promise when God had first appeared to him, viz., "When thou has
brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this
mountain" - waited most longingly for the promised time, saying,
"When will this time come to pass?" When the time drew near,
God said to Moses, "The time is at hand when I shall bring about
something entirely new."

This new miracle of which God spoke was the healing of all the
sick among the Jews. God had wanted to give the Torah to the
Jews immediately after the exodus from Egypt, but among them
were found many that were lame, halt, or deaf; wherefore God
said: "The Torah is without a blemish, hence would I not bestow it
on a nation that has in it such as are burdened with defects. Nor do
I want to wait until their children shall have grown to manhood,
for I do not desire any longer to delay the delight of the Torah."
For these reasons nothing was left Him to do, but to heal those
afflicted with disease. In the time between the exodus from Egypt
and the revelation on Mount Sinai, all the blind among the
Israelites regained their sight, all the halt became whole, so that
the Torah might be given to a sound and healthy people. God
wrought for that generation the same miracle which He will
hereafter bring about in the future world, when "the eyes of the
blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, the
lame man leap as an hart, and the tongues of the dumb sing." [176]
Not only physically was this generation free from blemishes, but
spiritually, too, it stood on a high plane, and it was the combined
merits of such a people that made them worthy of their high
calling. Never before or after lived a generation as worthy as this
of receiving the Torah. Had there been but one missing, God
would not have given them the Torah: "for He layeth up wisdom