden] Calf, about which it is said And he ground it until it was fine… and made the children of Israel drink it (Exodus 32:20). And our Sages said (Avodah Zarah 44a) that he intended to test them like suspected adulteresses, etc., both because idol worshippers are judged like adulteresses and because they also transgressed sexual immorality at that time, as they learned (Tanchuma Ki Tisa 20) from the verse And they rose to make merry (Exodus 32:6).
And perhaps for this reason it says and he ground it — to test the sin of grinding, that is, sexual immorality, as explained above. And the Calf itself was a bitter matter, and impurity clung to it — the impurity of idolatry and the impurity of sexual immorality. Therefore, it specifically harmed all those who worshipped it, because “like found like,” but to those who did not worship it, it did not cause harm, because nothing of the banned object clung to them, and the ground gold was for them just like ordinary gold.
And according to our Sages (Sotah 20a), something bitter was placed in the waters of the sotah, because it is said For the lips of a strange woman drip honey, etc., but her end is bitter as wormwood (Proverbs 5:3-4). And putting the water in an earthenware vessel was because an earthenware vessel never loses [its absorbed impurity] forever. Similarly, one who has relations with a forbidden woman and fathers a mamzer [illegitimate child] with her, it is called a crooked thing that cannot be made straight (Chagigah 9a).