First Sunday of Advent | Biblestudy2018

First Sunday of Advent (December 3, 2017)

Gospel (Mar 13:33-37)

33 Be on guard, keep on the alert! For you do not know when the appointed time will come.

34 It is like a man going away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his servants in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to watch.

35 “Therefore watch—for you do not know when the owner of the house will come—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—

36 in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep.

37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

Responsorial Psalm (Psa 80:2)

2 Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel,

[you] who lead Joseph [Israel] like [a shepherd leads] the flock.

You who are enthroned [between] the cherubim [on the ark (viz. Exo 25:22)]

shine forth [i.e., manifest your strength]

Exo 25:20-22

20 The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward [parallel to their heads], overshadowing the cover with their wings [a space of ten handbreadths between the wings

and the cover], with their faces toward one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the cover.

Rashi’s Commentary

Their wings spread—i. e. that you shall not make their wings touching the body but spreading on high slightly above but almost on the same level with their heads so that the hollow space between the wings and the cover shall be ten handbreadths, as it is explained in Treatise Sukkah 5b.

21 You shall place the cover on top of the ark and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you.

Rashi’s Commentary

And in the ark you shall put the testimony—I do not know why this is repeated for it has already been commanded, (v. 16) “And you shall put in the ark the testimony.” One may say that it intends to tell us that whilst the ark is still by itself—i. e. without the cover—he should first put the testimony into it, and only afterwards should he put the cover on it for the first time. Thus indeed do we find: that when he (Moses) erected the tabernacle it is stated, (Exo 40:20) “And he placed the testimony [the tablets] into the ark,” and afterwards it says, “and he put the atonement cover on the ark from above” (cf. Talmud Yerushalmi Shekalim 6:1).

22 And I will arrange my meetings with you [to speak to you] there, and I will speak to you from above the cover between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I shall give you in commandment for the children of Israel.

Rashi’s Commentary

I will arrange my meetings with you there—When I arrange a meeting for you to speak with you, it is at that place that I will arrange for the meeting where I will come to speak to you.

And I will speak to you from above the cover—In another passage, however, it says, (Lev 1:1) “and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying . . .”—this is that part of the tabernacle outside the

partition veil whilst the ark and the cover were on the other tide of the veil—consequently we have two verses contradicting each other! But there comes a third verse and reconciles them: (Num 7:89) “And when Moses came to the tent of meeting . . . he heard the voice speaking to him from atop the ark cover etc.” This verse explains exactly what happened. Moses came into the tabernacle and as soon as he had passed the entrance a voice fell from heaven to the place on the cover which was between the cherubim, and from there it issued and was heard by Moses in the tent of meeting (outside the Holy of Holies (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 58 and Rashi on Num 7:89).

And all that I shall give you in commandment for the children of Israel—This “vav” of the word וְאֵת is redundant and without import; there are many sentences similar to this in Scripture. However if you wish to explain this “vav” the verse must be interpreted as follows: “and all that I will speak with you there is all that I shall give you in commandment for the children of Israel.”

Exo 25:16

And you shall put in the ark the testimony [the law, which serves as testimony between you and me that I have charged you with the commandments written in it], which I will give you.

Exo 40:20

He took and placed the testimony [the tablets] into the ark, and attached the poles to the ark, and put the atonement cover on the ark from above.

Lev 1:1

The Lord called [“קְרִיאָה” is an expression of endearment] to Moses [God’s voice reached Moses’ ears only] and spoke [there is “calling” only for (initial) “speaking,” and not for pauses (subsections within the sections)] to him [and not to Aaron] from the tent of meeting [the voice “cutting off” and not traveling beyond the tent of meeting], saying [i.e., speak to them (Israel) with “suasion”],

Num 7:89

And when Moses came to the tent of meeting to speak with him, he heard the voice [the same mighty voice which spoke with him at Sinai—which, notwithstanding, did not carry beyond the tent of meeting] speaking to him from above the atonement cover that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim [the voice traveling from heaven to between the two cherubim, and thence, to the tent of meeting], and he spoke to him [to Moses (Aaron being excluded from this communication)].

This work, "First Sunday of Advent," is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0