Why God Calmed Israel With Kindness Before the Law at Sinai

"Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way" (Exodus 23). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who chose Israel above all the work of His hands, acquired them as a complete acquisition, and called them sons and servants for His name. Come and see what is said of Israel (Exodus 6): "Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD... and I will take you to Me for a people... and I will bring you to the land." May it be Your will, my Father in Heaven, that You never deliver me into the hand of a messenger. What is written before this passage (Exodus 19): "In the third month..."; and after it (Exodus 21): "And these are the ordinances"; and after that: "Behold, I send an angel." They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who came with horses, horsemen, and many troops. When his servants and household heard, they trembled and were greatly afraid. But the king was wise, shrewd, and full of understanding. What did he do? He came and settled in a town near his house and said to his officers and dukes: How many householders are there? Give them so much wheat and barley to eat, and wool and flax to clothe them. How many poor and needy are among them, how many blind, lame, and deaf? Give them so much wheat and barley to eat, and wool and flax to clothe them. How many youths and small children, how many old men and old women are among them? Give them so much to eat and to clothe them. At once his servants and household were calmed of their fear. So too, when the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to give the Torah to Israel, He revealed Himself only with two hundred and forty-two thousand myriads of angels, as it says (Psalms 68): "The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands." And it says (Habakkuk 3): "God comes from Teman." Even when the Holy One, blessed be He, came and dwelt on Mount Sinai, there were with Him twenty-two thousand angels appointed over Israel, and each one of Israel was borne twelve mil, as it says: "As an eagle stirs up its nest... He spread His wings, He took him, He bore him on His pinions" (Deuteronomy 32). When our fathers stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, at that hour they trembled and were greatly afraid, as it says (Exodus 19): "And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings... and all the people in the camp trembled." And it says (Exodus 20): "And all the people saw the thunderings... and the people saw and trembled and stood far off, and said to Moses, You speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die." When Moses saw that Israel were afraid when the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself and spoke with them, Moses said to them: Do not fear, as it says: "And Moses said to the people, Fear not, for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be upon your faces, that you do not sin." Moses first appeased Israel, and afterward arranged before them the laws of damages and all the measures of justice, as it is written afterward: "And these are the ordinances which you shall set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant..." up to "and his master shall pierce his ear." Woe to the wicked, who through their corrupt deeds bring themselves to ruin and remain poor until the day of death. Are these matters not a fortiori? If of the wicked who are sold for their theft Scripture says (Deuteronomy 15), "You shall surely furnish him from your flock... it shall not be hard in your eyes when you send him free," then how much more so for the righteous of the world who do the will of the Omnipresent every day. They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king who had a great palace with the door locked, so that no one could enter. A projecting beam came out of it, and upon it were figs and grapes and all kinds of delicacies; and another beam beside it came out, and on it were food and drink and all kinds of provisions. All the people standing outside the king's palace pass by there. What do they say? From the beam that projects from the king's palace you can know what is inside it. So from the sufferings of the righteous in this world you may learn the measure of the punishment of the wicked in Gehinnom. And from the ease of the wicked in this world you may learn the reward of the righteous in the world to come, as it says (Psalms 31): "How great is Your goodness which You have hidden away for those who fear You." And it says (Isaiah 64): "From of old men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, neither has the eye seen..." Once I was passing from place to place, and an old man met me and said to me: Are there idolaters who will live to the days of the son of David? I said to him: All the nations and all the kingdoms that afflicted Israel and oppressed them will see Israel's joy and will be grieved and angered in their hearts, and afterward they go to their dust and never return, as it says (Psalms 112): "The wicked sees and is angered, he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked perishes." And it says (Isaiah 65): "And you shall leave your name for a curse to My chosen." But all the nations and kingdoms that did not afflict Israel and did not oppress them will see Israel's joy and become plowmen and vinedressers for Israel, as it says (Isaiah 61): "And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and vinedressers, and you shall be called the priests of the LORD." While I was standing and speaking with the old man, a certain student who was not expert in the law came to me and said: I labor in words of Torah, and I long and yearn and hope that Torah will come to me, yet Torah does not come to me. I said to him: My son, a man does not merit words of Torah unless he gives his soul over to death for it, for the honor of Heaven, like this ox that is brought under the yoke and gives itself over for the honor of its owner to serve him, as it says (Proverbs 14): "And much increase is by the strength of the ox." And it says (Proverbs 16): "To man belong the arrangements of the heart, but from the LORD comes the answer of the tongue." And it says: "The poor and needy seek water and there is none... I the LORD will answer them" (Isaiah 41). My Father in Heaven, may Your great name be blessed forever and ever, and may You have contentment from Israel Your servants in all their dwelling places, for what You said: that You receive the transgressors of Israel in repentance. For even if a man has committed a hundred sins, each greater than the last, and repents, behold I am with him in mercy and I receive his repentance; even if a man stands and blasphemes toward Heaven and then turns and repents, You, the Holy One, blessed be He, pardon him for all of them, as it says (Isaiah 35): "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing." And the blind, deaf, lame, and mute are none other than one who lacks knowledge in words of Torah and lacks good deeds, for it says, "For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert" (Isaiah 35).