generation said, Lord of the whole world, draw us after thee, and we will run in thy good way! Bring us to the foot of Mount Sinai, and give us thy law out of thy treasury in heaven, and we will rejoice and be glad in the twenty-two letters[1] with which it is written, and we will remember them, and love thy divine nature, and withdraw ourselves from the idols of the nations; and all the righteous, who do that which is right before thee, shall fear thee and love thy commandments.
5. I am swarthy, &c.—When the house of Israel made the calf, their faces became black, like the sons of Cush, who dwelt in the tents of Kedar; but when they returned by repentance, and were forgiven, the shining splendour of their faces was increased to that of angels, because they made the curtains for the tabernacle, and the shechinah of the Lord dwelt among them; and Moses, their teacher, went up to heaven and made peace between them and their King.
6. Do not look down upon me, &c.—The congregation of Israel said before all the nations, Do not despise me because I am blacker than you, for I have done your deeds, and worshipped the sun and moon; for false prophets have been the cause that the fierce anger of the Lord has come upon me, and they taught me to worship your idols, and to walk in your laws; but the Lord of the world, who is my God, I did not serve, and did not walk in his precepts, and did not keep his commandments and laws.
7. Tell me, &c.—When the time came for Moses the prophet to depart from this world, he said to the Lord, It is revealed to me that this people will sin, and be carried into captivity; show me now how they shall be governed and dwell among the nations, whose decrees are oppressive as the heat and the scorching sun in the summer solstice, and wherefore is it that they shall wander among the flocks of the sons of Esau and Ishmael, who make their idols equal to thee, as though they were thy companions.
8. If thou knowest not, &c.—The Holy One, blessed be his name, said to Moses, the prophet, "I suffer myself to be entreated to abolish their captivity; the congregation of Israel, which is like a fair damsel, and which my soul loves, she shall walk in the ways of the righteous, and shall order her prayers according to the order of her governors and leaders, and instruct her children, who are like to the kids of the goats, to go to the synagogue and the schools; and by the merits of this they shall be governed in the captivity, until the time that I send King Messiah, and he shall lead them quietly to their habitations; yea, he shall bring them to the house of the sanctuary, which David and Solomon, the shepherds of Israel, shall build for them."
9. I compare thee, &c.—When Israel went out of Egypt, Pharaoh and his hosts pursued after them with chariots and horsemen, and their way was shut up on the four sides of them; on the right hand and on the left were wildernesses full of fiery serpents, and behind them was wicked Pharaoh with his army, and before them was the Red Sea, what did the holy blessed God do? He was manifested in the power of his might upon the Red Sea, and dried the sea up, but the mud he did not dry up. The wicked and the mixed multitude, and the strangers who were among them,to its numerical value, 22. See note on verse 1.]
- ↑ This interpretation is derived from reducing the word [HE:bk/
