Divine Conflict and Existential Crisis --Part II

(6) And יהוה regretted having made humankind on earth. With a sorrowful heart, (7) יהוה said, “I will blot out from the earth humankind whom I created—humans together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regret that I made them.” (8) But Noah found favor with יהוה.

(7) יהוה spoke to Moses, “Hurry down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely. (8) They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I enjoined upon them. They have made themselves a molten calf and bowed low to it and sacrificed to it, saying: ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” (9) יהוה further said to Moses, “I see that this is a stiffnecked people. (10) Now, let Me be, that My anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation.” (11) But Moses implored his God יהוה, saying, “Let not Your anger, יהוה, blaze forth against Your people, whom You delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. (12) Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people. (13) Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, how You swore to them by Your Self and said to them: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring this whole land of which I spoke, to possess forever.” (14) And יהוה renounced the punishment planned for God’s people.

(15) Thereupon Moses turned and went down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, tablets inscribed on both their surfaces: they were inscribed on the one side and on the other. (16) The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, incised upon the tablets. (17) When Joshua heard the sound of the people in its boisterousness, he said to Moses, “There is a cry of war in the camp.” (18) But he answered,
“It is not the sound of the tune of triumph,
Or the sound of the tune of defeat;
It is the sound of song that I hear!” (19) As soon as Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became enraged; and he hurled the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. (20) He took the calf that they had made and burned it; he ground it to powder and strewed it upon the water and so made the Israelites drink it. (21) Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such great sin upon them?” (22) Aaron said, “Let not my lord be enraged. You know that this people is bent on evil. (23) They said to me, ‘Make us a god to lead us; for that fellow Moses—the man who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.’ (24) So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off!’ They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!” (25) Moses saw that the people were out of control—since Aaron had let them get out of control—so that they were a menace to any who might oppose them.

(30) The next day Moses said to the people, “You have been guilty of a great sin. Yet I will now go up to יהוה; perhaps I may win forgiveness for your sin.” (31) Moses went back to יהוה and said, “Alas, this people is guilty of a great sin in making for themselves a god of gold. (32) Now, if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the record which You have written!” (33) But יהוה said to Moses, “Only one who has sinned against Me will I erase from My record. (34) Go now, lead the people where I told you. See, My messenger shall go before you. But when I make an accounting, I will bring them to account for their sins.”

(18) ‎Genesis 7,1 ‎“For I have seen you ‎being righteous before Me in this generation;” He wanted to say, as it is explained in the holy Zohar, that this verse is related to Moshe-- who said in Exodus 32:32. Erase me from your book. The letters מחני can be parsed into מי נח waters of Noach, that he was repairing the soul of Noach, since he did not intervene on behalf of his generation.

And in this that Moses sacrificed himself (or his soul) for Israel he repaired the soul of Noach, because Moshe included all the souls (check there). And it is known that Moshe is called a tzaddik (Righteous man) that he matzdik/justifies everything is before God, to teach the merit of everything.

When our sages, may their memories be a blessing, state that all the prophets’ ‎prophecies began with the word ‎כה‎, whereas Moses’ prophecy on ‎occasion commenced with the word ‎זה‎, “this,” because in you I saw a tzaddik before me-- meaning I see you as a tzaddik for God, as one who justifies (or intervenes) for all living creatures, to teach merit in their favor .

They meant to ‎compare Moses to Noach of whom G’d had said ‎אותך ראיתי צדיק ‏לפני בדור הזה‎, “I have seen you that you are a tzaddik before ‎Me in this generation”. G’d implied that Noach would be restored ‎posthumously to this stature when Moses, a reincarnation of his ‎soul, would make up for his omission at this time. The words ‎בדור ‏הזה‎, are understood as a hint that in Moses’ time another ‎‎tzaddik would compensate for the sin of omission in Noach’s ‎generation. ‎

(1) These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan.—Through the wilderness, in the Arabah near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab,

(1) יהוה said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. (2) Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain. (3) No one else shall come up with you, and no one else shall be seen anywhere on the mountain; neither shall the flocks and the herds graze at the foot of this mountain.” (4) So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as יהוה had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him. (5) יהוה came down in a cloud—and stood with him there, proclaiming the name יהוה. (6) יהוה passed before him and proclaimed: “יהוה ! יהוה ! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, (7) extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.” (8) Moses hastened to bow low to the ground in homage, (9) and said, “If I have gained Your favor, O my lord, pray, let my lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!”