Commentaire de citation sur Les Psaumes 69:10

And the closest explanation to me to resolve these questions: The author of this midrash believes that one thing depends on the other, that the incident of they slaughtered a goat was also the cause of the Golden Calf incident. This is because it is known that the trait of jealousy that existed among Joseph’s brothers caused them to commit the act of slaughtering a goat, and from then on, the trait of jealousy became deeply rooted within them for generations, as it is written: For the jealousy of Your house has consumed me (Psalms 69:10). This refers to the jealousy of the house of Israel that is found among Israel throughout all generations, more than among any other nations, to the extent that this calf emerged because many in the camp were jealous of Moses, like Korah and his assembly. Similarly, at that time, many jealous people attacked him, and this is the nature of jealousy — to fabricate false accusations against him, saying, As for this Moses, the man, we do not know what has become of him, in order to cast off his authority and appoint over themselves this calf, this despised idol held in contempt. For jealousy, which causes division of hearts, is what led them to separate from one another, as they nullified the commandment of love your neighbor as yourself. And this is the prior sin that also causes the later one, that eventually they turned their backs on God as well and nullified the commandment of love the Lord your God. For this reason, our Sages said (Bereishit Rabbah 38:6) that as long as there is peace among Israel, even if they worship idols, leave them be, as it is said: Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone (Hosea 4:17). But their heart is divided; now they shall be found guilty. You will find a beautiful and well-ordered explanation of this matter in my work Ollelot Ephraim, Part 1, Essay 23, and from there you can understand why the author of this midrash connected these two types of sins, the earlier and the later one, because one leads to the other. Similarly, we find (First Kings 12:28) that Jeroboam made the calves out of his jealousy for Solomon’s kingdom.