Comentario sobre Exodo 38:22

ובצלאל בן אורי וגו׳ עשה את כל אשר צוה ה' את משה AND BEZALEEL THE SON OF URI etc. MADE ALL THAT THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES — It is not stated here: אשר צֻוָּה (Bezaleel made all that he had been commanded), but “[Bezaleel made] all that the Lord commanded Moses” — even regarding such things which his teacher (Moses) did not tell him, his own opinion was in agreement with what had been told to Moses on Sinai (Jerusalem Talmud Peah 1:1; Bereishit Rabbah 1:14). [For Moses bade Bezaleel to make the vessels first and the Tabernacle afterwards but Bezaleel said to him: “Surely, it is the way of the world (the usual way) first to build a house and then to place the household utensils in it!” He (Moses) replied to him: “So, indeed, did I hear from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He”. Moses further said to him: (בצלאל), you must have been sitting in the shadow of God (בצל אל), for certainly did thus God command me!” And consequently Bezaleel made the Tabernacle first and afterwards he made the vessels (cf. Berakhot 55a).

AND BEZALEL THE SON OF URI, THE SON OF HUR, OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH, MADE ALL THAT THE ETERNAL COMMANDED MOSES. The meaning of this is that everything was done through his direction, for he acted as instructor to all the wise men, and they all did heir work in his presence and showed him all that they had done, just as it is said, And He hath put in his heart that he may teach.¹²Above, 35:34. But all the wise-hearted men also did the work, as it is said, and every wise-hearted man among them that wrought the work made the Tabernacle.¹³Ibid., 36:8. In the opinion of our Rabbis,¹⁴Yerushalmi Peah I, 1; and quoted here by Rashi. this verse is intended to praise Bezalel, and to say that even these things that his master Moses did not tell him, he understood through his own mind in exactly the same way that they had been told to Moses on Sinai.¹⁵See in Seder Vayakheil Note 72. Moses agreed that originally G-d had told him to do it as Bezalel said it should be done. Thus the intention of Scripture is not to state that Bezalel did all the work, but that in all which was done through him, he fulfilled all that the Eternal commanded Moses. It is for this reason that Scripture does not state in connection with anything that was done until now: “as G-d spoke to Moses,” for this would have implied: “as Moses said by the word of G-d,” and he [i.e., Bezalel] changed their order from that which Moses had told him. Therefore Scripture stated everything in general terms, and said that Bezalel did everything as G-d had said, as I have written above.¹⁶Above, 36:8 (towards the end).

All that Ad-noy commanded Moshe. It is never mentioned anywhere that Moshe actually told Betzalel what he was to do. Apparently Betzalel knew through Divine inspiration. That is why it is written that he did “all that Ad-noy commanded Moshe,” and not, “all that Moshe commanded him”.

ובצלאל בן אורי...עשה, “and Betzalel son of Uri fashioned, etc.” Seeing that Betzalel was the chief architect, and supervised all the people working on the project “Tabernacle,” the Torah accords him the credit as if he personally had done all this with his own two hands. Our sages deduce from the words את כל אשר צוה ה' את משה, “everything that Hashem had commanded to Moses,” instead of “everything he had been commanded by Moses,” that even items which Moses had forgotten to tell him about, he divined as things G’d had spoken to Moses about, and he proceeded to include these items in his project. The wording of the Torah proves that changes in the order of what was to be constructed first and what last were what G’d had told Moses, although Moses had not related this in the same order.

'ובצלאל בן אורי בן חור וגו, “and Betzalel, son of Uri, son of Chur, etc.;” he also constructed items that his teacher Moses had not specifically instructed him to construct, as he was on the same spiritual wavelength as his teacher. [Our author had already made this point on Exodus 36,38. Ed.]