Midrasch zu Schemot 8:7

(Exod. 27:21:) IN THE TENT OF MEETING OUTSIDE THE VEIL <… AARON AND HIS SONS SHALL SET IT (the lamp) UP>. Lest your <evil> drive mislead you, saying: He needs light, see what is written (ibid.): OUTSIDE THE VEIL.¹⁶Tanh., Exod. 8:7. The menorah only needed to be put inside of the veil with the ark, but it was put OUTSIDE THE VEIL in order to inform you that he does not need a light. Why did he tell you <to set it up>? Because you are worthy of the light. Another interpretation: By universal custom, <when> a king of flesh and blood makes himself a couch and table, he sets the menorah to his left; but it was not like this in the Temple. Instead the menorah was placed to the right of the table in order to inform you that he does not need a lamp of yours. Why did he tell you <to set it up>? To give you light in the world to come, when darkness shall come upon the peoples of the world, as stated (in Is. 60:2): FOR BEHOLD DARKNESS SHALL COVER THE EARTH, AND THICK CLOUDS THE PEOPLES. THEN THE LORD WILL SHINE UPON YOU AND HIS GLORY WILL APPEAR OVER YOU.

Similarly you say (in Ps. 50:7): HEARKEN, O MY PEOPLE, AND LET ME SPEAK, O ISRAEL, SO THAT I MAY ADMONISH YOU: I AM GOD, YOUR GOD. When Israel stood at Mount Sinai (according to Exod. 24:7): THEY SAID: ALL THAT THE LORD HAS SPOKEN WE WILL CARRY OUT AND OBEY. R. Johanan said: Sixty myriads of angels came down and put crowns on their heads.⁶⁰Below, Exod. 8:7; Numb. 4a:1; PR 10:6; 21:7; 29/30A(from MS Parma, 197a-198a):3; 33:10; M. Pss. 103:8; also Septuagint, Deut. 33:2 and Ps. 67:18; Josephus, Ant. 15:136; Acts 7:38, 53; Hebrews 2:2; but cf. Galatians 3:19, according to which these angels lessened the importance of the giving of Torah. R. Simay said: He clothed them in purple.⁶¹Gk.: porphyra or porphyrion. Rav Huna of Sepphoris said: He girded them with girdles.⁶²Gk.: zonai. R. Simeon said: They gave them weapons. The great name was inscribed on them; and, as long as it was in their hands, the angel of death was unable to prevail over them.⁶³Cf. Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Bahodesh 9; AZ 5a. Thus it is stated (in Exod. 32:16): INSCRIBED ON THE TABLETS. What is the meaning of INSCRIBED (HRWT)? R. Judah says: Freedom (HRWT) from the empires.⁶⁴Avot 6:2; ARN, A, 2:3; ‘Erub. 54a; PRE 46; below, 9:12; Tanh., Numb. 4:13 [12]; Exod. R. 32:1; 41:7; 51:8; Lev. R. 18:3; Numb. R. 10:8; 16:24; Cant. 8:6:2. R. Pinhas bar Hama the Priest said in the name of R. Johanan, <who spoke > in the name of R. Eleazar the Son of R. Jose [the Galilean]: <The Holy One said:>⁶⁵On these added words, see Midrash Tanhuma (Jerusalem: Eshkol, n.d.), vol. 1, appendix, p. 92, n.5. If the angel of death should come and say to me: Why was I created, I should say to him: Surely I created you to be over the nations of the world and not over my children. Why? Because I made them gods, as stated (in Ps. 82:6): I SAID: YOU ARE GODS; EVEN ALL OF YOU ARE CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH. Therefore, when he came to give them the commandments, he said to them: Heed what I am saying to you. For this reason it is stated (in Ps. 50:7) HEARKEN, O MY PEOPLE, AND LET ME SPEAK, O ISRAEL, SO THAT I MAY ADMONISH YOU: I AM GOD, YOUR GOD. See, the Holy One said to Moses here: Although I made you a god, I am <still> your God. You are a god only to Pharaoh. It is so stated (in Exod. 7:1): SEE, I HAVE SET YOU AS A GOD TO PHARAOH.

