Shemot Rabbah (a classical collection of Rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exodus) explores this very human dynamic, and it hits surprisingly close to home.
The text opens with the verse, "Carve for yourself" (Exodus 34:1). But then it veers into a fascinating analogy, drawing on (Isaiah 64:7): "But now, Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Potter." The Holy One, blessed be He, is portrayed as saying to Israel, "Now I am your Father? When you saw yourselves in distress, you called me: Our Father." It’s like a parent saying, "Oh, NOW you need me?"
The people respond, "Yes, as it is stated: 'On the day of my distress I sought the Lord'" (Psalms 77:3).
The Midrash (an interpretive method common in Jewish texts) then gives us a story, a parable: A prominent doctor's son only acknowledges his father when he's in trouble. Before, he'd call some lowly individual "my father." The real father is understandably upset. But when the son falls ill and cries out for his father, the father's compassion wins.
The analogy is clear. God is like that father. "Yesterday, you were engaged in idol worship," God says, "and calling it: My father, as it is stated: 'They say to wood: You are my father…but in the time of their misfortune they say: [Arise, and save us]' (Jeremiah 2:27)." Ouch.
The text then pivots, offering another angle. It references (Malachi 1:6): "A son will honor his father… And a servant his master." It says that Esau, of all people, honored his father Isaac, by bringing him food and attending to his needs. And Nevuzaradan, captain of the Babylonian guard, showed reverence to Nebuchadnezzar. But Israel? Not so much. "If I am a father, where is My honor? If I am a master, where is My fear?" God asks.
So, what are we supposed to do? The text continues: "We are the clay and You are our Potter" (Isaiah 64:7). It's a plea, an acknowledgment of our dependence on God. We’re like clay in God's hands, shaped and molded. Even when we mess up, God shouldn’t abandon us.
The Midrash uses the image of a potter who leaves a pebble in the clay. The resulting barrel leaks. Whose fault is it? The potter's! Similarly, Israel argues, "Master of the universe, You created in us an evil inclination [yetzer hara (the evil inclination)] from our youth." This yetzer hara, this inherent tendency toward wrongdoing, causes us to sin. Remove it, and we’ll do better! God promises to do just that in the future, referencing (Micah 4:6): "On that day… I will assemble the outcasts and those whom I harmed [vaasher hare’oti]." Here, asher hare’oti is interpreted as "the evil I have caused" through the yetzer hara.
Finally, the text offers one more angle, another analogy. A prominent official (God) has children (Israel) who stray and mingle with idolaters. He casts them out. When they're in distress, they ask the prophets to intercede. But God says, "They are not My children!" They only become His children when they follow His will. He even accuses their mother (a metaphor for Israel) of adultery, chasing after idols.
But the prophets argue back. They say, "They are recognizable by their faces, as it is stated: 'All who see them will recognize them, for they are the seed the Lord has blessed' (Isaiah 61:9)." They are still Your children, even if they've messed up. Have mercy!
This echoes the story of the Golden Calf. When the people worshiped the idol, God was furious and called them "Not My people!" (Exodus 32:7). But Moses pleads, "Why, Lord, is Your wrath enflamed against Your people?" (Exodus 32:11). "Reconcile with them because they are Your children." And God, ultimately, relents.
So, what's the takeaway here? It seems to be about the complex, often messy, relationship between humanity and the Divine. We are flawed. We stray. We often only turn to God in times of need. But despite all that, there's a persistent plea for compassion, for understanding, for the recognition that even in our imperfection, we are still God's children. Is it about earning the title of "child"? Or is it about God's unconditional love, even when we fall short? Perhaps it's a bit of both. Maybe the point isn't to be perfect, but to keep striving, to keep turning back, to keep calling out, even when we feel like we don't deserve to.
