Why Moses Fled from Authority Yet Was Crowned with Glory

And Moses fled from authority at the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him (Exodus 3:10), "(Arise) [Come], and I will send you to Pharaoh," and so forth. "And he said, 'Please, my Lord, send by the hand of whomever You will send'" (Exodus 4:13). Rabbi Levi said: For seven days the Holy One, blessed be He, was persuading Moses at the bush to send him, and he kept answering Him, "Send by the hand of whomever You will send." As it is stated (Exodus 4:10), "And Moses said to the Lord, 'I am not a man of words, neither yesterday nor the day before, nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue.'" The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: By your life, in the end you shall go. When he went and said, "Thus says the Lord, the God of [Israel]," and so forth (Exodus 5:1), that wicked one said, "Who is the Lord, that I should heed His voice?" (Exodus 5:2). Moses began to say: I have already carried out my mission. He went and sat himself down. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Have you sat down? "Come, speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt" (Exodus 6:11). For every single utterance: "Go to Pharaoh," "Rise early in the morning" — to teach you that he was fleeing from authority. In the end he brought them out, and split the sea for them, and brought them into the wilderness, and brought down the manna for them, and raised up the well for them, and made the quail fly to them, and made the Tabernacle. And he said: From here onward, what is there for me to do? He arose and sat himself down. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: By your life, you have a labor greater than all that you have done — to teach My children impurity and purity, and to instruct them how they are to offer a sacrifice before Me, as it is stated, "And He called to Moses, [Speak to the children of Israel: When a person offers from among you a sacrifice]" (Leviticus 1:1–2). Abimelech pursued authority, and it fled from him, to fulfill what is stated (Proverbs 29:23), "A person's pride will bring him low," and (ibid.) "but the lowly of spirit will uphold honor." This is Moses, as it is stated (Psalms 8:6), "Yet You have made him a little less than divine, and crowned him with glory and majesty."