Commentaire de citation sur Isaïe 59:2

AND MOSES ANSWERED AND SAID: BUT, BEHOLD, THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ME, NOR HEARKEN UNTO MY VOICE. “At that moment, Moses spoke improperly. The Holy One, blessed be He, had told him, And they shall hearken to thy voice,²⁴⁶Above, 3:18. and he said, But, behold, they will not believe me. Immediately, the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him according to his opinion,²⁴⁷Since it was Moses’ opinion that the people would not believe him, he was therefore in need of certain wonders which he was to do before them to convince them of the truth of his mission. Accordingly, G-d now gave him the wonders he was to do. The implication of the Midrash is thus clear: If Moses had not said that the people would not believe him, there would have been no need for him to do these wonders before them. and gave him signs commensurate with his words.” Thus the language of V’eileh Shemoth Rabbah.²⁴⁸Shemoth Rabbah 3:15.
And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said, by way of the plain meaning of Scripture, that G-d related to Moses that the elders will believe him, but He did not mention that the people will believe. Perhaps they may hearken to his voice but would not believe him wholeheartedly. But this does not appear to be correct. Rather, it is possible to say that v’sham’u l’kolecha (and they shall hearken to thy voice) does not constitute a promise but a command: “And they must hearken to your voice” — for it is to their advantage to listen — and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt.²⁴⁶Above, 3:18. A similar case is found in the verse, When the Egyptians shall hear — for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among them — they will say to the inhabitants of this land,²⁴⁹Numbers 14:13-14. meaning it is fitting that the Egyptians should say so. Similarly, the verse, In this thou shalt know that I am the Eternal,²⁵⁰Further, 7:17. means it is fitting that it be so, but not that it so happened. In a similar vein is the verse in this chapter, and they will believe the voice of the latter sign,²⁵¹Verse 8. [which means it is fitting that they believe the latter sign], and many similar cases.
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that the expression v’sham’u l’kolecha means that “they will listen to you to come with you to the king and say to him, The G-d of the Hebrews hath happened to meet us,²⁵²Ibid., 5:3. for what will they lose by it?” Thus G-d informed Moses that the king of Egypt would not give them leave to go, and this was why Moses said, But, behold, they will not believe me, for after seeing that Pharaoh did not give them permission to go, they would no longer believe him at all, for they will say: “The Eternal hath not appeared unto thee. If you were G-d’s messenger, Pharaoh would not have rebelled against His word.” It may be that they will say that “G-d has not appeared to you by the Great Name with the attribute of mercy, to do for us signs and wonders as you have said, for you are not greater than the patriarchs.²⁵³To whom He appeared as E-il Sha-dai. See Ramban above, 3:13, for a full explanation of this matter. This was why Pharaoh did not hearken, for if Pharaoh had believed your words, we would have gone out from Egypt under all circumstances, and it is not our iniquities that have separated between us and the G-d of mercies.”²⁵⁴See Isaiah 59:2.

“Am I in place of God?” Since Rachel said “you should have prayed for me,” Jacob replied to her, “Is this why you said Give me children? Do you think I am certain that God will accept my prayer? Perhaps sin will cause God to block my prayer with a cloud, for anyone whose prayer is accepted is like one who truly stands beneath God with nothing separating between him and God. But when one’s prayer is not heard, it is as if there is a dividing screen between him and God, as it is written You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that prayer cannot pass through (Lamentations 3:44). This cloud is the dark physicality through which all disputes and afflictions occur, as it is written Your iniquities have separated between you and your God (Isaiah 59:2). Therefore he said who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb, because since He withheld it from you and not from me, surely God knows that you have some sin which caused the withholding of children from you, and that sin will undoubtedly block prayer from passing through. Immediately Rachel took it to heart to examine her deeds to find which sin caused this, and she found nothing except the trait of jealousy that was in her, as it is said Rachel was jealous of her sister. She thought this sin caused Jacob’s prayer to be ineffective, therefore she took it to heart to repent by going to the opposite extreme in the matter in which she had sinned — whereas at first she was jealous even of her sister, afterwards she did not become jealous even of her maidservant. Therefore she said that in the merit of bringing her rival into her home, I too will be built up through her.”

ואלהי מסכה לא תעשו לכם, "neither construct for yourselves molten gods;" seeing that the Torah has already prohibited all kinds of idols why did it single out the molten gods as something we must not construct? Besides, why did the Torah have to stress the word לכם, "for yourselves?" Perhaps we can understand this in connection with chapter 18 in Tikkuney Ha-Zohar where we read that if someone performs a good deed G'd's presence will dwell upon him; if, however, he transgresses one of G'd's commandments the שכינה will depart from the respective organ that should have performed a commandment and that organ will become the home of a spirit of defilement, of טומאה. This spirit of טומאה is the "iron curtain" which is a barrier between such a person and his G'd. Isaiah 59,2 spelled it out when he said: "your iniquities have created a barrier between yourselves and your G'd." When the Torah writes ואלהי מסכה, this means "and a god which forms an iron curtain (from the word מסך, curtain) you must not construct for yourselves." If you do, you would separate yourselves from your source of life. G'd adds the words: "I am the Lord your G'd," to remind you Who it is that you sever your connections with if you violate this commandment.