פירוש על במדבר 14:18

ה' אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם “The Lord is long suffering” towards both the righteous and the wicked. When Moses ascended to Heaven to receive the Law he found the Holy One, blessed be He, engaged in writing: “The Lord is long-suffering”. He asked, “Surely only to the righteous?” The Holy One, blessed be He, answered him, “To the wicked also!” Whereupon Moses said: “The wicked — let them perish!” He (the Lord) replied to him: “I swear by your life that you shall eventually need this thing (the extension of My mercy also to the wicked)”. When the Israelites sinned at the incident of the Golden Calf and at that of the spies, Moses offered prayer before Him, with mention of God’s attribute of ארך אפים (of His being long suffering). The Holy One, blessed be He, then said to him: Did you not say, “Surely only to the righteous!?” Whereupon Moses replied, “But did You not tell me, ‘To the wicked also’?” Let then — Moses added — the strength of My Lord be great [even as Thou didst say] — by fulfilling Thy statement and not mine! (Sanhedrin 111a).

פוקד עון אבות על בנים, this may extend until the fourth generation, i.e. if the fourth generation of the original sinner will still continue in the wicked ways of their forbears that will make the measure of sin of those families in the third generation so full that it has become irreversible and G’d will take the appropriate action. If the sons and grandsons continued in the evil ways of their forbears but not until the fourth generation, G’d will suspend retribution to see how the fourth generation would conduct themselves before exacting retribution.

ה׳ ארך אפים, The Lord is slow to anger, etc. Why did Moses not invoke all of the thirteen attributes G'd had taught him after the sin of the golden calf? We may understand this in accordance with Rosh Hashanah 17. We quote: "ה׳, ה, I am the Lord before man sins as well as after he has sinned and has repented his sin." In my commentary on Exodus 34,6 I have quoted what the Rosh has to say on this subject as well as my own understanding of it. You have learned that the attribute of Mercy has to be invoked on behalf of man even before he has sinned. In this instance Moses had to invoke that attribute only after the sin. This is why he said השם only once.

ה', the attribute of G’d as the Eternal; The Holy name is not repeated here as it had been when Hashem revealed 13 of His attributes to Moses in Exodus The reason is that in that context it meant that Hashem is and remains Hashem before man sins as well as after he has sinned and before he has repented. G’d is ready to forgive man’s error, as long as man displays remorse. This was an attribute that it was appropriate to stress in context of the sin of the golden calf as in Exodus 34 the people had already repented and done what they could to cleanse themselves of their sin. In our context, at the time when G’d responds to Moses, the people had not yet become penitents, hence the attribute Is mentioned only once.

Those who repent. You might ask: Surely this verse is also written in Parshas Ki Sisa (Shemos 34:7) and there Rashi explains the entire verse. The answer is that here he only explains the word “acquits” in order that one not question Rashi’s earlier comment “slow to anger” which meant both to the righteous and to the wicked. However here it writes “acquits” meaning the righteous “but does not acquit” meaning the wicked. Thus Rashi explains that He acquits those who repent but He does not acquit those who do not repent.

V. 18. ד׳ ארך אפים וגו׳, und er hebt die Seiten der ihm offenbar gewordenen göttlichen Waltungsweisen hervor, deren Betätigung er eben in dem gegebenen Falle anrufen möchte. ארך אפים steht im Vordergrunde: das sich lange Gedulden mit Befriedigung der berechtigten Forderung. Statt verdienter augenblicklicher Vernichtung gestattet diese Weise Zeit, lange Zeit zur Besinnung, zur Besserung, zur Erhebung aus dem Fall, zum Wiedergutmachen des Verscherzten. Und רב חסד, jener Liebesreichtum, der nicht knickert mit der Liebe, der immer Vorrat hat an Liebe, der sie gibt und wieder gibt, und bereit ist, sie zum tausendsten Male wiederzugeben, wenn sie bereits neunhundertneunundneunzigmal war verscherzt. נשא עון ופשע: das Emporheben, Hinwegheben der Krümme und Empörung, dass ihre Last den bewusstvoll, aber in Leidenschaft vom rechten Weg Gewichenen, ja, dass sie selbst den in offener Empörung gegen Gottes Gesetz Begriffenen nicht begrabe. Endlich jene Tiefe der Liebesgröße der göttlichen Waltungsweise, die jede Gegenwart in ihrer Zukunft, den Menschen in seinen Kindern und Kindeskindern, das gegenwärtige Geschlecht in seinen kommenden Geschlechtern mitbegreift, und wo sie, eben um Menschen, Geschlechter, Zeiten zu reinigen, um sie zu retten aus sittlichem Untergange, נקה לא ינקה, nicht die geringste Verirrung ohne Umkehr ungeahndet lässt, doch diese Umkehr auf Geschlechter, auf Zeitfolgereihen verteilt, und ehe sie den Stab über den Großvater bricht, auf den Urenkel hinschaut, der vielleicht sich wieder besinnt und die sittliche Höhe wieder hinanklimmt, von welcher der Ahn — irrend, strauchelnd, frevelnd, hinabgesunken —נקה לא ינקה פקד עון אבות על בנים על שלשים ועל רבעים (siehe Schmot 34, 6-7 und 20, 5).

