פירוש על שמות 32:34

אל אשר דברתי לך OF WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN UNTO THEE — Here we have an instance of לך connected with the verb דבר being used in place of אליך (i. e. where לך actually means speaking to, not as its usual meaning it, speaking “concerning” someone or “in the interest of” someone as often pointed out by Rashi; cf. e. g., Rashi’s comment on Genesis 28:15). Similar is, (1 Kings 2:19) “to speak unto him (לדבר לו) for Adonijah” (cf. Rashi on that verse).

AND NOW GO, LEAD THE PEOPLE. [G-d is saying here:] “Since I have repented from destroying them, lead them unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee — to the place of the Amorite, the Canaanite, etc.” However, He did not want to mention this expressly, for this was said in a manner of anger, as if to say: “What I have said to you, I shall do in your honor, but I will not forgive them their sin, for in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them — I will visit it upon them even after they come to the Land.” This was an allusion to the time of the exile, or to what our Rabbis have said⁴⁰⁶Shemoth Rabbah 43:3. that “No punishment [ever comes upon Israel] in which there is not a small part for the sin of the golden calf.”

אל אשר דברתי לך, when I said to you “I will take you out from the afflictions in Egypt (Exodus 3,17) to a good land etc.”,(verse 8 same chapter).

נחה, to the land of Israel.

ועתה לך נחה את העם, “and now, go and lead the people!” G’d meant that now that He had reconsidered His initial plan and had desisted from destroying the people, it was up to Moses to continue to lead them.

Here is an instance where לך is used connected with the verb דבור in the place of אליך . . . Explanation: לי , לך and להם , when following דבור , usually mean “about me,” “about you” and “about them,” [rather than “to me,” “to you” and “to them”]. This was explained in Bereishis 24:7. Nevertheless, לך here means “to you.” [Rashi knows this] because nowhere does it say that God spoke to someone else “about” Moshe. And so with [ לדבר לו ] written about Adoniyahu (Melachim I 2:19). There too it means “to him,” not “about him.”

V. 34. Dieses ועתה steht dem ועתה Mosche gegenüber. Du kennst nur eine Zukunft, wenn die Verirrung des Volkes als völlig nicht geschehen "aufgehoben" würde. Du hast eine Zukunft anzutreten auf Grund der noch nicht gesühnten Verirrung, eine Zukunft, die erst auf dem Wege prüfungsvoller Verhängnisse zur Erhebung des Volks über seine Verirrung, somit zur Sühne führen soll. Eine völlige Verzeihung, d. h. eine nichtgeschehen machende Aufhebung (נשא) der Sünde, würde den beabsichtigten Eintritt der durch das Gesetz und sein Heiligtum bedingten unmittelbaren, sich in der freien, der physischen Weltordnung überhebenden Führung bekundenden Gegenwart Gottes, würde die Verwirklichung des: ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, die Verwirklichung des: ושכנתי בתוך בני ישראל והייתי להם לאלקי׳ וידעו כי אני ד׳ אלקיהם אשר הוצאתי אתם מארץ מצרים לשכני בתוכם (Kap. 29, 45 u. 46) bedeuten. Diese unmittelbare Gottesnähe setzt eine reinere Stufe des Volkssinnes und des Volkslebens voraus, die für jetzt das Volk eingebüßt. Für jetzt ist dem Volke seine Weiterexistenz und die Gewinnung nationaler Selbständigkeit auf dem ihm verheißenen eigenen Boden gewährt. Führe sie dorthin, הנה מלאכי ילך לפניך. Welche Art der Gottesführung damit zugesichert worden, erkennen wir aus Abrahams Worten an Elieser Bereschit 24, 7: ד׳ אלדי השמים וגו׳ הוא ישלח מלאכו לפניך וגו׳. Es ist die unsichtbar fürsorgende Gotteswaltung, die die Verhältnisse für die Erreichung der Menschenzwecke günstig gestaltet, in welcher die die Zwecke des Menschen fördernden Umstände Gottes "Boten" sind. Es ist die Stufe der Gottesführungen, welcher sich die Väter erfreuten, in deren Lebenserfahrungen die Waltungen, die der Name 'ה ausdrückt, nicht sichtbar hervorgetreten, ושמי ד׳ לא נודעתי להם (siehe Kap. 6, 3). Es war dies aber nicht diejenige Führung, die mit dem Eintritt Israels als Gottesvolk aus Mizrajim zur Offenbarung Gottes und des durch Gott emporgehobenen Menschendaseins beginnen sollte (siehe daselbst). וביום פקדי; der Gegensatz, die unmittelbare Leitung, ist hier durch: פקד ausgedrückt, das ja auch das Stichwort für die mit der Erlösung aus Mizrajim begonnene Waltung bildet: פקד יפקד א׳ אתכם, und das im Leben der Väter nur einmal bei der der unfruchtbaren neunzigjährigen Sarah verliehenen Mutterfähigkeit vorkommt, וד׳ פקד את שרה. Hier heißt es: wenn ich, und so oft ich für jetzt einmal wieder unmittelbar ihre Zukunft gestaltend einschreite, kann ich nur das über sie verhängen, was zunächst ihre Erhebung aus der Verirrung fördert. Für jetzt kann meine unmittelbare Liebesnähe nur züchtigend sich offenbaren. So gleich im folgenden Vers.

