Moshe took the [his] tent and set it up outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the “Appointed Tent.” From that time onward, anyone who sought G-d went out to the Appointed Tent, outside the camp. When Moshe went out toward the tent, all the people stood up; every man stood by the entrance of his tent and watched Moshe until he entered the tent. (Shemos 33:7-8)
After the camp had been purged of the population that had caused and worshipped the golden calf, there was still an effect to be felt. The Midrash says that when Moshe heard that the Divine Presence would no longer lead the Jewish people, making the Jewish people seem like “outcasts,” Moshe followed suit and did the same. He moved his tent 2,000 amos (about 3,000 to 4,000 feet) outside the camp.
You would have thought that this dramatic move would have humbled all the people and made them respectful of Moshe. However, the Talmud tells another tale:
And [they] watched Moses until he entered the tent ... Rav Ami and Rav Yitzchak [differed on this verse]: One says it comes to degrade; one says it comes to praise. The one who says that it means to degrade, it is ... (Kiddushin 33b)
“They used to look and see how thick his thighs were and how fat his neck was, and say, ‘From what is ours he ate, from what is ours he drank.’” (Tanchuma, Pekudei 4)
This is what the Rabbis teach:
R. Yehoshua said: A stingy eye, the yetzer hara, and hatred of others take a person from the world. (Pirkei Avos 2:11)
A crisis has a way of suspending negative traits. However, once the crisis is over and life calms down somewhat, it becomes clear who was changed by the circumstances and who was not. Indeed, it did not take long for some of the population to forget how close Hashem had come to being willing to eliminate the Jewish people and how Moshe saved their lives – at the risk of his own life. They overlooked the fact that Moshe was the humblest and most honest person in the world.
Their stingy eyes, their yetzer hara, and their hatred interfered with their mental vision, as it always does, and it lowered their spiritual sights. The result? In the end, their own shortcomings were projected onto others far greater than they, making the innocent appear guilty and the guilty appear innocent!
