시편 7:7의 인용 해설

כי יצא הקצף לפני ה' החל הנגף, “for wrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague had commenced.” There is an angel whose name is קצף, whose power is derived from the attribute of Justice. As a result of this angel emerging from its “home” the plague had started to strike the Jewish people. Moses had become familiar with this angel at the time when the Torah had been given to the Jewish people. This is the meaning of Tanchuma Ki Tissa 20 on Exodus 32,2 where G’d had said to Moses: “Go and descend!” The message was that due to the people having committed the sin of the golden calf five destructive forces (angels) had been unleashed; they were the angels known as: אף, חמה, קצף, השמד, חרון. As soon as Moses mentioned the three patriarchs three of these angels were neutralized. This left the two angels אף and חמה who were still active, pursuing their destructive activities. This is what Moses had in mind in Deut. 9,19 when he said כי יגורתי מפני האף והחמה, “for I was afraid of Af and Chemah. In answer to Moses’ “fear,” G’d said to him: “you stand up against one of them!” [G’d meant that Moses’ personal merit was sufficient to neutralize at least one of these two angels. Ed.] “whereas I will deal with the second one.” This is the meaning of Psalms 7,7 קומה ה' באפך, “arise O Lord against Your אף,” [i.e. the angel known as אף. Ed.]. Moses himself was going to confront the other angel known as חמה, and this is the meaning of Psalms 106,23: לולא משה בחירו עמד בפרץ לפניו להשיב חמתו מהשחית, “if not Moses His choice one had stood in the breach to confront His angel Chemah preventing him from his destructive activities.”

The Midrash is cited in the Yalkut. When Moses was supposed to go down from heaven, evil angels began to attack him because Israel had made the Golden Calf. He was very afraid and he held on to the Throne of Glory. The Holy One protected him and spread His cloud over Moses. From here we can see how evil it is when one commits a sin. Before Israel sinned, Moses ascended to heaven and he encountered no evil. Now that Israel had sinned, Moses was afraid of five angels that he encountered. They were called, anger, wrath, waves, destruction, and fury. As soon as Moses mentioned the three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, three evil angels ran away, leaving the two angels anger and fury. Moses said to the Holy One: take one of them to take him away and I will deal with one of the evil angels, as the verse says, “rise, O Lord, in your anger” [Psalms, 7:7]. Rise, God, by the evil angel who is called anger. The Holy One said to Moses: go down from heaven. Your people have done evil. Moses responded: now, when they are evil, You tell me that they are my people and when the Israelites were in Egypt, You said: I will take out My people Israel. They are My children.³²Yalkut Shimoni, Ki Tisa, Remez, 391.

“Wrath has gone forth from the Lord” [17:11]. The plague began immediately and many Israelites died. Bahya writes here. An angel called Wrath. When Moses came down from heaven, when the Israelites made the Golden Calf, he encountered five evil angels, Anger, Rage, Wrath, Ruin, and Indignation. Moses prayed and mentioned Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Three of the evil angels ran away. Anger and Rage remained. Moses said to the Holy One: You stand by Anger, as the verse says, “Rise, O Lord, in Your anger” [Psalms, 7:7]. Moses also said: I will stand by one of them. Here, by the plague, the evil angel called Wrath came and killed many.³³Bahya, Numbers, 17:11.