Midrash sobre Êxodo 24:16

(Fol. 4) We are taught (in a Baraitha): Moses ascended in the cloud, was covered by the cloud, and was sanctified in the cloud, in order that he should receive the Torah for Israel in a state of sanctification, as it is said (Ex. 24, 16) And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai. This occurred on the day after the ten commandments were given, which was the first of the following forty days. This is the opinion of R. Jose, the Galilean. R. Akiba, however, says: And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, occurred on the first day (Ib. b) of the month [Sivan]; The cloud covered the mountain [not Moses]; And He called unto Moses, occurred on the seventh day [of Sivan]: And although Moses and all Israel were standing there, it intends to do honor to Moses [by mentioning specifically his name]." R. Nathan says: "The provisions and precautions [in the] entire verse above were made that he might be cleansed of all the food and drink in his bowels, so that he be pure as the ministering angels." R. Mathiah b. Kheresh, however, says: "The [precautions in the] entire verse [regarding his seclusion] were made for the purpose of impressing him with the feeling that the Torah should be received with awe, fear, shivering, trembling and agitation, as it is said (Ps. 2, 11), Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling." What is meant by Rejoice with trembling? R. Adda b. Mathna said in the name of Rab: "Where there is rejoicing, there should be trembling." In what respect do R. Jose, the Galilean, and R. Achiba differ? They differ exactly as do the Tanaim of the following Baraitha, where we are taught: "On the sixth day of Sivan the Torah was given to Israel"; R. Jose, however, says: "On the seventh." According to him who says that the Torah was given on the sixth day, [it appears that] the Torah was given on the sixth and Moses ascended on the seventh; as it is written (Ex. 24, 16) And he called unto Moses on the seventh day; but according to him who says on the seventh, [it appears that] the Torah was given on the seventh day and Moses ascended on the seventh. R. Jose, the Galilean, agrees with the Tana, who maintains that the Torah was given unto Israel on the sixth of the month; and therefore, he says, The glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, came after the day on which the commandments had been given. The clouds covered Moses six days, and on the seventh he called him from amidst the clouds to receive the entire Torah. But R. Akiba agrees with the opinion of R. Jose, that the Torah was given unto Israel on the seventh day of the month. According to R. Akiba, the tradition is clearly, comprehended that the tablets were broken on the seventeenth day of Tammuz; as there remain twenty-four days of Sivan and sixteen of Tammuz, to make a total of forty days during which Moses remained on the mount. He descended the seventeenth of Tammuz when he broke the tablets. But as to R. Jose, the Galilean, who claims that the six days were spent in seclusion, add to them the forty days which Moses spent on the mount, and it will appear that the tablets were not broken until the twenty-third of Tammuz! R. Jose, the Galilean, would explain that the six days of seclusion were included in the forty days spent by Moses on the mount.

On the seventh day after the Ten Commandments Moshe went up on the mountain, as it says "The Presence of the LORD abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days..." (Shemot 24:16) This was in order for Moshe to purify himself. "On the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud." (ibid.) "Moses went inside the cloud and ascended the mountain; and Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights." (Shemot 24:18) On the 17th of Tammuz he came down and shattered the tablets, "The next day Moses said to the people, “You have been guilty of a great sin. Yet I will now go up to the LORD; perhaps I may win forgiveness for your sin.” Moshe went back up on the 18th of Tammuz and pleaded for mercy on behalf of Israel, as it is written "When I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights, because the LORD was determined to destroy you," (Devarim 9:25) At that moment, the Holy One once again viewed Israel with favor and said to Moshe to carve new tablets and to come up the mountain once again, as it says "Thereupon the LORD said to me, “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood." (Devarim 10:1) He came down on the 28th of Av and carved the second tablets, as it says "So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai..." (Shemot 34:4) He went back up on the 29th of Av and the Torah was repeated to him a second time, as it says "I had stayed on the mountain, as I did the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD heeded me once again: the LORD agreed not to destroy you." (Devarim 10:10) 'As I did the first time,' just as the first was a time of favor, so too the second were a time of favor- we can derive from this that those in the middle were a time of anger. He came down on the 10th of Tishre, which was Yom Kippur, and announced to them that they had found favor before God (Hamakom), as it says "Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!” (Shemot 34:9) Therefore it was established as a fixed day and a remembrance for the generations, as it says "This shall be to you a law for all time: to make atonement for the Israelites for all their sins once a year..." (Vayikra 16:34)

