ספר דברים

In order to understand the words of Nachmanides properly ‎we must remember that up until the time of the sin of the golden ‎calf, G’d had dealt with the Jewish people on the basis of the ‎attribute of Mercy, i.e. even when they committed sins, He had ‎kept in mind that this was the people who represented the ‎emanation of ‎תפארת‎, usually translated as “harmony,” but ‎perhaps here more appropriately as “glory,” i.e. they were the ‎people that enabled G’d to be glorified as they had accepted His ‎rule voluntarily. The moment this people had become guilty of ‎constructing a golden calf and deifying it, they had ceased to be ‎G’d’s people and had become Moses’ people, as G’d said to Moses ‎in Exodus 32,7 when G’d told Moses: ‎שחת עמך אשר העלית מארץ ‏מצרים‎, “your people whom you have brought up from Egypt has ‎become corrupt.”‎Moses was now (second stay of 40 days on Mount Sinai) ‎concerned to reverse this demotion of the Jewish people from ‎being G’d’s people and having become his people. He was anxious ‎that G’d would once more deal with the Jewish people on the ‎basis He had dealt with them prior to this colossal error on their ‎part. He was afraid that even if G’d were to forgive the people the ‎sin committed at Mount Sinai, this was no guarantee that at a ‎future time they would not again commit a sin as a result of ‎which their existence as a nation would be jeopardized. If at such ‎a time the people, basically, were his people instead of G’d’s ‎people, this could prove an insurmountable barrier to G’d’s ‎forgiveness, [especially if it were to occur when they no ‎longer had a leader such as Moses. Ed.] It was this second ‎part of G’d’s forgiveness that it took Moses 40 days to secure.‎While pardon for the sin itself occurred even before Moses ‎descended from the Mountain the first time, i.e. ‎וינחם ה' על הרעה ‏אשר דבר לעשות לעמו‎, “G’d reconsidered the harm He had said He ‎would do to His people,” (Exodus 32,14) Israel’s status as G’d’s ‎people had not been reinstated. [Seeing that in verse 14 ‎Israel is again referred to as “His people,” the presumption that ‎the whole nation had been disowned by G’d when He accused ‎Moses of the sinners being his people, is difficult to accept. ‎Ed.]‎Moses foresaw that the Israelites would become guilty of ‎other sins in the future. Moses reminds the people that their ‎obstinate defiance of G’d had started long before the sin of the ‎golden calf, i.e. ‎ממרים הייתם מיום דעתי אתכם‎, “you were defiant ‎from the day I became acquainted with you.” If Moses would not ‎succeed in restoring Israel’s former status of ‎תפארת‎, being the ‎people with whom G’d could “glorify Himself,” their entire future ‎would be jeopardized. This is why on the day after Moses ‎shattered the Tablets, burned the golden calf, and executed the ‎active idol worshippers, and ritually cleansed the survivors by ‎sprinkling them with water containing gold dust of the calf, he ‎ascended the Mountain again, unbidden this time. (Exodus 32, ‎‎30-31) The mention of the various sins listed above in 9,22-24 are ‎Moses’ way of explaining why he had to ascend Mount Sinai again ‎immediately as if he would not obtain rehabilitation of the ‎people’s status in the G’d’s eyes, any one of these sins that he ‎knew they would commit in the future might have spelled their ‎doom.When Moses recalls to the people in 9,26 that he appealed to ‎G’d with the words: ‎אל תשחת עמך‎, ”do not annihilate Your ‎people,” these were the words he had used the first time after G’d ‎told him to descend as his people had become corrupted. He had ‎immediately wanted to reject the notion that the Israelites had ‎become his people instead of G’d’s people.We can now understand the sequence in which Moses recalls ‎past events while not sticking to the chronological order.‎ ‎ ‎