Thousands of Angels and Yet Room to Spare at Sinai

Another interpretation of "the chariots of God" (Psalms 68:18): Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedat said, in a place where there are crowds there is crush, but at Sinai, when the Holy One, blessed be He, came, there came down with Him a thousand thousands and myriads of myriads, and even so there was room for them, as it says "thousands of angels [shin'an]" (Psalms 68:18) [reading shin'an as a term of ease], as you say "Moab has been at ease [sha'anan] from its youth" (Jeremiah 48:11). Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah and Rabbi Eleazar of Modiin: one of them says the mountain itself stretched to hold them, for the Holy One, blessed be He, said to it, Lengthen yourself, widen yourself, and receive the children of your Master. And one says, when the Holy One, blessed be He, returns to Jerusalem He will bring the exiles back into her, as it says "these shall come from far" (Isaiah 49:12). Can she hold them? Rather the Holy One, blessed be He, said to her, "Enlarge the place of your tent" (Isaiah 54:2). "The LORD is among them" (Psalms 68:18): Reish Lakish said, every single angel has a tablet upon his heart, and the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is joined to the name of the angel: Mi-cha-el, Gav-ri-el, Refa-el. "The LORD is among them" means His lordship is among them. And do not say among them alone, but even when He came to give His Torah, in this very tongue He gave it, and opened with it: "I am the LORD your God" (Exodus 20:2). This is what Scripture says: "Hear, My people, and I will speak" (Psalms 50:7). Rabbi Hama bar Isaac said, "Hear, My people, that I may speak," that I may have an opening of the mouth to bring charges against the princes of the nations of the world. Another interpretation: "Hear, My people" refers to the past. Before you accepted the Torah, your names were like the names of the nations of the world: "Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteca" (Genesis 10:7). Once you accepted the Torah you became "My people": "God, your God, am I" (Psalms 50:7).