Another matter: “Go descend [red]” – Rabbi Meir says: They require discipline [mardut]. From where is it derived that this is what He said to him? You know it from what the Holy One blessed be He said to him, as it is stated: “The Lord said to Moses: I have seen this people and behold, it is a stiff-necked people” (Exodus 32:9). A person does not say that so-and-so is stiff-necked unless he requires discipline.
The Rabbis say: What is “go descend”? They require discipline. This supports Rabbi Meir. Know that it is so; come and see that when Moses descended, what did he say to them?
“Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said: Whoever is for the Lord, [to me].… And he said to them: So said the Lord, God of Israel: [Each man, place his sword upon his thigh. Pass to and fro from gate to gate in the camp and each man slay his brother and each man his neighbor and each man his relative]” (Exodus 32:26–27). Where do you find that He had said that to him? “Go descend.”
What is “descend”? They require discipline. Another matter: “Go descend” – Rabbi Avin said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: Do not consider it grave that I said to you “go descend” from here, as two, three times I descended, as it were, from Heaven to earth in order to see the corruption of the people, as it is stated: “The Lord descended to see the city and the tower” (Genesis 11:5); “Come let us descend [and confound their language there]” (Genesis 11:7);16These two verses are in the context of the Tower of Babel.
“I will descend and see” (Genesis 18:21).17This is in the context of the destruction of Sodom. You, too, “go descend” – it is sufficient for a servant to be equal to his Maker. When Moses saw this, he said: There is no forgiveness.18Upon hearing that God compared the people to those who created the Tower of Babel and to the Sodomites, Moses despaired of the possibility of forgiveness for Israel. The Holy One blessed be He knew what was in Moses’s heart and called to him to placate him.
He said: ‘Did I not already say to you when you were at the bush what they are destined to do,’ as it is stated: “The Lord said: I have seen [rao ra’iti]” (Exodus 3:7). The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘You see a single sighting, but I see two sightings. You see them coming to Sinai and receiving My Torah, but I see that after I come to Sinai to give them the Torah, and I return in My chariot drawn by four animals, they will look at it and take one of them and anger Me with it, as it is stated: “The face of an ox to the left of the four of them” (Ezekiel 1:10).
They will anger me with it, as it is stated: “They exchanged their Glory for the form of bull.” (Psalms 106:20). Alternatively: “I have seen [rao ra’iti] [the affliction of My people]” (Exodus 3:7) – what is “the affliction of My people”? This is the congregation of the calf.19Some commentaries (see, e.g., Maharzu) substitute the word sound [kol] for congregation [kahal]. Thus, the midrash connects the phrase “the sound of a cry [kol anot] do I hear” (Exodus 32:18) with the “affliction [oni]” God heard when the Israelites were in Egypt.
In any event, the point is that God redeemed Israel from Egypt despite knowing that they would commit the sin of the golden calf. Rao ra’iti, this is the sighting that was there, and this is the sighting that is here.20The midrash connects the God’s seeing the affliction of the Israelites in Egypt with His seeing that the people were stiff-necked, stated in context of the sin of the golden calf (see Exodus 32:9).
Here too, the point is that God redeemed Israel from Egypt despite knowing that they would commit the sin of the golden calf. All this is meant to assuage Moses’ fears that Israel could not be forgiven.