Comentário sobre Êxodo 33:12

ראה אתה אמר אלי SEE. THOU SAYEST UNTO ME — Set Thy eyes and Thy heart to Thy own words (Think for a moment of what Thou, Thyself, hast told me)

AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE ETERNAL: ‘SEE, THOU SAYEST UNTO ME: BRING UP THIS PEOPLE.’ This happened on Mount Sinai, when Moses went up there on the nineteenth of Tammuz. It was not necessary though for Scripture to say, “and Moses went up to G-d, and he said to him, ‘See, Thou sayest unto me, etc.,’” for it is known that as long as the Glory dwelled upon Mount Sinai, all communications [to Moses] took place there. Similarly Moses said, and now I will go up unto the Eternal,⁴⁷⁰Above, 32:30. and it is also said, And Moses returned unto the Eternal,⁴⁷¹Ibid., Verse 31. meaning that he returned to the place where he had stood before the Eternal.⁴⁷²Genesis 19:27.

ראה, do not turn your face away but take my comment seriously.

ראה אתה אומר אלי, "See, You are saying to me, etc." Moses refers to the fact that on the one hand he was the leader (messenger) who was charged with leading the Israelites towards the land of Canaan, whereas on the other hand G'd had just told him that He would send an additional supernatural messenger, an angel, to lead the Israelites. Moses wanted to know more about the nature of this supernatural messenger that would accompany the Israelites. This is why he said: ואתה לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי, "You have not told me whom You are going to send with me." Moses made his consent to the new arrangement dependent on knowing more about the nature of that angel. In the event that G'd would tell him that his consent was not needed, Moses added: ואתה אמרת ידעתיך בשם, "You have said 'I know you by name,' meaning that you have elevated me beyond the level of the Patriarchs (compare Exodus 6,3). He implied that his status of being familiar with the attribute י־ה־ו־ה was such that he was entitled to be consulted. The word ידעתיך in this verse corresponds to the word נודעתי in Exodus 6,3.

ראה אתה אומר אלי העל, as we know from 32,34 לך נחה את העם,

ויאמר משה ראה אתה אומר אלי , “Moses said: “See, You say to me: “take up this people, etc.” The instructions which Moses claimed to have received at Mount Sinai occurred on the 19th of Tammuz. The Torah did not have to write at that time that Moses ascended the Mountain, seeing that as long as the glory of G’d hovered over the Mountain, it was clear that G’d spoke to Moses from that location.

ראה means: Set Your “eyes” and Your “heart”. . . Re”m writes that, in his opinion, the text in our books is corrupt. [Instead of the verse quoted,] it should have written, “And this that You said to me: ‘I will send an angel before you and I will drive out. . .’ (33:2).” This is because [the present verse,] “Behold, I am sending an angel” (23:20), was stated before the incident of the Calf. It is true that Rashi explains there, “Here they are foretold that they are destined to sin, and the Shechinah would then say to them: ‘For I will not go up among you.’” Nevertheless, the primary verse is, “I will send an angel before you,” which was stated after the incident of the Calf. Nachalas Yaakov [disagrees partially with Re”m] and writes: It seems to me that it should rather say, “Behold, My angel will go before you” (32:34). First of all, this verse precedes, “I will send an angel before you” (33:2). Second of all, it is more likely to have been confused with (23:20), “Behold, I am sending an angel,” [due to their similarity,] thus causing the corruption in the text.

V. 12. An keinen Teil des göttlichen Wortes dürfte Übersetzung und Erläuterung sich zagender wagen, als an den Inhalt des VV. 12.—23 Niedergelegten. Werden wir doch darin an die Grenze der menschlichen Erkenntnis von Gott geführt, wird uns doch darin das über diese Grenze Hinausliegende noch angedeutet, um uns eben dessen Unerreichbarkeit für das in unserem Hiersein uns eingeräumte Maß der Erkenntnis auszusprechen. Wie soll der Versuch des Verständnisses und des Ausdrucks nicht fürchten, hier den Punkt des Wahren und die Linie des Entsprechenden zu verfehlen! Wir versuchen daher nur das wiederzugeben, was unmittelbar Wort und Zusammenhang darzubieten scheinen.

ואתה לא הודעתני, “and You have not informed me;” Moses means that not only did G–d not inform me of details about the angel which He had said that He would send to walk ahead of the Jewish people (Exodus 32, 34) ; it is not only that You Yourself will not walk in front of us, but You did not even name the angel You have assigned for this task. We are now no better off than any human being on earth, each one of whom has an angel walking in front of him. (Compare Psalms 91,11) where David refers to this with the words: כי מלאכיו יצוה לך לשמר לך בכל דרכיך, “for He will order His angels to guard you wherever you go.” Seeing that this is so, how do I benefit from Your having told me that I have found favour in Your eyes? Even Avraham’s servant, Eliezer, had been assured of the same kind of angel, without having been told by G–d that he had found favour in His eyes? (Compare Genesis 24,7)

