שמות

כה אמר ה' אלהי ישראל. לא מצינו בזה דבור להקב"ה, אע"פ שלא נכתב הוא יתעלה צוה לו כן, והזכיר אלהי ישראל על מחשבת עושי העגל שהיו חושבים לזבוח לאלהי ישראל, והנה מדת הדין פוגעת בהן שקצצו בנטיעות כי המשפט לאלהים הוא, והוא שכתוב בלוים (במדבר ט״ז:ט׳) כי הבדיל אלהי ישראל אתכם מעדת ישראל כי העבודה לאלהי ישראל, כן פי' הרמב"ן ז"ל. כי ע"י בני לוי נתקדש השם בפרהסיא כשם שחללוהו ישראל בפרהסיא, וזהו ענין שכתוב ולא תחללו את שם קדשי ונקדשתי למדך שעון חלול ה' הוא מתכפר בשכנגדו, והוא קדוש השם.

כה אמר ה’ אלו-הי ישראל, “thus has said the Lord G’d of Israel, etc.” We do not find that G’d’s instruction by word to Moses of this matter is recorded in the Torah other than that Moses quotes G’d. Nonetheless, he did receive such instructions. Moses refers to the Lord as אלו-הי ישראל in order to teach us that even the makers of the golden calf intended to offer their sacrifices to the “G’d of Israel,” (not to the golden calf). Still, the attribute of Justice decided to punish these people as true heretics as the Torah has taught us (Deut. 1,17) that המשפט לאלוהים הוא, the “judgment,” i.e. the evaluation of our deeds is something that G’d has reserved for Himself. This is the way Nachmanides explains these words. We find something analogous in Numbers 16,9 where Moses tells the Levites that אלו-הי ישראל, “this attribute of Justice has separated, (distinguished) the Levites from the remainder of the community of Israel.” This was another example of G’d exercising His right to evaluate the deeds of men. In that instance it meant that the performance of service to אלו-הי ישראל in and around the Tabernacle would be reserved for the tribe of Levi. Seeing that it had been the members of this tribe who had sanctified the Lord’s name in public, they were rewarded by sanctifying the Lord’s name on a regular basis. The moral lesson is that that the appropriate way to atone for desecration of the Lord’s name publicly is to sanctify it publicly.