Commentaire sur L’Exode 31:2

קראתי בשם I HAVE CALLED BY NAME — to accomplish My work — BEZALEL.

SEE, I HAVE CALLED BY NAME BEZALEL THE SON OF URI, THE SON OF HUR. G-d said to Moses, See, I have called by name, and Moses said to Israel, See, the Eternal hath called by name.²⁰⁴And the question appears: Why was that special designation called for? The answer is that it was needed because etc. The reason for this is because Israel in Egypt had been crushed under the work in mortar and in brick,²⁰⁵Above, 1:14. and had acquired no knowledge of how to work with silver and gold, and the cutting of precious stones, and had never seen them at all. It was thus a wonder that there was to be found amongst them such a great wise-hearted man who knew how to work with silver and gold, and in cutting of stones [for setting] and in carving of wood, a craftsman, an embroiderer, and a weaver.²⁰⁶See further, 35:35. For even amongst those who study before the experts, you cannot find one who is proficient in all these crafts. And even those who know them and are used to doing them, if their hands are continually engaged in [work with] lime and mud, lose the ability to do with them such artistic and delicate work. Moreover, he [i.e. Bezalel] was a great Sage in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge,²⁰⁷Verse 3. to understand the secret of the Tabernacle and all its vessels, why they were commanded and to what they hinted. Therefore G-d said to Moses that when he sees this wonder he should know that I filled him with the spirit of G-d,²⁰⁷Verse 3. to know all these things in order that he would make the Tabernacle. For it was His Will to make the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and He created him for His glory,²⁰⁸See Isaiah 43:7. And in Chapter Kinyan Torah: “Whatsoever the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world He created it but for His glory.” Bezalel thus was born for that sacred purpose, as the thought continues to be unfolded by Ramban. for it is He that called the generations from the beginning,²⁰⁹Isaiah 41:4. — See Vol. I, p. 59, Note 240, for important note on this topic. it being similar in meaning to the verse, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.²¹⁰Jeremiah 1:5. The same type of expression we find in the verse, See that the Eternal hath given you the Sabbath; therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days.²¹¹Above, 16:29. Here too the sense of the verse is: “See the wonder…”
Our Rabbis have on this topic a Midrash:²¹²Shemoth Rabbah 40:2. “G-d showed Moses the book of the first man and told him: ‘Each person I have given a role from that moment on, and Bezalel too I have given a role already then, as it is said, See, I have called by name Bezalel.” This is similar to what I have explained. The Rabbis have also said:²¹³Berachoth 55a. “Bezalel knew how to combine the letters with which heaven and earth were created.” The purport of this saying is that the Tabernacle alludes to these matters [heaven and earth], and he knew and understood its secret.

ראה קראתי בשם, try and understand that I did not appoint Betzalel for this task arbitrarily, as it is of the essence that someone who is very senior also in spiritual matters must carry out such a sacred task as fashioning the parts of the Tabernacle. Such a person must not only have in mind the desire to technically execute first class artisanship, but he must constantly be conscious of performing a Divine commandment.