Why Moses Prayed God's Power Be Great After the Spies

"And now, let it be great" (Numbers 14:17). When Moses ascended on high, to the mountain, to the place set apart for the Holy One, blessed be He, he found the Holy One, blessed be He, tying crowns to the letters, and Moses was silent. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "Is there no greeting of peace in your town?" Moses said to Him: "Is there a servant who gives a greeting of peace to his master?" The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "But you should have strengthened [My] power!" Immediately Moses opened and said: "And now, let the power of the Lord be great." Another interpretation: "And now, let the power of the Lord be great." At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, showed the orders of forgiveness to Moses, and the Holy One, blessed be He, told him that He is slow to anger, that He is long-suffering with the good and with the wicked, Moses began to say: "I beg of You, do not be long-suffering with the wicked, for the wicked are destined to destroy the houses of Your people and to kill Your people." This is what David, peace be upon him, said in Psalms: "Your testimonies are very faithful" (Psalms 93:5) — all that You have written in Your Torah is true; "holiness becomes Your house, O Lord, forevermore" (ibid.); therefore "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth... how long shall the wicked, O Lord" (Psalms 94:1, 3). When Moses said this, the Holy One, blessed be He, was silent to him, because it was revealed before Him that Moses would need [God to be] long-suffering with the wicked. Once Israel sinned in the wilderness in the matter of the spies, and the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to exact punishment from them, He immediately said: "I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them" (Numbers 14:12). Moses regretted that he had said to the Holy One, blessed be He, not to be long-suffering with the wicked. Moses began and said: "And now, let the power of the Lord be great" — that His mercy may subdue His anger, just as the Lord said to him, "slow to anger," that He should not exact punishment from them at once. "As You have spoken, saying" — what did He speak? "The Lord is slow to anger," that You said that You would be long-suffering with the wicked; "and abundant in lovingkindness," that all Your deeds are only in lovingkindness, for if You were to be exacting with Your creatures, there is none who could stand in the time of Your anger. "Forgiving iniquity and passing over transgression" — to whom does He forgive iniquity? To the one who passes over [others'] transgressions. "And acquitting" — for those who repent; "He will not acquit" — for those who do not repent. "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons" — when they hold the deeds of their fathers in their hands.