Comentários de Citação sobre Êxodo 24:12

Since he taught them what he had learned. Otherwise [i.e. if the Torah did not say this], what relevance does this point have here. Thus Rashi explains that ביום דיבר (lit. on the day that He spoke) means “from the day that He spoke,” and that the letter beis is like the beis in והנותר בבשר ובלחם (that which is left from the meat and from the bread) (Vayikro 8:32). It was not on the day that Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai that he taught them, rather from that day onwards he taught them and thus they became his descendants. One might ask: Surely all of Israel learned Torah from Moshe, so why were they not [also] called his descendants? The answer is: When he taught Torah to the whole of Yisroel it was at the command of Hashem, as it is written “Hashem said to Moshe come up to me … that I wrote to instruct them” (Shemos 24:12). This implies that the main reason for Hashem teaching Moshe was for [Moshe to teach] the people of Yisroel. Therefore it is not correct to say that [regarding them that] “one who teaches another’s son…” However regarding Aharon’s sons, Moshe was not obligated to teach them, given that only a father is obligated to teach his son Torah, therefore they were called the descendants of Moshe. This appears to the precise meaning of the wording “anyone who teaches another’s son Torah…”

AND UNTO MOSES HE SAID: ‘COME UP UNTO THE ETERNAL etc.’ “This section was told to Moses before the giving of the Ten Commandments, on the fourth day of Sivan.” This is Rashi’s language. “And the Eternal said unto Moses: ‘Come up to Me into the mountain, and be there’⁴⁶⁵Verse 12 (further in this section). — this was said to Moses after the Giving of the Torah.” These too are Rashi’s words. But if so, the sections of the Torah are not in chronological order, nor even in their ordinary sense! Moreover, it is written here, And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Eternal, and all the ordinances,⁴⁶⁶Verse 3. which are these ordinances written above, concerning which He said, And these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.⁴⁶⁷Above, 21:1. For it is not correct to interpret the expression: and all the ordinances,⁴⁶⁶Verse 3. to mean [as Rashi wrote], the ordinances which “the sons of Noah”⁴⁶⁸See Vol. I, p. 417, Notes 147-8. were commanded, or the laws which were given to the Israelites in Marah⁴⁶⁹See above, 15:25. which they had already heard and knew, and besides, the word vayesapeir (and he told)⁴⁶⁶Verse 3. always indicates new things which one tells!
But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra has already grasped this subject correctly, in explaining the verses to be in their proper order, when he commented:⁴⁷⁰On the preceding Verse (23:33). “Up to here is the Book of the Covenant.” On the basis of this statement it can be seen that all the sections of the Torah are in methodical arrangement. For after the Giving of the Torah immediately on the same day G-d said to Moses, Thus shall you tell the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven,⁴⁷¹Above, 20:19. and He began to warn them again against idolatry, by saying, Ye shall not make with Me etc.,⁴⁷²Ibid., Verse 20. and He continued to command him, Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them,⁴⁶⁷Above, 21:1. and all the commandments following that, and finally He finished with the admonition against the worship of idols which they find in the Land, and against making a covenant with their worshippers. He then said to Moses, “After you have commanded them this, come up unto the Eternal, thou and Aaron.” The section mentions that Moses did according to the command of G-d, and came to the camp and told the people all the words of the Eternal⁴⁶⁶Verse 3. as He had commanded him, Thus shall you tell the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen etc.;⁴⁷¹Above, 20:19. and all the ordinances,⁴⁶⁶Verse 3. as He had commanded him, Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them.⁴⁶⁷Above, 21:1. The people received everything with joy and said, All that the Eternal hath spoken will we do,⁴⁷³Above 19:8. See though my Hebrew commentary, p. 447, where it is pointed out that since this verse relates to an event before the Revelation and Ramban is now discussing the events after the Revelation, we must perforce understand his use of that verse, in a stylistic manner, namely, that the people joyfully accepted upon themselves the duty of observing all of G-d’s commandments. meaning that all these things which G-d has told you we will do, for we believe in your words; just as he narrated in the Book of Deuteronomy [that the people said to him], and thou shalt speak unto us all that the Eternal our G-d may speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it,⁴⁷⁴Deuteronomy 5:24. and then Moses wrote them down. Thus on that day he wrote down in a book all that he had been commanded — the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws — and he rose up early in the morning⁴⁷⁵Verse 4. of the following day to make a covenant with them concerning all this. He built the altar and offered the sacrifices,⁴⁷⁵Verse 4. and put half of the blood upon the altar of G-d, and half of it he put in basins⁴⁷⁶Verse 6. [in order to sprinkle upon the people],⁴⁷⁷As explained further in Ramban, (also in Rashi). For the reason of exact division into two equal parts see further in the text of Ramban and also in Note 479. and he took the book which he had written the day before and read it in their hearing,⁴⁷⁸Verse 7. and they accepted upon themselves to make the covenant with Him, saying. All that the Eternal hath spoken will we do, and hearken⁴⁷⁸Verse 7. to you and to whatever you will command in His Name. Then he sprinkled upon them half of the blood [which he had put in the basins], for this is the sign of a covenant, when two things⁴⁷⁹By putting half of the blood upon the altar of G-d and the other half upon the people, Moses indicated that “the two [parties to the covenant] come into equal parts.” See Deuteronomy 26:17-18, and also Vayikra Rabbah 6:5, where the equal division of the blood is explained as signifying that G-d swore to Israel never to exchange it for another nation, and Israel swore eternal fidelity to G-d. come in equal parts. Now after he finished what he did with them, he had to fulfill the word of G-d which He told him, Come up… thou and Aaron, etc. and it is with reference to this that it is said, Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu etc.⁴⁸⁰Verse 9. He completed that which he had been commanded,⁴⁸¹I.e., And Moses alone shall come near unto the Eternal (Verse 2). by coming near alone unto the Eternal. It is with reference to this that it is said, And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud etc.⁴⁸²Further, Verse 18. Thus the act of the covenant took place on the day after the Giving of the Torah, and on that day was the ascent, when Moses went up into the mountain and he stayed from then on for forty days. It is with reference to this that Scripture explains, and on the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud,⁴⁸³Ibid., Verse 16. [i.e., the seventh day of the month Sivan, which was the day after the Giving of the Torah], and it is said, And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud.⁴⁸²Further, Verse 18. All this is correctly and clearly explained.
Now I have seen in the Mechilta⁴⁸⁴Mechilta above, 19:10. That the Rabbis differed on this matter. Some say⁴⁸⁵This is the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael. that the making of the covenant took place before the Giving of the Torah — on the fifth day of Sivan — and Moses said to them: “Now you are bound, held and tied; tomorrow come and accept upon yourselves all the commandments.” But Rabbi Yosei the son of Rabbi Yehudah says: “All these acts were done on one and the same day,” that is to say all these acts were performed on the same day, namely the day after the Torah was given — all that Moses told the people and the writing of the Book of the Covenant — all as we have explained. And to this one [i.e., Rabbi Yosei the son of Rabbi Yehudah] we listen, since he has spoken according to the accepted opinion.⁴⁸⁶See Peah 4:1 for origin of this expression [“to this one we listen etc.”].

ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה' אתה ואהרן נדב ואביהו ושבעים מזקני ישראל, “and He had said to Moses: “ascend, you and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu as well as 70 of the elders of Israel.” I find it puzzling that Eleazar and ittamar, Aaron’s other sons, were not included in this invitation. Surely they were more distinguished than the seventy elders mentioned in our verse. We have a list of the respective rank of Israelite dignitaries at the time in Maimonides ביאת המקדש ה,יג in which he enumerates the following ranks in this order: Aaron, Eleazar, Ittamar, and Pinchas. The above-mentioned all rose to the position of High Priest, and were superior in a variety of ways to the seventy elders. We have a tradition that Nadav and Avihu had already become guilty of death by burning during the episode introduced here (Vayikra Rabbah, 22,10) when they “saw G’d,” i.e. they treated their spiritual high as if it were something ordinary, not even interrupting their eating and drinking during the time they enjoyed this vision. (compare verse 11) Had they not been so highly placed, they might not have been punished in such a salutary manner. At any rate, G’d Who foresees events without necessarily interfering in them, knew that Nadav and Avihu would commit an even greater indiscretion in their enthusiasm to participate in the consecration of the Tabernacle. They were not punished on the occasion described here, as G’d did not want to mar the joy experienced by the people on that day. At the same time, G’d did not want that Aaron would die without a son or grandson who could inherit the office of High Priest. In order not to have all of Aaron’s sons become guilty of the same offence, He did not invite them at the time to accompany Moses part of the way on his ascent to the Mountain. According to Rashi this portion describes events which occurred on the 4th of Sivan, (2 days before the revelation). On the other hand, the instruction to Moses to ascend Mount Sinai (verse 12) occurred after the Ten Commandments had been given. Nachmanides does not agree with this scenario described by Rashi. He supports this by quoting 21,1 claiming that what Moses told the people then were not the 7 Noachide laws, taught to the people at Marah, but laws revealed to him on Mount Sinai. The words ואת כל המשפטים in our verse here (verse 3) as well as the expression ויספר, an expression used only when something new is being revealed, make it plain that this occurred after the giving of the Torah. These were laws mentioned to Moses immediately after the Ten Commandments had been given, laws introduced with the words כה תאמר לבית יעקב, in G’d added there a reference to the people’s visual experience, i.e. אתם ראיתם “you have witnessed, etc.” (at Mount Sinai, i.e. the revelation) Subsequently, G’d commanded the משפטים to the people as described in chapter 21, and the people accepted all of these joyfully, culminating in their declaration כל הדברים אשר דבר ה' נעשה, “we will perform all the instructions G’d has issued.” (24,3) This was a declaration of faith in Moses who had conveyed all these laws to them in the name of Hashem. It was at this point that G’d said to Moses to tell the people to go back to their respective tents. (Deut. 5,27) It is reported there that the people went back to their tents and made a great celebration on that day. They prepared the slaughtering of the animals for the following day as there was not enough time left on the day of the revelation to build a major altar and 12 minor altars known as מצבה. (compare verse 4) Moses had meanwhile written down all that had been revealed on that day orally. It was better to give the people time to prepare properly for the conclusion of the covenant on the following day. On that day the people rose early in readiness for what was to develop. The people stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, the very place where they had stood to receive the Ten Commandments. It was here that Moses built the altar and the 12 pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel. After the offerings had been presented on the altar, Moses read for the people what he had written down on the previous day. (verse 6) and the people responded with the famous נעשה ונשמע, “we are prepared to carry it out, let’s hear the details.” The words ויעל משה ואהרן concluded the making of the covenant. G’d invited Moses to ascend the Mountain once more and there to receive the Tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments in G’d’s own writing, and to remain on the Mountain for some time, (verse 12) speaks of the day following the giving of the Torah, the 7th day of Sivan, G’d announced to him that at the end of that stay he would receive the Tablets. As to the grammatically strange wording ואל משה אמר עלה, which we would normally translate as “and He had said (previously to all this) to Moses: ‘ascend,’ etc.,” we have to understand this in context. Up until now the commandments Moses had related to the people were applicable to the people, including Moses, of course. Now the Torah refers to a commandment that had been given exclusively to Moses, to be performed only by him. G’d commanded him the details of this commandment after Moses had instructed the people in what they were expected to do, and had concluded the covenant with them. G’d then said to him “ascend to Me,” accompanied by the people enumerated, for a part of the way.