ונקה לא ינקה, “and He will not let a guilty person be exonerated completely without having paid a price for knowingly having sinned.” [This is the standard explanation of this expression. Ed.] Our author- if I understand him correctly,- understands it as G–d saying that the world we live in will never be completely free of deliberate sinners. He used Jeremiah 30,11 as his proof for this interpretation. The Prophet there says: ויסרתיך למשפט ונקה לא ינקך, (after having wiped out the sinful nations) “but I will not let you go unpunished, but I will chastise you in measure”.

ה׳ ארך אפים, “the Lord is slow to anger;” Moses does not mention the attribute “el” here in connection with erech apayim, though it usually is mentioned. The reason for this is that it normally reflects aspects of G-d’s power, and Moses did not want G-d to display His power against Israel. He also did not mention the attributes of rachum v’chanun aspects of G-d’s mercy and grace, as these attributes are used when describing G-d as bestowing gifts on mankind, as we know from Psalms 37,21: וצדיק חונן ונותן, “and the righteous excels in generosity and keeps giving.”Moses did not beg G-d to show his people favoritism, but he wanted Him to grant forgiveness on the basis of the attribute: emet, “truth,” but on the basis of what is known as lifnim mishurat hadin, somewhat beyond the strict requirements of justice. However, the word אמת describes absolute truth, without allowances being made for special considerations of the person or persons being judged. (compare b’chor shor on Leviticus 5,15.) An alternate interpretation: the reason why Moses omitted to refer to G-d’s attribute of truth is that he did not want G-d to employ that attribute as it had been mentioned by G-d when He said: “I will smite them with pestilence,” which would have been what the Israelites deserved at that stage. [after all, surely G-d would not have exceeded the application of pure justice as represented by emet, truth. EdMoses also did not invoke G-d’s attribute of נוצר חסד, “storing up good deeds,” performed in the past by the party or parties being judged. G-d had told Moses, that on the contrary, the people had tested Him beyond endurance already 10 times [and had certainly used up any reservoir of goodwill they had built up in the past. My words. Ed.]

ונקה AND HE CLEARS those who repent,

ארך אפים ורב חסד, “slow to anger and abundant in kindness.” Nachmanides draws attention to Moses not referring to the attribute אמת which G’d had also revealed to him in Exodus 34. He could not do so now, as seeing that the people had not yet repented, Moses could not invoke an attribute of G’d which comes into play only after the people had owned up their own version of אמת, truth, by having sincerely repented. Moses did not mention such attributes as נוצר חסד לאלפים, “Preserver of kindness for thousands of generations” (Exodus 34,7) either, as he did not invoke the merit of the forefathers in his present prayer. Moses had not referred to Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov in his prayer on this occasion at all, seeing that the land had been deeded to these patriarchs and the people’s sin here consisted of their rejecting this very inheritance. Moses did not mention the attribute known as חטאה at this juncture either, as that attribute could be invoked only if the sins committed had been committed inadvertently. When sins were committed knowingly, or even in a spirit of rebellion against G’d, it would have seemed frivolous to mention that attribute. I am not sure why Moses did not invoke the attributes of רחום וחנון on this occasion. Perhaps it is because he was aware that the entire scenario was one in which dominance had been given by G’d already to the attribute of Justice. There could no longer be any point in appealing to G’d’s attributes of pity, etc, as those attributes presuppose at least some redeeming aspect in what the sinner had done. He did mention G’d’s attribute of ארך אפים, inordinate amount of patience when dealing with sinners, which manifested itself here by the people not dying all at once, but their punishment being spread over a period of 38 years. In deference to Moses’ invoking only the attribute of G’d’s patience, G’d responded by saying: “I have forgiven, in accordance with your words,” i.e. by spreading the decree of death in the desert over a whole generation. (Verse 20) Moses also did invoke the attribute known as פוקד עון אבות על בנים, that G’d remembers the sins of the fathers to their children, [another kind of deferment of punishment, i.e. if the fathers had been punished in full, the children would never have been born to them before they died. Ed.] when He decreed that for having wept when they had no reason to weep, they would have to weep for many hundreds of years on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, something they would have reason to weep about if they reflected on their history. At any rate, as mentioned, G’d’s response to Moses’ prayer was:

