Commentaire de citation sur Les Nombres 9:16

Now the exile was not completed⁸Ramban is now aiming to explain why the second book of the Torah, which as explained above is the book of the first exile and the redemption therefrom, does not close with the actual exodus or with the Revelation on Sinai, but instead proceeds with the account of the building of the Tabernacle. Ramban’s answer is most illuminating and inspiring. until the day they returned to their place⁹See Hosea 5:15. and were restored to the status of their fathers. When they left Egypt, even though they came forth from the house of bondage, they were still considered exiles because they were in a land that is not theirs,.¹¹Genesis 15:13. entangled in the desert.¹⁰See further, 14:3. When they came to Mount Sinai and made the Tabernacle, and the Holy One, blessed be He, caused His Divine Presence to dwell again amongst them, they returned to the status of their fathers when the ‘sod eloka’ (counsel of G-d) was upon their tents¹²See Job 29:4, and Ramban’s commentary thereon, (in my Kithvei Haramban: Vol. I, p. 90), where he interprets the verse as follows: “Job is saying that sod eloka — the counsel of G-d - was known in his tent, as if He foretold all future events. Thus Job and all who were with him were guarded from mishaps and troubles. It may be that sod eloka is a reference to the angels of the Supreme One and the host of the heavens that dwelled upon his tent to guard him from all evil, etc.” Ramban is thus intimating here that the complete redemption of the Israelites from their first exile was not achieved until they were restored to the same position held by the patriarchs. Whereas the Divine Presence rested upon the tents of the patriarchs — see Shabbath 55b, where Rashi clearly states that before the building of the Tabernacle, the Divine Presence was to be found upon the tents of the righteous — so Israel regained its original status only when the Divine Glory came to rest upon the Tabernacle at the time of its completion. See end of Book of Exodus. It is for this reason that the second book of the Torah — devoted as it is to the first exile and the redemption therefrom — continues with the account of the building of the Tabernacle. and “they were those who constituted the Chariot of the Holy One.”¹³Bereshith Rabbah 47:8. See Vol. I, p. 224. Then they were considered redeemed. It was for this reason that this second book of the Torah is concluded with the consummation of the building of the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Eternal filling it¹⁴Further, 40:35. always.¹⁵Numbers 9:16: So it was always: the cloud covered it…

Similarly, all the usages in the parshah. (Gur Aryeh) For the whole passage refers to what would take place continuously every day, as the Torah writes “so it always was” (v. 16). It would be incorrect to say “The cloud covered the Mishkon” in the past tense and later to say “in the evening it shall be over the Mishkon” in the future, because one does not follow from the other. Concerning the use of the word יהיה (lit. will be) in the future tense, see above in Parshas Beshalach on the verse “Thus sang…” (Shemos 15:1).