Four Things Moses Did on His Own and Heaven Agreed

Four things Moses did of his own reasoning, and his reasoning agreed with the reasoning of the Omnipresent: he shattered the tablets, he separated from his wife, and so forth. How so? He said: If concerning Israel, who were summoned only for the moment and were sanctified only to receive the Ten Commandments, it was said, "Do not approach a woman" (Exodus 19:15), then I, who am summoned for this every day and every hour and do not know when He will speak with me, whether by day or by night, how much more so. And his reasoning agreed with the reasoning of the Omnipresent. Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira says: "Mouth to mouth I speak with him" (Numbers 12:8): mouth to mouth I told him, separate from your wife, as it is said, "Go, say to them, Return to your tents, but you, stand here with Me" (Deuteronomy 5:27-28). He separated from the Tent of Meeting. He said: If Aaron my brother, who is anointed with the oil of anointing and clothed in many garments, was told by the Holy One, blessed be He, "Let him not come at all times" (Leviticus 16:2), then I, who am not summoned for this, how much more so. He shattered the tablets. How so? When he ascended and took them and came down, he rejoiced greatly. Once Israel sinned, he said: If I give these to them, I bind them to grave commandments and make them liable to death by Heaven, for it is written, "You shall have no other gods." He turned back, and the elders saw and ran after him. Moses gripped the heads of the tablets and they gripped their ends, and the strength of Moses prevailed over the strength of the seventy elders, as it is said, "and for all the mighty hand" (Deuteronomy 34:12). Moses looked at the tablets and saw that the writing upon them was flying off, and they grew heavy in Moses's hands and fell from his hands and shattered. Others said: he did not break them until it was told to him from the mouth of the Almighty, "which you shattered" (Exodus 34:1); He said to him, well done that you shattered them. Rabbi Meir says: "And they were there, as the LORD commanded me" (Deuteronomy 10:5), teaching that he was commanded and shattered the tablets. It was taught, Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: a person should always be careful in repentance, for from the answer that Aaron gave Moses the heretics derived license, as it is said, "And I cast it into the fire, and out came this calf" (Exodus 32:24).