Moses pleads for his people in a spirit of humility laced with hope. He takes on himself the role of mediator in a spirit of self-sacrifice for the sake of an obstinate and stiff-necked people and he speaks of his guilt and theirs in the same breath. He speaks to the Lord face to face and to the Israelites in the same way.

We have a fatal attachment to our voices. They are our familiar friends whom it is our pleasure to indulge. We are always startled by an image of our own corruption and its consequences.

Thus when God described Himself as a 'God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger ... yet punishing the parent's fault in the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation,' we must remember that the punishment referred to was for those who rejected Yahweh and worshipped false gods - our fatal attachment to our voices. When the Israelites followed their pagan neighbours into idolatry and immorality, they became enslaved and their descendants had to bear the consequences for generation after generation.