Tossaphot in Rosh Hashanah 17 quote both the Rosh and comments by Rav Nissim according to whom the first word השם in Exodus 34,6 is not part of the 13 attributes at all. It is only inserted to tell us who it is that is reciting the remainder of the attributes. Accordingly, there was never a reason for Moses having to say השם השם. We only need to understand how Rav Nissim could disagree with all the earlier authorities.

בנים sind hier überhaupt Nachkommen, und ist erst der Begriff der "Waltungsweise" durch אבות על בנים ausgedrückt, und deren Begrenzung dann על שלשים ועל רבעים beigefügt. שלשים sind nämlich schon Urenkel, und würden, wenn בנים nur Kinder bedeutete, בני בנים wie Schmot 34, 7, fehlen, daselbst 20, 5 lautet wie hier.

פוקד עון אבות על בנים, “visiting the sins of the fathers on the children;” this is another aspect of G–d’s attribute of Mercy, that He delays punishing the fathers, waiting if the children or grandchildren will return to Him before carrying out the punishment that had been deserved by them. In Exodus 34,7, where the list of G–d’s attributes first appears, the wording isבני בנים , “grandchildren,” not “children,” as here. In both instances, the point G–d makes is that while He may delay exacting punishment, depending on the severity of the sin in question, He will not allow sins that are not repented to go totally unpunished.

וחטאה, “an inadvertent transgression;” Moses could not invoke this attribute of G-d as what the people had just become guilty of could never be called “inadvertent.”

לא ינקה BUT DOES NOT CLEAR those who do not repent (Yoma 86a; cf. Onkelos and Rashi on Exodus 34:7).

Perhaps we should understand Rav Nissim to mean that he explained what the other authorities had said. When they referred to the two words השם referring to G'd's attribute of Mercy before the sin and after the sin which the sinner repented respectively, they meant to tell us that the quality of G'd's mercy has not changed because man sinned. G'd tells us that there is no new element in His attribute of Mercy as a result of man having sinned. This consideration may also help us answer the question of the Rosh. The latter had asked why G'd's attribute of Mercy needs to be invoked before the sin at all. Actually, it does have to be invoked even then. You will note that Moses also skipped three more attributes of the 13 attributes G'd had revealed to him; he did not mention either קל, רחום, or חנון. The reason was that these three attributes need to be invoked only if someone either finds himself in trouble already and has no means of extricating himself. Or, it may be invoked on behalf of someone already suffering severe pains; it may also be invoked on behalf of someone totally deprived of any of the good (pleasant) aspects of life. Moses commenced with invoking G'd's patience, ארך אפים, which is something He extends even to deliberate sinners. We are told in Sanhedrin 111 that when Moses ascended to the celestial regions in order to receive the Tablets, he found G'd occupied writing the word ארך אפים. He assumed that G'd meant that He extended His patience to the basically Torah-observant people. G'd corrected him saying that he extends His patience even to the habitual sinners. Moses objected saying that those ought to be wiped out. G'd told Moses that he would soon learn that even the habitual sinners had need of this attribute of His. When Israel sinned, G'd asked Moses: "did you not say that I should be patient only with the righteous?" Moses retorted: "Did You not tell me that You extend Your patience even to the sinners?" This is what Moses meant when he said: "now let Your power be great!" In other words, Moses invoked the attribute called ארך אפים. Moses also invoked the attribute of רב חסד, abundant loving kindness, as he wanted G'd to tilt towards love rather than towards retribution when judging the people. He omitted mentioning the attribute of אמת, Truth, neither did he refer to the attribute of נוצר חסד לאלפים, that G'd keeps His mercy towards thousands of generations, as neither of these two attributes were relevant to the situation under discussion. He did mention G'd's attributes as being נושא עון ופשע, forgiving iniquities of varying degrees of severity, as both of these attributes were needed in this situation. He omitted that G'd forgives unintentional sin, חטאה, as it did not apply here either. He mentioned the remainder of the thirteen attributes as they all had bearing on the present situation.