출애굽기 19:14의 인용 해설

ואל משה אמר עלה!, after He had finished telling him כה תאמר אל בני ישראל אתם ראיתם in 20,18. At that time He had explained to the people that they must not try and “reach” Him through intermediaries, but that all that was required was an altar made of earth, coupled with the meticulous observance of His commandments as spelled out in the Ten Commandments. The verse tells us that all of these things were explained to the whole nation. However, ואל משה אמר, to Moses himself G’d had said that he should come up to the mountain just as he had been commanded to do already before the revelation, when G’d had said to him in 19,14 לך רד ועלית אתה ואהרן עמך.

והטהרו והחליפו שמלתיכם, ähnlich dem ויקדש את העם ויכבסו שמלתם, Schmot 19,14. Das Hinaufziehen zu der Offenbarungsstätte des Vaters in Bethel war für die Jakobsfamilie, was für ihre Urenkel die Versammlung am Sinai war.

ועתה הורד עדיך מעליך, “and now, take off your ornaments!” This command is difficult to understand as the Torah had already reported the people as having no longer put on their jewelry without having been ordered not to put it on. (Compare Exodus 33,4) Presumably, the people did not put their jewelry on for a day as a sign of mourning, but had put it on again on the following day. They had to be told therefore that at least as long as they had not atoned for their sin they were not allowed to wear ornaments. Rabbi Joseph Kara of blessed memory, explained verse four in our chapter, which reported the Israelites as not having put on their jewelry, as referring to the festive garments, the ones they had worn at the time the Ten Commandments had been revealed to them. This was the meaning of Exodus 19,14, where after immersing themselves in a ritual bath in preparation for that that event, they are described as putting on their garments. Had they been the same garments they had worn before immersing themselves in a ritual bath, the Torah certainly did not have to tell us that. They had had their jewelry removed from them by angels sent for that purpose to make them conscious of their great sin, as reported in the Talmud, tractate Shabbat folio 88. This is also the meaning of Exodus 33,6: ויתנצלו בני ישראל, “they stripped themselves; An alternate explanation: the meaning of the words in verse 4: ולא שתו וגו', is that they took off their uniforms, as if saying that unless G–d will march with us we will not agree to fight for possession of the land of Canaan. When G–d heard that He told them that instead of taking off their military uniforms they better take off their jewelry instead for as long as He would tell them what he had in mind for them.