#21 — Parshat Ki Tisa
Exodus 30:11-34:35
אמר רב יהודה: ברית כרותה לשלוש עשרה מידות שאינן חוזרות ריקם, שנאמר: ״הנה אנכי כורת ברית.״
Rav Yehuda said: A covenant was made concerning the thirteen attributes that they will not return empty-handed, as it says: “Behold I make a covenant” (Shemot 34:10).
The Basis of Covenant Renewal
A covenant of grace
In our Parashah G-d reveals to Moshe His “attributes of mercy” (middot harachamin) upon which the covenant is reinstated after the sin of the golden calf. If G-d was to deal with the Israelites strictly according to the attribute of judgment (middat ha-din) then the nation would have been annihilated (Exodus 32:10).
Moshe was aware of the promises G-d made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and interceded on behalf of the people (32:11-14, 31-32). In response, the L-RD revealed Himself to Moshe a second time on Mount Sinai to renew the covenant.
On what basis and under what conditions was the covenant renewed? The answer lies in the L-RD’s self-revelation as a compassionate and gracious G-d, as well as the very One who carries or bears the guilt and sins (noseh avon) of His people (34:6-7).
We will see how this revelation of G-d’s name points forward to a new covenant in the Messianic era, established on the basis of forgiveness of sins: “For this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days…I will forgive their iniquity (avon) and remember their sins no more (Jeremiah 31:33-34).
The sin of the Golden Calf
After the covenant (brit) was made with Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moshe was summoned by G-d to the top of the mountain to receive both the first stone tablets inscribed with the “ten words” (aseret hadibrot) and the instructions concerning the mishkan – G-d’s dwelling place amongst His people. This was His stated purpose: “and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8).
However, this purpose was interrupted by chet ha’egel (the sin of the golden calf). As Moshe tarried on the mountain for forty days and forty nights (24:18), Israel grew impatient and requested of Aharon that he would “make them a god that would go before them, for that man Moshe…we don’t know what happened to him” (32:1).
What followed was one of the saddest episodes in the history of the nation: a breach of the second commandment signifying that Israel had broken the covenant so recently made with them upon their departure from Egypt. And so G-d told Moshe as he was still on the mountain, “Hurry down, for your people have acted corruptly…they quickly departed from the way I commanded them and made unto themselves a molten calf (egel masecha); and they bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, saying ‘this is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt’” (32:7-8).
What ensued was judgment upon the camp of Israel. Moshe, upon seeing the people worshiping the calf, broke the first luchot (set of tablets), signaling that the covenant had been broken. The sons of Levi gathered to Moshe and were instructed to kill 3,000 of those who worshiped the calf (32:28-29). If it wasn’t for the intercession of Moshe on behalf of Israel, the whole nation would have been annihilated (32:11-14; 31-35).
Moshe’s intercession and the Greater Mediator
It is evident that Moshe’s prayer (tefilla) did not grant absolute forgiveness for chet ha’egel. In Moshe’s memorable words of intercession: “This people is guilty of a great sin in making for themselves a god of gold. Now if you will forgive their sin; but if not, erase me from the book which you have written” (32:31-32).
As beautiful and noble as Moshe’s words are, Hashem’s response clearly shows that the sin of the golden calf had not yet been forgiven: “Only one who has sinned against me I will erase from my book. Now go, lead the people where I told you, my mal’ach (angel) shall go before you. But on my day of judgment, I shall judge them for their sin” (32:33-34).
Nevertheless, Moshe does not relent. After the bad report of the L-RD’s pronouncement – ki lo a’aleh bekirbecha, “I will not go in your midst, lest I destroy you on the journey” (33:3) – Moshe settles for nothing less than G-d’s very presence to be in their midst (33:12-16).
Although the L-rd is willing to send an indefinite angel (mal’ach), it is not the Angel whom the L-RD originally intended to send before Israel on their journey. That Angel bearing Hashem’s name (shmi be-kirbo; 23:20-23) was known to Moshe as the visible manifestation of the L-RD.
The L-RD has spoken to Moshe “panim-el-panim” – “face-to-face” (33:11). Isaiah, in reflecting back on the exodus, calls this unique Angel “mal’ach panav” or “the Angel of His presence” (Isaiah 63:9). Now Moshe’s direct petition is “if your Presence (panecha) does not go with us, do not bring us up from here” (33:15). Moshe also requested to see the entire glory of G-d, to which he received a negative answer, “for man shall not see Me and live” (33:2).
In response, the L-rd pledged, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the L-RD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy (33:19). It is important to note that Hashem is sovereign in His attribute of mercy (middat harachamim). It is His prerogative to forgive or withhold sin.
Moshe is now instructed to ascend to the top of the mountain a second time. For the covenant to be renewed, the L-RD will again inscribe the “ten words.” As at the first revelation on Mount Sinai (19:16, 20), the sanctity of the mountain is emphasized (34:3). This time however, the covenant will be established on the basis of mercy, while the L-RD Himself (in His visible manifestation) descends on the mountaintop to proclaim His Name and attributes in the presence of Moshe: “The L-RD, the L-RD, a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness; extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin….” (34:6-7).
It was the L-RD Himself, in that visible manifestation, who appeared before Moshe to proclaim His own character and attributes (middot). He is the one proclaiming “ve'karati be’Shem” – “I will proclaim before you the name of the L-RD” (33:19; this is also evident from the te’amim in 34:5 as Sforno and others observe).
This great derasha (sermon) on the name of God, as one writer called it, unfolds the L-RD’s purposes of mercy and points to a covenant of grace based on forgiveness of sins. In our Parashah, it is the “Angel of the Presence” (mal’ach panav) who proclaims the L-RD’s name – looking forward to the Person of the Messiah, the One who will truly renew the covenant which Israel has broken (Jeremiah 31:32) by bearing their iniquities and sins.
We believe this Messiah is Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah. Here is what the scriptures of the New Covenant say about him:
“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away (noseh) the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
“For the Torah was given through Moshe; grace and truth (chesed v’emet) came through Yeshua the Messiah (John 1:17).