כי בשש משה [AND WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW] THAT MOSES DELAYED LONG — Understand (בשש as the Targum does, as an expression denoting “lateness”.. Similar are: (Judges 5:28) “[Why is] his chariot so long (בשש) [in coming]?”; (Judges 3:25) “And they waited until it was late (עד בוש)”. For when Moses ascended the mountain he said to them (to the Israelites): at the end of a period of forty days (i. e. on the fortieth day) I shall return during the first six hours of the day (before noon). They thought that the day on which he ascended the mountain (the seventh of Sivan) was to be included in this number (thus — Sivan having 30 days — he was expected back before noon on the sixteenth of Tammuz). In fact, however, he had said to them “after forty days” meaning complete days — forty days, each day together with its night that precedes it — (as is the customary Jewish reckoning; cf. Genesis 1:5: ויהי ערב ויהי בקר). Now, as regards the day of this ascent, its night was not part of it that it can be reckoned as a complete day, for he ascended on the seventh of Sivan early in the morning (cf. Rashi on Exodus 19:3); it follows therefore that the fortieth day really fell on the seventeenth of Tammuz and not as the people had believed on the sixteenth. On the sixteenth of Tammuz Satan came and threw the world into confusion, giving it the appearance of darkness, gloom and disorder that people should say: “Surely Moses is dead, and that is why confusion has come into the world!” He said to them, “Yes, Moses is dead, for six hours (noon) has already come (בשש = ‎בא שש) and he has not returned etc.” — as is related in Treatise Shabbat 89a (cf. Rashi and Tosafot there and Tosafot on Bava Kamma 82a ד"ה כדי). One cannot, however, say that they erred only on account of it being a cloudy day, their mistake consisting in not being able to distinguish between forenoon and afternoon, and that thus they were correct in their supposition that he was to return on the sixteenth of Tammuz; for this assumes that he really returned on the day when they made the calf, but that they were under the impression that noon was past — for, as a matter of fact, Moses did not come down until the following day (the day after they had made the calf), for it is said (v. 6) “And they rose up early in the morrow, and brought up burnt offerings”— and only after wards the Lord said to Moses (v. 7) “Go, go down; for thy people … have corrupted themselves”.

אשר ילכו לפנינו [MAKE US GODS] WHICH SHALL GO BEFORE US — They wished to have many gods (the words אלהים is to be taken as plural since the verb ילכו is plural; cf. Sanhedrin 63a).

כי זה משה האיש FOR AS FOR THIS MOSES — This Moses implies that Satan showed them something that looked like Moses being carried on a bier in the air high above in the skies (cf. Shabbat 89a).