Chapter LIII.—The Love of Moses Towards His People.

Ye understand, beloved, ye understand well the sacred Scriptures, and ye have looked very earnestly into the oracles of God.  Call then these things to your remembrance.  When Moses went up into the mount, and abode there, with fasting and humiliation, forty days and forty nights, the Lord said unto him, “Moses, Moses, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people whom thou didst bring out of the land of Egypt have committed iniquity.  They have speedily departed from the way in which I commanded them to walk, and have made to themselves molten images.”286    Ex. xxxii. 7, etc.; Deut. ix. 12, etc.  And the Lord said unto him, “I have spoken to thee once and again, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:  let me destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make thee a great and wonderful nation, and one much more numerous than this.”287    Ex. xxxii. 9, etc.  But Moses said, “Far be it from Thee, Lord:  pardon the sin of this people; else blot me also out of the book of the living.”288    Ex. xxxii. 32.  O marvellous289    Or, “mighty.” love!  O insuperable perfection!  The servant290    I. δεσπότης (master). speaks freely to his Lord, and asks forgiveness for the people, or begs that he himself might perish291    Literally, “be wiped out.” along with them.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΝΓ’. Ἐπίστασθε γὰρ καὶ καλῶς ἐπίστασθε τὰς ἱερὰς γραφάς, ἀγαπητοί, καὶ ἐγκεκύφατε εἰς τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ. Πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν οὖν ταῦτα γράφομεν. Μωϋσέως γὰρ ἀναβάντος εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ ποιήσαντος τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας ἐν νηστείᾳ καὶ ταπεινώσει εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ θεός· «Κατάβηθι τὸ τάχος ἐντεῦθεν, ὅτι ἠνόμησεν ὁ λαός σου, οὓς ἐξήγαγες ἐκ γῆς Aἰγύπτου· παρέβησαν ταχὺ ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἧς ἐνετείλω αὐτοῖς, ἐποίησαν ἑαυτοῖς χωνεύματα.» Καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς αὐτόν· «Λελάληκα πρὸς σὲ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς λέγων· Ἑώρακα τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἰδού ἐστιν σκληροτράχηλος· ἔασόν με ἐξολεθρεῦσαι αὐτούς, καὶ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῶν ὑποκάτωθεν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ θαυμαστὸν καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦτο.» Καὶ εἶπεν Μωϋσῆς· «Μηθαμῶς, κύριε· ἄφες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ, ἢ κἀμὲ ἐξάλειψον ἐκ βίβλου ζώντων.» Ὢ μεγάλης ἀγάπης, ὢ τελειότητος ἀνυπερβλήτου· παρρησιάζεται θεράπων πρὸς κύριον, αἰτεῖται ἄφεσιν τῷ πλήθει, ἢ καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐξαλειφθῆναι μετ' αὐτῶν ἀξιοῖ.