Myśl Żydowska do Wyjścia 33:9

It is, nonetheless, true, however, that the greater the man the less he requires of such mediation; and the lesser [the man], the more, less refined, mediation he requires. This is what was intimated by Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, in this parshah (Deuteronomy 4:11): "And you drew near and stood at the foot of the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire until the heart of heaven: darkness, cloud, and mist." The last three words are stressed to inform them that the profusion of Divine effluence at that exalted encounter required (in point of their frailty) many mediating agents tending to thickness. This is the intent of the numeration: "darkness, cloud, and mist." The duplication here stresses the grossness of the mediating agents. And all this was needed for Israel, but not for Moses. For though when the Blessed One spoke with Moses there was a pillar of cloud between them, as indicated by the plain meaning of the verse, viz. (Exodus 33:9): "And it was when Moses came to the tent that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance to the tent…," and (Psalms 99:6-7): "Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name; they called upon the L-rd and He answered them. In a pillar of cloud He spoke to them…", these verses seeming to indicate that most of G-d's converse with Moses was mediated by a pillar of cloud — still, even if we say that this was so, this mediation was not so gross as to be referred to as "darkness, cloud, and mist." The latter variety was necessitated by the relative frailty of Israel.