'מבלי יכולת ה, “because of the Lord’s inability, etc.” the surrounding nations would not interpret G–d’s wiping out the Israelites as an act of punishment, because they had angered Him, but as an admission of His inability to fulfill His promise to them to bring them to the Land of Canaan. After all the gentile nations had had ample opportunity to have seen how much G–d loved His people as was described in verse 14. Therefore the only explanation of the demise of the Jewish people they could accept would be His inability to make good on His promise.

'ועתה יגדל נא כח ה, “and now I pray let the Power of the Lord be great;” Moses considers a display of being able to suppress one’s anger as the greatest proof of greatness. Our sages in Ethics 4,1, have defined the term גבור, “hero,” as someone who can conquer his emotions when they threaten to overrule his intellect. This is what Solomon already taught us in Proverbs, 16,32: טוב ארך אפים מגבור, “he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty.”

כאשר דברת לאמר, “as You have declared, saying:” Moses refers to Exodus 33,13: where he had spoken to G–d asking Him to reveal to Him His way of reacting to the people’s sins if and when they would occur. He had requested that G–d reveal to him all of His attributes relevant to judging His creatures. At that time, when the glory of Hashem, passed by him while he was hiding in the cleft of a rock, one of the attributes G–d had revealed to him was the one known as ארך אפים, “slow to anger.” At this point Moses did not remind G–d of His attribute רחמים, “the Merciful One;” on that occasion both of theses attributes had to be called upon, whereas here there was no pointing referring to any attribute other than that of Mercy. He also did not refer to the attribute אל, G–d in His capacity of judge, seeing that he could not hope that G–d would completely ignore the people’s lack of faith and their having accused Him of hating them. He could only ask G–d to temper His anger by limiting the penalty. Moses concentrated on those attributes which, if displayed by G–d at this time, would preserve the people’s future, even if the people personally guilty of accepting the slander of the ten spies would obviously have to pay a price, i.e. they had rejected the Holy Land, therefore G–d would accept their rejection of it and not make them live in it.

Our author details why Moses refrained from mentioning any Divine attribute which would prove counterproductive if Moses would refer to it.

ונקה לא ינקה, “and He will not let a guilty person be exonerated completely without having paid a price for knowingly having sinned.” [This is the standard explanation of this expression. Ed.] Our author- if I understand him correctly,- understands it as G–d saying that the world we live in will never be completely free of deliberate sinners. He used Jeremiah 30,11 as his proof for this interpretation. The Prophet there says: ויסרתיך למשפט ונקה לא ינקך, (after having wiped out the sinful nations) “but I will not let you go unpunished, but I will chastise you in measure”.

פוקד עון אבות על בנים, “visiting the sins of the fathers on the children;” this is another aspect of G–d’s attribute of Mercy, that He delays punishing the fathers, waiting if the children or grandchildren will return to Him before carrying out the punishment that had been deserved by them. In Exodus 34,7, where the list of G–d’s attributes first appears, the wording isבני בנים , “grandchildren,” not “children,” as here. In both instances, the point G–d makes is that while He may delay exacting punishment, depending on the severity of the sin in question, He will not allow sins that are not repented to go totally unpunished.

'ויאמר ה, “Hashem said (in response to Moses’ plea): “I have forgiven in accordance with your words.” G–d teaches Moses that He has set aside a date in the calendar reserved for forgiving, i.e. the day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.” This Day will serve as the day for forgiveness throughout the generations. To the question whence we know that G–d forgave the people the sin of the golden calf on that date, we derive this from when Moses had asked G–d to act as He had done “when the people had recently come out of Egypt,” (verse 19).The day G–d had forgiven that sin had also been the tenth day of the month of Tishrey. Furthermore, G–d having said to Moses here: כאשר אמרת “as You had said,” is a clear reference to the first time G–d had forgiven the people as a whole.

ואולם חי אני, “Nevertheless, as truly as I live for ever,” this is a formula for an oath. Hashem does not spell out the details of this oath. He contents Himself with warning Moses that He has to be concerned with insuring that the whole earth will become filled with His glory. This is one of the reasons why the Jewish people have to be given the land He had promised that Avraham’s children would inherit. If this were not to happen His name would indeed become desecrated; therefore the children of the generation that had been redeemed from Egypt would be the ones that would prove that He had fulfilled this promise. The men who had been redeemed as adults from Egypt, however, could not be allowed to do so, seeing that they who had experienced all the miracles G–d had performed for them in Egypt had still not inspired them with sufficient faith that He could make them defeat the Canaanites. Their children who had not witnessed all these miracles would do so, however.

והעמלקי, “and the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the alley;” a number of commentators are puzzled by this statement as in verse 45 of this chapter the Amalekite and the Canaanite are described as “descending” from the mountain; according to the plain meaning of the text, we must assume that the Amalekites and Canaanites in anticipation of an invasion by Israel had taken up position on high ground in order to ambush the Israelites from there. A more mystical interpretation would be that although G–d meant to punish these people, He did not enjoy doing this, and made them take a route toward the desert which would afford some chance of escaping.