= Exodus 31
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== Exodus 31
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 "See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:

3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

4 To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

5 And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;

7 The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,

8 And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense,

9 And the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot,

10 And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office,

11 And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do."

12 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

13 "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, 'You shall be careful to keep my sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

14 You shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defiles it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever does any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.'"

18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

== Notes

== Cross Reference

== Commentary

== Rashi

==== Verse 2
h.קראתי בשם I HAVE CALLED BY NAME — to accomplish My work — BEZALEL.

==== Verse 3
h.חכמה WISDOM is what a person hears from others and learns (makes his own).

h.תבונה UNDERSTANDING is understanding a matter by one’s own intelligence deducing it from the things one has already learned.

h.דעת means holy inspiration.

==== Verse 4
h.לחשב מחשבה lit., TO DEVISE DEVICES — this refers to the weaving of an artist’s work.

==== Verse 5
h.ובחרשת denotes artisanship generally, as (Isaiah 40:20) “a clever artisan (חרש חכם)”. Onkelos, however, more closely defines the term each time it occurs in this verse and varies the definition he gives of them: the first he renders by אמנות and the second by נגרות, because the lapidary is called in Aramaic אמן, whilst the worker in wood is called נגר, and he therefore uses the abstract forms of these nouns to specify the particular kind of artisanship here intended.

h.למלאת TO SET IN — i. e. to put it into its setting, so as to fill it in (למלאת) by making the setting according to the size of the bottom of the stones and its thickness.

==== Verse 6
h.ובלב כל חכם לב וגו׳ AND IN THE HEARTS OF ALL THAT ARE WISE HEARTED [I HAVE GIVEN WISDOM] — and there are still other wise-hearted men among you (beside Bezalel and Oholiab) and all these in whom I have given wisdom shall make all that I have commanded thee.

==== Verse 7
h.ואת הארן לעדת AND THE ARK FOR THE TESTIMONY — for the purpose of the Tablets of the testimony (not, “the ark to serve as the testimony”; the ל denotes “for” in the sense of “for the use of”, and the term עדת is an abbreviation of לחות העדות).

==== Verse 8
h.הטהרה THE (PURE [CANDELABRUM] — It is called טהרה because the term זהב טהר, pure gold, is used of it (cf. Exodus 25:31) (not טהרה in contrast to טמאה).

==== Verse 10
h.ואת בגדי השרד AND THE GARMENTS OF THE SERVICE — I think — according to the plain sense of the verse — that one cannot say that Scripture is here speaking of (referring to) the priestly garments, because to them refer the next words: “and the garments of holiness for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to minister as priests”. But these בגדי שרד are identical with the garments of blue purple wool, and red purple wool, and crimson wool which are mentioned in the chapter (Numbers IV.) giving an account of Israel’s encampments: (Numbers 4:12) “and they shall put them in a garment of blue purple”; (Numbers 4:13) “and spread a garment of red purple thereon”; (Numbers 4:8) “and they shall spread upon them a garment of crimson”. And indeed my opinion appears correct, because it is said, (Exodus 39:1) “And of the blue purple, and of the red purple, and of the crimson, they made garments of the service (בגדי שרד) to minister in the holiness”, and linen is not mentioned among them (these materials). Now if Scripture were speaking of the priestly garments it could not have omitted “linen”“, for we do not find in respect of even one of them (of the priestly garments) mention of red purple or crimson without linen.

h.בגדי השרד GARMENTS OF SERVICE — Some explain שרד to mean work and service (cf. שרת to serve), as the Targum renders it: לבושי שמושא, “garments for the service”. There is, however, no other example of it (of שרד) in Scriptures. I, however, think that it is an Aramaic expression, like the Targum of קלעים, hangings, which Onkelos renders by שרדין, and of מכבר, “grate”, which he renders by שרדא, both words denoting net-work, and they are called “garments of שרד, net-work”, because they were woven not in the ordinary way but with the needle (a kind of crochet-work), made with many holes; “lacies” in old French; English, net or mesh-work.

==== Verse 11
h.ואת קטרת הסמים לקדש AND INCENSE OF AROMATICS FOR THE SANCTUARY — i. e. for the purpose of letting it (the incense) rise in smoke in the היכל which is the “קדש” (that part of the Tabernacle or Temple in front of the קדש קדשים‎.

