[Avodah] Tetzaveh "Be Careful What You Wish For"

[cantorwolberg at cox.net]

After the sin of the egel hazahav, God said to Moshe:  'And now permit 
me to allow my anger to burn against them, and I will consume them, and I will make you into a great nation.' [Exodus 32:10] But Moses responded:  'And now, if You would forgive their sin; and if not,                    erase me from the Book which you have written.' [Shmos 32:32]

The Zohar gives the following interesting interpretation:
"God overlooked Moshes' offer (to be erased from the Book).     Nonetheless Moses was removed from one section of the Torah, the commandments regarding the Mishkan. Which section is this?: V'ata T'tzaveh, which should have contained Moshes' name in each and         every word, and in each and every commandment. However, his
name was completely omitted from the entire section. This is an example of the "curse of a sage (being fulfilled) even when it is conditional." [Midrash Ne'elam Shiur haShirim Maamar 4]
Thus, the teaching of the Zohar is that God took Moshe up                           on his "offer" to be taken out of  (a portion of) the book since he
challenged God to erase him from the Torah.

It seems strange to me that for someone who was considered to be
the most humble Biblical character of all time, had the chutzpah to 
say to the Almighty: "If you don't forgive them, then count me out." It
sounds like a threat. Which reminds me (l'havdil) of the story of a man who walked into the bank and took out a gun and pointed it to his own 
head and said to the teller, "If you don't give me the money, I'll kill myself."
ri