“While the king was at his feast, my nard released its fragrance” (Song of Songs 1:12).
“While the king was at his feast,” Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Meir says: While the King of kings was at His feast, in the firmament, Israel released a foul odor and said to the calf: “This is your god, Israel” (Exodus 32:4). Rabbi Yehuda said to him: ‘Enough, Meir, one does not expound Song of Songs disparagingly, but rather, favorably, as Song of Songs was given only in praise of Israel. What is: “While the king was at his feast”? While the King of kings was at His feast, in the firmament, Israel released a fine fragrance before Mount Sinai, and said: “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will perform and we will obey” (Exodus 24:7).
According to the opinion of Rabbi Meir, it should have said: My stench released its odor.²⁶⁸Since the verse was referring to the Golden Calf, it should have referred to stench rather than the fragrance of the sweet-smelling nard. Rather, a treatise ascended in their hand from the Diaspora,²⁶⁹The midrash is citing an ancient tradition recorded in a treatise that was transported from Babylon during the Return to Zion to build the second Temple. and they taught in its regard that He skipped the incident of the calf for them and the act of the Tabernacle preceded it.²⁷⁰The sin of the Golden Calf (Exodus chap. 32) should have been recorded in the Torah immediately following the events of the revelation at Sinai. Instead, it is preceded by the commandments concerning the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus chapters 25–31), to indicate that even when Israel sinned, they were still beloved in the eyes of the God. Therefore, the verse characterizes their odor as nard.
Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Berekhya, Rabbi Eliezer says: “While the king was at his feast,” while the King of kings was at His feast, in the firmament, Mount Sinai was already enveloped in flames, as it is stated: “The mountain was burning with fire” (Deuteronomy 4:11). Rabbi Akiva says: While the King of kings was at His feast, in the firmament, already, “the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai” (Exodus 24:16). Rabbi Berekhya says: While Moses was at his feast in the firmament,²⁷¹While he was still on Mount Sinai. as he is called king, as it is stated: “He became king in Yeshurun, when the heads of the people were assembled” (Deuteronomy 33:5), already, “God spoke all these matters saying” (Exodus 20:1).
Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov and the Rabbis, Rabbi Eliezer says: While the King of kings was at His feast, in the firmament, Mikhael, the great prince, had already descended from the heavens and rescued Abraham our patriarch from the fiery furnace. The Rabbis say: The Holy One blessed be He descended and rescued him, as it is stated: “I am the Lord who took you out of Ur of the Chaldeans” (Genesis 15:7). When did Mikhael descend? It was in the days of Ḥanaya, Mishael, and Azarya.²⁷²Mikhael is identified as the angel who descended to rescue Ḥananya, Mishael, and Azarya from the fiery furnace (see Daniel 3:25).
Rabbi Tavyomei said: While Jacob our patriarch was lying [mesev] in his bed, ²⁷³The expression “at his feast [bimsibo]” in the verse is interpreted as a reference to Jacob lying on his deathbed. the Divine Spirit gleamed in him, and he said to his sons: “God will be with you” (Genesis 48:21). He said to them: ‘He is destined to rest His Divine Presence in your midst.’ Rav Naḥman said: It is written: “Israel and everything that he had traveled and came to Beersheba” (Genesis 46:1). Where did he go? He went to chop down the cedars that Abraham our patriarch had planted in Beersheba, as it is stated: “He planted a tamarisk in Beersheba” (Genesis 21:33).²⁷⁴Jacob chopped them down in order to take them to Egypt. Rabbi Levi said: It is written: “The central bar inside the planks extending from end to end” (Exodus 26:28). The bar was thirty-two cubits long. From where did they have it in their possession at that moment?²⁷⁵Where did they get such a long piece of wood in the wilderness, just when they needed it to build this part of the Tabernacle? It teaches that they were hidden with them from the days of Jacob our patriarch. That is what is written: “And everyone with whom acacia wood was found” (Exodus 35:24); “acacia wood was found,” is not written here, but rather, “with whom…it was found”—from the outset.
Rabbi Levi bar Ḥiyya said: They chopped them down in Magdala of the dyers²⁷⁶This was the name of a place in the Land of Israel. and took them with them down to Egypt. They had no knots and no cracks. There were acacia trees in Magdala and the custom was to prohibit [using] them due to the sanctity of the Ark.²⁷⁷Even in the times of the Sages of the midrash, acacia trees grew in Magdala, but due to the tradition that the wood eventually used for the Ark and the rest of the Tabernacle had been cut from there, the people of Magdala would not make use of the acacia trees. They came and asked Rav Ḥananya, colleague of the Rabbis, and he said to them: Do not deviate from the custom of your ancestors.