Commentaire de citation sur L’Exode 19:13

באהל מועד, “in the Tent of Meeting, etc.;” this is the Tabernacle. Once G’d called Moses from the Tabernacle, i.e. from Leviticus 1,1 on where the words “He called to Moses from the Tent of Meeting” occurred for the first time, G’d always spoke to Moses out of the Tent of Meeting seeing that the attribute כבוד which had addressed Moses at the Mountain had moved to the Tabernacle as soon as it had been inaugurated. This is why at this time the instructions had to be issued to the Levites whose camp was around the Tabernacle not to trespass and enter the Sanctuary as any non-priest who entered the Sanctuary was bound to die (verse 51). The warning not to enter the Sanctuary was of the same type as the warning before the revelation not to step beyond the fenced off section of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19,13). The warning is spelled out in detail in Numbers 18,5 after the rebellion of Korach and parts of the senior members of the tribe of Levite. At that time even the priests were included in the warning (Exodus 19,24), and in Numbers 4,20 the Torah warns the Kehatites, the senior group of Levites, not to “look” when the “holy” is inserted or they would die. Even though they carried these “holy” items such as the Ark, they were not to look at it until the Ark had been covered.
Furthermore, the Torah does command that the 22,000 Levites encamp around the Tabernacle (compare Numbers 3,43) seeing that their numbers corresponded to that of the angels who had accompanied G’d when He took up residence in the Tabernacle. We have this information from Psalms 68,18 where the psalmist speaks about רכב אלוהים רבותים, “G’d’s entourage amounting to 22.000.” The Israelites’ camp was composed of four flags, corresponding to their having observed at Mount Sinai that the angels grouped themselves into four camps with a flag each. [Some say each angel had a flag of his own, compare Rabbi Avdimi in Pesikta Rabbati on Asseret Hadibrot. Ed.]

‘B’MIDBAR SINAI’ (IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI). After having explained the laws of the offerings in the third book, He now began to set forth in this book the commandments which they [the children of Israel] were told with reference to the Tent of Meeting. Now He had already given a warning for all times about [the prohibition of] impurity relating to the Sanctuary and its holy things.¹Leviticus 5:2-3. See Ramban there (Vol. III pp. 52-54). Here He defined the boundaries of the Tabernacle whilst it was in the wilderness, just as He had set bounds for Mount Sinai when the [Divine] Glory was there,²Exodus 19:12. Ramban here, in stressing the parallels between the Tent of Meeting and Mount Sinai, is developing the idea that he mentions in Exodus at the beginning of Seder Terumah, that the Tent of Meeting was, as it were, a continuation of Mount Sinai. See Vol. II p. 435. and He commanded that the common man that draweth nigh shall be put to death,³Further, 1:51. just as He had said there, no hand shall touch him [i.e., the mountain], but he shall surely be stoned.⁴Exodus 19:13. He also commanded [here], And they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered, lest they die⁵Further, 4:20. just as He warned there [at Sinai], lest they break through unto the Eternal to gaze, and many of them perish.⁶Exodus 19:21. He commanded here. And ye shall keep the charge of the holy things and the charge of the altar, [that there be wrath no more upon the children of Israel],⁷Further, 18:5. just as He said there, And let the priests also, that come near to the Eternal, sanctify themselves, lest the Eternal break forth upon them;⁸Exodus 19:22. and let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Eternal, lest He break forth upon them.⁹Ibid., Verse 24. Thus He commanded [here] how the Tabernacle and its vessels are to be guarded, and how they [the people] are to pitch round about it and how the people are to stand afar off, and how the priests that come near the Eternal⁸Exodus 19:22. are to treat it [the Tabernacle] when it is resting and when it is being carried [during the journeyings], and how they are to guard it. Now these are all [signs of] distinction and honor for the Sanctuary, just as the Rabbis of blessed memory have said,¹⁰Sifre Zuta Korach 18:4. “A King’s palace¹¹“And it is known that the term ‘palace’ is a reference to the Sanctuary” (“The Commandments,” Vol. I, p. 31). — It is possible, on first thought, to explain Ramban’s expression “and how they are to pitch round about it” that the pronoun “they” refers to all the Levites, and in that case the continuing expression “and how the people are to stand afar off” would thus complete the thought by contrast: the Levites are to encamp round about the Tabernacle, while the people are to stand afar off. But see in Chapter 2, Verse 2, that Scripture speaks clearly of the children of Israel encamping round about the Tabernacle. Hence the words of Ramban are to be understood as follows: the people are to pitch round about the Tabernacle, and when they approach it they are to stand afar off. This interpretation is fully borne out in the following chapters of this book of the Torah. that has guards over it cannot be compared to a palace that has no such guards.”

