בעת ההיא, “at that time,” at the end of the forty days when G’d was finally mollified and said: “carve for yourself!”

ועשית לך ארון עץ, “and make a wooden ark for yourself!”. Moses reports that he first made the ark (compare verse 3) and only after that did he carve out the Tablets. He followed this sequence in order to have a “home” ready for the Tablets when he would return with them from the mountain. If he had not first made the ark where would he put the Tablets when he arrived among the people with them? Our sages have a tradition that the “ark” mentioned by Moses in verse 5 was the one that he had made immediately after receiving the instructions to carve out the second set of Tablets. In other words, this was not the same Ark which Betzalel was instructed to make for the Tabernacle in Exodus 25,10 (based on Tanchuma Eikev 10). The ark which Moses made was strictly temporary in order to have a place for the Tablets to be put pending the instructions to build the Tabernacle and to make a permanent home for the Tablets. The wooden ark made by Moses was the ones the people would take with them when they went to war. The Ark made by Betzalel was removed from the Tabernacle (except during the journeys when the Tabernacle itself was dismantled) only at the express command of G’d when the people marched around Jericho with the priests carrying the Holy Ark in front of them (Joshua 6,12). When, several hundreds of years later, the sons of the High Priest Eli took it upon themselves to take the Holy Ark to war with them against the Philistines, the Ark was captured and the sons of Eli died as a punishment for their high handed action. (Samuel I 4,8 describes that although, initially the Philistines were frightened of the Ark, they fought the Israelites and were victorious, capturing the Ark). The ark (box) made by Moses contained (initially) both the Tablets and the broken pieces of the original Tablets which Moses had smashed. After Betzalel made the Holy Ark for the Tabernacle the contents of Moses’ ark were transferred to it. This is the meaning of Exodus 25,16: “you will place inside the Ark the testimony which I shall give you.” Even though the Talmud in Baba Batra 14 states: “there was nothing inside the Holy Ark except the two Tablets,” this is not to exclude the broken pieces of the first Tablets, as whenever two restrictive clauses are employed consecutively, the meaning is that something additional is meant, in this case the remnants of the first Tablets. This was after the Temple of Solomon had been built. As long as the Tabernacle of Betzalel functioned as the Temple, the Holy Ark contained the second set of Tablets whereas Moses’ ark contained the broken pieces of the first set of Tablets. (Compare Tosafot Eyruvin 63. Tosafot base themselves on the verse quoted by the Talmud in Baba Batra which appears in Kings I 8,9.)

