Comentários de Citação sobre Oséias 4:17

now they shall be desolate. That is the thing that shall demolish (וְעָרְפוּ) thier altars, i.e., it will destroy them. This is an expression similar to (Deut. 21:4) “and they shall dehead (יַעֲרֹף)”; (Ex. 13:13) “and you shall behead it (וְעֲרַפְתּוֹ).” He will break their neck. Another explanation according to Midrash Aggadah: Peace is great, for, even if Israel worships idols, but there is peace among them, Satan does not bring charges against them, as it is said: (above 4:17) “Ephraim is joined: although he worships idols, let him alone.” Strife, however, is hated, as it is said: “Their heart has parted; now they will be guilty.” Satan can open his mouth to bring charges. [from unknown Midrashic source]

And the closest explanation to me to resolve these questions: The author of this midrash believes that one thing depends on the other, that the incident of they slaughtered a goat was also the cause of the Golden Calf incident. This is because it is known that the trait of jealousy that existed among Joseph’s brothers caused them to commit the act of slaughtering a goat, and from then on, the trait of jealousy became deeply rooted within them for generations, as it is written: For the jealousy of Your house has consumed me (Psalms 69:10). This refers to the jealousy of the house of Israel that is found among Israel throughout all generations, more than among any other nations, to the extent that this calf emerged because many in the camp were jealous of Moses, like Korah and his assembly. Similarly, at that time, many jealous people attacked him, and this is the nature of jealousy — to fabricate false accusations against him, saying, As for this Moses, the man, we do not know what has become of him, in order to cast off his authority and appoint over themselves this calf, this despised idol held in contempt. For jealousy, which causes division of hearts, is what led them to separate from one another, as they nullified the commandment of love your neighbor as yourself. And this is the prior sin that also causes the later one, that eventually they turned their backs on God as well and nullified the commandment of love the Lord your God. For this reason, our Sages said (Bereishit Rabbah 38:6) that as long as there is peace among Israel, even if they worship idols, leave them be, as it is said: Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone (Hosea 4:17). But their heart is divided; now they shall be found guilty. You will find a beautiful and well-ordered explanation of this matter in my work Ollelot Ephraim, Part 1, Essay 23, and from there you can understand why the author of this midrash connected these two types of sins, the earlier and the later one, because one leads to the other. Similarly, we find (First Kings 12:28) that Jeroboam made the calves out of his jealousy for Solomon’s kingdom.

"And they travelled from Charada, and they camped in Makhelot, and they travelled from Makhelot, and they camped in Tachat" (Bamidbar 33:24-5). This is an allusion to a saying of Chaza"l regarding the verse "Efrayim is joined to idols; let him be" (Hoshea 4:17) - that if there is togetherness and peace to the Jews, even if they serve idolatry, no evil will rule them. And this is why the generation of the Flood was punished more than the generation of the Dispersal [i.e. tower of Babel], even though the sin of the generation of the Dispersal was great (for they denied the main principle) - since they were in togetherness until God mixed up their languages. This is "they travelled from Charada [חרדה]" - they had no need to be afraid [lehachrid להחריד], since "they camped in Makhelot" [can also mean "in communities"] - in togetherness. But after this, "they travelled from Makhelot, and they camped in Tachat" [תחת] - in the lowest [tachtonah תחתונה] floor, until they returned and camped - and after this, in "Mitka" [מתקה] (Bamidbar 33:28) and in "Yotvata" [יטבתה] (Bamidbar 33:34) - sweet [matok מתוק] and good [tov טוב]. And this is easy to understand. (From there it is told).