Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ramban · Torah
Ramban on Deuteronomy 9:17/רמב"ן על דברים ט׳:י״ז
אוְטַעַם וָאֶתְפֹּשׂ בִּשְׁנֵי הַלּוּחוֹת, גַּם זֶה מִן הַתּוֹכָחוֹת, יֹאמַר הָיָה עֲוֹנְכֶם גָּדוֹל מִנְּשֹׁא עַד כִּי בִּרְאוֹתִי אֶתְכֶם מְשַׂחֲקִים לִפְנֵי הָעֵגֶל לֹא יָכֹלְתִּי לְהִתְאַפֵּק וְשִׁבַּרְתִּי הַלּוּחוֹת. וְהֻצְרַךְ לְהַזְכִּיר זֶה בַּעֲבוּר שֶׁיִּרְצֶה לְהוֹדִיעָם עִנְיַן הַלּוּחוֹת הַשְּׁנִיּוֹת כַּאֲשֶׁר יְפָרֵשׁ. וְיִתָּכֵן שֶׁיִּרְמֹז עוֹד לַטּוֹבָה שֶׁעָשָׂה עִמָּהֶם, כִּי סִכֵּן בְּנַפְשׁוֹ לִשְׁבֹּר לוּחוֹת הָאֱלֹהִים לְטוֹבָתָם, כַּאֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ (שמו"ר מג א) מוּטָב תִּדּוֹן בִּפְנוּיָה וְלֹא בְּאֵשֶׁת אִישׁ:
1AND I TOOK HOLD OF THE TWO TABLETS. This is also meant to be part of the chastisements. He is saying: “your sin was greater than could be borne,138 to the point that when I saw you being merry before the calf I could not restrain [my anger] and I broke the Tablets.” He had to mention this because he wanted them to realize the significance of the second Tablets, as he will explain [in the section that follows]. Possibly he is alluding further to the favor he did them when he endangered his own life by breaking the Tablets of G-d for their sake, as our Rabbis have said:139 “It is better that you [Israel] be judged like an [unchaste] unmarried woman and not like an [adulterous] wife.”140