I have already mentioned in connection with Exodus 16,32 that the Ark constructed by Betzalel was secreted inside the Temple (of Solomon) together with the bottle of manna and certain other sacred vessels at the instruction of King Yoshiah who hid them under an area of the Sanctuary known as מחילה. There was a special reason why these specific vessels were selected for hiding rather than others. The reason that King Yoshiah hid the Ark rather than most other sacred vessels was twofold; one reason was its superior holy status unmatched by other sacred vessels. Seeing that it was the first of the holy vessels to be constructed, its holiness was greater than the vessels fashioned later. It was perceived as a symbol of the celestial throne. As a result of such considerations it was feared that loss of the Ark would be equivalent to a departure of G’d’s presence from the land of Israel. The king knew that the state of Israel was going to be destroyed by Nevuchadnezzar as the prophets of his time had been threatening this if the people did not return to G’d wholeheartedly. It was clear to him that the conquerors would capture and take with them the holy vessels of the Temple to Babylon; this is why he was so concerned with the honour of the Holy Ark that he preferred to bury it and hide it. The second reason was that the Holy Ark symbolized for him the journeys of the Jewish people. He experienced that the staves of the Holy Ark which protruded a long distance beyond either corner to enable it to be carried. [It was very heavy due to the outer and inner layer of solid gold plus the weight of the Stone Tablets. I have seen a calculation of the total weight of the Ark complete with contents in Eliyahu Ki Tov’s commentary on Parshat Terumah or Tetzaveh. If my memory does not deceive me the weight approximated 3 tons. (76,000 lbs) Ed.] During the reign of King Yoshiah these staves became visibly shorter, making transportation by means of them impossible. They reverted to the size they had been in Moses’ time. The king viewed this as a bad omen. Originally, the staves could be seen protruding through the dividing curtain of the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies by causing the curtain to protrude into the airspace of the Sanctuary where it was pushed by these staves. The retraction in the length of these staves meant for King Yoshiah that the Ark was once more destined to travel, just as in the days of Moses. The Israelites, when looking into the open doors of the Sanctuary, could no longer perceive the curtain bulge at the point they were used to see it do so. The king also saw that when the High Priest Chilkiyah came to perform the service in the Sanctuary (Kings II 22,8) that he found a Torah scroll on the side of the Holy Ark which had rolled into the Sanctuary instead of remaining in its assigned place in the Holy of Holies on top of the Ark (compare Deut. 31,26 and Talmud Baba Batra 14). These occurrences meant for him that the Temple would be destroyed. This is the reason why Targum Yonathan renders Ezekiel 1,1 “it was in the thirtieth year” as a reference to the year that Chilkiyah found the Torah scroll we mentioned. When considering these various omens King Yoshiah decided to hide the Holy Ark so that it would not have to travel into captivity. We have established that the sanctity associated with the Ark applied to the Ark made by Betzalel, not the box made by Moses to accommodate the Tablets when he would come down from the mountain many months before the Tabernacle had been erected. Moses’ “ark” was strictly a temporary housing for the Tablets pending the construction of the Tabernacle. Concerning the Ark constructed by Betzalel, the Talmud in Eiruvin 63 taught that whenever the Ark and therefore the Presence of the Shechinah were not in their assigned abodes the Israelites were forbidden to engage in marital relations with their wives. It is totally impossible to understand this statement of the Talmud as applying to the ark made by Moses, i.e. the ark that went to war with the people. Seeing that the Holy Ark was held in captivity by the Philistines for seven months (Samuel I 6,1), we cannot assume that during all this time the people did not practice the commandment to be fruitful and to multiply. [I do not understand the author here. He had previously accused the sons of Eli of taking Betzalel’s Ark to war without G’d’s authorization although normally only Moses’ ark would be taken to war. Moreover, note that in Samuel I 4, it is clear that it was not Moses’ ark the people took to war on that occasion. Ed.] David is also reported to tell Uriah (Bat Sheva’s first husband) to go home and engage in marital relations, all of this while war was in progress (Samuel II 11,8). Surely the prohibition mentioned in the Talmud could have applied only to the Ark of Betzalel. The lesson the sages taught must have been “When the HOLY ARK was not ‘at home,’ i.e. G’d was not at home, how could the people feel “at home,” by indulging in marital relations and carry on “business as usual!”

ובני ישראל נסעו מבארות בני יעקן מוסרה, “and the Children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Beney Yakon to Mosserah.” Our sages in Jerusalem Talmud Sotah query this as the order of the journeys indicated that the people traveled in the reverse order, i.e. from Mosserah to Beney Yakon (Numbers 33,31). Another difficulty in this verse is the reference to Aaron having died there when we know that Aaron had died at Har Hahor. We find that there are 8 stations between Har Hahor and Mosserah. The correct interpretation of our verse is that although Aaron had died at Har Hahor and had been buried there, the eulogy and mourning for Aaron occurred at Mosserah, so that anyone watching this would have concluded that this was the place where Aaron died and was buried. This is also one of the rebukes of Moses versus the people. He reminded the people that at the end of 40 years when Aaron had died and as a result the protective cloud-cover they had enjoyed during all these years disappeared, they became afraid of the Canaanites, so much so that they had actually retraced their steps through the desert as far back as Mosserah. They had wanted to appoint for themselves a new leader who would lead them back to Egypt. Our sages in the Jerusalem Talmud Sotah explain that the Levites fought against the people who wanted to return to Egypt at that time and killed many of them.

The reason that this paragraph appears next to that of the smashing of the Tablets is to teach us that the loss of Torah scholars is as great a loss for the Jewish people as the smashing of the Tablets was at the time. Our sages in Eychah Rabbati 1,39 interpreted Isaiah 29,14: “truly, I shall further baffle this people with bafflement upon bafflement; and the wisdom of its wise shall fail, and the prudence of its prudent shall vanish,” as describing the loss of its Torah scholars as twice as painful for the Jewish people as the destruction of The Temple. The word הפלאה (bafflement) occurs in the curses of Deuteronomy only in a single form. Only in Isaiah, when referring to the Torah scholars is the word repeated, i.e. is the absence of such Torah scholars described as the greatest possible affliction for the people.

