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The Angels Tried to Strike Moses and God Hid Him in the Rock

God's voice at Sinai killed every nation that heard it except Israel. Moses asked to see the glory itself. The angels in God's court rose to strike him down.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Voice That Killed Nations
  2. What Seraphim Cover Their Eyes to Avoid
  3. God Hides Moses in the Rock
  4. The Footstool and What Stood on It

The Voice That Killed Nations

When God spoke at Sinai, the sound went out across the world. Every nation on earth heard it, and the souls of every person who heard it left their bodies on the spot. The mountains shook. The angels fled to their stations. The dead in their graves stirred. Only Israel, standing at the foot of the mountain with the smoke and fire directly above them, survived the hearing.

The Torah asks the question itself. Has any people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire and lived? The answer was that Israel had. But even Israel could not absorb the full undivided voice. God had to split it into seven voices, and the seven voices into seventy languages, before the sound could be carried by human ears without destroying what carried it.

That was the voice speaking the commandments downward toward the people. Then Moses asked for something more.

What Seraphim Cover Their Eyes to Avoid

Moses had been inside the cloud. He had stood in the cleft of the rock while the Presence passed. He had seen the back of what was moving away. He had heard the voice that killed the other nations. None of it satisfied him. He asked to see the glory itself. Not the cloud. Not the voice. The thing behind both.

The angels heard this request and their patience ended. They served before the Presence day and night without ever seeing what Moses was asking to see. The seraphim covered their faces with two wings when they stood before the throne. The chayot hid their faces in the fire. The entire angelic court operated under a rule that the full glory was not to be looked at directly, that proximity was its own kind of blindness, that the most devoted servants of God had never seen what a man born of woman was now asking to see.

They rose in wrath and in readiness to strike him down.

God Hides Moses in the Rock

God moved faster. He placed Moses in a cleft of the rock and covered the opening with His hand until the full weight of the Presence had passed through. Then He lifted His hand, and Moses saw the back of what had just left. The radiance of the Presence as it walked away from you.

The angels were still present. The moment passed. Moses was still standing.

What he saw from the rock was not darkness. Not nothing. Light pouring back from the departure of something so bright that even its going was more than the angels could endure. Moses saw the trailing edge of divinity and came down from the mountain with his face shining so brightly that the people could not look at him and he had to veil it.

The Footstool and What Stood on It

A third scene belongs with these two. The footstool of God's throne is the earth, the same verse that says heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. When Moses came down from Sinai carrying the law, he was bringing something from the region of the throne to the region of the footstool. He was closing the gap that sin had opened between the place where the Presence resided and the place where people lived.

The angels who had tried to kill him at the beginning of the ascent had to watch a man, a mortal who had been hidden in a rock while they stood exposed, carry the divine teaching down the mountain and give it to the people who had survived the voice. The footstool received what the throne had given. Moses had stood between the two and lived, shielded by the same hand that had written what he was carrying.

MosesAngelsMidrash AggadahPirkei Derabbi EliezerThrone
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 41Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

The first utterance went forth, and the heavens trembled, and the seas and the rivers fled, and the mountains and the hills tottered, and all the trees bowed down, and the dead who were in Sheol came to life and stood upon their feet, as it is said, "but with him who stands here with us this day" (Deuteronomy 29:14). And all those destined to be created until the end of all the generations stood there with them, as it is said, "and also with him who is not here" (Deuteronomy 29:14). And the Israelites who were alive fell upon their faces and died.

And a second utterance went forth, and they came to life and stood upon their feet and said to Moses: "Moses, we are not able to hear the voice of the Holy One, blessed be He, any longer, lest we die there just as we died," as it is said, "And they said to Moses: Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die" (Exodus 20:16). And now, why should we die just as we died? And the Holy One, blessed be He, heard their voice, and it was pleasing to Him, and He sent Michael and Gabriel, and they took hold of the two hands of Moses against his will and brought him near to the thick darkness, as it is said, "And Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was" (Exodus 20:18).

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 46:12Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

It's a story of intense longing, divine protection, and a glimpse into the unknowable.

Moses, up on Mount Sinai. He's already had quite the encounter with the Almighty, receiving the Torah and acting as an intermediary for the Jewish people. But he desires something more. He wants to see God's glory, to truly understand.

Here's the thing: even the angels, who constantly minister before God, day and night, can't fully comprehend or witness His glory. They see Moses, a mortal, a being "born of woman," aspiring to something they themselves can’t achieve, and they are… not pleased. According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, they rose up in "wrath and excitement" ready to strike him down!

So, what does God do? Does He chastise Moses for his audacity? No. Instead, God intervenes. The text describes it as the "seventh descent," a moment where the divine comes down to meet the human. God reveals Himself in a cloud, as it says in (Exodus 34:5), "And the Lord descended in the cloud."

But even that wasn't enough to protect Moses from the sheer intensity of the divine presence. He needed something more… a shield.

God protects Moses with the "hollow of His hand," preventing him from being consumed. image for a moment. It's an incredible act of intimacy and protection. The verse in (Exodus 33:22) tells us, "And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover thee with my hand."

This protection is temporary. When God passes by, He removes His hand, and Moses sees the "traces of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence)," the divine presence. (Exodus 33:23) says, "And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back." He doesn't see God's face, the full glory, but rather an afterimage, a glimpse.

The experience overwhelms Moses. He cries out with a loud voice, reciting the thirteen attributes of mercy, "O Lord, O Lord, a God full of compassion and gracious…" (Exodus 34:6). It's a moment of profound realization. He understands, perhaps, that the full glory is too much for a human to bear, but that even a glimpse of the divine is enough to inspire awe and a deeper connection.

What does this story tell us? It reminds us of the inherent limitations of human understanding when it comes to the divine. We can strive, we can yearn, but there will always be a veil. Yet, even a glimpse, a trace, can be transformative. And, perhaps more importantly, it speaks to God's compassion. Even when we reach for the impossible, He is there to protect us, to guide us, and to reveal what we are capable of understanding.

The story from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer invites us to consider what "glory" means to us, and what it means to seek it out. What are we truly searching for, and are we prepared for what we might find?

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 48Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai opened: "On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying" (Genesis 15:18). Abraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of all worlds, behold, You have not given me offspring, and yet You say to me, "To your offspring I have given this land" (Genesis 15:18)?

"How shall I know that I will inherit it?" (Genesis 15:8). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Abraham, the entire world stands upon My word, and you do not believe in My word? Yet you say, "How shall I know that I will inherit it?" By your life, twice shall you surely know, as it is said, "And He said to Abram, you shall surely know" (Genesis 15:13).

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