ועתה לך נחה את העם , “and now, go and lead the people!” G-d is telling Moses to resume his vocation as the leader of his people.

הנה מלאכי BEHOLD, MINE ANGEL [SHALL GO BEFORE THEE] — My messenger, not Myself.

וביום פקדי, in the event that they will commit further sins, (such as the sin of the spies)

וביום פקדי, at intervals, when I feel so disposed, not all of them at once.

אל אשר דברתי לך, ”to where I have told you.” G’d did not want to be more specific, as He was still angry and He wanted Moses to know that the people’s continued existence was not due to His having forgiven them, but to the high regard in which He held their leader, i.e. Moses. Whenever He would have an occasion to visit some punishment on the people for a different sin, He would add some extra punishment in partial discharge of what they had become guilty of during this unhappy episode. This would continue even after they would come to the Holy Land. This is a veiled hint that they would at some time be exiled from that land. This is why our sages have taught us that there is no historical disaster which befalls the Jewish people that does not include part of the punishment for the unexpurgated guilt of the sin of the golden calf. (Shemot Rabbah 43,3)

But not I. Rashi is answering the question: Hashem’s intention is to punish them. But is it not good for them that “My angel will go before you”? It should say only: “Go, lead the people to [the place] which I have spoken to you. However on the day when I take account. . .” Therefore Rashi explains, “But not I.” In other words, this was bad for them, for the Shechinah itself was previously with them, [and now they will have only the angel].

הנה מלאכי ילך לפניך, “My angel will walk ahead of you;” G-d refers to what he had told Moses already in Exodus 23,20: 'הנה אנכי שולח מלאך וגו, “here I am going to send an angel, etc.”

וביום פקדי וגו׳ AND IN THE DAY WHEN I VISIT [I WILL VISIT THEIR SIN UPON THEM] — At present I listen to you and will refrain from consuming them all at once — but ever and ever throughout the ages, when I am visiting them for their sins I shall visit them at the same time for a little of this sin in addition to their other sins for which I am then punishing them. Indeed no punishment ever comes upon Israel in which there is not part payment for the sin of the golden calf (cf. Sanhedrin 102a).

ופקדתי עליהם חטאתם, this sin, and I will not continue to waive their punishment for this sin. We find a similar statement in Kings I 1,52 ואם רעה תמצא בו ומת, “if he commits any further evil he will die.” (Adoniah, Solomon’s older brother and former rival for the succession) We find that G’d comes back to this threat in Numbers 14,11 complaining “how long will this people spurn Me, etc.” Seeing that they repeated their rebellious behaviour one could only expect that they would persist in their foolish ways. Our sages used this to coin the phrase that “when a person has sinned, gotten away with it, and sinned again, and again gotten away with it, he thinks that what he did is not even sinful” (so that he has no incentive to repent what he has come to believe is permissible conduct) (Yuma 86)

וביום פקדי ופקדתי, “but when the day comes that I make an accounting, I will make an accounting;” G-d promises Moses that as long as the Israelites will not accumulate more sins He will not take any further action in respect of the sin of the golden calf. However if that day comes, He will add additional punishment for punishment so far withheld.