בעת ההיא הבדיל ה' את שבט הלוי, “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi.” The time frame described by Moses is when the Israelites worshipped the golden calf. At that time G’d separated the Levites who had not taken part in that sin from the rest of the people. The reason that all this is mentioned in connection with Mosserah is that on that occasion, 40 years later, the tribe of Levi again distinguished itself by not participating in the plan to return to Egypt and by opposing it actively.

לשאת את ארון ברית ה', “to carry the Ark of the Covenant with Hashem.” This refers to the Levites. לעמוד לפני ה' לשרתו, “to stand in front of the Lord to serve Him;” this refers to the Priests. ולברך בשמו, “and to bestow blessing in His name.” The priests were to bless the Israelites in Hashem’s name, as is written in Numbers 6,27 ושמו את שמי.

עד היום הזה, “until this day.” Eleazar was pronouncing the blessing in lieu of his father Aaron who had died already at the time when Moses addressed the people. Eleazar had taken over all of his father Aaron’s functions as High Priest as is clear from verse 6 in our chapter.

ואנכי עמדתי בהר כימים הראשונים ארבעים יום, “and I stood on the mountain just as during the earlier days, for forty days.” The Torah compared the last forty days to the first forty days; just as the people enjoyed G’d’s grace during Moses’ first sojourn on the mountain so they enjoyed His goodwill during these last 40 days that Moses spent on the mountain. This teaches that the second time Moses spent forty days on the mountain G’d was angry at the people. Moses had to keep praying for 40 days to overcome G’d’s anger on account of the sin of the golden calf.

ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלו-היך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ה’ אלו-היך, ללכת בכל דרכיו, ולאהבה אותו, ולעבוד את ה' אלו-היך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, “and now, what does the Lord your G’d ask of you except to revere the Lord your G’d, and to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.” Moses sums up that in spite of the fact that you have annoyed G’d so many times both at Chorev and in the desert, He is prepared to forgive you on the understanding that from now on you will display reverence for Him.

Nachmanides writes that this verse is a long verse continuing until the end of verse 13 in our text, i.e. including the words לטוב לך, “for your benefit.” The message is that G’d does not require obeisance, service, love, reverence for His sake, but all of these requests are for your benefit. We have repeatedly explained the concept that seeing G’d owns the universe and all there is in it there is nothing that a creature can do to enhance His well being.

Our sages in Menachot 43 use the words 'מה ה' to derive from here the requirement for each person to recite 100 benedictions daily. They read the words מה ה' שואל as מאה ה' שואל, “the Lord asks for one hundred (benedictions)”.

The verse contains 99 letters. If you add the missing letter א to make up the word מאה, you will have 100 letters. We have another verse in Psalms 128,4 הנה כי כן יבורך גבר ירא ה', “this is the way a G’d-fearing man is to bless the Lord.” The numerical value of the combined words כי כן is 100. David introduced the rule to recite 100 blessings a day. It had been forgotten in the course of centuries until the Men of the Great Assembly reintroduced the practice

