Commentaire de citation sur L’Exode 3:9

רחום, merciful to those who are guilty, reducing the punishment they really deserve. David explains this in Psalms 34,18 צעקו וה' שמו, “they cry out and the Lord hears.” G’d sees and sympathises with the anguish of the downtrodden as we know from Exodus 3,9 וגם ראיתי את הלחץ, “I have also taken note of the oppression, etc.”

ולא תלחצנו, to perform work for you seeing he has no “redeemer” who looks out for his interest. G’d mentioned this to remind the Israelites who also had no one in Egypt to plead their case. (Exodus 3,9)

A kabbalistic approach: The words הכצעקתה הבאה אלי mean that the people of Sodom refused to accept any celestial authority, were atheists in the truest sense of the word, just as the people who had built the Tower before G’d dispersed them and confused their language. The Torah wrote here that “G’d descended,” just as it had written וירד ה' לראות “G’d descended in order to see, etc.,” in Genesis 11,5 before G’d meted out the punishment. The Torah means that the reason G’d “descended” was to demonstrate His power on earth. The attribute of Mercy is perceived as being “at home” in a higher celestial region than the attribute of Justice. When G’d is described as “descending,” this means that whereas before He had operated by means of the attribute of Mercy, He now “descended” from that region to activate the attribute of Justice. Nonetheless, the attribute of Mercy would not be totally excluded, hence G’d added the words ואראה, “and I shall see, i.e. evaluate before I decide.” We find something similar (in reverse fashion) in Exodus 2, 25 וירא אלוקים את בני ישראל, “and G’d (the attribute of Justice) ‘saw’ the children of Israel.” In that instance the Israelites who had experienced mostly the attribute of Justice at work, were now going to experience the attribute of Mercy, as a result of their prayers and G’d’s response as related in Exodus 2,23-24). The word הכצעקתה would have to be understood as הכצעקת ה-"אלף" “if as its outcry to the א, i.e. to the מדת הדין, to the attribute of Justice, עשו, “they have done,”...”I will finish them off with the attribute of Justice, i.e. כלה.” The verse continues: ואם לא אדעה, “if not I will continue to employ the attribute represented by דעת” such as in Exodus 2,25 וידע אלוקים, “G’d became aware, i.e. His attribute of Mercy became actively aware.” To sum up the meaning of Exodus 2,25: “Here the outcry from the children of Israel has come to Me and outcry the people address to the King, G’d, due to the great pressure to which the Egyptians have subjected them.”