פרשת עקב תשכ"ח - נאום משה: העגל והלוחות

"When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant"

"And the Lord delivered unto me the two tablets of stone"

"And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant."

"So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands."

And I took hold of the two tablets, and I cast them"

"And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God; ye had made you a molten calf; ye had turned aside quickly out of the way"

"And I took hold of the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands"

He stared at them and saw that the writing flew off of them. He said, "How can I give Israel tablets that do not have substance in them. Rather, I will take hold of them and break them." So is it stated, "And I took hold of the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands."

"And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah"

"And Moses diligently inquired for the goat of the sin-offering, and, behold, it was burnt"

"and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed"

"For I was in dread of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me that time also."

S.v. For I was in dread because of the anger: And he said, "I was also in dread now, because of the anger and the wrath with which the Lord had been furious at the beginning against you, to destroy you. As there was still enough of this great fury to destroy you, even though 'the Lord had already repented from the evil that He said to do against His people.' Hence I returned and prostrated myself for you forty days and forty nights, until He listened to me also this time, like He listened to me the first time, before I came down. And I also prayed for the sake of Aaron this time when I returned there" - as before the calf was burned, he only concerned himself with 'turning His wrath away from destroying' the people in an instant.

S.v. To destroy you: As even though He already repented from annihilation, He nevertheless did not repent from destroying that generation... Such that [God's] will was that the infants would survive with Moses until they grew, as it was the scouts. But [in fact] this generation itself survived forty years; whereas at the time of the calf, the decree was to destroy that generation all at one time...

"And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye made the Lord wroth."

"And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying: ‘Go up and possess the land... then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed Him not, nor hearkened to His voice."

The tenth question is about its stating, "And at Taberah, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah. And that is, since there were several sins in the matter of the calf, why did it not finish its recounting, and then afterwards recount the sins of Taberah, Massah

and Kibroth-hattaavah? But it did not do this, but rather interspersed the matter of Taberah, Massah and Kibroth-hattaavah into the story of the calf. And [only] then it returned to the story of the calf itself, as is clear in the parsha.

The eleventh question is about its stating "And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land which I gave to you, then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, etc.'" And it is difficult - why did it mention the matter of the scouts here in great brevity and with highlights like this; given that it already mentioned it at length and with a detailed story in the Order of Eleh HaDevarim?

S.v. Taverah:... The connection between Taverah and Massah is that in both places the people were grumbling against — were testing, as it were — God. The reason Taverah is mentioned first, before Massah, is that at Massah nothing happened to them. And some say that Amalek came because [the Israelites] tested the Lord. And therefore it mentioned the burning of the Lord's fire in them and the pursuit of Amalek and the plague of those that desired - the most difficult first. ([There is a relevant] parable of a man who put his son on his shoulder and went off on a journey. The son would see an object and say, "Father, take that object and give it to me." And he would give it to him. And so a second time, and so a third time. They ran into a man, [and] that son said to him, "Have you seen Father?" The father said to him, "Don't you know where I am?" [So] he threw him from upon him, and a dog came and bit him.)

ובתבערה ובמסה, even though you have seen with your own eyes that because you had made G’d angry the Tablets He had made Himself were shattered, and I had to pray for you and fast for 40 consecutive days and nights, you repeatedly angered G’d again at the locations I just mentioned, as if putting G’d to the test each time.

"from the day that thou didst go forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord."