<b>Go, get thee down (Exod. 32:7).</b> The sages said: Moses was actually excommunicated by the heavenly court at that time. Here it is said: <i>Get thee down (red)</i> as a rebuke, for the people had dealt corruptly, and elsewhere it is said: <i>And Judah went down (vayered) from his brethren</i> (Gen. 38:1). What is written preceding that? <i>And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him</i> (ibid. 37:35). But when he remained uncomforted they arose and excommunicated Judah. They said: “When you told us: ‘Come and let us sell him,’ we listened to you, but if you had told us: ‘Come, let us take him back,’ we would have listened to you. You are responsible for our father’s grief.” That is why they excommunicated him. Hence the word <i>red</i> (“get thee down”) implies excommunication.
Thereupon Moses stood before the Holy One, blessed be He, and asked: “Wherein am I guilty?” He replied: “Your people have dealt corruptly.” “My people,” Moses responded; “they are Your people and Your inheritance which You did redeem with Your own power. But what is their sin?” The Holy One, blessed be He, replied: “They exchanged their glory for the likeness of an ox that eateth.” Whereupon Moses said: “Master of the Universe, are You indeed jealous of an ox? Is he Your helper? Do You bring the winds while he causes the rain to fall? Do You make the sun shine, and he the moon to glow? Do You cause the trees to grow, and he the blossoms to sprout? After all, the ox is powerless; it merely eats grass and then is slaughtered. <i>Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax against thy people?</i> (Exod. 32:11).” He replied: “Is it honoring Me when they prostrate themselves before it and offer sacrifices to it? <i>I have watched this people, and it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot</i> (ibid., vv. 9–10).” From this verse you may infer that the Holy One, blessed be He, is suggesting to Moses that he should plead for mercy in their behalf, since it is said: <i>And I will make of thee a great nation</i> (ibid., v. 10).
<i>And I will make of thee a great nation, and it shall be mighty</i>. He said to Him: If the merit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob cannot assuage Your anger, how can my merit sustain (my descendants)?<sup class="footnote-marker">31</sup><i class="footnote">Because it was the merit of the patriarchs that was decisive.</i> Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and forget about me, lest it happen as the Egyptians said: <i>For evil did he bring them forth</i> (Ibid., v. 12).
<i>Turn from Thy fierce anger</i> (ibid.); Satan continued to contend against them on high. What did Moses do? He closed the breach through which Satan had entered to press his argument against Israel, as it is said: <i>Had not Moses His servant stood before in the breach</i> (Ps. 106:23). And God had mercy upon them. Therefore the prophet cried out: <i>Who is God like unto Thee, that pardoneth the iniquity, and passeth by the transgression?</i> (Mic. 7:18).