EXODUS XXXVIII:21-XL:38

THE CONCLUSION OF THE SHEMOT BOOK

With these chapters we conclude Shemot, the second book of the Torah, which can be divided into three parts. The first section recounts the details of Egyptian servitude and highlights the leadership of Moshe(Moses), who manages to convince Pharaoh to allow the Hebrew people to leave Egypt. Pharaoh finally agreed to Moshe’s request, because God sent 10 plagues that caused great suffering to the Egyptians. Only when a plague affected the pharaoh’s house, as was the case with the last one – the death of all the Egyptian firstborn – was the monarch’s will broken. A decision that was later altered, because he sent his soldiers and chariots to chase the Hebrews through the desert, but these hordes were defeated because they drowned in the Red Sea.

The second part of Shemot refers to the Divine revelation on Mount Sinai and the third describes the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), with detailed information about the elements that make up this enclosure. Although the importance of the biblical stories and instructions should not be hierarchized, at first glance, in the event of Sinai, the revelation of God’s Will appears to be the central episode. 

However, it can be argued that the revelation was not limited to Sinai: even in Egypt, the Hebrews received basic instruction on the importance of time, in the chapter that commands HaChodesh Hazeh Lachem Rosh Chodashim, “This month shall be for you the first of the months,” a reference to Nisan, the month of the Exodus. At the same time, the people were instructed to choose the sheep to be sacrificed as Korban Pesach, which was to be consummated on the 14th of that month, and therefore the Torah designates that day as Passover, while the holiday that we usually call Pesachis usually called Chag HaMatzot.

It should be noted that the Korban Passover was to be offered on the evening of the 14th of Nisan and, since we currently lack the Beit HaMikdash and no offerings are made, some Chassidim insist on baking the Matzahfor the Seder on the evening of that same day, because the Matzah protrudes and must also supply the Korban as a Mitzvah in the absence of Beit HaMikdash. The Torah also regulates the collection of manna in the desert and commands the observance of Shabbat, all before the Revelation at Sinai. 

The expression Zachor et Yom HaShabbat, the fourth of the Ten Commandments that commands weekly rest on the seventh day, properly uses the word Zachor, remember, because the Shabbat Laws had already been promulgated in advance. 

After the event at Sinai, the Mishkan served as the venue for the enactment of additional laws, which were not revealed to Moshe at Mount Sinai. Why is the revelation at Sinai distinguished when other places also served that purpose? 

Menachem Ben-Yashar suggests that the public nature of this revelation sets it apart from the others. While in the Mishkan, Moshe received Divine instruction directly and personally, at Sinai all the people witnessed it, a fact that gave it additional validity, allowed the entire people to have a prophetic experience. Moreover, the bulk of the laws were revealed at Sinai. 

So the Mishkan was not only God’s “residence” during the wilderness journey and in the centuries that followed until the building of the Beit HaMikdash, it was also Ohel Mo’ed, the place of the meeting between Moshe and God, where he was instructed about a large number of Mitzvot. According to Benno Jacob, the Mishkan was a portable Mount Sinai that accompanied the people during the years in the desert. 

The parallelism between the two is also evident because the Mishkan contained the Two Tablets of the Law that Moshe had received at Mount Sinai. Just as Mount Sinai was covered by a “cloud of glory,” so Moshe had to penetrate the “cloud of glory” that enveloped the Mishkan. Before entering the Mishkan, Moshe had to go through a 6-day purification period and only on the seventh day could he enter the holy precinct, while his inauguration was celebrated on the eighth day.

The exodus from Egypt was meant to ensure God’s accompaniment through his presence within the camp of the Hebrews at the Mishkan. The book of Shemotbegins with slavery and its redemption, which marks the end of Galut Mitsrayim, and concludes with another Geulah: redemption, represented by the presence of God in the Mishkan, in the midst of the Hebrew people.