ראה אתה אומר אלי, “See, You say to me:” the reason why we always read this paragraph on the Sabbath of the intermediate days of the festival of Passover and Sukkot, is because in this section all of the three pilgrimage festivals are mentioned. By mentioning these days as belonging to the festivals we derive the work prohibitions that apply on these days. The main point is the fact that the individual offerings the pilgrims have to present are to be offered on one of those days. (Compare Talmud Chagigah folio 18)

אתה אמר אלי וגו׳ ואתה לא הודעתני וגו׳ THOU SAYEST UNTO ME [BRING UP THIS PEOPLE] AND NEVERTHELESS THOU HAST NOT LET ME KNOW [WHOM THOU WILT SEND WITH ME] — for what You have said to me (Exodus 23:20) “And I will send an angel before thee” is not “letting me know”, for I am not satisfied with it.

AND THOU HAST NOT LET ME KNOW WHOM THOU WILT SEND WITH ME. “And that which You said to me, Behold, I send an angel before thee,⁴⁷³Above, 23:20. — that is not ‘letting me know,’ for I am not satisfied with it.” This is Rashi’s language. But it is not correct to fit this thought into the language of the verse. Besides, why should Moses have said this only now [that he was not satisfied with the angel], and when the matter was communicated to him he remained quiet? Did Moses think to gain because of the incident of the calf? Instead, the purport thereof is as follows: The Holy One, blessed be He, had told Moses here, and I will send an angel before thee,⁴⁷⁴Above, Verse 2 (in this chapter). and Moses told Him, Thou has not let me know who is that angel whom Thou wilt send with me, and whether it is that first angel in whom is Thy Name.⁴⁷⁵Ibid., 23:21. This is the sense of the expression, Yet Thou hast said: I know thee by Name, meaning that You have known me and exalted me by [the knowledge of] Your Name. And so also did Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explain the verse here. In his opinion⁴⁷⁶So explained by Ibn Ezra above 23:20 (towards the end). the angel he [i.e., Moses] wanted was Michael. With his good sense [Ibn Ezra] understood the verses to imply that the first angel was pleasing to Moses and to Israel. He could not, however, know the truth, since he neither heard it [from others] nor did he prophesy it [on his own].⁴⁷⁷This is a veiled criticism of Ibn Ezra who neither received the mystic traditions of the Cabala from others, nor studied them by himself. As Ramban will explain in the following verse, this whole subject can be understood only through “the way of Truth.”

אתה אומר אלי העל את העם הזה, when You said to me in verse 1 “lead up this people, etc.,”

ואתה לא הודעתני, but You have not informed me about Your going with us, seeing You only spoke about sending an angel. I do not want this, but I want You, personally, to go with us.

ואתה לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי, “yet You have not told me whom You will send to be with me.” Rashi understands Moses as referring to G’d’s having said that He would send an angel along (compare 32,20) as something which he was not even willing to consider as a הודעה, an “official information.” Nachmanides claims that this is not the correct meaning of what we read here at all. It does not jive with the syntax employed by the Torah. Furthermore, if correct, why would Moses say this to G’d at this juncture instead of in 32,20 when he had been told to get moving with the people? Did he then intend at this point to gain some advantage of what had happened on account of the golden calf? I believe (Nachmanides speaking) that what happened was as follows: G’d had told Moses that He would send an angel ahead of the people, to which Moses replied that he had not been told the “name” of that angel, i.e. the category of that angel and his terms of reference. He wanted to know if that was the same angel that had traveled with the Jewish people before the unhappy events with the golden calf, an angel who was high up in the celestial hierarchy, so that our sages describe him as an angel אשר שם ה' בקרבו, who clearly represented Hashem, the essence. as G’d Himself had said at the time כי שמי בקרבו, for My name (essence) is within him.” (Exodus 23,21) This is what Moses meant when he continued in a plaintive voice ואתה אמרת ידעתיך בשם, “and You Yourself have said to me that You had become as intimate with me as is possible, i.e. You expressed Your approval of me.” Moses indicated that he would not settle for anything less at this time.

But You did not let me know. God had told him, “I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaantes” (33:2). But this would not take place until they entered the land. In the meantime it seemed that they would be accompanied by neither God nor the angel! In the face of this prospect Moshe pleaded for continued guidance.

“By name” i.e., to recognize your importance. . . Rashi is answering the question: Does the verse not imply that God knows only Moshe as an individual, whereas His knowledge and supervision of other people is only in general, not on an individual basis? Heaven forbid we should say this! God supervises all His creatures individually, from biggest to smallest. Therefore Rashi explains that “by name” conveys that Moshe is beloved and important.

