and heard the shouting and commotion, while they were dancing around the calf. He said to the seventy men who were with him, “This is the sound of tribulation.” When he saw Aaron, he seized the hair of his head with his right hand and his beard with his left.

“He said, ‘O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them go astray, (92) from following me? Have you then disobeyed my command?’ (93) He said, ‘O son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or by my head. I feared that you would say, “You divided the Children of Israel and did not heed my word.”’ (94) He said, ‘Then what is your case, O Samiri?’ (95) He said, ‘I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful from the trace of the messenger and cast it away; thus my soul prompted me.’ (96)”

“He said, ‘O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them go astray?’”: that is, when they committed shirk. “From following me?” That is, from following me; the word “not” is supplementary—meaning, following my command and my instruction. In other words, why did you not fight them, when you knew that, had I been among them, I would have fought them because of their disbelief?

It was also said that “from not following me” means: What prevented you from coming after me and informing me of their misguidance, so that your separation from them would have rebuked them for what they had done? “Have you then disobeyed my command?” That is, have you gone against my command?

“He said, ‘O son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or by my head’”: that is, by the hair of my head; Moses had taken hold of his locks. “I feared”: had I rebuked them, they would have become two factions, killing one another. “That you would say, ‘You divided the Children of Israel’”: that is, I feared that if I left them and followed you, they would become factions fighting one another, and you would say, “You divided the Children of Israel,” (1) “and did not heed my word”: nor did you observe my instruction when I told you, “Take my place among my people and set matters right”—that is, be gentle with them. (2)

Then Moses turned to the Samiri: “He said, ‘Then what is your case?’” That is, what is your affair and your condition? What led you to do what you did, “O Samiri?” He said, “I saw what they did not see”: I saw what they did not see and knew what they did not know.