עם הארץ וגו׳. Siehe zu Bereschit 23, 7. Es ist die Nation, die vom Lande getragene und von ihm aufblühende Volksgemeine, in deren Auftrag und Vertretung und, wo nötig, mit deren Mithülfe das Gericht die Strafe vollzieht (siehe ת׳׳כ). Es heißt dort: אם אין בב׳׳ד כח יפה עם הארץ מסעיין אותו. Und ferner: עם הארץ שבנינו נבראתה הארץ, oder nach עם שהם עתידים לירש את הארץ על ידי הדברים :ר׳ גמליאל הללו, d.h. der Menschenverein, der den Endzweck der Erdschöpfung bildet, oder: das Volk, das durch Vollführung dieser Gesetze sich des Besitzes des Landes würdig macht. Erwägen wir die Art und die Bedeutung der hier ausgesprochenen סקילה-Strafe, so dürfte der gerade hier vorkommende Ausdruck עם הארץ und dessen Erläuterung im ת׳׳כ in bedeutsamem Lichte erscheinen. Wir haben schon zu Schmot 19, 13 bemerkt, daß der erste und wesentlichste Akt der סקילה nicht ein Steinigen, sondern דחיה, ein Hinabstürzen von einer Anhöhe ist, und nur, wenn dadurch der Tod nicht erfolgt ist, wird die Tötung durch Steinwurf vollendet (Sanhedrin 45a-b). Es ist also eine Tötung durch die Erde, durch den Erdboden, der den Menschen trägt und als dessen Teil der Stein, wenn nötig, ergänzend vollendet. Es ist somit der Erdboden oder der Landesboden, wie man weiter oder enger den Begriff fassen will, der Erdboden, der sonst den Menschen trägt, als dessen edelstes Produkt der Mensch in seiner sittlichen Freiheit dasteht, שבנינו נבראת, der Boden des Landes, dessen Besitz an die Erfüllung der Sittenpflichten seiner Bewohner geknüpft ist, שהם עתידים לירש את הארץ על ידי הדברים הללו, und das, wie wiederholt ausgesprochen ist, sittenlose Bewohner auswirft, es ist die Erde und das Land, die den sittenlosen Bewohner töten, und es ist in diesem Sinne, mit Vergegenwärtigung dieser Beziehungen des Menschen und des Volkes zur Erde und zum Lande, daß hier das עם הארץ verpflichtet wird, den der Erde und des Landes unwürdig gewordenen Verbrecher durch Hinwurf an die Erde und den Landesboden und eventuell durch ihnen entnommene Teile den Tod finden zu lassen. Sehen wir die Verbrechen, die durch סקילה zu sühnen sind: הבא על האם ועל אשת אב ועל כלתו ועל נערה המאורסה ועל הזכור ועל הבהמה והמגדף ועובד ע׳׳ז והנותן מזרעו למולך ובעל אוב וידעוני והמסית והמדיח והמכשף המחלל את השבת ומקלל אביו או אמו ובן סורר ומורה: so erkennen wir in ihnen allen die Spitzen der עריות- und ע׳׳ז- und der mit ihnen verwandten Verbrechen (– wie חלול שבת mit מקלל אב ואם ,ע׳׳ז und בן סורר ומורה als die korrespondierende Kehrseite von גלוי עריות ;עריות ist קללת א׳׳ו׳׳א ,חילול זרע und בן ס׳׳ ומ׳ ist חילול אב ואם –). Verbrechen, gegen welche die Erde sich empört und gegen die der dem Gottesgesetze heilige Boden sich erhebt und deren Vollbringer nicht duldet.

ירה בים Onkelos translates this by שדי בימא: HE HATH CAST IN THE SEA. The word שדי is an expression for “casting”. And thus, also, it says, (Exodus 19:13) או ירה יירה which Onkelos renders by או אשתדאה ישתדי “or he shall certainly be thrown down” where the ת is used in both these words in place of (as marking) the Ithpael form, so that in these Targum words the root is שדי‎.

יובל הוא IT SHALL BE A JUBILEE [UNTO YOU] — This year shall be distinguished from all other years by it alone being given a special name for itself. And what is its name? “Jobel” is its name — with reference to the “sounding of the Shofar” (the ram’s horn which is called יובל; cf. Exodus 19:13).