Legands of the Jews > Volume 3 >
INGRATITUDE PUNISHED
God now appeared to Moses, bidding him convey the following
words to the people: "You kindle My anger on account of the very
benefits I conferred upon you. When I clove the sea for you that
you might pass through, while the Egyptians stuck in the loam at
its bottom, you said to one another, 'In Egypt we trod loam, and He
led us out of Egypt, only that we might again tread it.' I gave you
manna as food, which made you strong and fat, but you, perceiving
of it, said: 'How comes it to pass that twenty days a human being
dies if after four or five days he does not excrete food he had
taken. Surely we are doomed to die.' When the spies came to
Palestine, I arranged it so that as soon as they entered the city its
king or governor dies, in order that the inhabitants, occupied with
the burial of their ruler, might not take account of the spies'
presence and kill them. Instead of being thankful for this, the spies
returned and reported, 'The land through which we have gone to
search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.' To you I
gave the Torah; for your sake I said to the Angel of Death,
'Continue to hold sway over the rest of the world, but not over this
nation that I have chosen as My people.' Truly I had hopes that
after all this you would sin no more, and like Myself and the
angels would live eternally, without ever tasting death. You,
however, in spite of the great opportunity that I offered you,
conducted yourselves like Adam. Upon him also did I lay a
commandment, promising him life eternal on condition he
observed it, but he brought ruin upon himself by trespassing My
commandment and eating of the tree. To him I said, 'Dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return.' Similar was My experience with
you. I said, 'You are angels,' but you conducted yourselves like
Adam in your sins, and hence like Adam you must die. I had
thought and hoped you would follow example of the Patriarchs,
but you act like the inhabitants of Sodom, who in punishment for
their sins were consumed by fire." [539] "If," continued God,
turning to Moses, "they suppose that I have need of swords or
spears to destroy them, they are mistaken. As through the word I
created the world, so can I destroy the world by it, which would be
a proper punishment for them. As through their words and their
talk they angered Me, so shall the word kill them, and thou shalt
be their heir, for 'I will make of thee a greater nation and mightier
than they.'" [540]
Moses said: "If the chair with three legs could not withstand the
moment of Thy wrath, how then shall a chair that have but one leg
endure? Thou are about to destroy the seed of the three Patriarchs;
how then may I hope that my seed is to fare better? This is not the
only reason for which Thou shouldst preserve Israel, as there are
other considerations why Thou shouldst do so. Were Thou to
destroy Israel, the Edomites, Moabites, and all the inhabitants of
Canaan would say [541] that Thou hadst done this only because
Thou wert not able to maintain Thy people, and therefore Thou
didst destroy them. These will furthermore declare that the gods of
Canaan are mightier than those of Egypt, that Thou hadst indeed
triumphed over the river gods of Egypt, but that Thou wert not the
peer of the rain gods of Canaan. Worse even than this, the nations
of the world will accuse Thee of continuous cruelty, saying, 'He
destroyed the generation of the flood through water; He rased to
the ground the builders of the tower, as well as the inhabitants of
Sodom; and no better then theirs was the fate of the Egyptians,
whom He drowned in the sea. Now He hath also ruined Israel
whom He had called, 'My firstborn son,' like Lilith who, when she
can find no strange children, slays her own. So did He slay His
own son." [542] Moses furthermore said: "Every pious man makes
a point of cultivating a special virtue. Do Thou also in this instance
bring Thy special virtue to bear." God: "And what is My special
virtue?" Moses: "Long-suffering, love, and mercy, for Thou art
wont to be long-suffering with them that kindle Thy wrath, and to
have mercy for them. In Thy very mercy is Thy strength best
shown. Mete out to Thy children, then, justice in small measure
only, but mercy in great measure." [543]
Moses well knew that mercy was God's chief virtue. He remembered that he had asked God, when he interceded for Israel after their sin of the Golden Calf, "Pray tell me by what attribute of Thine Thou rulest the world." God answered: "I rule the world with loving-kindness, mercy, and long-suffering." "Can it be," said Moses, "that Thy long-suffering lets sinners off with impunity?" To this question Moses had received no answer, hence he felt he might now say to God: "Act now as Thou didst then assent. [544] Justice, that demands the destruction of Israel, is on one side of the scales, but it is exactly balance by my prayer on the other side. Let us now see how the scales will balance." God replied: "As truly as thou livest, Moses, thy prayer shall dip the scales to the side of mercy. For thy sake must I cancel My decision to annihilate the children of Israel, so that the Egyptians will exclaim, 'Happy the servant to whose wish his master defers.' I shall, however, collect My debt, for although I shall not annihilate Israel all at once, they shall make partial annual payments during the following forty years. Say to them, 'Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me. And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear you whoredoms, until your carcasses be consumed in the wilderness.'" [545]
This punishment was not, however, as severe as it might appear, for none among them died below the ages of sixty, whereas those who had at the time of the exodus from Egypt been either below twenty or above sixty were entirely exempt from this punishment. Besides only such were smitten as had followed the counsel of the spies, whereas the others, and the Levites and the women were exempt. [546] Death, moreover, visited the transgressors in such fashion that they were aware it was meant as punishment for their sins. Throughout all the year not one among them died. On the eighth day of the month of Ab, Moses would have a herald proclaim throughout the camp, "Let each prepare his grave." They dug their graves, and spent there the following night, the same night on which, following the counsel of the spies, they had revolted against God and Moses. In the morning a herald would once more appear and cry: "Let the living separate themselves from the dead." Those that were still alive arose, but about fifteen thousand of them remained dead in their graves. After forty years, however, when the herald repeated his customary call the ninth day of Ab, all arose, and there was not a single dead man among them. At first they thought they had made a miscalculation in their observation of the moon, that is was not the ninth day of Ab at all, and that this was the reason why their lives had been spared. Hence they repeated their preparations for death until the fifteenth day of Ab. Then the sight of the full moon convinced them that the ninth day of Ab had gone by, and that their punishment had been done away with. In commemoration of the relief from this punishment, they appointed the fifteenth day of Ab to be a holy day. [547]
