“The Lord said to Moses: Carve for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered” (Exodus 34:1). “The Lord said to Moses: Carve for yourself” – that is what is written: “He would tell you the secrets of wisdom” (Job 11:6). You find that when the Holy One blessed be He said to him: “Go, descend, for your people have acted corruptly” (Exodus 32:7), he grasped the tablets and did not believe that Israel had sinned.
He said: ‘If I do not see it, I do not believe it,’ as it is stated: “It was when Moses drew near to the camp [that he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses’ wrath was enflamed, and he cast the tablets from his hands, and he shattered them at the foot of the mountain]” (Exodus 32:19). He did not break them until he saw with his eyes. Woe to those people who testify about what they have not seen.
Is it possible that Moses did not believe the Holy One blessed be He who said to him: “For your people have acted corruptly”? It is, rather, that Moses was informing Israel of proper conduct. Even if a person hears a matter from a trustworthy individual, it is prohibited to accept his testimony and to take action on the basis of his word if one does not see it. Another matter: Because the writing flew off the tablets, he broke them, as it is stated: “I saw, and, behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 9:16).
Moses saw that they sinned and he broke the tablets. This is analogous to a prince who took a wife, wrote a marriage contract, and placed it in the possession of a close friend. Sometime later, evil reports emerged about her. What did the close friend do?
He tore up her marriage contract. He said: ‘It is preferable that she be judged as a single woman and not as a married woman.’ So Moses did; he said: ‘If I do not break the tablets, Israel will not survive, as it is stated: “One who sacrifices to gods shall be destroyed”’ (Exodus 22:19). What did he do?
He broke them. He said to the Holy One blessed be He: ‘They did not know what was written on them.’ Another matter: “I saw, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God” – he saw that Israel would not survive, and he joined himself with them and broke the tablets. He said to the Holy One blessed be He: ‘They sinned and I sinned, as I broke the tablets.
If you pardon them, pardon me as well, as it is stated: “Now, if You will bear their sin” (Exodus 32:32) – pardon my sin as well. But if You do not pardon them, do not pardon me, but rather, “erase me please from Your book that You have written”’ (Exodus 32:32). Rabbi Aḥa said: He did not move from there until he cleared their sin, as it is stated: “Moses turned [vayifen] and descended” (Exodus 32:15) – [he descended] once he cleared [pina] their sin.
Moses said: Israel had someone to plead on their behalf; who will plead on my behalf? He began regretting the breaking of the tablets. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Do not regret the first tablets, as they were only the Ten Commandments alone. But on the second tablets that I am giving you there will be halakhot, midrash, and aggadot.’
That is what is written: “He would tell you the secrets of wisdom, as sagacity is two-sided” (Job 11:6). Moreover, you will receive the tidings that I pardoned you for your sin, as it is stated: “Know that God may overlook for you some of your iniquities” (Job 11:6).