“And now, if You will forgive their sin, and if not, obliterate me from Your book that you have written.” (Exodus 32:32)
Moses’ plea can be read two ways. The simple reading is to add a single word: “If you will forgive their sin, good, and if not..”
But you can also read it as it is written:
Whether you forgive them or not, obliterate me.
Why? Why would Moses demand not only his physical death, but utter, eternal, spiritual obliteration? Moses, of all people, who certainly was fully cognizant of what this meant!
Certainly it was out of his love for his...