Дварим 9:18 Комментарий: Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Rabbeinu Bahya & Chizkuni

ואתנפל לפני ה׳ כראשנה ארבעים יום AND I FELL DOWN BEFORE THE LORD, AS AT THE FIRST, FORTY DAYS, as it is said (Exodus 32:30) “And now I will go up to the Lord, perhaps I may atone [for your sin]”. At that ascent, which was the second I made, I tarried there forty days — consequently these terminated on the twenty-ninth of Ab, since he had ascended on the eighteenth of Tammuz. On that same day in Ab He became reconciled with Israel and said to Moses (Exodus 34:1) “Hew thee out two tablets”. He stayed there another forty days; consequently these terminated on the Day of Atonement (the tenth of Tishri). On that same day, the Holy One, blessed be He, was gladly reconciled (i.e. completely reconciled) with Israel and said to Moses, I have forgiven according to thy word. On this account it was appointed for pardon and forgiveness. And whence do we know that He was reconciled with them with complete goodwill? Because it is stated in respect to the forty days of the last tablets (in respect to third period of forty days) (Deuteronomy 10:10), “And I stayed in the mountain according to the first days”! What was the case with the first days? They were passed in God’s goodwill! (for they had not yet committed the sin of worshipping the golden calf). So, too, the last forty days were in God’s goodwill! You must now say (admit) that the intervening forty days were passed in God’s anger (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 31; cf. Rashi on Exodus 18:13).

I prostrated myself This is what was stated earlier, in the passage, “now I will go up to God ” [Exodus 32: 30]

ואתנפל לפני ה' כראשונה ארבעים יום, “I threw myself down before the Lord as the first time, forty days;” The meaning of the word ואתנפל is that he fell on his face on the ground. Our sages derived from this wording the mode of our prayers which includes three positions, i.e. standing, sitting, and prostrating oneself. Moses mentioned all three of these positions when he referred to his sojourn on Mount Sinai. In verse 9 he referred to “sitting” on the mountain; in Deut. 10,10 he refers to his standing on the mountain, whereas in our verse he mentions prostrating himself.