2

Shemos 4 (10) - The possuk says that Moshe turns down the leadership position because of his speech impediment. Rashi says:

“All this [reluctance] was because he [Moses] did not want to accept a position higher than his brother Aaron, who was his senior and was a prophet...”

This means that Moshe's real reason for not accepting the leadership was out of respect to Aharon. If so, why did not Moshe tell this reason to Hashem?

related: Why does Moshe tell Hashem that he is 'heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue' - twice?

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    Perhaps, the speech impediment was the main reason, and deferring to his older brother was secondary?
    – DanF
    Jan 18, 2017 at 16:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Taz here in Divrei David implies strongly that this was what he was saying to Hashem here, and (that his words and) Hashem's response must imply that this concern was the focal point of the conversation that took place. This would mean that when he said "I am not a man of words", he must have meant this relative to Aharon, with his intention being that Aharon should be chosen:

שלא רצה ליטול גדולה על אהרן. כתב מהרא"י: לפ"ז לא מתיישב מה שהשיב הקב"ה: ידעתי כי דבר ידבר כו'. ותירץ דה"ק: אהרן דבר ידבר כלומר שאתה תדבר בעצמך, ע"כ מתורץ כפל 'דבר ידבר'. זהו דרך דרש. ולפי פשוטו ה"ק: מה אתה מקשה לי מגדולתו של אהרן, והלא כבר ידעתי שאהרן דבר ידבר וראוי הוא לכך אלא שמ"מ אתה צריך לעשות צווי שלי שנית שאהרן לא יקנא בך, וזהו שמסיים 'וגם הנה הוא כו'', ועכשיו מיושב לשון 'וגם':

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .