The Moses of Midrash: God’s Partner or Adversary Christine Hayes, Yale University The Biblical Story Ex 32:7-14 (God’s First Speech) 7. The Lord spoke to Moses, "Hurry down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely. 8. They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I enjoined upon them. They have made themselves a molten calf and bowed low to it and sacrificed to it, saying: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." (God’s Second Speech) 9. The Lord further said to Moses, “I see that this is a stiff-necked people. 10. Now let me be and my anger will blaze forth against them and I will destroy them and make of you a great nation. (Moses’s reaction) 11. But Moses implored the Lord his God, saying, “Let not Your anger, O Lord, blaze forth against Your people, whom You delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. 12. Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that He delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people. 13. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, how You swore to them by Your Self and said to them: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring this whole land of which I spoke, to possess forever.” 14. And the Lord renounced [lit. “repented”] the punishment [lit. “the evil”] He had planned to bring upon his people. Inner-Biblical Interpretation Deuteronomy 9: 16-20 16 Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the LORD had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and flung them from my two hands, smashing them before your eyes. 18 Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the LORD by doing what was evil in his sight. !1 19 For I was afraid that the anger that the LORD bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also. 20 The LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, but I interceded also on behalf of Aaron at that same time. Psalm 106:19-23 19. They made a calf at Horeb and bowed down to a molten image. 20. They exchanged their glory for the image of a bull that feeds on grass. 21. They forgot God who saved them, who performed great deeds in Egypt 22. wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, awesome deeds at the Sea of Reeds. 23. He would have destroyed them had not Moses His chosen one confronted [lit. “stood before”] Him in the breach to avert His destructive wrath. Rabbinic Midrash 1. Leviticus Rabbah 16:4 “Ben Azzai was sitting and interpreting (making midrash) and fire was all around him. They went and told Rabbi Akiva. “Rabbi, Ben Azzai is sitting and interpreting, and fire is burning all around him,” he went to him and said to him, “I heard that you were interpreting, and the fire burning all around you.” He said, “Indeed…I was sitting and stringing the words of Torah [to each other] and the Torah to the Prophets and the Prophets to the Writings, and the words were as radiant as when they were given from Sinai and they were as sweet as at their original giving.” Reading our story in light of Proverbs 25:14-15 paints Moses as intercessor “Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of a gift never given. With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue can break bones.” 2. Exodus Rabbah 42:1 “The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Hurry down’” (Exodus 32:7). R. Tanhuma b. Abba began: “Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of a gift never given; With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue can break bones” (Proverb 25:14-15). He who promises to give a present to his friend and does not do so, is to be compared to clouds and wind and lightning which come but bring no rain with them. This could be said of the generation that was in the wilderness, that consisted of six hundred thousand old men, and the same number of young men, of youths and of women. When they came to Sinai and accepted the Kingdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, and exclaimed as with one voice, “All that the Lord hath spoken will we do, and obey” (Ex. 24:7), that indeed was a voice that could really be called ' a voice’, but when they came to the wilderness, they transgressed everything and corrupted their deeds. When God saw this, He said to Moses: !2 "Hurry down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely (corruptly, shiḥet; Exodus 32:7). Not only did they make an idol, but they also committed immorality and shed blood, for the merry-making (tseḥoq) referred to here (Exodus 32:6) means idol- worship, immorality, and the shedding of blood. Whence do we know that tseḥoq means shedding of blood? Because it says, “Let the young men, I pray thee, arise and play (vayesaḥequ) before us” (2 Samuel 2:14). Whence do we know that it [tseḥoq] also refers to immorality? Because it says, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me” (letsaḥeq; Genesis 39:17). [Here follows a lengthy account of Moses’ arguments before God on behalf of the Israelites, all of which are refuted by God, and yet in the end, Moses succeeds in turning back God’s anger!] This is an illustration of “clouds and wind without rain.” Yet Moses was successful in averting the punishment, a proof that “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue can break bones” (Proverbs 25:15). Reading our story in light of Psalm 106 paints Moses as defiant adversary 3. Exodus Rabbah 43:1 “But Moses implored the Lord his God” (Exodus 32:11). R. Tanhuma b. Abba began thus: “He would have destroyed them, had not Moses his chosen one confronted Him in the breach to avert [lit. turn back] His destructive wrath” (Psalm 106:23). What is “stood in the breach before him?” R. Hama b. Hanina said: The good advocate knows how to set himself against the tribunal. Moses was one of two good advocates who arose to defend Israel and set themselves, as it were, against the Holy One, blessed be He. These were Moses and Daniel …These were the two men who set their faces against the attribute of strict Justice in order to argue for mercy on Israel’s behalf. PUNS: “Moses implored” = veheḥal The root ḥ.l has the following range of meanings: 1. sweet (as in "allah bread) 2. profane (as in "ol), including to profane or annul (he"al) a vow 3. to wear a weapon or gird oneself for war (see modern "ayyal = soldier) 4. Exodus Rabbah 42:9 “Now let me be!” Was Moses holding fast to God that He should say “Now let me be!”? [Of course not, therefore another meaning must be intended.] To what can the thing be compared? To a king who was angry with his son, and had him brought into a chamber and was about to beat him, but then the king cried from the chamber “Let me be, that I may beat him.” Now, the instructor [of the son] was !3 standing without and he thought to himself: “If the king and the son are alone within the chamber, then to whom is he saying: ‘let me be’? it must be because the king wants me to go in and entreat him on his son’s behalf and for this reason he says: ‘let me be!” [He is hinting that I have the power or even the permission to prevent him, if I so choose.] Similarly, God said to Moses, “Now let me be!” and Moses inferred, “It is because God wants me to intercede on Israel’s behalf”… Thereupon Moses began to plead for mercy on their behalf as its says, “but Moses implored the Lord his God.” 5. Deuteronomy Rabbah 3:15 God said to him: ‘Let not the two of us be angry, but when you see me pour hot [water] you pour cold, and when you see me pour cold, you pour hot.’ Moses asked: ‘Ruler of the Universe, how shall this happen?’ God replied: “Pray for mercy on their behalf.” What did he do? Immediately ”But Moses implored the Lord.” 6. Exodus Rabbah 44:4 Moses pleaded: “Lord of the Universe! Why are you angry with Israel?” He replied, “Because they have broken the Decalogue.” He said, “Well, they possess a source from which they can make repayment.” He asked, “What is that?” Moses replied: “Remember that you tried Abraham with ten trials, and so let those ten [trials serve as compensation] for these ten [broken commandments].” This is why he said, “Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel” (Exodus 32:13).