Another matter: “Carve for yourself” – that is what is written: “But now, Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Potter” (Isaiah 64:7). The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘Now I am your Father? When you saw yourselves in distress, you called me: Our Father.’10You relate to me as your Father only when you need me. They said to Him: ‘Yes, as it is stated: “On the day of my distress I sought the Lord”’ (Psalms 77:3). This is analogous to the son of a prominent doctor who encountered a lowly individual and began asking after his welfare. He said to him: ‘My lord, my master, my father.’ His father heard and became angry at him. He said: ‘Let him not appear in my presence, since he called that lowly individual: My father.’ Sometime later, the son fell ill. He said: ‘Please call my father so he will see me.’ They came and told his father. He was immediately overwhelmed with compassion for [his son] and came to him. [The son] said to him: ‘I implore you, my father, look at me.’ He said to him: ‘Now I am your father? Yesterday, you were calling the lowly individual: My father. Now that you are in distress you call me: My father?’ So too, the Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘Now you call me: My Father? Yesterday, you were engaged in idol worship and calling it: My father, as it is stated: “They say to wood: You are my father…but in the time of their misfortune they say: [Arise, and save us]”’ (Jeremiah 2:27). That is why it is stated: “But now, Lord, You are our Father.” Another matter: “But now, Lord, You are our Father…” (Isaiah 64:7) – that is what is written: “A son will honor his father” (Malachi 1:6) – this is Esau, who honored his father greatly, as he would go out to the fields, hunt game, bring it [home], cook it, and go and feed his father each day. “And a servant his master” (Malachi 1:6) – this is Nevuzaradan, who was called a servant, as it is stated: “Nevuzaradan, captain of the guards, servant of the king of Babylon, came” (II Kings 25:8), as when he came to Jerusalem, he brought with him a likeness of Nebuchadnezzar and would stand before it in awe and reverence like a servant. But you did not honor Me like a father, and you did not fear Me like a master. That is, “if I am a father, where is My honor? If I am a master, where is My fear” (Malachi 1:6)? Rather, when you see yourselves in distress, you call Me your Father. That is why it is stated: “But now, Lord, You are our Father.” What is, “we are the clay and You are our Potter” (Isaiah 64:7)? Israel said: ‘Master of the universe, You had it written for us: “Behold, like clay in the hand of the potter, so you are in My hand, house of Israel” (Jeremiah 18:6). Therefore, even though we sin and commit provocations before You, do not depart from us. Why? Because “we are the clay and You are our Potter.”’ Come and see this potter, if he crafts a barrel and leaves a pebble in it, when it emerges from the kiln, it leaks from the place of the pebble and loses all the liquid that is placed in it. Who caused the barrel to leak what was inside it? The potter who left the pebble in it. So too, Israel said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, You created in us an evil inclination from our youth, as it is stated: “As the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). It causes us to sin before You, but You do not remove this instigator from us. Please remove it from us so we will perform Your will.’ He said to them: ‘That is what I will do in the future,’ as it is stated: “On that day, the utterance of the Lord, I will gather the lame, assemble the outcasts and those whom I harmed [vaasher hare’oti]” (Micah 4:6). What is asher hare’oti? This is the evil inclination [yetzer hara],11Thus, the phrase asher hare’oti is understood to mean, “the evil I have caused,” or, “those I have caused to be evil” via the evil inclination. as it is stated: “As the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth.” Another matter: “But now, Lord, You are our Father” (Isaiah 64:7) – that is what is written: “Lord, they sought You in distress” (Isaiah 26:16); when they encounter distress they seek You, as it is stated: “Lord, they sought You in distress.” This is analogous to a prominent official who had children; they adhered to wicked people and strayed to the evil path. He stripped them and cast them out. When they saw themselves in distress, they asked prominent people to ask for mercy on their behalf. Their father said to [the messengers]: ‘What are you requesting?’ They said to him: ‘That you reconcile with your children.’ He said: ‘They are not my children; I do not acknowledge them. Their mother committed adultery and bore them.’ They said to him: ‘You cannot renounce them. Why? Because everyone knows that they are your children, because they resemble you.’ So too, the prominent official is the Holy One blessed be He. His children are Israel, as it is stated: “You are children to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 14:1). They mingled with idolaters and strayed to the evil path, as it is stated: “They mingled with the nations and learned their practices” (Psalms 106:35). What did He do to them? He stripped them and cast them away, as it is stated: “They will strip you of your garments” (Ezekiel 23:26), and it is written: “Send them from My presence and let them depart” (Jeremiah 15:1). When they found themselves in distress they began asking the prophets to ask for mercy on their behalf from the Holy One blessed be He. They began asking for mercy for them, as it is stated: “Have pity upon Your people” (Joel 2:17). The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘On behalf of whom are you asking?’ They said: ‘On behalf of Your children.’ He said to them: ‘They are not My children. If they perform My will they are My children, and if not, they are not My children,’ as it is stated: “Their mother has committed licentiousness, she who conceived them has shamed herself” (Hosea 2:7). Why? “For she said: I will follow my paramours” (Hosea 2:7) – these are idols. Therefore, the Holy One blessed be He said: “Now, I will expose her repulsiveness in the eyes of her paramours” (Hosea 2:12) – these are idols, whom she calls: “Providers of my bread and my water” (Hosea 2:7). But [the idol] has eyes but does not see, ears, but does not hear, and cannot feed itself; how will it feed others? The Holy One blessed be He stripped her, as it is stated: “Lest I strip her bare” (Hosea 2:5). The prophets said to the Holy One blessed be He: ‘You say that they are not Your children, but they are recognizable by their faces, as it is stated: “All who see them will recognize them, for they are the seed the Lord has blessed” (Isaiah 61:9). Just as it is the way of a father to have mercy on his children even though they have sinned, so too, You must have mercy upon them.’ That is, “but now, Lord, You are our Father” (Isaiah 64:7). Likewise you find that when they crafted the calf, the Holy One blessed be He became angry at them. Moses came to placate Him, and He called them: Not My people, as it is stated: “Because your people has acted corruptly” (Exodus 32:7). The Holy One blessed be He stripped them, as it is stated: “The children of Israel were stripped of their ornament from Mount Ḥorev” (Exodus 33:6). Moses said: ‘They are Your people and You cannot renounce them,’ as it is stated: “Why, Lord, is Your wrath enflamed against Your people?” (Exodus 32:11). ‘Reconcile with them because they are Your children.’ Immediately He reconciled with them, as it is stated: “The Lord reconsidered” (Exodus 32:14). He showed Moses that He reconciled with them, as He restored the commandments to them, as it is stated: “Carve for yourself.”
