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In Psalm 68, God ascends on high and receives gifts from captives. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Shabbat applies this to Moses ascending Sinai, where the angels object to giving Torah to one born from a woman until Moses answers them.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalm 68:18
Hebrew Bible
17 God has countless chariots; they number in the thousands. The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor. 18 You ascend on high; you have taken many captives. You receive tribute from men, including even sinful rebels. Indeed, the Lord God lives there. 19 The Lord deserves praise. Day after day he carries our burden, the God who delivers us. (Selah)
Shabbat 88b
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: From each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the souls of the Jewish people left their bodies, as it is stated: “My soul departed when he spoke” (Song of Songs 5:6). And since their souls left their bodies from the first utterance, how did they receive the second utterance? Rather, God rained the dew upon them that, in the future, will revive the dead, and He revived them, as it is stated: “You, God, poured down a bountiful rain; when Your inheritance was weary You sustained it” (Psalms 68:10). And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: With each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Jewish people retreated in fear twelve mil, and the ministering angels walked them back toward the mountain, as it is stated: “The hosts of angels will scatter [yidodun]” (Psalms 68:13). Do not read the word as yidodun, meaning scattered; rather, read it as yedadun, they walked them. And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When Moses ascended on High to receive the Torah, the ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, what is one born of a woman doing here among us? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: He came to receive the Torah. The angels said before Him: The Torah is a hidden treasure that was concealed by you 974 generations before the creation of the world, and you seek to give it to flesh and blood? As it is stated: “The word which He commanded to a thousand generations” (Psalms 105:8). Since the Torah, the word of God, was given to the twenty-sixth generation after Adam, the first man, the remaining 974 generations must have preceded the creation of the world. “What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that You think of him?” (Psalms 8:5). Rather, “God our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth that Your majesty is placed above the heavens” (Psalms 8:2). The rightful place of God’s majesty, the Torah, is in the heavens. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Provide them with an answer as to why the Torah should be given to the people. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, I am afraid lest they burn me with the breath of their mouths. God said to him: Grasp My throne of glory for strength and protection, and provide them with an answer. And from where is this derived? As it is stated: “He causes him to grasp the front of the throne, and spreads His cloud over it” (Job 26:9), and Rabbi Naḥum said: This verse teaches that God spread the radiance of His presence and His cloud over Moses. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, the Torah that You are giving me, what is written in it? God said to him: “I am the Lord your God Who brought you out of Egypt from the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2). Moses said to the angels: Did you descend to Egypt? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Why should the Torah be yours? Again Moses asked: What else is written in it? God said to him: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Moses said to the angels: Do you dwell among the nations who worship
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... It is impossible not to compare Rabbi Akiva’s entry into the Orchard to Moses’ ascent to the heavens to receive the Torah. There too the ministering angels stand on guard and seek to drive Moses back to earth: “When Moses ascended on high, the ministering angels said before God: ‘Master of the universe, what is one born of woman doing among us?’ ” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 88b) At this point, the conversation develops on three separate channels: between God and the ministering angels, between God and Moses, and between Moses and the angels. God’s answer to the angels is that the purpose of Moses’ ascent to heaven is to receive the Torah—to which the angels reply that the Torah preceded the world and should therefore remain in the upper worlds… God tells Moses to grasp the “Throne of Glory,” to protect him from the angels of destruction, who are unable to look at the divine Throne, while he answers them directly, explaining why the Torah should be removed from the celestial treasury for him. ...
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