הן לה' אלו-היך השמים ושמי השמים הארץ וכל אשר בה, “Behold! the heaven and the heaven of the heavens belong to the Lord your G’d, the earth and all that is thereon.” I believe that if all the verse was supposed to tell us was the superiority of the people of Israel over all the other nations, it would have been enough to simply write: “the earth and all that is thereon belongs to the Lord your G’d; however He took special liking to your forefathers, etc.“ There would have been no need to mention “the heaven and the heaven of the heavens.” It is more likely that this verse wanted to drive home the point that although G’d owns all the three regions mentioned in our verse, He considers the earth as the most important region. We have clear evidence of this already in the story of creation in Genesis when the functions of the luminaries in the heaven are defined as providing light for the earth (Genesis 1,14). The verse means that although the planetary systems are very powerful creations, the reason they were created was only to enhance earth and life on earth. Even though the scientists of our day do not accept this opinion, we are bound by our Torah and tradition. Our sages are on record that “the righteous on earth are greater than the ministering angels” (Sanhedrin 93). We find similarly that David writes: הודו על ארץ ושמים וירם קרן לעמו, “His splendor covers earth and heaven; He has exalted the horn of His people for the glory of His faithful ones, Israel.” The psalmist means that G’d has elevated the people of Israel above all creatures in the universe both in heaven and on earth. We have another verse in Psalms 103, 20-22 in which the psalmist urges the following order: “bless the Lord, His angels, the mighty creatures, the ones who carry out His bidding; bless the Lord all of His hosts, His servants, the ones who perform His will. Bless the Lord, all of His (works) through the length and breadth of His realm.” David lists the worlds in descending order reserving the title “His works” for the terrestrial part of the universe. In other words: “terrestrial earth comprises all His works.” Tanchuma Vayikra 1, in commenting on Yoel 2,11 says that the words כי רב מאד מחנהו, “that His camp is indeed very great,” refer to the ministering angels, whereas the words וכי עצום עושי דברו, “and powerful are those who do His bidding,” are a reference to the people of Israel. We have further proof from discussions of the philosophers who ask why a planet constantly describes the same repetitive orbit? If it has achieved its purpose, why does it keep repeating the same motion? Its motion, its orbit has then become a wasted effort. If it has still not achieved its mission after endless orbits, what good are its orbits? If it had really achieved something visible, how come we do not notice that our lives are constantly becoming more pleasant due to these efforts? The philosophers answer this seemingly unanswerable question by saying that these orbits of the planets are required in order to ensure the continued existence the “lower” world, i.e. man on this terrestrial earth. This proves that even the scientists admit that man is the focal and pivotal creature in the universe. Once you admit it, it is a small step to understanding that all the seven fixed stars have as their purpose to guide our globe in such a way that it does not come to harm, that the laws of nature operate satisfactorily.

However if you were to argue that the eighth and ninth star (planet) perform an independent function and have not been created for the sake of our globe there is no merit to such an argument. The fact is that all the planets are much like the skins around the onion, earth being the kernel, the innermost and most precious part, requiring the protection of all these outer layers. The orbital motions of each one of these layers is determined by the orbit of the planet closest to it.

[The author continues in this vein citing allusions from Scripture, etc. Seeing all of this is pre-Corpernicus astronomy there is little point in pursuing these “philosophical” musings further. The same applies to the interpretation of “heaven” and “heaven” of heavens” respectively. Ed.] ...

[...]

A kabbalistic approach understands the words רק באבותיך חשק ה' as an allusion to the souls of the patriarchs as having been derived from higher emanations such as חסד גבורה, and תפארת respectively This is why upon their deaths the patriarchs became part of the מרכבה, the carriers of G’d’s Shechinah as if they and the emanations from which their souls had evolved were one and the same thing. This, of course, would account for the extraordinary degree of fondness of G’d for these patriarchs as described in our verse. This would also account for G’d’s close relationship with the descendants of these patriarchs.

ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם, “You shall ‘circumcise’ the foreskin surrounding your heart.“ The term ערלה is applied when the Torah or the prophet wants to describe a negative character trait, a trait which inhibits development of a personality to its full potential. Anyone who is burdened with such an impediment to his personality development cannot truly embrace the commandments we know as the מצות המושכלות and to understand their true value.

וערפכם לא תקשו עוד, “and you will not continue with your stiff-neckedness.” Moses implies that up until now the people had been characterised by such a stiff-necked attitude. G’d Himself had accused them of this outright in Exodus 33,3.

כי ה' אלו-היכם הוא אלו-הי האלו-הים, “for Hashem your G’d He is the supreme G’d;” superior to the angels; (Nachmanides) ואדוני האדנים, “and the Master of masters;” a reference to the planets which have been appointed to run nature. ה-אל, “the Creator,” הגדול, "Who is great in the attribute חסד” הגבור “and in the attribute גבורה, Justice” והנורא “and awe-inspiring,” in the way He practices the attribute רחמים, Mercy. The three attributes Moses referred to here are perceived as the אבות, the “patriarchs” of the attributes, the others being relatively junior to them seeing they are derivatives, תולדות. It is these three principal attributes which are meant when the sages speak about the מרכבה, the carriers of G’d’s glory. I have already explained on Exodus 33,6 that Moses meant to include all the thirteen attributes G’d had acquainted him with at the time when he now summarizes them as גדול, גבור, נורא.

