As Abraham before his death spoke to his son Isaac, he to his son
Jacob, and Jacob in turn to his sons, words admonishing them to walk in
the ways of the Lord, so Moses also did not depart from this world
without previously calling Israel to account for their sins, and
admonishing them to observe the commandments of the Lord. Moses' speech
of admonition had a greater effect than the revelation of the Decalogue
upon Mount Sinai, for whereas Israel, shortly after they had said on
Sinai, "We shall do according as we have heard," transgressed by
worshipping the Golden Calf, Moses' words of admonition had left a
powerful impression upon them, and he restored them to God and the
Torah. God therefore said, "As a reward to thee because thy words of
exhortation have brought Israel to follow Me, I shall designate these
words as thine, even though thou didst speak them only in execution of
My command."
Moses did not, however, make his speech of exhortation to the people
until after the victory of Sihon and Og, for Moses thought: "Were I to
have called them to account before these victories, they would have
answered, 'He is trying to recall to us our sins because he is unable
to lead us into the promised land against Sihon and Og, and he is
seeking our sins as an excuse.'" But after Moses had proven what he
could do, he could safely venture to recall to the people their sins.
[707] He now assembled all classes of Israel, the nobles as well as the
common people, saying to them: "I will now give you a severe rebuke for
your sins, and if any one have something to offer as an excuse, let him
now advance it." In this way he shut off the possibility of their
saying later on, "Had we heard the words of the son of Amram, we should
have answered each word fourfold and fivefold."
Moses now recounted the ten temptations with which they tempted God:
how at the Red Sea they had repented having followed Him, and had even
turned back three stations on the way to Egypt; how even after the
miracle that clove the Red sea for them, they had so little faith in
God as to say, "Just as at this spot we passed unharmed through the Red
Sea, so also did the Egyptians in another part of it." At Marah and at
Rephidim they tried God on account of the dearth of water, and as they
twice rebelled against God on account of water, so also did they on
account of manna. They infringed upon the two laws God had given them
in regard to manna, storing it from one day to the next, and going to
gather it on the Sabbath, although God had strictly forbidden both. On
account of their lust for flesh also they twice transgressed, murmuring
for flesh at the same time as they received manna, although manna
completely satisfied their needs; and after God had granted their wish
and had sent them quails, they remains content for a short time only,
and then again demanded quails, until God granted them that wish also.
"But the worst of all," Moses told them, "was the worship of the Golden
Calf. And not only that, but again in Paran, misled by the spies, ye
transgressed in desiring to make an idol, and under its guidance to
return to Egypt."
Moses then pointed out to them that it was owing to their sin that they
had strayed about in the desert for forty years, for otherwise God
would have brought them to Palestine on the same day as He had led them
out of Egypt. He not only reproached Israel with the sins they had
committed against God, but also with the evil they had worked Moses
himself, mentioning how they had thrown their infants into his lap,
saying, "What food hast thou for these?" [708] On this occasion it was
evident how good and pious a nation was that before Moses, for all the
sins he enumerated to them had been committed not by them, but by their
fathers, all of whom had in the meantime died, yet they were silent,
and made no answer to this severe reprimand their leader gave them.
[709] Moses did not, however, merely admonish the people to walk in the
ways of the Lord, but he said to Israel: "I am near to death, Whosoever
hath learned from me a verse, a chapter, or a law, let him come to me
and learn it anew," whereupon he repeated all the Torah, [710] and
that, too, in the seventy languages of the world, that not Israel alone
but all the heathen peoples, too, might hear the teachings of God.
[711]