The two great sins in the wilderness מדבר
are described by Moses in the
fifth book of the Torah
Deuteronomy דברים in Chapter 9.
These two sins were of such magnitude
that Moses had to fast
forty days and forty nights
to make intercession for Israel,
so that HASHEM would turn away
his wrath and not destroy his people.
These two sins are listed as follows:
Sin#1: IDOLATRY.
This involved the making
of the molten calf עגל המסכה ,
and it occurred at
Mount Sinai or Horeb while
Moses was on the mountain
receiving the commandments of G-d.
Sin #2: CAUSELESS HATRED, UNBELIEF,
AND DESPISING THE LAND.
This sin occurred at Kadesh-barnea
when Israel believed the evil report
of the ten spies concerning
the land of Israel.
As we look at these two sins
the question arises:
Which of these two sins was worse,
or greater in magnitude?
The answer to this question
can be obtained by examined
the severity of the punishment
and the scope of the judgments
that HASHEM imposed for each sin.
We will examine them in order
and by parts.
Part #1: Moses’ Punishment .
A. For Sin #1: Moses had to hew the second set of tablets
out of stone by himself. He also mentions this sin
only one time in the book of Deuteronomy דברים .
“At that time HASHEM said to me,
Hew yourself two tables of stone
like the first,
and come up to me
into the mount,
and make yourself
an ark of wood.
And I will write in the tables
the words that were in the first tables
which you broke,
and you shall put them in the ark.”
Deuteronomy 10:1-2.
בעת ההוא אמר יהוה אלי
פסל לך שני לוחות אבנים
כראשנים
ועלה אלי ההרה
ועשית לך ארון עץ:
ואכתב על הלוחות את הדברים
אשר היו על הלוחות
הראשנים
אשר שברת
ושמתם בארון:
B. Sin #2 Moses links this sin
to his being forbidden by HASHEM
to enter into the promised land.
He also mentions the sin two times
in the book of Deuteronomy דברים :
in Deuteronomy chapter 1 and
in Deuteronomy chapter 9.
Deuteronomy 1:34,35,37.
“And HASHEM heard
the voice of your words,
and was angry,
and swore, saying,
Surely there shall not
one of these men
of this evil generation
see that good land,
which I swore to give to your fathers…
Also HASHEM was angry with me
for your sakes, saying,
You also shall not go in there.”
וישמע יהוה
את קול דבריכם
ויקצף וישבע לאמר:
אם יראה איש
באנשים האלה
הדור הרע הזה
את הארץ הטובה
אשר נשבעתי לתת לאבתיכם:
גם בי התאנף יהוה
בגללכם לאמר
גם אתה לא תבא שם:
Here it is obvious that the
penalty for Sin #2
is more severe.
Part II: The intercession of Moses for Israel.
A. Sin #1: IDOLATRY.
Moses mentions only the Egyptians
in his intercession to HASHEM
to preserve Israel.
Exodus 32:12
“Why should the Egyptians speak, and say,
For mishchief did he bring them out,
to slay them in the mountains,
and to consume them
from the face of the earth?
Turn from your fierce wrath,
and repent of this evil
against your people.”
למה יאמרו מצרים לאמר
ברעה הוציאם
להרוג אתם בהרים
ולכלתם מעל פני האדמה
שוב מחרון אפך
והנחם על הרעה לעמך:
B. Sin #2: CAUSELESS HATRED AND UNBELIEF
Moses mentions THE NATIONS
in his intercession to HASHEM
to save Israel.
“Now if you shall kill
all this people as one man,
then THE NATIONS who have heard
the fame of you
will speak, saying,
Because the LORD was not able
to bring this people
into the land which
he swore to them,
therefore he has slain them
in the wilderness.”
והמתה את העם הזה
כאיש אחד
ואמרו הגוים
אשר שמעו את שמעך לאמר
מבלתי יכלת יהוה
להביא את העם הזה
אל הארץ אשר נשבע להם
וישחטם במדבר:
From these two prayers
it is obvious that the scope
of the second sin is greater.
Part III: Judgments of HASHEM.
Punishment upon Israel.
Sin #1: IDOLATRY.
A. Moses grinds the idol to dust,
and makes Israel drink it.
Exodus 32:20.
“And Moses took the callf
which they had made,
and burnt it in the fire,
and ground it to powder,
and spread it on the water,
and made the children of Israel drink of it.”
ויקח את העגל
אשר עשו
וישרוף באש
ויטחן עד אשר דק
ויזר על פני המים
וישק את בני ישראל:
B. Moses commands the Levites
to slay the transgressors.
Exodus 32:26-28.
“The Moses stood in the gate of the camp,
and said, Who is on the HASHEM’s side?
let him come to me.
And all the sons of Levi
gathered themselves together to him.
And he said to them,
Thus says the HASHEM G-d of Israel,
Put every man his sword by his side,
and go in and out
from gate to gate
throughout the camp,
and slay every man his brother,
and every man his companion,
and every man his neighbor.
And the children of Levi
did according to the word of Moses:
and there fell of the people that day
about three thousand men.”
