The aftermath of the Golden Calf. Moses is up on Mount Sinai, receiving the Torah, while the Israelites down below are, well, not exactly holding the faith. When God tells Moses to "Go descend," (Exodus 32:7) it's loaded with implications.
Rabbi Meir, in Shemot Rabbah 42, sees those words, "Go descend," as a hidden message. "They require discipline," he says. Mardut, in Hebrew. Discipline. How does he know? Because God follows up with, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people" (Exodus 32:9). : you don't call someone "stiff-necked" unless they need a good dose of…correction.
The Rabbis agree with Rabbi Meir, pointing to Moses’s actions upon descending. He doesn’t exactly come down with a hug and a "welcome back." Instead, he calls out, "Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!" (Exodus 32:26). And then, the unthinkable: "Each man, place his sword upon his thigh…and each man slay his brother" (Exodus 32:27). Harsh. But according to this interpretation, it's a direct consequence of God's command to "Go descend." The descent meant discipline.
But there's another layer. Rabbi Avin offers a different perspective. He suggests that God’s saying "Go descend" to Moses wasn't a rebuke, but almost…an invitation to empathy. "Don't consider it grave," God says, "that I said to you 'go descend' from here, as two, three times I descended, as it were, from Heaven to earth in order to see the corruption of the people."
Think about the Tower of Babel ("The Lord descended to see the city and the tower," Genesis 11:5), or Sodom ("I will descend and see," (Genesis 18:2)1). God, in a sense, is saying, "Moses, you're not above this. I've done it myself. It is sufficient for a servant to be equal to his Maker."
But here’s the really tough part. Moses, upon hearing this comparison, despairs. He thinks, "There is no forgiveness!" He believes the Israelites are as irredeemable as the builders of Babel or the citizens of Sodom.
But God, knowing Moses’s heart, reminds him of their first encounter at the burning bush. "Did I not already say to you…what they are destined to do?" God says, referencing (Exodus 3:7): "The Lord said: I have seen [rao ra’iti]."
The phrase rao ra’iti – "I have seen, I have seen" – is key. God explains to Moses that He sees more than Moses does. Moses sees one "seeing," but God sees two. God sees them receiving the Torah at Sinai, and He sees them, later on, creating the Golden Calf, taking inspiration (of all things!) from God's own celestial chariot described by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:10). "They exchanged their Glory for the form of a bull" (Psalms 106:20).
In other words, God knew all along. God knew they would mess up. And yet, He still chose them. He still redeemed them from Egypt. As the Midrash Rabbah connects it: Rao ra’iti – God saw their affliction in Egypt, and rao ra’iti – God saw their future sin with the calf. The point? God’s redemption wasn't contingent on their perfection.
So, what do we take away from all this? It's easy to focus on the sin, on the harsh discipline. But perhaps the deeper message is about God's unwavering commitment. About seeing the potential for good even when the present is…well, less than ideal. It's a reminder that even when we stumble, when we build our own "golden calves," there's still a chance for redemption. Because sometimes, the descent is just the first step on the path back up.
Another matter: “Go descend [red]” – Rabbi Meir says: They require discipline [mardut]. From where is it derived that this is what He said to him? You know it from what the Holy One blessed be He said to him, as it is stated: “The Lord said to Moses: I have seen this people and behold, it is a stiff-necked people” (Exodus 32:9). A person does not say that so-and-so is stiff-necked unless he requires discipline. The Rabbis say: What is “go descend”? They require discipline. This supports Rabbi Meir. Know that it is so; come and see that when Moses descended, what did he say to them? “Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said: Whoever is for the Lord, [to me].… And he said to them: So said the Lord, God of Israel: [Each man, place his sword upon his thigh. Pass to and fro from gate to gate in the camp and each man slay his brother and each man his neighbor and each man his relative]” (Exodus 32:26–27). Where do you find that He had said that to him? “Go descend.” What is “descend”? They require discipline. Another matter: “Go descend” – Rabbi Avin said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: Do not consider it grave that I said to you “go descend” from here, as two, three times I descended, as it were, from Heaven to earth in order to see the corruption of the people, as it is stated: “The Lord descended to see the city and the tower” (Genesis 11:5); “Come let us descend [and confound their language there]” (Genesis 11:7);16These two verses are in the context of the Tower of Babel. “I will descend and see” (Genesis 18:21).17This is in the context of the destruction of Sodom. You, too, “go descend” – it is sufficient for a servant to be equal to his Maker. When Moses saw this, he said: There is no forgiveness.18Upon hearing that God compared the people to those who created the Tower of Babel and to the Sodomites, Moses despaired of the possibility of forgiveness for Israel. The Holy One blessed be He knew what was in Moses’s heart and called to him to placate him. He said: ‘Did I not already say to you when you were at the bush what they are destined to do,’ as it is stated: “The Lord said: I have seen [rao ra’iti]” (Exodus 3:7). The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘You see a single sighting, but I see two sightings. You see them coming to Sinai and receiving My Torah, but I see that after I come to Sinai to give them the Torah, and I return in My chariot drawn by four animals, they will look at it and take one of them and anger Me with it, as it is stated: “The face of an ox to the left of the four of them” (Ezekiel 1:10). They will anger me with it, as it is stated: “They exchanged their Glory for the form of bull.” (Psalms 106:20). Alternatively: “I have seen [rao ra’iti] [the affliction of My people]” (Exodus 3:7) – what is “the affliction of My people”? This is the congregation of the calf.19Some commentaries (see, e.g., Maharzu) substitute the word sound [kol] for congregation [kahal]. Thus, the midrash connects the phrase “the sound of a cry [kol anot] do I hear” (Exodus 32:18) with the “affliction [oni]” God heard when the Israelites were in Egypt. In any event, the point is that God redeemed Israel from Egypt despite knowing that they would commit the sin of the golden calf. Rao ra’iti, this is the sighting that was there, and this is the sighting that is here.20The midrash connects the God’s seeing the affliction of the Israelites in Egypt with His seeing that the people were stiff-necked, stated in context of the sin of the golden calf (see Exodus 32:9). Here too, the point is that God redeemed Israel from Egypt despite knowing that they would commit the sin of the golden calf. All this is meant to assuage Moses’ fears that Israel could not be forgiven.
