The Nations Refuse the Torah Each by Its Own Trait

Another interpretation: "I am the LORD your God" - when the Omnipresent stood and said "I am the LORD your God," the earth trembled, as it says "LORD, when You went forth from Seir" (Judges 5:4), and it says "the mountains flowed down before the LORD" (Judges 5:5), and it says "the voice of the LORD is in power, the voice of the LORD is in majesty, the voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, the voice of the LORD makes the hinds to calve" (Psalms 29:4-9), until their houses were filled with the radiance of the Divine Presence. At that hour all the nations of the world gathered and came to Balaam and said to him, Is the Omnipresent perhaps bringing a flood upon the world? He said to them, the Omnipresent has already sworn that He will bring no flood, as it says "for this is as the waters of Noah to Me, that I have sworn" (Isaiah 54:9). They said to him, perhaps He brings no flood of water but He brings a flood of fire. He said to them, He brings neither a flood of water nor a flood of fire; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to give the Torah to His people, as it says "the LORD will give strength to His people" (Psalms 29:11). When they heard this, they all turned and went, each to his place. Therefore the nations of the world were called upon for the Torah, so as not to give the nations an opening to say, Had we been asked we would already have accepted it. So they were asked and did not accept it. "And he said, the LORD came from Sinai" (Deuteronomy 33:2): He was revealed to the children of wicked Esau and said to them, Do you accept the Torah upon yourselves? They said to Him, what is written in it? He said to them, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). They said to Him, this is the inheritance our father bequeathed us, "by your sword you shall live" (Genesis 27:40). He was revealed to the children of Ammon and Moab; He said to them, Do you accept the Torah? They said to Him, what is written in it? He said to them, "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:13). They said to Him, but they are all the children of adulterers, as it says "thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father" (Genesis 19:36). He was revealed to the children of Ishmael; He said to them, Do you accept the Torah upon yourselves? They said to Him, what is written in it? He said to them, "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:13). They said to Him, this is the blessing our father was given, as it says "and he shall be a wild man" and it is written "for indeed I was stolen away" (Genesis 40:15). And when He came to Israel, "at His right hand was a fiery law for them" (Deuteronomy 33:2), they all opened and said, "all that the LORD has spoken we will do and we will hear" (Exodus 24:7). And so it says "He stood and measured the earth, He beheld and drove asunder the nations" (Habakkuk 3:6). Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar says, if with the seven commandments that the children of Noah were commanded they could not stand, how much more so with all the commandments of the Torah. A parable of a king who had two stewards: one appointed over a treasury of silver and gold, and one appointed over a treasury of straw. The one appointed over the treasury of straw was suspected, and he complained that they had not appointed him over the treasury of silver and gold. They said to him, Empty one, if over a treasury of straw you were suspected, how shall they trust you over a treasury of gold and silver? And the matter is an argument from minor to major: if with the seven commandments the children of Noah were commanded they could not stand, how much more so with all the commandments of the Torah. And why was the Torah not given in the land of Israel? So as not to give an opening to the nations of the world to say, because it was given in His land therefore we did not accept it.