Comentário sobre Êxodo 19:19

הולך וחזק מאד WAXED LOUDER AND LOUDER — The manner of an ordinary person is that the longer he continues to blow a trumpet the sound he produces becomes weaker and fainter; but in this instance it went on getting stronger. And why was it thus (i. e. not so loud) at first? To make their ears receptive to as much as they were able to hear (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:19:1).

MOSES SPOKE, AND G-D ANSWERED HIM BY A VOICE. In the Mechilta, the Rabbis have said²¹⁹Mechilta here. The language is that of Rashi. that this verse refers to the time of the Giving of the Torah, when Moses was proclaiming the commandments to Israel, as Rashi has written.
By way of the plain meaning of Scripture, the verse here does not yet speak of this. It is rather [to be explained as follows]: The Glorious Name²²⁰Deuteronomy 28:58. came down upon the mountain²²¹Verse 20. on the third day, and Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet the Glory which appeared to them, and they stood at the nether part of the mount.²²²Verse 17. Moses went up near to the head of the mountain, where the Glory was, in a place designated for himself, and he spoke with Israel, teaching them what to do. The Israelites heard the Voice of G-d answering Moses and commanding him, but they did not understand what He said to him. Thus He commanded Moses the precepts mentioned further on in this section: Go down, charge the people;²²³Verse 21. Go, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee, etc.²²⁴Verse 24. This happened before the Giving of the Torah and also during the time when the Ten Commandments were given, for Moses did not go up to the top of the mount unto the thick darkness where G-d was²²⁵Further, 20:18. until after the Giving of the Torah. And so he said, “I stood between the Eternal and you at that time, to declare unto you the word of the Eternal; for you were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount, saying²²⁶Deuteronomy 5:5. [that you will not ascend] as I did go up.” Some scholars²²⁷I have not been able to identify them. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 387, Note 5. explain that the Israelites were very much afraid of the voice of the horn which waxed louder and louder,²²⁸Verse 19 before us. and Moses would say to them at first: “Direct your thoughts, for now you will hear the Voice in such a manner,” and immediately G-d answered him by a voice.

משה ידבר והאלוקים יעננו בקול, Moses would speak and G'd answered him by voice. Moses may have uttered words of song and praise before G'd, much as someone who is received in an audience by a king praises the ruler who has granted him the audience. The קול with which G'd answered may have been the sound of the shofar mentioned in the next verse. This sound was an indication that G'd approved of what Moses told him. The word בקול means "in a loud voice," so that all the people could hear G'd speak with Moses and accept him as a true prophet. I believe that the Torah mentions this to tell us that Moses experienced a promotion when G'd answered him thus although G'd had also answered Moses previously. Our sages in the Mechilta understand the answer the Torah speaks of as the Ten Commandments which G'd was about to address to the people. They say that G'd increased the power of Moses' voice so that he could be heard by the whole nation. I believe that this is a homiletical approach to our verse.

משה ידבר, to G’d, but his voice was not audible to any human being, only G’d Himself could hear him. However, when it came to G’d’s reply, יעננו בקול, G’d responded in a loud voice audible to all. This was necessary as otherwise the sound of the shofar which was ongoing and getting stronger all the time would have drowned out G’d’s voice and Moses could not have heard G’d’s responses.

משה ידבר והאלוקים יעננו בקול, “whenever Moses would speak, G’d would answer in an audible voice.” Rashi understands this line as referring to the Ten Commandments, the ones inscribed subsequently on the Tablets. G’d lent extra power to Moses’ voice [who proclaimed the last eight of these Commandments. Ed.] so that all the people could hear it. Other commentators understand the words יעננו בקול to mean that Moses had prepared the people beforehand that they should concentrate, as they were about to hear the sound of G’d’s voice. Immediately thereafter Moses concluded saying this, G’d would intone the Ten Commandments. Nachmanides does not consider our verse as referring to the Ten Commandments, but to the message that G’d would descend onto the Mountain on the third day (6th of Sivan) at which time the people were to be positioned at the bottom of the Mountain, whereas Moses would have ascended close to the summit of the Mountain and would speak to the Israelites from that position to instruct them what to do next. The Israelites would hear the sound of G’d’s voice as He answered Moses and instructed him in what is recorded later in the Torah commencing with the words רד העד בעם, in verse 21. Whereas the people hear G’d speaking to Moses, they did not understand what G’d was saying to him. This is why Moses explained to them what he had been told. All of this took place before the giving of the Torah. At the time the Ten Commandments were being given, things were not materially different, as Moses had entered the thick cloud behind which G’d’s glory was hidden, only after the conclusion of the giving of the Ten Commandments. In the interval he had been standing within full view of the people, though partly up the Mountain. Ibn Ezra writes that although the sound of the blast of the shofar was overpoweringly strong, so much so that all who heard it were trembling, at the time when G’d spoke to Moses and the people, he alone could hear [understand] the voice of G’d and was not distracted by the sound of the shofar blasts.

משה ידבר והאלו-הים יעננו בקול, “Moses would speak and G’d would respond to him with a voice.” The fact that the Israelites could hear both Moses and G’d’s response at a distance of 12-13 miles away where the Israelites had their camp was in itself already a miracle. Every Israelite was able to hear Moses clearly. Seeing that simultaneously the blast of the shofar is reported to have been constant though intermittent but did not interfere with Moses’ voice being heard, this clearly added to the magnitude of the miracle. This is why the Torah considered it as appropriate to mention this miracle along with other miraculous happenings on that occasion. The word יעננו, is similar to the verse in Hoseah 2,23 אענה נאם ה’, אענה את השמים, “In that day I will respond declares the Lord; I will respond to the sky.” The word reflects someone’s preparedness to extend assistance.

משה ידבר, “Moses would be speaking,” he would be speaking with G-d, but his voice could not be heard except by G-d. This is why the Torah writes that G-d answered him in a loud voice. This was also because the sound of the blasts from the shofar which are described as loud, would have to be overpowered by G-d’s voice.

משה ידבר MOSES SPAKE — When Moses was speaking and proclaiming the Commandments to Israel — for they heard from the Almighty’s mouth only the Commandments אנכי and לא יהיה לך, whilst the others were promulgated by Moses — then the Holy One, blessed be He, assisted him by giving him strength so that his voice might be powerful and so become audible (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:19:2).

יעננו בקול signifies He answered him in respect to (ב) the voice, just as (1 Kings 18:24) “He that answereth באש” — “in respect to the fire” — i. e. by causing fire to descend. (So here: God answered Moses’ petition that his voice might become audible to the vast concourse of people).