Offerings for the Tabernacle (Exo 25)
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Tell the children of Israel and let them take for me [i.e., for my name’s sake] an offering [a tithe]. From every man whose heart prompts him to generosity, you shall receive my offering. [Three offerings are referred to here: the offering of a beka for a head, of which the sockets were made; the offering of the altar, a beka for a head, for the communal offering funds; and the offering of the tabernacle, an individual gift. (The thirteen articles mentioned below were needed either for the work of the tabernacle or for the priestly garments)].
Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 1:1
And let them take for me an offering—May it please our masters to teach us: What did they do with the surplus offering? Thus did our masters teach us: They fashioned with it the hammered gold overlay for the Holy of Holies. You find that the Holy One, blessed be he, chose two offerings: the offering (set aside) for the building of the tabernacle and the priestly offering. The priestly offering (was given to them) in order that they become students of the law. R. Yannai said: Any priest who is not a student of the law, it is permitted to eat the offering on his grave.
Rashi’s Commentary
And let them take for me—“Me” means to the glory of my name (Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 1).
Offering is something set apart (cf. Onkelos); the meaning is: let them set apart from their possessions an offering for me.
Whose heart prompts him to generosity—Heb. יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ is of the same root as נְדָבָה; it is a term denoting “good-will,” apaisement in old French (cf. Rashi on Gen 33:10 and Lev 19:5).
2Co 8:12
For if the willingness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
2Co 9:7
Each one must give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
3 And this is the offering that you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze [all voluntary gifts, except silver, a half-shekel for each individual (additional offerings of silver were used for making the ministering vessels)];
4 blue [yarn dyed with the blood of the chillazon, of a greenish hue], purple [yarn colored with a kind of dye named אַרְגָּמָן] and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;
Rashi’s Commentary
Blue—Yarn dyed with the blood of the chillazon (a kind of shell-fish), the colour of which was greenish-blue (Menachot 44a).
Purple—Yarn coloured with a kind of dye the name of which is אַרְגָּמָן.
Linen—This is what we call linen (Yevamot 4b).
Rev 19:8
It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
5 ram skins dyed red [after tanning] and badger [a kind of animal found only at that time] skins; acacia wood; [Jacob foresaw that they would build a tabernacle in the desert (where there is no wood). Accordingly, he brought cedars to Egypt, planted them and bade his sons take them when they left Egypt.]
Rashi’s Commentary
Dyed red—They were dyed red after having been tanned.
Badger skins was a kind of wild beast. It existed only
at that time (when Israel built the Tabernacle). It was multi-coloured and therefore it is translated in the Targum by סַסְגּוֹנָא, and it is so translated because it delights (שָׂשׂ) and prides itself in its colours (גַּוָּנִים) (Shabbat 28; Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 6).
Acacia wood—But from where did they get this in the wilderness? Rabbi Tanchuma explained it thus: Our father Jacob foresaw by the gift of the Holy Spirit that Israel would once build a tabernacle in the wilderness: he therefore brought cedars to Egypt and planted them there, and commanded his children take these with them when they would leave Egypt (Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 9; cf. Bereishit Rabbah 94 and Rashi on Exo 26:15).
6 oil for the light [pure olive oil to make the flame ascend continuously]; spices for the anointing oil [used to anoint the vessels of the tabernacle itself, to sanctify it] and for the burning [קְטֹרֶת (the rising of a smoke column)] of the incense [which was burned every evening and morning];
Rashi’s Commentary
Oil for the light—Pure olive oil to continually kindle the light.
7 [two] onyx stones [for the ephod (28:6)] and stones for filling [the golden settings in the breastpiece] for the ephod and for the breastpiece [respectively].
Rashi’s Commentary
Filling (lit., filling in)—Because they made for them (for the stones) settings in gold—a kind of indentation—and they put the stone there (in it) to fill the indentation, they were called “filling-up stones.” The spot where the indentation is (i. e. the hollow spot) is called מִשְׁבֶּצֶת “setting.”
For the ephod and for the breastpiece respectively: the onyx stones for the ephod and the stones for filling for the breastpiece. Ephod and breastpiece are described in וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה. They were a kind of ornament worn only by the high priest.
Wedding, Marriage, Bride by Chirobocea Nicu is licensed under CC0 1.0
Tabernacle by midnightcomm is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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Sanhedrin 16b:4
The mishna teaches: They may extend the city of Jerusalem or the courtyards of the temple only on the basis of a court of seventy-one judges. The Gemara asks: From where is this matter derived? Rav Shimi bar Ḥiyya says: The verse states: “According to all that I . . . show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings; and so shall you make it” (Exo 25:9). “And so shall you make it” means for future generations; just as the tabernacle was fashioned in all of its details according to Moses’ instructions, so too later, the temple is fashioned according to the instructions of the Great Sanhedrin, whose members stand in place of Moses.
Heb 8:5
who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to build the tabernacle; for, “See,” he says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”
The Ark
10 “And they shall make an ark [without legs] of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
Rashi’s Commentary
They shall make an ark—It is so called because it had the appearance of boxes which people make without feet—in the shape of a chest which is called escrin in old French which rests on its bottom.
11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold; from inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it.
