A question we ask every year but to which I don't recall ever getting a convincing answer:
In parshas Mishpatim, God tells Moshe that He's sending a malach - an angel to accompany the people, and that they'd better be careful not to get out of line because "he (the angel) will not forgive [their] offences".
In Ki Tissa, however, God explains that He's sending an angel to give the people a decent chance of survival, far better than if God Himself would continue to accompany them..."for I will not go there with you, lest I destroy you along the way."
So in Mishpatim, it seems that having the angel as a guide is a liability, because an angel, being a mere functionary, cannot derogate from his task and therefore hasn't the authority to forgive sins.
Whereas in Tissa it seems that the angel gives the people much needed breathing space, allowing for the possibility of offending God by transgressing his commandments without receiving the full measure of retribution. Being accompanied by an angel, rather than God Himself, is a concession to human weakness.
I think the answer to this apparent inconsistentcy goes to the heart of what we mean when we talk about God's attributes of Rachamim and Din, which roughly translate into Mercy and Justice.
In Ramchal's Mesillas Yesharim, the author asserts that it is inconceivable that God doesn't act with complete and full justice. It simply cannot be that He doesn't exact the appropriate payment from those who commit offences, just as He would never withhold the just reward for every good deed that one does.
How then, asks Ramchal, do we talk of God acting with equity or mercy, and not executing the justly deserved sentence in full? If God never pardons a crime - for to do so would deviate from the requirement of justice - in what sense is He in fact merciful? How is it possible for the incompatible attributes of justice and mercy to be used simultaneously by God as tools for governing the world?
By way of answer, he explains that strict justice dictates three outcomes: 1. that the retribution be swift and 2. furious, and 3. that there be no way back for the offender. Sounds harsh? But consider for a moment, that according to Ramchal's kabbalistic tradition, your very existence is willed into being on a constant basis by the Divine Will. Given that, why -- indeed how -- would God continue to fuel the existence of one who defies him? True Din would not sanction this.
What rachamim does then, is to mitigate those three outcomes: 1. it delays execution, 2. reduces the intensity of the retribution and 3. makes room for the possibility of redressing the imbalance through your own initiative - the possibility of teshuva. Ultimately justice must be satisfied, and the offender will receive all that's coming to him, but it is carried out in a way that is bearable.
With this model in mind I think we can accommodate the two different ways in which God describes life in the company of angels.
In Tissa, God must withdraw from direct association with the people, because His Presence demands the strict execution of Din. In the intimate Company of God, no deviation can go unanswered and the answer will be swift, furious and final. So God concedes that if He wants the world to endure, He must allow for the possibility of Rachamim.
The appointment of the angel to guide the people is the turning point in the way God governs the world, from pure justice to the alloyed form of merciful justice.
What that means in practice is you get a lot of slack! You can get on with with your life, make mistakes, even willingly disregard your obligations, and lightning will not strike you down...at least not immediately... Neither do you do a good deed and suddenly find buried treasure under your cabbage patch. In short, back comes the predictability of nature as the basic structure of life, and the security that it brings.
However. None of that means that there is no justice. The fact that you are allowed to make those errors and move on is the work of rachamim, which is suspending the sentence, so to speak, perhaps handing it out in a gradual way, through minor inconveniences that you don't pay too much attention to, or perhaps waiting to execute it in the next world. One thing is certain though, and that is that it will be done.
This then, is what God means when He tells Moses that the people must obey the angel, for he cannot forgive the people their crimes - he can do his job only, of running the world according to the rules that he's given. "For My Name is within him", says God, "I have bound Myself to remaining hidden within the angel, and I will not execute justice as is My Way, but know that though he may not respond to your behaviour, he is powerless to forgive, and justice will be done."
I realise that we are barely scratching the surface of these issues, but I hope you find my scribbles thought provoking. As always I'd love to hear from you below or by email to simon.synett[at]protekzia.com.
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