Commento su Numeri 11:11

למה הרעות לעבדך? “Why did you appoint me against my will to lead this people out of Egypt?

למה הרעת לעבדך…ולמה לא מצאתי חן, "Why have You dealt ill with Your servant,…and why have I not found grace?" It is somewhat difficult to understand why Moses first complained about the damage he felt that he had suffered and only afterwards about the lack of some positive achievement, i.e. not finding grace? Logic would have dictated that these two elements be cited in an ascending order! We must understand what Moses said in light of what our sages said in connection with Exodus 32,34 where G'd told Moses: "go and lead the people, etc." Sifri 1,91 there describes G'd telling Moses that the Israelites were obstinate pestering people who cursed their leaders and threatened to stone them, etc. Thus far the Sifri on the subject. We may understand Moses' reaction here in light of what G'd had told him at the time when the sin had been the golden calf. When he used the expression הרעת, Moses meant: "why did You G'd make me experience this misconduct of Your children?" After I have accepted that burden at least You should have helped me to carry this great burden which You have imposed upon me. When Moses asked: "why have l not found grace," the word מצתי, "I have found," is spelled without the customary letter א. Moses hinted that he had not even found a minimal amount of grace.

V. 11. למה הרעת. Meine Mission, der ich mich von vornherein nicht gewachsen fühlte, ist mein Unglück. Ich würde es gerne ertragen, wenn ich daraus irgend ein Heil für andere erwachsen sähe. Allein durch mein Ungeschick geht das Volk zu Grunde und mein Leid ist zwecklos. ולמה לא מצתי וגו׳. Indem מצתי ohne א geschrieben ist, dürfte darin ein Anklang an מצה Saugen, mit heftigem Verlangen bis auf den letzten Tropfen trinken, liegen (vergl. Ps.63, 10 und 75, 9 usw.). Ich habe so dringend um Gewährung der Gunst gebeten, mich nicht mit dieser so hohen Sendung zu betrauen, weil ich eben mich nicht dazu fähig fühlte. Wäre nicht schon dieser Zweifel an der eigenen Befähigung Grund genug gewesen, mir meine Bitte zu gewähren? Gehört nicht zu der Mission einer Volksleitung zu allererst die Zuversicht in sich selber, und war nicht mein Misstrauen in meine Fähigkeit der Beweis meiner wirklichen Unfähigkeit? Warum hast du mir diese Bitte versagt? — Das ולמה לא מצתי חן בעיניך ist entweder Parenthese, und לשום וגו׳ schließt sich dem Sinne nach dem למה הרעת וגו׳ an, oder das למה לא מצתי וגו׳ ist so aufzufassen: warum hast du mich so wenig gewährungswürdig befunden, dass du die Last usw. Vielleicht ist auch לשום וגו׳ ein besonderer elliptischer Satz: die Last dieses ganzen Volkes auf mich zu legen! d. h. wer könnte das begreifen!

ולמה לא מצתי חן, “and why have I not found favour, etc.?” The word מצתי is one which on occasion is spelled without the letter א when that letter is the last root letter.

ולמה לא מצאתי חן בעיניך?, When I asked You to send whomever You are in the habit of sending, (Exodus 4,13) why did You not accept my request?

An alternate way of looking at our verse assumes that Moses did not want G'd to give the Israelites meat so as to prevent their death after eating the meat. Moses asked G'd why He had placed such a heavy burden upon him instead of granting him grace. The letter ל in the word לשום את משא כל העם הזה עלי, is to be understood as giving a reason. Moses complained that if G'd refused to accede to his request not to grant the Israelites' wish to eat meat, why would he have to watch the debacle that would occur as a result of G'd granting the Israelites' request to be fed meat? He also foresaw that the improper behaviour of the Israelites would eventually lead to his own death in the desert. He felt that these results were not the proper reward he could have expected for all his toil on behalf of the Jewish people. Moses' second complaint then may be seen as even greater than his original request. This disposes of the question we raised regarding the sequence of Moses' complaints.

לשום את משא כל העם הזה עלי, You could only have done this in order to burden me with the load of this whole nation, as if You could not have found another more suitable leader, or at least You could have provided me with someone else who would be suitable to share this burden and who would be good for them.