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

[Daniel Eidensohn]

cantorwolberg at cox.net wrote:
> 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. 
There were many times that Moshe asserted his independence

*Berachos**[i]* <#_edn1>*(31b)*: *Moshe* also spoke insolently towards 
Heaven when he prayed (Bamidbar 11:2). The school of R’ Yannai said that 
Moshe (Devarim 1:1) had shown chutzpah when he said that the silver and 
gold which had been showered on the Jews caused them to make the Golden 
Calf… R’ Oshaiya said: It is comparable to the case of a man who had a 
malnourished cow. When he gave it special food to fatten it up and it 
then it started kicking. Obviously it was the special food that had 
caused the rebelling… Eventually G‑d admitted that Moshe was right…

*Bamidbar Rabbah[1] <#_ftn1>(18:12): Moshe said: This is the way you can 
know that G‑d has sent me…If these men die a natural death.. then G‑d 
has not sent me (Bamidbar 16:29). *This verse can be understood with a 
parable. The wedding assistant to the king’s daughter had evidence that 
the bride was a virgin. One of the wedding guests stood up and cursed 
the assistant and said the king’s daughter was not a virgin. The 
assistant went to the king and told him: If you don’t take care of this 
insult against you and have this man executed publicly—then I will also 
say [believe] that it is definite that the king’s daughter was not a 
virgin. The king then decided that is would better to execute the 
accuser than that the assistant should slander his daughter. Korach 
challenged Moshe and said that Moshe made up all the things that he had 
said. Moshe then said to G‑d: If these people die a natural death…then I 
will also become a heretic and say that G‑d has not sent me and that I 
made up everything myself. There were three prophets who spoke in this 
manner—Eliyahu, Micha, and Moshe. Eliyahu said “Answer me G‑d answer me 
so that the people will know that You are G‑d and if You don’t answer me 
then I will say that You are the one that corrupted them. Micha said to 
Achab: If you return in peace even I will say that I am a false prophet.


*Pnei Moshe[i] <#_edn1>(Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 50a):* *Three denied their 
prophecies*. In other words they said they would deny their prophecies 
in order to clean and remove evil thoughts from the hearts of the people 
and encourage them to adopt proper belief in G‑d instead.

*Sanhedrin**[i]* <#_edn1>*(111a): *R’ Eleazar said: I once visited 
Alexandria in Egypt and an old man told me that he wanted to show me 
what his ancestors did to my ancestors.* *Some were drowned in the sea 
while others were killed with the sword and others were crushed in the 
buildings. This terrible suffering led to Moshe being punished. Moshe 
said “Since I came to speak to Pharaoh in Your name he has done evil to 
the Jews and they haven’t been saved.” G‑d replied “Woe is it for those 
who are gone are no longer. Many times I revealed Myself on a lower 
level to Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov and yet they did not question my 
actions as you have. You will be punished by seeing what happens to 
Pharaoh but not the conquest of Israel.”

*Devarim Rabbah[1] <#_ftn1>**(5:13): *What does it mean “and destroy 
them”? G‑d said to Moshe, “I will cause you to inherit them and will 
cause others to be descended from you.” Where do we see this? The Torah 
says in Shemos (32:10)[Bamidbar 14:12], “I will make you into a great 
nation.” When Moshe heard this he began to pray for mercy for them. What 
did he say? He said, “G‑d, You are seen face to face [lit. eye to eye].” 
What does “face to face” mean? Reish Lakish explained that Moshe said, 
“G‑d, the Attribute of Justice is on evenly balanced scales.  You say 
that You will smite them with plague and I say that You should forgive 
them [Bamidbar 14:19]. The matter is thus evenly balanced and we will 
see who is victorious – You G‑d or I.” R’ Berekya explained that G‑d 
replied to him, “By your life you have nullified My will and your view 
prevails.” How do we know this? Because it says in Bamidbar(14:20), “I 
have pardoned according to your word.” This is an example of “And you 
shall decree something and it will be established for you” (Job 22:28).