Those who were executed by these judgements numbered three thousand, so
that Moses said to God: "O Lord of the world! Just and merciful art
Thou, and all Thy deeds are deeds of integrity. Shall six hundred
thousand people - not to mention all who are below twenty years of age,
and all the many proselytes and slaves - perish for the sake of three
thousand sinners?" God could no longer withhold His mercy, and
determined to forgive Israel their sins. [282] It was only after long
and fervent prayers that Moses succeeded in quite propitiating God, and
hardly had he returned from heaven, when he again repaired thither to
advance before God his intercession for Israel. He was ready to
sacrifice himself for the sake of Israel, and as soon as punishment had
been visited on the sinners, he turned to God with the words: "O Lord
of the world! I have now destroyed both the Golden Calf and its
idolaters, what cause for ill feeling against Israel can now remain?
The sins these committed came to pass because Thou hadst heaped gold
and silver upon them, so that the blames is not wholly theirs. 'Yet
now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee,
out of Thy book which Thou has written.'" [283]
These bold words of Moses were not without consequences for him, for
although God thereupon replied: "Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him
will I blot out of My blood," still it was on account of this that his
name was omitted from one section of the Pentateuch. [284] But for
Israel his words created an instant revulsion of feeling in God, who
now addressed him kindly, and promised that he would send His angel,
who would lead the people into the promised land. These words indicated
to Moses that God was not yet entirely appeased, and he could further
see this in the punishment that fell upon Israel on that day. Their
weapons, which every man among them had received at the revelation on
Sinai, and which had miraculous virtues, having the name of God
engraved upon them, were taken from them by the angels, and their robes
of purple likewise. When Moses saw from this that God's wrath was still
upon Israel, and that He desired to have nothing further to do with
them, he removed his tent a mile away from the camp, saying to himself:
"The disciple may not have intercourse with people whom the master has
excommunicated."
Not only the people went out o this tent whenever they sought the Lord,
but the angels also, the Seraphim, and the heavenly hosts repaired
thither, the sun, the moon, and the other heavenly bodies, all of whom
knew that God was to be found there, and that the tent of Moses was the
spot where they were to appear before their Creator. God, however, was
not at all pleased to see Moses keep himself aloof from the people, and
said to him: "According to our agreement, I was to propitiate thee
every time thou wert angry with the people, and thou wert to propitiate
Me when My wrath was kindled against them. What is now to become of
these poor people, if we be both angry with them? Return, therefore,
into the camp to the people. But if thou wilt not obey, remember that
Joshua is in the camp at the sanctuary, and he can well fill thy
place." Moses replied: "It is for Thy sake that I am angry with them,
and now I see that still Thou canst not forsake them." "I have," said
God, "already told thee, that I shall send and angel before them." But
Moses, by no means content with this assurance, continued to importune
God not to entrust Israel to an angel, but to conduct and guide them in
person. [285]
Forty days and forty nights, from the eighteenth day of Tammus to the
twenty-eight day of Ab, did Moses stay in heaven, [286] beseeching and
imploring God to restore Israel once more entirely into His favor. But
all his prayers and exhortations were in vain, until at the end of
forty days he implored God to set the pious deeds of the three
Patriarchs and of the twelve sons of Jacob to the account of their
descendants; and only then was his prayer answered. H said: "If Thou
art angry with Israel because they transgressed the Ten Commandments,
be mindful for their sake of the ten tests to which Thou didst subject
Abraham, and through which he nobly passed. If Israel deserves at Thy
hands punishment by fire for their sin, remember the fire of the
limekiln into which Abraham let himself be cast for the glory of Thy
name. If Israel deserves death by sword, remember the readiness with
which Isaac laid down his neck upon the altar to be sacrificed to Thee.
If they deserve punishment by exile, remember for their sake how their
father Jacob wandered into exile from his paternal home to Haran."
Moses furthermore said to God: "Will the dead ever be restored to
life?" God in surprise retorted: "Hast thou become a heretic, Moses,
that thou dost doubt the resurrection?" "If," said Moses, "the dead
never awaken to life, then truly Thou art right to wreak vengeance upon
Israel; but if the dead are to be restored to life hereafter, what wilt
Thou then say to the fathers of this nation, if they ask Thee what has
become of the promise Thou hadst made to them? I demand nothing more
for Israel," Moses continued, "than what Thou were willing to grant
Abraham when he pleaded for Sodom. Thou wert willing to let Sodom
survive if there were only ten just men therein, and I am now about to
enumerate to Thee ten just men among the Israelites: myself, Aaron,
Eleazar, Ithamar, Phinehas, Joshua, and Caleb." "But that is only
seven," objected God. Moses, not at all abashed, replied: "But Thou
hast said that the dead will hereafter be restored to life, so count
with these the three Patriarchs to make the number ten complete."
Moses' mention of the names of the three Patriarchs was of more avail
than all else, and God granted his prayer, forgave Israel their
transgression, and promised to lead the people in person. [287]