Moses quoted something G'd had said to him: וגם מצאת חן בעיני "you have also found favour in My eyes," as additional proof that he expected G'd to consult him about any new arrangements. We find in Yalkut Shimoni item 173 (on Parshat Shemot) that during the dialogue between G'd and Moses at the burning bush, G'd showed Moses part of the future including Rabbi Akiva expounding the Torah and its intricacies such as the meaning of the various "crowns" on top of some of the letters. Moses was so impressed that he suggested to G'd to send Rabbi Akiva as the redeemer of the Jewish people instead of himself. G'd had answered him at that time that He specifically wanted Moses to fulfil that role. The Midrash obviously understood this as proof that Moses more than anyone else had found favour in His eyes. The upshot of the allegorical conversation is that Moses realised that although Rabbi Akiva was superior to him intellectually, G'd preferred him for other reasons. He was correct in interpreting this as proof that he had found favour in the eyes of G'd. [I believe that the reason the author quotes the story in the Yalkut is because the Torah did not previously report G'd telling Moses that he had found favour in the eyes of G'd. Ed.] As a result of all these considerations Moses asked G'd to reveal more to him about His attributes.

ראה אתה אמר אלי. Mit der V. 1 f. an Mosche erteilten und erklärten Aufgabe war er und das Volk, wie wir dies verstehen zu müssen glaubten, für die nächste Zukunft wieder in die aus unsichtbarer Ferne vermittelte Gottesführung versetzt, wie sie den Vätern bis zur ägyptischen Erlösung geworden war. Gott hatte für die Ermöglichung der Besitznahme des Landes die ihnen vorauseilende Gottessendung zugesagt — ושלחתי לפניך מלאך — allein die ganze Weiterführung des Volkes zu diesem Ziele, in und über dies Ziel hinaus, zur Aufgabe Mosche gemacht und ihn damit ganz auf sich selbst, auf die ihm innewohnende Kraft der Erkenntnis und der Tat verwiesen. Diese völlige Verweisung auf sich selbst, glauben mir, sei durch das: ואתה לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי ausgedrückt. "Du hast mir wohl gesagt, was du vor mich her, zur Überwältigung der von außen entgegenstehenden Gewalten, senden willst, nicht aber, was Du mit mir senden willst, was mir in Leitung des Volkes noch ferner beistehen soll." Du hast mich damit auf mich selbst verwiesen.

ואתה אמרת ידעתיך בשם YET THOU HAST SAID, I HAVE KNOWN THEE BY NAME — I have distinguished you from all other human beings by a characteristic (שם) which shows my importance in Thy eyes, for, see, Thou hast said to me, (Exodus 19:9) “Behold, I come unto thee in a thick cloud etc.… and also in thee they shall believe for ever”.

ואתה לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי, the promise that You would send an angel with me (verse 2) was to take effect only once the people would enter the land of Canaan, at which time the promise that with the help of the angel we would dispossess the Canaanites would be fulfilled. But, in the meantime, who is going to be our protective force? How can we be without either an angel or Your personal presence? Moreover,

You said, “I know you by name.” This was an assurance that he would enjoy God’s personal providence at all times.

ואתה אמרת וגו׳ und du hast damit gesagt, du habest mich mit Namen erkannt, d. h. indem du mir einen solchen Auftrag erteiltest, hast du damit ausgesprochen, du habest mich persönlich aus den übrigen Menschen für deine besonderen Zwecke herausgehoben, וגם מצאת חן וגו׳ und zugleich, dass ich durch meine bisherige Vergangenheit deines mit Gaben und Fähigkeiten ausstattenden Wohlwollens mich nicht ganz unwürdig gezeigt (siehe Bereschit 6, 8). Indem du nämlich mir einen solchen, bloß durch meine Persönlichkeit zu lösenden Auftrag erteilt hast, hast du mich zu der Annahme berechtigt, du habest mich würdig gefunden, mich mit allen denjenigen geistigen Gaben auszustatten, deren ich zur Lösung einer solchen Aufgabe bedürfen werde.

ואתה לא הודעתני, “and You have not informed me, etc.;” in verse 5 G-d had said: “and I will know what I can do for you.” In the meantime G-d had not revealed to Moses how He would punish the surviving members of Jewish people for their share in the episode of the golden calf. More specifically, He had not revealed if He was going to send an angel to lead them, or if He were to do this Himself, personally.

ואתה אמרת ידעתיך בשם, when You paid me such a compliment, surely this did not mean that You will leave me to my own devices on this journey? Surely, such feelings as expressed in Zeacharyah 11,9 where You are quoted as saying: “I am not going to tend you, let the one that is to die die, and the one that is to get lost get lost, and let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” “Surely, You had intended for me to be the angel who leads the people of Israel.”

And you said 'I know you by name, and also, you found favor in My eyes' - And the Or HaChayim asked the question: why did Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, change the saying of the Holy One of Blessing regarding himself, in which he said first 'you found favor n My eyes' and then 'I know you by Name'? And there is something to be said on this, but beforehand one needs to bring first what is written in the Holy Zohar, that hints of higher lights and higher worlds without limit exist in the name of Moshe, see there. [...]