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exodus, book of
tive, and places it after the golden calf episode, i.e., he makes
the story of the execution of the orders to build the Tabernacle
follow immediately upon the giving of the orders. As we shall
see, however, the present order has its logic.
M. THE *GOLDEN CALF (EX. 32–34). Not knowing how
Moses could have survived 40 days on the mountain and
fearing the worst, the people implore Aaron to “make them a
god” to lead them. Aaron fashions a calf out of their golden
earrings, which the people acknowledge as their redeeming
god; Aaron then proclaims the morrow a festival for YHWH
whom the calf must therefore symbolize; the calf – in essence
an unauthorized (indeed a forbidden (20:2ff.) and hence
“apostate”) means of securing the divine presence – thus
travesties the Tabernacle (cf. Judah Halevi’s trenchant interpretation
in Kuzari, 1:97, and David Kimḥi on the related
“apostasy” of Jeroboam, at I Kings 12:28). Meanwhile, on
the mountain, God wrathfully dismisses Moses, threatening
to destroy the people. Moses’ plea on their behalf is successful,
and he descends, bearing the stone tablets, to the festive
throng. At the sight of their revel, Moses breaks the tablets
(signifying the rupture of the covenant, in accord with
standard ancient custom), and, having ground the calf into
powder, makes the people drink its remains (rabbinic exegetes
interpret this, in accord with Num. 5:16ff., as an ordeal
to discover the guilty; cf. Av. Zar. 44a; Targ. Jon. on 32:20).
The Levites rally to Moses and put to death about 3,000
offenders, in return for which they are consecrated to God’s
service (an etiology of the tribe’s conversion to clerical status).
Moses now undertakes to obtain remission of Israel’s
sin and restoration of the covenant. At first he is ordered
to lead the people onward under the guidance of an angel;
God’s presence amid the stiff-necked people will be too
dangerous for them (33:1–5, a reflective gloss on 32:34). There
follows a barely integrated passage telling how Moses pitched
his tent outside the camp as an oracle site for himself and
the people, and how he there held intimate conversations with
God; in the present context, this appears as a result of God’s
refusal to be amid the people. Moses now strives to move God
to rescind His decision (He rescinds in 33:14), and at the same
time to secure the people against God’s wrath should they sin
in His presence. Banking on his favor with God, Moses extracts
from Him a revelation – both visual (“I will make all
My goodness pass before you” (33:19)) and conceptual (“and
I will proclaim before you the name of YHWH” (ibid)) of His
compassionate attributes (34:6–7), whereupon Moses entreats
God to show this compassion and forgive offenses of
the stiff-necked people He made His own. (Moses again successfully
implores God by appealing to His compassionate attributes
in his intercession on Israel’s behalf after the incident
of the spies (Num. 14:18); partial citations of these “thirteen
attributes of God,” as they are traditionally styled, occur in
Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nah. 1:3; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Neh. 9:17.
For the subsequent use of the passage in public intercessory
prayers, see RH 17b.)
God’s abrupt response is to conclude a covenant – in the
present context, to renew the broken covenant (though it is
not so expressed) – with stipulations that prove to be a variant
repetition of 23:12, 14–33, beginning with the topic dealt
with last in the earlier passage. The two main concerns of these
stipulations are the prohibition of apostasy and the cultic calendar
– against both of which Israel offended when they worshipped
the golden calf in an invented festival (Joseph Bekhor
Shor). Moses is commanded to write down the covenant
terms (34:27). The sequel in verse 28 says that he wrote down
“the ten words” on stone tablets (and thus renewed the broken
relationship with God). However, this contradicts 34:1, in
which God Himself undertakes to rewrite on the new set of
tablets the same words that had been on the first set, namely,
the Decalogue of chapter 20. The understanding of 34:28 has
been traditionally governed by verse one (the subject of “he
wrote” being taken as God) no doubt correctly (cf. the unequivocal
sense of “the ten words” in Deut. 4:13; 10:4); but this
means that in 34: (10–) 27 and 28 two different conceptions
of the covenant terms have been crudely juxtaposed (see further,
*Decalogue).
A fitting conclusion to this episode in which Moses confronted
God resolutely, staking all on the special relationship
between them, is the notice (34:29ff.) that Moses’ face had become
uncannily radiant through his intimate converse with
God. The golden calf narrative rivals that of the Sinai theophany
in its complexity, and for the same reason: charged with
intense significance, both were subject to reflections and elaborations
that tradition carefully gathered and preserved.
N. BUILDING THE TABERNACLE (EX. 35–40). Having reconciled
God to Israel, Moses can proceed to build His dwelling
place amid the people. Starting with the last, first, Moses
admonishes the people concerning the Sabbath rest, then
collects the materials and appoints the craftsmen, who set
about building. The order of execution differs from the order
of the commands: degree of sanctity determined the order of
items in chapters 25ff., common practice determined the order
of construction (“The rule is that a man builds his house
first and only afterward brings furniture into it,” Ber. 55a; cf.
Naḥmanides on 25:1). The tent structure is built first, then its
contents, finally the accouterments of the court. An itemization
of materials used follows. Then the priests’ accouterments
are made.
The completed work is presented to Moses, who, at the
command of God, sets it up on the first day of the first month
of the second year after the Exodus. Immediately the Divine
Presence fills it, and its exterior sign, the cloud (fire by night),
covers the tent. (Previously, the Presence and the cloud and
fire had rested on the top of Mt. Sinai 24:16–17.) Thus, even
though Israel should depart from Sinai, the presence of God
would accompany them. The book ends with an anticipation
of Numbers 9:15–23, relating how the Divine Presence, attached
to the Tabernacle, guided Israel throughout its desert
sojourn. (See Table: Analysis of the Book of Exodus.)
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