[(Exod. 33:12:) AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD.] What is written above on the matter (in vs. 5)? AND THE LORD SPOKE UNTO MOSES: SAY UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: YOU ARE A STIFF-NECKED PEOPLE…. NOW THEN, REMOVE YOUR ORNAMENTS. What is the meaning of YOUR ORNAMENTS? R. Simeon said: The weaponry which the Holy One gave them with the Ineffable Name inscribed upon it.⁶⁰Above, Exod. 8:7. Immediately (in vs. 6), SO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL STRIPPED THEMSELVES OF ORNAMENTS (i.e., their weapons). When Moses saw that they had lost the good gift, he became angry with them.

(Exod. 16:29:) OBSERVE THAT THE LORD HAS GIVEN YOU THE SABBATH. What is the meaning of OBSERVE (re'u)? R. Isaac said: OBSERVE (re'u) how you reply to the peoples of the world. So if they say to you: Why do you keep the Sabbath? What miracles were done for you? OBSERVE THAT THE LORD HAS GIVEN YOU THE SABBATH. Say to them: On every day there came down one portion of manna; but on the day before the Sabbath, two portions. It is so stated (in Exod. 16:5): AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS ON THE SIXTH DAY, THAT WHEN THEY PREPARE WHAT THEY BRING, IT WILL BE TWOFOLD…. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF TWOFOLD (MShNH)? If you say two, is it not already so stated (in Exod. 16:22): TWO OMERS APIECE? Hezekiah bar Hiyya said that it was different (MShNH) in its taste, in its aroma, and in its appearance. And not only that, but on every day, whoever had some of it left over from evening until morning caused a stench; yet concerning the Sabbath, it is written (in vs. 24): IT DID NOT HAVE A STENCH. Ergo, they gathered bread TWOFOLD (in the sense that it was different). [(Exod. 16:22:) THEN ALL THE PRINCES OF THE CONGREGATION CAME AND TOLD MOSES.] At that time he remembered that he had forgotten to tell them the section of Torah on the Sabbath, as the Holy One had told him. As soon as they came and spoke to him, Moses said to them (in vs. 23): THIS IS WHAT THE LORD HAS SPOKEN: TOMORROW IS A COMPLETE REST, A SABBATH HOLY TO THE LORD…. Jeremiah said (in Jer. 2:29): WHY DO YOU COMPLAIN AGAINST ME…? Even Moses, when I told him to tell them the section of Torah on the Sabbath, forgot and did not tell them. (Ibid., cont.:) ALL OF YOU HAVE SINNED AGAINST ME. R. Judah says: The Holy One honored the Sabbath in that on every day the manna came down, but on the Sabbath it did not come down. It is so stated (in Exod. 16:27): AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT ON THE SEVENTH DAY SOME OF THE PEOPLE WENT OUT TO GATHER < MANNA > AND FOUND NOTHING. Moses said to them: Whoever takes an omer per capita should not take more than that, as stated (in Exod. 16:19–20): LET NO ONE LEAVE ANY OF IT <UNTIL MORNING >. BUT THEY DID NOT HEED MOSES, AND <CERTAIN> PEOPLE LEFT SOME OF IT <UNTIL MORNING >. These were Dathan and Abiram.⁷⁷Below, Exod. 8:7; Exod. R. 1:29; 25:10. R. Joshua [of Sikhnin] said in the name of R. Levi: When they left some manna, worms came out from their tents (i.e., the tents of Dathan and Abiram) and entered the tents of Israel. So the Holy Spirit cries out and says over them: Do you think that you act in secret without it being revealed to me? (Jer. 23:24:) IF SOMEONE HIDES IN SECRET PLACES, SHALL I NOT SEE HIM? <SAYS THE LORD>…. The Holy One said: In this world you have eaten manna through the merit of your ancestors; but in the world to come I will feed you cattle, <i.e.,> Ziz and Leviathan. You will eat through your own merit. Thus it is stated (concerning Leviathan in Job 40:30 [41:6]): SHALL TRADE ASSOCIATES MAKE A BANQUET OF HIM? SHALL THEY DIVIDE HIM UP AMONG MERCHANTS?