אשר לא ישא פנים, “Who does not show favour,” to the perfectly righteous, by overlooking a minor infraction.

ולא יקח שוחד, “and Who will nor accept a bribe, “i.e. offsetting one sin against 1000 merits so that the person concerned is left with 999 net merits and does not get punished for the one sin he committed. G’d will punish the individual for his one sin and leave the reward for the 1000 mitzvot fully intact.

עושה משפט יתום ואלמנה, “He carries out judgment of orphan and widow.” Even though G’d is so high, exalted, He nevertheless concerns Himself personally with the most lowly one of His creatures. Our sages in Megillah 31 drew our attention to the fact that whenever G’d’s greatness is referred to in either the Torah, the Books of Prophets, or the Scriptures, you find side by side a reference to His “humility,” to the fact that He associates and takes a personal interest in the fates of the most humble. Our verse is one such example. Another example is found in Psalms 68,5 where David exalts G’d’s greatness, following with the words: “He acts as father for the orphans and as judge for the widows. A similar sequence of verses is found in Isaiah 57,15: “For thus said He Who high aloft forever dwells, whose name is holy: ‘I dwell on high in holiness; yet with the contrite and lowly in spirit reviving the spirits of the lowly.’”

ואוהב גר, “and Who loves the proselyte;” seeing that G’d loves the convert, we are to love the convert also. We have another verse on the same subject in Leviticus 19,34 where G’d says: “love him as yourself.”

את ה' אלו-היך תירא, אותו תעבוד, ובו תדבק, ובשמו תשבע, “Revere the Lord your G’d; serve Him; cleave to Him and swear in His name.” The word תירא, means no to violate His negative commandments; the words “serve Him” refer to His positive commandments; “to cleave to Him,” means not to exclude Him from your thoughts .

Nachmanides writes on this that it is possible that Moses speaks of people who have attained such high spiritual stature that they can claim this level of 'דבקות בה', “cleaving to G’d” even in their life on earth. They would be considered as already צרור בצרור החיים, the wish expressed by Avigail for David. These people are a domicile for the Shechinah even while on earth. Rabbi Yehudah Halevi alluded to this in his Kuzari 3,1.

Our sages in Pesachim 22 commented that the word את which precedes the words ה' אלו-היך תירא is a reference to the Torah scholars, the religious authorities who are to be treated with a measure of reverence similar to that reserved for the Lord Himself. This statement is attributed to Rabbi Akiva, who was eminently entitled to make such a statement seeing that he alone amongst the four sages who ventured into the Pardess, i.e. the realms of exploring the deepest mysteries of the Torah emerged from there whole in both body and spirit (Chagigah 14). Concerning Rabbi Akiva, Solomon said in Song of Songs 1,4 according to Chagigah 15 משכני אחריך נרוצה, “Draw me, we will run after You.”

A kabbalistic approach: With these words in Song of Songs Solomon the wise Rabbi Akiva alluded to wisdom, seeing that we have a statement in Job 28,28 הן יראת אד-ני היא חכמה, “behold the reverence for G’d is wisdom.” Rabbi Akiva referred to the hidden wisdom possessed only by the select few on earth. In fact, when Rabbi Akiva said that every time the word את appears in the Torah [when it is not grammatically necessary, Ed.] we must search for profound mystical meanings that the Torah alludes to by this word, he taught us a great lesson. To quote but one example: the Torah writes in Numbers 7,1 להקים את המשכן, “to erect the Tabernacle.” On the face of it the Torah only had to write להקים המשכן. The sages explain that the extra word את alludes to another (celestial) Tabernacle which was erected at the same time as Moses erected the Tabernacle in the desert. Another example of the significance of the word את is found in Genesis 21,1 וה' פקד את שרה, “and G’d had remembered Sarah” (by making her pregnant). The word את in that verse is understood by the sages in Bereshit Rabbah 53,12 as including all the other women who had suffered from being barren at that time. There are numerous other instances where the otherwise extraneous word את affords us many insights which would have been denied us without that word.

