“He said: Show me, please, Your glory” (Exodus 33:18). “He said: Show me, please, Your glory.” Rabbi Tanḥuma bar Abba began: “As it is better that it be said to you: Come up here, than that you should be debased” (Proverbs 25:7). Hillel says: My debasing is my exalting, and my exalting is my debasing.16When I debase myself I am exalted by others, and when I exalt myself I am debased by others (see Etz Yosef).
It is preferable for a person that they say to him: Ascend upward, and that they not say to him: Descend downward. David said: “Who sits exalted” (Psalms 113:5). When I exalt myself, they cause me to sit, debased. That is, “who sits exalted.”17The verse is understood to mean: He who is exalted is made to sit.
But when I debase myself, they exalt me, as it is stated: “Who is lowered to see” (Psalms 113:6). What caused me to see all the lands, as it is written: “David’s renown emerged in all the lands”? (I Chronicles 14:17). It is because I debased myself. Another matter, “As it is better that it be said to you: Come up here,” this refers to Moses at the time when the Holy One blessed be He revealed Himself to him at the bush, just as it says: “An angel of the Lord appeared…” (Exodus 3:2).
Rabbi Yehuda bar Neḥemya said: Moses was a novice in prophecy. The Holy One blessed be He said: If I reveal Myself to him with a loud noise I will cause him to panic. If with a low voice, he will scorn the prophecy. What did the Holy One blessed be He do?
He revealed Himself to him in his father’s voice. [Moses] said: ‘My father has come from Egypt!’ He said to him: ‘I am not your father, but rather, “the God of your father”’ (Exodus 3:6). “Moses concealed his face, [for he was afraid to look upon God]” (Exodus 3:6). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa said: Moses did not act well in that he concealed his face.
Had he not concealed his face, the Holy One blessed be He would have revealed to him what is above us, what is below us, and what is destined to be. Ultimately, he sought to see, as it is stated: “Show me, please, Your glory.” The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘When I sought you did not seek, now that you seek, I do not seek.’ Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Nevertheless, He showed him three; in reward for three, he merited three.
In reward for “[Moses] concealed” (Exodus 3:6) – “The Lord spoke to Moses [face to face]” (Exodus 33:12).18Citation based on Matnot Kehuna; see also Shemot Rabba 3:1. In reward for “for he was afraid” (Exodus 3:6), – “they were afraid to approach him” (Exodus 34:30). In reward for “to look upon God,” (Exodus 3:6), – “he beholds [yabit] the image of God” (Numbers 12:8). Rabbi Hoshaya Rabba said: Moses showed great deference in that he concealed his face, but Nadav and Avihu bared their heads and feasted their eyes on the Divine Spirit, as it is stated: “Against the noblemen of the children of Israel He did not extend His hand [and they beheld God and ate and drank]” (Exodus 24:11).
Another matter, “he said: Show me, please, Your glory.” He sought to ascertain the granting of reward to the righteous and the tranquility of the wicked.19He sought to comprehend the reward of the righteous in the World to Come and to understand why the wicked enjoy tranquility in this world. From where is it derived that the granting of reward to the righteous is called glory? As it is stated: “The wise will inherit glory” (Proverbs 3:35).
Likewise it says: “Glory before His elders” (Isaiah 24:23). From where is it derived that the tranquility of the wicked is called glory? As it is stated: “After glory You will take me” (Psalms 73:24).20After the wicked receive any reward they have earned in this world, they are taken to the next world for punishment. What did the Holy One blessed be He answer him?
“He said: You will not be able see My face [panai]” (Exodus 33:20). The expression panai stated here is nothing other than the tranquility of the wicked, as it is written: “He repays His enemies to their face [el panav] to eradicate them” (Deuteronomy 7:10).