Midrash sa Deuteronomio 5:26: Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Vayikra Rabbah, Sifra & Devarim Rabbah

R. Joshua b. Levi said further: "The crime of the golden calf was committed only to give a chance to the repenter, as it is said (Deut. 5, 26) O, that they had such a heart as this always, to fear Me." So also said R. Jochanan in the name of R. Simon b. Jochai: "Neither was David befitted for that crime with Bath Sheba, nor Israel for that crime [of the calf]." David was not befitted to commit the crime, as concerning the passage reads (Ps. 109, 22) My heart is deeply wounded within me. And also Israel was not befitted for the above crime, as it is written, O, that they had such a heart as this always to fear Me. And why was it committed? (Fol. 5) For the benefit of sinners. If it happens to be an individual, it may be said to him: Repent, as the individual David did. And if it happens to be a congregation, they also may be told to repent, as the congregation of the desert did. And both are necessary to show that there is no difference between an individual and a congregation in obtaining a pardon. This is what R. Samuel b. Nachmeni, in the name of Jonathan said: "What is the meaning of the passage (II Sam. 23, 1) And thus saith David b. Jessi, and thus said the man who was raised up (Ol) on high? The word Ol means, the man who had raised the yoke of repentance."

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Had the nations of the world known how beneficial the Tent of Meeting was for them, they would have surrounded it with encampments and fortifications. You find that until the Tabernacle was erected, the nations of the world would hear the sound of the divine speech and would be afflicted with diarrhea in their palaces.²⁰The point is that the divine speech was so overpowering that those who heard it would lose control of their physical faculties. That is what is written: “For who of all flesh that heard the voice of the living God [speaking from the midst of the fire like us, has lived?]” (Deuteronomy 5:23). Rabbi Simon said: The speech would emerge with two natures, as an elixir of life for Israel and an elixir of death for the nations of the world. That is what is written: “[Has a people heard the voice of God…] as you heard, and lived?” (Deuteronomy 4:33). You heard and lived, but the nations of the world would hear and die. Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: “[The Lord spoke to him] from the Tent of Meeting” – this teaches that the voice would stop and would not emerge outside the Tent of Meeting.

Our Rabbis were taught: Concerning the above-cited verse (Deut. 5, 26) O, that they had such a heart as this always to fear Me, Moses said to Israel: "Ye are ungrateful, my children; for at the time the Holy One, praised be He! said to you, O, that they had such a heart, etc., ye should have said, 'Thou, Lord, grant it to us.' Your ungratefulness is also marked from (Num. 21, 5) And our soul loathed (Ib. b) this light bread. Your ungratefulness is also marked from the passage (Gen. 3, 12) The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, etc." Moses, however, hinted this to Israel only after the forty years in which he led them in the desert, as it is said (Deut. 29, 3) But the Lord hath not given you a heart to know. Said Raba: "From this it may be inferred that one cannot find the real mind of his master, until the lapse of forty years."