1. It is written, “I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. My soul came out when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he did not answer me.” It is also written, “I am asleep and my heart is awake; the voice of my beloved knocks, ‘Open to me, my sister, my wife.’” The assembly of Israel said “I am asleep.” “I am asleep,” from the commandments of the Torah while I was walking in the desert. “And my heart is awake” to bring them to the land, to make rules for them, since all the commandments in the Torah are in the land. “The voice of my beloved knocks” is Moses, who reproved Israel in several arguments, in several quarrels.
2. Although Moses reproved Israel, all his words were with love, as it is written, “For you are a holy nation to the Lord your God, and the Lord your God has chosen you to be his virtuous people.” It is also written, “You are the children of the Lord your God.” “And you, who adhere to the Lord, are alive every one of you today.” Hence, “And you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God.” “Since from the Lord’s love for you, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand.” This is as it is written, “Open to me, my sister, my bride,” affectionately.
3. It is written, “I arose to open to my beloved.” Israel said, “While we were ready to enter the land and assume the commandments of the Torah through Moses, it is written, “And my beloved had turned away and was gone,” as it is written, “And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there.” “I sought him, but I could not find him,” as it is written, “No prophet such as Moses has arisen in Israel.” “I called him, but he did not answer me,” meaning that there has never been a generation like the generation of Moses, whose voice the Creator heard and made miracles and laws for them as He did through him.
4. “I arose to open to my beloved” is the Creator in Moses’ days, who wanted all his life not to be led by an angel and a messenger, as it is written, “If Your face does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Happy is Moses that the Creator agreed to his will. “And my beloved had turned away and was gone,” in the days of Joshua, as it is written, “I am the commander of the army of the Lord.”
5. Moses was hearing the holy voice of the upper king and was not shocked. It is much more so with the angel, that Moses did not want to accept him. After he died, it is written, “And he said, ‘No, for I am the commander of the army of the Lord; now I have come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth.”
“Now I have come,” I came in the days of Moses your teacher but I was not accepted. At that time, Israel knew Moses’ merit. At that time, Israel sought the Creator, but He did not make Himself available, as in the days of Moses. This is “I sought him but could not find him.”