Yoma 72b:9
The verse states concerning the Ark: “From inside and out you shall overlay it” (Exo 25:11). Rava said: This alludes to the idea that any law scholar whose inside is not like his outside, i.e., whose outward expression of righteousness is insincere, is not to be considered a law scholar.
12 You shall cast four gold rings for it and fasten them on its four feet, and two rings shall be on one side of it and two rings on the other side of it.
13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
14 You shall insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them.
15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it.
Rashi’s Commentary
They shall not be removed from it for ever (cf. Yoma 72a).
16 You shall put into the ark the testimony which I will give you.
17 “You shall make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.
Moses and the Tabernacle by Sweet Publishing/Free Bible Images is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
18 And you shall make two golden cherubim; you shall make them of hammered work, at the two [front] ends of the ark cover.
Rashi’s Commentary
Cherubim—They had the form of a child’s face (Sukkah 5a).
You shall make . . . of hammered work—i. e. you should not make them separately (apart from the actual ark cover) and join them to the ends of the ark cover after they have been made, like goldsmith’s work which is called in old French solderez (English solder)—but lay down a large mass of gold (lit., much gold) at the beginning of the construction of the ark cover and beat upon the middle part of it (the gold) with a hammer or with a mallet, so that its ends will project upward (stand out in relief), and then shape the cherubim out of the projecting edges.
Ends of the ark cover—Heb. קְצוֹת הכַּפֹּרֶת, ends of the ark cover.
Heb 9:5
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8 “Let them make a sanctuary for me [a house of holiness], and I will dwell in their midst.
Rashi’s Commentary
Let them make a sanctuary for me—Let them make to the glory of my name (cf. Rashi on v. 2) a place of holiness.
2Co 6:16
Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Heb 3:6
But Christ was faithful as the Son over his house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glory of our hope firm until the end.
Rev 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! The tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be among them,
9 [“Let them make a sanctuary for me”] according to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings; and so [according to this pattern] shall you make it [in future generations when any of the temple vessels are lost].
Rashi’s Commentary
According to all that I . . . show you here, the pattern of the tabernacle—This verse must be connected with the verse that precedes it, thus: Let them make a sanctuary for me . . . according to all that I . . . show you.
and above it were the cherubim of Glory overshadowing the atonement cover; but of these things we cannot now discuss in detail.
19 Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the ark cover [itself] at its two ends.
20 The cherubim shall have their wings spread on high [parallel to their heads], overshadowing the ark cover with their wings [a space of ten handbreadths between the wings and the ark cover]. And their faces shall be towards each other; turned toward the ark cover shall be the faces of the cherubim.
Rashi’s Commentary
Their wings spread—i. e. that you shall not make their wings touching the body but spread 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.
Sukkah 5b:3
The Gemara suggests: And let us derive a verbal analogy from the face of the cherub in the tabernacle and the temple, as it is written: “Toward the ark cover shall be the faces of the cherubim” (Exo 25:20), and their faces were presumably smaller than one handbreadth.
21 And you shall place the ark cover on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give you.
22 There I will meet with you [to speak to you], and I will speak to you from above the ark cover between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, all that I will give you in commandment for the children of Israel.
Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:4
This month shall be for you—Adam did not count by it (but by Tishrei, as the first month). You say this, but perhaps (the meaning is) “for you,” but not to a Gentile? (This cannot be, for) this is understood by (Ibid.) “It shall be the first . . . to you.” How, then, am I to understand “for you?” As for you, but not for Adam. We find, then, that Israel count by the moon, and the Gentiles by the sun. Not only does Israel count by the moon, but once in thirty days (at the blessing of the New Moon) they lift their eyes to their Father in heaven. And an eclipse of the sun portends evil to the Gentiles, who count by the sun; and an eclipse of the moon portends evil to Israel, who count by the moon. Rebbi says: An eclipse of the sun in the east portends evil to the dwellers in the east; in the west, to the dwellers in the west. R. Yonathan says: Both (kinds of eclipses) were relegated to the Gentiles, as it is written (Jer 10:2) “Do not emulate the ways of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them.”
Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:5
The beginning of months—I might think, for the minimum of months, two (i.e., the most distinctive of months, Sivan and Tishrei). It is, therefore, written (Ibid.) “of (all) months . . . of the year.”
Rashi’s Commentary
This month—Heb. הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶה, lit., this renewal. He showed him the moon in the first stage of its renewal, and he said to him, “When the moon renews itself, you will have a new month” (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:2). But no Scriptural verse can lose its literal meaning, and he really spoke this in reference to the month Nisan: this month shall be the beginning in the order of counting the months, so that Iyar shall be called the second, Sivan the third.
This—Moses found difficulty determining the exact moment of the renewal of the moon—how much of it must be visible before it is
proper to consecrate it as new moon: He therefore pointed it out to him in the sky with the finger and said to him, “You must see it like this, and consecrate it.” But how could he point it out to him, for did he not conserve with him only by day, as it is said, “Now it came about on the day when the Lord spoke” (Exo 6:28); “on the day that he commanded” (Lev 7:38); “from the day that the Lord gave commandment and onwards” (Num 15:23)? But the explanation is: This chapter was spoken to him close to sunset and he pointed it out to him at nightfall (more lit., near darkness) (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:1).
This work, "Offerings for the Tabernacle," is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0