ויעמוד משה בשער המחנה
ויאמר מי ליהוה אלי
ויאספו אליו כל בני לוי:
ויאמר להם כה אמר
יהוה אלהי ישראל
שימו איש חרבו על ירכו
עברו ושובו משער
לשער במחנה
והרגו איש את אחיו
ואיש את רעהו
ואיש את קרובו:
ויעשו בני לוי כדבר משה
ויפול מן העם ביום ההוא
כשלשת אלפי איש:
C. The Destruction of the
First Temple בית המקדש
in Jerusalem for IDOLATRY.
1. The Babylonian captivity
lasted for 70 years.
2. HASHEM allowed Israel
to return to the land of Israel
and to rebuild Jerusalem
and the Temple.
Sin #2: HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE
AND UNBELIEF.
A. The entire generation that came out
of Egypt from twenty years old and upward,
except Joshua and Caleb,
died in the wilderness.
Numbers 14:28-35.
“Say to them,
As truly as I live, Says the LORD,
as you have spoken in my ears,
so will I do to you:
Your carcases 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,
Doubtless you shall not come
into the land,
concerning which I swore to
make you dwell therein,
save Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
and Joshua the son of Nun.
But your little ones,
who you said should be a prey,
I will bring them in,
and they shall know the land
which you have despised.
But as for you, your carcasses,
they shall fall in the wilderness.
And your children shall wander
in the wilderness forty years,
and bear your whoredoms,
until your carcases be wasted
in the wilderness.
After the number of the days
in which you searched the land,
even forty days,
each day for a year
shall you bear your iniquities,
even forty years,
and you shall know my breach of promise.
I the LORD have said,
I will surely do it
to all this evil congregation,
that are gathered together against me;
in this wilderness
they shall be consumed,
and there they shall die.”
אמר אלהם
חי אני נאם יהוה
אם לא כאשר דברתם באזני
כן אעשה לכם:
במדבר הזה יפלו פגריכם
וכלפקדיכם לכל מספרכם
מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה
אשר הלינתם עלי:
אם אתם תבאו אל הארץ
אשר נשאתי את ידי
לשכן אתכם בה
כי אם כלב בן יפנה
ויהושע בן נון:
וטפכם אשר אמרתם
לבז יהיה
והביאתי אתם
וידעו את הארץ
אשר מאסתם בה:
ופגריכם אתם יפלו במדבר הזה:
ובניכם יהיו רועים במדבר
ארבעים שנה
ונשאו את זנותיכם
עד תם פגריכם במדבר:
כמספר הימים אשר
תרתם את הארץ
ארבעים יום
יום לשנה יום לשנה
תשאו את עונתיכם
ארבעים שנה
וידעתם את תנואתי:
אני יהוה דברתי
אם לא זאת אעשה
לכל העדה הרעה הזאִת
הנועדים עלי
במדבר הזה יתמו
ושם ימתו:
This was the first Holocaust.
B. The destruction of the
Second Temple in Jerusalem
for HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE
AND UNBELIEF.
1. The punishment was scattering
among all the nations,
the Diaspora or the Golah הגולה ,
for almost 2000 years.
This is told by the prophets
in Psalm 106:24-27.
“Yes, they despised the pleasant land,
they believed not his word:
But murmured in their tents,
and listened not
to the voice of HASHEM.
Therefore he lifted up his hand
against them,
to overthrow them
in the wilderness:
to overthrow their seed also
among the nations,
and to scatter them in the lands.”
וימאסו בארץ חמדה
לא האמינו לדברו:
וירגנו באהליהם
לא שמעו בקול יהוה:
וישא ידו להם
להפיל אותם במדבר:
ולהפיל זרעם בגוים
ולזרותם בארצות:
The prophet Ezekiel יחזקאל
also testifies in
Ezekiel 20:15,23-24.
“Yet also I lifted up my hand
to them in the wilderness,
that I would not bring them
into the land which
I had given them,
flowing with milk and honey,
which is the glory of all lands;
I lifted up my hand to them
also in the wilderness,
that I would scatter them
among the heathen,
and disperse them
through the countries;
Because they had not
executed my judgments,
but had despised my statutes,
and had polluted my Sabbaths,
and their eyes were after
their fathers’ idols.”
וגם אני נשאתי ידי להם
במדבר לבלתי הביא אותם
אל הארץ אשר נתתי
זבת חלב ודבש
צבי היא לכל הארצות:
גם אני נשאתי את ידי להם
במדבר להפיץ אתם בגוים
ולזרות אותם בארצות:
יען משפטי לא עשו
וחקותי מאסו
ואת שבתותי חללו
ואחרי גלולי אבותם
היו עיניהם:
The magnitude of the judgments
imposed by HASHEM on the
second sin of Hatred without a Cause
and Unbelief is much greater,
and the judgments are much
more sweeping in scope than
the judgments that he imposed
upon the first sin of Idolatry.
Therefore the second sin of
Hatred without a Cause and Unbelief
is a much worse sin than the
first sin of Idolatry.