Дварим 9:19 Комментарий: Ibn Ezra, Ramban, Rashbam & Chizkuni

that time as well Moshe had previously prayed for them 1) At the Reed Sea (this is evident from “Why are you crying out to me?” [Exodus 14: 15]) 2) “He prayed to God and God showed him a tree” [Exodus 15: 25]

FOR I WAS IN DREAD OF THE ANGER. He is stating that because of the anger and the fury wherewith the Eternal was angry with you at first [that He wanted] to destroy you, I stood in awe even now, for there was still [enough] of that great anger upon you to destroy you, even though G-d had already repented of the evil which He said He would do unto His people.¹³⁴Ibid., Verse 14. The word “repented” here is an anthropomorphism (Ibn Ezra). Therefore I returned and threw myself down [in prayer] in your behalf for forty days and forty nights until He hearkened unto me that time also¹⁴¹In Verse 19 before us. just as He hearkened the first time before I descended [from the mountain]. For Aaron, also, I prayed at that time when I returned there [to the mountain] because, until he had cleansed [the camp of] the calf, [Moses’ main] concern was but to turn back His wrath, lest He should destroy¹⁴²Psalms 106:23. the [whole] people in a moment, [and hence he did not pray especially for Aaron until he returned to the mountain].

גם בפעם ההיא, in addition to the numerous other occasions when I prayed on your behalf.