ובשמו תשבע, “and in His name you are to swear.” Moses means that anyone who has first acquired the attributes listed is entitled to mention the Lord’s name when swearing an oath. Under certain circumstances it becomes a positive commandment to swear an oath, especially when it involves glorifying the name of the Lord. Examples of such circumstances are Elijah who decreed on oath that no rain would fall (Kings I 17,1) in accordance with G’d’s threat (in Deut. 11,17), and the sage Choni Hamagal who swore not to leave the spot he was standing on until G’d would provide rain (Taanit 19).

A kabbalistic approach: the words: “you shall fear the Lord your G’d” refer to a reverence for those aspects of G’d which are beyond human intelligence to unravel (the emanation כתר), on the other hand “Him you shall serve” refers to the next lower emanation חכמה, also described as Torah, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, the Torah (wisdom) which preceded creation of the universe by 2,000 years. The word ובו תדבק, “and to Him you shall cleave,” refers to the next lower emanation בינה, the domain to which the souls (of the righteous) will return after death of their bodies. The words ובשמו תשבע are an allusion to the number seven, i.e. the lower seven emanations conclude the reference to all 10 emanations in this verse.

[The author proceeds to list several additional verses from the Bible in all of which all of the ten emanations are alluded to, such as Chronicles I 29,11; Song of Songs 5,15; Proverbs 8,22. Ed.].

הוא תהלתך, “He is your praise;” according to the plain meaning of the text Moses means that it would be appropriate for you to consider Him as your praise, i.e. not to praise anybody or anything except G’d. It is also possible that what Moses meant was that the words הוא תהלתך והוא אלו-היך refer to the attributes Hashem and Elohecha respectively. The verse would then make clear that these two attributes are the ones with which G’d relates to the people of Israel.

A kabbalistic approach focuses on the meaning of Deut. 26,19 ולתתך עליו לתהלה ולשם ולתפארת, where the word לתהלה would refer to the attribute Hashem and the word לתפארת to אלו-היך. [Basically, when applied to Israel, the message is that either the attribute of Justice, diluted by the attribute of Mercy, or the attribute of Mercy, diluted by the attribute of Justice is applied to the Jewish people.]

[The author cites a number of apparently contradictory verses to prove that because of G’d’s eternal relationship with Israel He has to temper Justice with Mercy and vice versa or that premise of the reciprocal relationship of G’d and Israel would disintegrate. Ed.]

בשבעים נפש ירדו אבותיך מצרימה, “Your forefathers comprised only 70 people when they descended to Egypt.” Moses enumerates some of the great and wonderful acts performed by G’d for this nation. It is these which entitle G’d to be loved by this people. Although only 70 people emigrated to Egypt, their number by now had increased to be like the stars in heaven. This is why in the next verse Moses demands that the people love “the Lord your G’d and observe His commandments. Here Moses mentions the number of Israelites descending to Egypt as being 70 whereas if you will check the number given in Genesis 46,27 you will find that actually only 69 are listed as leaving. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 94,9 have already pointed out that the discrepancy is accounted for by Yocheved, who was conceived by her mother on the way but was not born until Yaakov and family arrived in Egypt. Some sources claim that the discrepancy is accounted for by Serach, daughter of Asher. They base this on Samuel II 20,19: “I am one of those who seek the welfare of the faithful in Israel.” The words שלומי אמוני in that verse are understood as “completed their number.” I have seen in Pessikta D'Rav Kahane that it was the Lord Himself Who made complete the number 70 as He said (Genesis 46,4) “I am going down with you (Yaakov) to Egypt.” [In other words 69 members of Yaakov’s family as listed in chapter 46 in Genesis plus the Shechinah went down to Egypt. Ed.]. The author of that Midrash cites our verse: “for He is your praise and your G’d,” in the same verse as Moses making reference to this number as proof that it was the fact that G’d personally accompanied the Israelites on their descent to Egypt as the reason that they can use Him as “their praise.” A similar approach is taken by the Midrash in Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer chapter 39 where the words כשש מאות אלף, “about 600,000 foot soldiers” instead of “600,000 foot soldiers (Exodus 12,37) are also interpreted as the Israelites being 1 shy of that number with G’d Himself making up the number 600,000. If we accept this interpretation G’d made up the requisite number both when the Israelites descended to Egypt and when they ascended from Egypt. This would correspond to precisely what G’d said to Yaakov in Genesis 46,4: “I will go down with you and I will also surely bring you up.”