Moses the Poor Wise Man Who Saved the City of the Wilderness

Another interpretation: A LITTLE CITY (Ecclesiastes 9:14) — this is the wilderness; AND FEW PEOPLE IN IT — this is the generation of the wilderness; AND A GREAT KING CAME AGAINST IT — this is the Holy One, blessed be He; AND BUILT GREAT SIEGE WORKS AGAINST IT — when? At the hour when Israel made the calf. For what is written (in Deuteronomy 9:14)? “Let Me alone, that I may destroy them.” NOW THERE WAS FOUND IN IT A POOR AND WISE MAN (Ecclesiastes 9:15) — this is Moses the righteous, as it is said (in Proverbs 21:22), “A wise man scaled the city of the mighty.” AND HE DELIVERED THE CITY BY HIS WISDOM — as it is said (in Exodus 32:11), “Why, O LORD, should Your wrath burn against Your people?” BUT NO ONE REMEMBERED THAT POOR MAN — the Holy One, blessed be He, said: If a man did not remember him, I remember him, as it is said (in Isaiah 63:11), “Then He remembered the days of old, Moses [and] His people.”