==== Verse 13
h.ואתה דבר אל בני ישראל SPEAK THOU ALSO UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — AND thou, although I have given thee charge to command them concerning the work of the Tabernacle let it not appear a light thing to thee to set the Sabbath aside on account of that work.

h.אך את שבתתי תשמרו BUT NEVERTHELESS MY SABBATHS SHALL YE KEEP — Even though you be anxious and alert to do the work promptly the Sabbath nevertheless you must not set aside on its account. The words אך and רק wherever they occur in Scripture have limitative force (Rosh Hashanah 17b; cf. Rashi on Rosh Hashanah 17b on אכין ורקין). Here Scripture intends by the word אך to except the Sabbath from the days on which the work of the Tabernacle may be done.

h.כי אות היא ביני וביניכם FOR IT IS A SIGN BETWEEN ME AND YOU — There is a mark of distinction in the relation that exists between us, viz., the fact that I have chosen you by letting you inherit for rest that day on which “I” rested.

h.לדעת TO KNOW — (not, “for you to know”, but) for the nations of the world to know through it, כי אני ה' מקדשכם THAT I AM THE LORD THAT DOTH SANCTIFY YOU.

==== Verse 14
h.מות יומת SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH by the judges if there are witnesses testifying to the desecration and if the warning required by law had been given to the culprit immediately before he committed the offence.

h.ונכרתה SHALL BE CUT OFF [FROM AMONG HIS PEOPLE] by God, if no such warning had been given (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 31:14:3).

h.מחלליה means, whosoever treats it as חול, ordinary, in so far as its sanctity is concerned.

==== Verse 15
h.שבת שבתון denotes, reposeful rest and not rest of a casual character.

h.‘קדש לה HOLINESS TO THE LORD — The observance of its holiness shall be (it shall be kept holy) to the glory of My Name and by My command (because I have commanded it).

==== Verse 17
h.וינפש AND WAS REFRESHED — Take it as the Targum renders it: ונח “and He rested”. Every form of נפש is derived from the noun נֶפֶש, soul; the idea is, that one calms his soul and takes breath when one reposes after the toil of labour. — And He of Whom it is written, (Isaiah 40:28) “[… the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth] fainteth not nor is He weary”, and Whose every action is accomplished by His mere command had the term “repose” written of (ascribed to) Himself in order to make comprehensible to the human ear what it can understand.

==== Verse 18
h.ויתן אל משה וגו׳ AND HE GAVE UNTO MOSES etc. — There is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) in the events related in the Torah: in fact the incident of the golden calf (related in ch. 31) happened a considerable time before the command regarding the work of the Tabernacle was given (ch. 25 and the following chapters). For on the seventeenth of Tammuz were the Tablets broken (when the people were worshipping the calf) and on the Day of Atonement God became reconciled with Israel (after Moses had prayed 80 days for forgivenness; so that it is very unlikely that the command for the building of the Tabernacle should have been given before that day) and on the next day, the eleventh of Tishri (cf. Rashi on Exodus 33:11, at end of comment on ושב אל המחנה), they began to bring their contributions for the Tabernacle which was set up on the first of Nisan. (From the seventeenth of Tammuz until the eleventh of Tishri are almost three months — ימים רבים) (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 31).

h.ככלתו WHEN HE FINISHED [SPEAKING] — The word ככלתו is written defectively (without a ו after the ל) to intimate that the Torah was handed over to Moses as a gift (note the word ויתן), complete in every respect, even as the bride (the word ככלתו is taken to be connected with “כלה”, bride) is handed over to the bridegroom completely equipped with all she requires — for in a period brief as this which Moses spent on the mountain, he must have been unable to learn in its entirety every law to be derived from it. Another explanation why the word is written defective is: just as a bride (כלה) bedecks herself with 24 ornaments — those which are mentioned in the book of Isaiah (ch. 3) — so a scholar (תלמיד חכם) ought to be thoroughly versed in the contents of the 24 books of Scripture (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 16).

h.לדבר אתו TO SPEAK WITH HIM the statutes and the judgments contained in the section beginning with ואלה המשפטים (ch. Exodus 21 ff.).

h.לדבר אתו TO SPEAK “WITH” HIM — The use of the word אתו “with him” teaches us that Moses first heard the laws from the mouth of the Almighty and that then they both again repeated each Halacha together (Exodus Rabbah 41:5).

h.לחת TABLETS — The word is written defectively לחת (without a ו between ח and ת), thus intimating that they were both alike in every respect (Exodus Rabbah 41:6).